We braved the snow and ice and had our infostand today on the Tuebingen Holzmarkt together with members of the Friedenplenum. Our "mini-demo" was to show solidarity with the mass demonstrations to take place later today in Washington, D.C. opposing the "surge" of more U.S. troops to Iraq and any possible future acts of war on Iran.

Click to enlarge. Photo by M. Davis

Penny has a report on the event:

It was important to those of us who made it out to the Holzmarkt Saturday to stand in solidarity with people (hopefully hundreds of thousands) in the United States agitating for new alternatives in foreign and domestic policy. It was cold, it was icey, not many people were out and about, but those who came by were glad to see us there . I always feel that any opportunity to have a discussion with people on the street makes such a showing worthwhile. It gave us a chance to awake passerby curiosity about political activity in the U.S. We forged a new co-operation with the Tübingen peace organization Friedensplenum (we'll be helping them with their public demo February 7). Also, our stand stood next to a group of Turkish and Armenian students expressing mourning for the murdered Armenian journalist Dink. We joined them in their circle. And we had a chance once again to represent our support of Conscientious Objectors, with pictures and information about Agustin Aguayo's court martial March 6 and 7. Donations of 20 Euros in coins for his legal defense means that at least 20 more people (at 1 Euro per person on average) have shown their sympathy to our ongoing fundraising effort.

It simply felt good to be out there together making our statement on the day of the U.S. demonstrations: thanks to Helen, Monica, Carolyn, especially Gus for hauling the table in on his bike! , Carla and Paul of Friedensplenum, Fritz for hauling me and the materials! Mark for getting infostand permission and Nicole for coming by even though she had the flu.