Vermont towns vote down the war
By
Leslie Feinberg
Burlington, Vt.
Published Mar 9, 2005 3:16 PM
Vermont activists
put the Iraq War on the agenda of Town Meeting Day here this year. The New
England tradition of town meetings is rooted in the 17th century.
On March
1, a snowy day, Vermonters spoke out in what is believed to be the first formal
referendum on the U.S. war against Iraq. The resolution got on the agenda in
some 56 towns--more than 20 percent of the state's municipalities--after 5
percent of the voters signed petitions.
By evening, at least 40 towns had
passed the call for the president and Congress to withdraw U.S. troops from
Iraq.
Three other towns tabled the resolution for consideration, three
refused to consider it, and four defeated it.
Vermont has the highest
per-capita rates of National Guard deployment and casualties in the Iraq War of
any state in the country. National Guard members from 200
of this small
state's towns and cities have been shipped
off to fight a war which the
resolution made clear was based on lies.
While the resolution has no sharp
teeth, anti-war activists who worked to put it on the agenda stress that they
did so to create a grassroots discussion in schools, town halls and libraries.
Feinberg spoke to an audience of 900 in Burlington on March 4. She
urged all to take the grassroots anti-war movement into the streets on March
19.
Articles copyright 1995-2012 Workers World.
Verbatim copying and distribution of this entire article is permitted in any medium without royalty provided this notice is preserved.
Workers World, 55 W. 17 St., NY, NY 10011
Email:
[email protected]
Subscribe
[email protected]
Support independent news
DONATE