Peace Marchers at Halfway-Point of Trek
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COUNCIL BLUFFS, Iowa — More than 500 participants in a coast-to-coast peace march arrived at the approximate halfway point Friday, when they crossed the Missouri River into Iowa for a Fourth of July celebration on the theme “Peace is Patriotic.”
“One of the criticisms we get is we are marching because we don’t like our government and are trying to tear things down,” said Elizabeth Fairweather of the Great Peace March, which advocates global nuclear disarmament.
“Some people see us marching and shout, ‘If you hate America, go march in Russia.’ ”
Fairweather said that she did not think marching for peace was unpatriotic.
“I lived overseas as a child, and it was a wonderful experience,” she said, “but I came back and I don’t want to live anywhere else. We are marching because we want America to exist. We want all countries to exist.”
About 1,400 people started on the trek, which began March 1 in Los Angeles and is scheduled to end in Washington in November.
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