Members of the Central Florida Chapter of Veterans For Peace and St. Augustine People for Peace and Justice were in Ocala today to join Marions for Peace and Iraq Veterans Against the War outside Lockheed-Martin's Hellfire missile plant. About 18 of us showed. However the number soon swelled to about 50 as we were joined by young members of the Ocala Islamic Center. These young people must have been insane! They wore shirts proudly proclaiming their Palestinian heritage and were quite rude in demanding that Jews and Muslims live together in peace. I guess they figured us Christians are beyond hope? Marion County's finest were also on-hand. One deputy, who appeared to have a perfect attendance record for donut roll-call, began writing down the tag numbers of all the vehicles and threatening to give tickets - he had a truly creative interpretation of State statutes about parking on State right of ways. (He did ignore vehicles belonging to the media). Meanwhile, one of his coworkers in jeans and a sweatshirt very obviously took everyone's pictures. Apparently we were so intimidating that he was afraid to come across the street and ask our names. When protesters parked in a convenience store parking lot across the street, the officer told the manager of the store to refuse us permission to park there. Three counter protesters, a mother and her 2 teenage daughters, the kind of people that give the rest of us white trash a bad name, drove by and shouted obscenities a couple of time and then parked across the street and began shouting the old "support the troops" and "remember 9-11" mantras - ignorant as well as rude. As far as I know, today's protest involved the illegal and immoral attacks on Gaza and it's democratically elected government by Israel. I do not believe that anyone has yet made a connection between 9-11, Iraq, Afghanistan, and Gaza or the Palestinians. Will Ocala earn a place in the Merchants of Death Hall of Fame? You cut money from school budgets and give money to multinational corporations. The government brags that the down-turn in the economy is good for military recruitment and retention. Ocala, how many jobs and at what income level are worth how many lives?
--Terry
Support For Gaza Demonstration, Ocala -12/30/08
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Article by Naseem Sowti Miller in the Ocala Star-Banner
Video from the Ocala Star-Banner
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Report on Common Dreams
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Story by Amy Ryffel-Kragh in the South Marion Citizen
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YouTube Video courtesy of abdullahzs
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YouTube Video courtesy of waoOoma
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