This past weekend the Northland Anti-War Coalition held its 12th protest in the Twin Ports since it was founded in December of 2002. Under the theme 'demanding that the newly elected government honor the will of the people', between 200 and 250 people gathered at Duluth's Portland Square Park in the east Hillside neighborhood. Prior to rally at Portland Square, about 160 people marched from the Rose Garden on London Road up the hillside to the Park.

For a picture of the march click here:

The crowd was made up of an enthusiastic mix of various progressive activists, students, trade unionists and veterans. Also among the crowd was a contingent of about 15 students from Northland College, who caravanned to the rally from Ashland, WI. There were also individuals present from as far away as Bemidji, MN.

A massive scroll signed by the protesters and that will be mailed to Congress, six anti-war banners hung from the park's trees, literature tables from NAWC, Youth for Socialist Action, the Green Party and Progressive Action, along with NAWC's refreshment table and the various leafleters added to the events vitality and festiveness.

Among the speakers at the rally were Daniel Fanning [a recently returned Iraq war vet], Fletcher Hines [a Vietnam vet, and leader of Veterans and Military Families for Progress], Joan Najbar [of Military Families Speak Out, and mother of a MN National Guardsman deployed in Iraq], Sharla Gardner [of AFSCME Local 66, who read a statement from State Senator and Gold Star Mother Becky Lourey who was unable to attend the event] and Ellie Schoenfeld [local poet extraordinaire].

Joel Sipress of the Green Party MCed, Dave Hopkins of the local musicians union sang, and Carl Sack of Youth for Socialist Action led the concluding chants. All of the speakers did an incredible job, and kept the audience riveted on their message, as opposed to the cold! The event was organized by the Northland Anti-War Coalition, but was also endorsed by AFSCME Local 66, Veterans for Peace, the Duluth Area Green Party, Lake Superior Greens, Socialist Action, Youth for Socialist Action and Progressive Action.

The Duluth News Tribune gave the rally some decent coverage in the Monday, Nov. 13 issue of the paper, and WDIO Channel 10 & 13 also covered the event. This comes on the heels of some decent coverage by the DNT this past Thursday for our press conference featuring State Sen. Becky Lourey, City Councilor Russ Stover and Joan Najbar, held to announce our rally. There were also reporters at the protest from other media outlets, including from the Hillsider and Labor World newspapers, but their publications haven't come out yet.

Special thanks to all of the speakers at the event; to Joel Sipress for MCing; to Tegan Wendland for all of the press and other impressive work she did building the event; to Mike Rogge and Heather Bradford for leading the march and carrying the NAWC banner; to Sharla Gardner for being the press point person and MC'ing our press conference; to Carl Sack for making the scroll, leafleting, leading the march chants and helping with the Ashland caravan; to Peter Krause for helping with all of the nuts and bolts of making the event come off and helping set up on the day of the event; to Mike Solon for his great sound system; to Dave Hopkins for singing and bringing coffee for all of the protesters; to Ellie Schoenfeld for her poetry; to Bob Kosuth and John Schraufnagel for helping with the collection; to Reena Patel for helping to organize the Ashland caravan; and to everyone else who helped to build the event and who attended!

The next NAWC protest will be on Saturday, December 2 in Ashland, WI. We'll be assembling at the parking lot of the Sigurd Olson Environmental Institute, from which we'll be leaving at 1pm for a march to the downtown Post Office.

Also, be sure to mark your calendar for the next Twin Ports meeting of the Northland Anti-War Coalition, which will be on Sunday, December 10 at 2pm at the Chester Creek Cafe in Duluth. I'll see you there!

And finally, don't forget about our petition drive opposing the deployment of our local National Guard units to Iraq. We're asking folks to mail in those petitions to NAWC by Nov. 22. If you still need a petition, send us an email at This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it We're hoping to present the petitions to the Duluth City Council sometime in December, and call on them to pass a resolution opposing deployment.