Millions Worldwide Rally for Peace

KASAMA Vol. 17 No. 1 / January-February-March 2003 / Solidarity Philippines Australia Network

Internationally coordinated, locally organised, wave after wave of anti-war protesters march along the streets of the world's cities, gather in village parks, schools, and individual homes - giving prayers, speeches, statements, signing petitions and letters - sending messages day after day to our governments - and still they ignore the call for peace. It's said that we get the governments we deserve. How many people will die before our next elections?

War and Harmony

lives and loves lost
in the name of oilwells,
some preserved, some destroyed.
smoke blackened a portion of the sky,
a world of darkened hearts where
masses of troops in uniform
march with their guns,
the look on their faces
glum like dead soil,
marked by weariness
and death-like glow,
they are pawns,
they know.
they look up the skies
lit by the latest charade
of 'freedom'
proclaimed
from the ivory tower,
from the tyranny
of power without glory
ignoring
banners screaming
across the globe,
raised upon the horizon:

NO WAR! NO WAR! NO WAR!

the spectacle continues
across television screens
live, in colour - BBC, CNN
showing images of
targets of pinpoint precision:
hiding losses of innocent lives
pawned as collateral damage
by regimes,
both old and new
in search of a new war
while in the background,
people 'round the world
sing in harmony:

NO WAR! NO WAR! NO WAR!

Deborah Ruiz Wall
21 March 2003