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Below is our local newspaper's article about a special event at the nearby peace vigil in Montrose. |
Glendale News-Press
Antiwar activists invoke John Lennon, Yoko Ono’s peace message of 40 years ago.
By Veronica Rocha
March 28, 2009
Demonstrators took turns lying on an inflatable mattress at the corner of Honolulu Avenue and Ocean View Boulevard on Friday while others passed out daisies and sang songs of peace in commemoration of John Lennon and Yoko Ono’s 40th anniversary Bed-In for peace.
Lennon and Ono staged a bed-in in 1969 at a hotel during their honeymoon and allowed cameras to photograph them in bed while they promoted peace and protested the Vietnam War.
Forty years later, the members of the Montrose Peace Vigil tried to re-create the couple’s demonstration, but they decided to take it to the streets of their town for a couple of hours.
“We are all committed to peace,” group member Roberta Medford said. “This is a campaign for peace.”
The group members began protesting the Iraq war and promoting peace in January 2005, and have met every Friday at the same corner in Montrose since they started, she said. The number of people from La Crescenta, Montrose and Tujunga who participate in the group’s weekly demonstration fluctuates, but they manage to get 18 activists to attend every week, Medford said.
“Most people want but they might not think it’s possible,” she said. . . . peace
Motorists driving by the group on Friday honked their horns while demonstrators held signs saying “Give Peace a Chance Bed-In,” “Hair Peace,” “Bed-In 1969 — 2009,” “Support Our Troops” and “War is over, if you want it.”
Group member Nancy Hutchins lay on the inflatable mattress as a bed frame stood in the foreground and she held a sign that said “John and Yoko.”
She and member Jeanne Lavieri later sang and played “Give Peace a Chance” on their guitars.
Most people support Hutchins and the other group participants’ demonstrations since the group is peaceful, she said.
But while Hutchins doesn’t believe in war, she said some group members have different opinions than hers about going to war and believe war is needed when it is necessary.
“I am a pacifist,” she said. “I am against going to war, period.”
Pasadena resident Nick Mosaquites is not against peace, he said.
“I don’t think anything is wrong with demonstrating for peace,” he said. “I just don’t think it should be at the expense of people who are fighting for peace.”
Lennon and Ono’s message of peace was important for their generation because it demonstrated nonviolence, group member Kaitlyn Fritts said.
“Violence doesn’t solve anything,” she said. “It’s better to come together and solve something than being violent.”
Copyright 2009 - Glendale News Press
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Submitted by news on Sat, 05/09/2009 - 01:23.