[Marxism] 400 rally in Salt Lake City; Camejo speaks

[Dayne Goodwin]

Salt Lake City, April 5 - About 400 activists participated in a
protest calling for the U.S. government to get out of Iraq, implement
a single-payer healthcare system, and reduce carbon use without going
nuclear for "a healthy planet for healthy lives of all of us."

The protest was innovative in several ways including tying the three
issues together, especially bringing together antiwar and
environmental activists to demand "no more war for oil."   While about
half the protesters walked in a typical antiwar march circling around
several busy blocks of downtown Salt Lake City, over 100 cyclists, led
by an electric pace car, circled the same route in the opposite
direction - creating three enthusiastic meetings as the cyclists made
three circuits in the time it took to walk the route.

While launching the "350 CO2 Cyclists" contingent, Economics professor
and environmental activist Hans Ehrbar explained that this was the
first action of the new "350 campaign" (see www.350.org) which Bill
McKibben announced in early March during a visit to Salt Lake.  The
number 350 refers to the 350ppm of CO2 in the earth's atmosphere which
McKibben says we must get below to prevent eventually catastrophic
global climate change.  Currently the CO2 level in the earth's
atmosphere is at 385ppm.

The rally which followed featured a speaker on each of the three
issues - Chris Conway of the newly founded Iraq Veterans Against the
War chapter, Barbara Toomer who was a founder of the Disabled Rights
Action Committee some twenty years ago, and Dr. Brian Moench who is
the founding leader of Utah Physicians for a Healthy Environment.
There was dynamic poetry from Shae, Repo and Flora and music by Orion
Chacon and by Rich Wyman.  Wyman sang his searing new protest against
"Guantanamo" which challenges that 'we don't know that
we're all already in Guantanamo' (www.richwyman.com).

Concluding speakers were Peter Camejo of the California Green Party
and past Salt Lake City mayor Rocky Anderson.  Camejo said that while
it is a sign of social progress that a woman or an African-American
could be elected president, the political positions of Obama and
Clinton are within the mainstream of the corporate two-party system;
they don't support the rally's demands.  Anderson criticized the
"news" media and ridiculed the idea that simply electing a Democrat to
replace Bush would fundamentally change U.S. government policies on
war, healthcare or the environment.

Moderators Troy Williams of KRCL Radio and Diana Lee Hirschi of the
Salt Lake Quakers and the Nader for President Committee brought Iraq
war veteran Jeff Key on stage to tell about his autobiographical play
"Eyes of Babylon" currently in performance in Salt Lake City.  A
documentary film "Semper Fi: One Marine's Journey" based on the play
was produced for Showtime last year.

By April 5 the protest was being called "the healthy planet rally."
It was organized by an _ad_hoc_ April 5 Mobilization Committee made up
of organizations listed as sponsors on the colorful flyer, see
<http://agenda08.org/images/flyer1.pdf>

Salt Lake's two dailies, the Salt Lake Tribune and Deseret Morning News reports:

 http://www.sltrib.com/news/ci_8827763

 http://www.deseretnews.com/article/1,5143,695267846,00.html