Part of the crowd of 750,000 sitting shoulder to shou NEW YORK — It started at the United Nation's building in the early morning and didn’t reach Central Park until one in the afternoon. Demonstrators marched 30 abreast along two major downtown streets while 5,000 police assigned to keep order held back the spectators lining the route. With estimates ranging from 700,000 to over one mil- lion it was the biggest peace rally in North American history. Infants pushed in strollers, wore signs reading, ‘*| want to grow up, not blow up’’, members of senior citizens” groups, high school students, an entire contin- _ gent of computer technicians, lawyers and legal work- ~ ers, health care workers and nuns sang songs, shouted Slogans carried placards to let world leaders attend- ing the United Nations Second Special Session on Disarmament know that the time had come to **Ban the Bomb" Making Peace History Organizers felt pretty confident that the protest would gather record numbers of people. They already had little made history, June 12, New York.”’ Bigger than the anti- Vietnam protests of the late 60s and early 70s the crowd had a different appearance too. _. There were the beards, blue jeans and cutoffs but there __ were also the business suits, polyester slacks and wind- breakers. The silent majority had taken to the streets. **Disarmament has been the business of the anti-estab- lishment, but now it is the established business of every- one,” said Jacob Sheinkman of the Amalgamated Tex= tile Workers Union, speaking to the acres of people sitting shoulder to shoulder in Central Park. There can be no doubt that the crowd saw themselves as a political force. The gathering responded with enthu- siasm to the opening statement of Coretta Scott King, - widow of the late Dr. Martin Luther King. ‘‘We have come here in numbers so large that the message must get through to the White House’’, she said. The civil nghts activist then linked the struggle for disarmament and against racism. *‘It is inspiring for me to see people ofall races and nations to come together for . peace’’, she said, reminding the crowd that ‘there can be no peace without justice, justice without peace. Our priorities must be centred on people's needs, on development.” Many of the dozens of speakers during the day linked arms spending with social service cuts, lack of job oppor- tunities and oppression in the developing world. Victor _ Gotbaum, executive director of District Council 37 of the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees, cited figures spent on the arms race and the number of jobs which could be created if the money were put into medical care, education and housing. ‘*What the we don’t want it. It stinks.” His sentiments were echoed by Paul Mormealt 20, a student at Syracuse University. Mormealt had drawn his own sign that he carried in the parade, a bright orange mushroom cloud with the inscription ‘Books not Bombs’’. “‘I figure that I'd rather have money spent on education than the arms race’’, he said. ‘‘Education is certainly more useful and far less expensive. Just think of the scholarships one tank could buy.”’ PACIFIC TRIBUNE—JUNE 25, 1982—Page 6 cards printed which many participants wore, reading *‘I hell kind of society is this?”’ he asked. ‘‘We don’t need it, ‘ i aaa r ider on the Great Lawn in New York's Central Park. Rally participants and speakers in signs, banners and speeches linked the questions of peace and develop- ment. There seemed to be a universal recognition that even the industrialized Western nations could not have both guns and butter. And surprisingly, given the diver- gent composition of the crowd, most of the fire was directed at Reagan and the U.S. administration. Guns or Butter Signs read ‘‘send the actor back to Hollywood’’; ‘*Reagan is a bomb — both should be banned”’; one child carried a placard *‘Mr. Reagan — Give me a chance to reach your age’’. Various solidarity contingents called for an end to U.S. intervention in El Salvador, South Africa, the Mideast ‘and elsewhere. On the platform, speaker Clevland Robinson recog- nized, ‘‘we were-the first to make the bomb. We were the first to drop the bomb. ‘We were the first to make the neutron bomb. We must be the first to stop the bomb.” Rubin Zemora of the Revolutionary Democratic Front of El Salvador lambasted the policies of the Reagan administration which has sent arms to the murderous regime instead of food for the people. Speakers also reminded participants that this peace action had to be carried over to the ballot box. Former Democrat Congress member Bella Abzug, now head of Women USA, told the assembled, ‘‘We intend to take our position to the polls in 82, 83, and 84’’, referring to - upcoming U.S. congressional, senatorial and _presi- dential races. Abzug, a long time Pentagon critic, headed the Women’s Department.in the Carter administration but Survivor 0, + ombing Hiroshima survivor takes a rest along the parade route. His button reads: “The arms race is already killing us”. “you goosebumps,’” said one participant. o If the march was any indication, there appears to be? From New York Articles by Kerry McCuaig Photos by: A.M. Tate Jose Kaufman Wally Brooker — was fired when she strayed from strictly “‘women’s IS sues’’ and knocked the arms budget. Canada Is No Angel bi While the U.S. came in for the most flack, Robeft — Mienard of Quebec City, who had camped overnight in : the park with friends, said, ‘‘Canada is no angel. Tru- deau can make great speeches about ‘suffocating the arms race’ then allow the U.S. to store nuclear weapons in our country and test Cruise missiles in our air space. With this group of Canadians were some of the mat chers who made the trek from Toronto to New York CilY on foot for the event. ‘‘The people along the way wer very warm to us,”’ said David Redflower, a Sioux India® who had been on the road since January when he left his native California. The Canadian and U.S. marches teamed up in early May in upstate New York. At sm towns along the way churches and community centres opened their doors to give marchers shelter for the night, — said Redflower. Local organizers solicited their commu- nities for food and the necessary first aid items. ‘‘In oné ; town they sent out a marching band to meet us. It gav& strong revival of political art among cultural workers: — Two storey puppets, creations of the Bread and Puppet” Theatre, regulars at New York demonstrations dance their way along the route. A life size inflated blue whale _ with the legend ‘‘Save the Humans”’ was carried along above the heads of the crowd. Dressed in the stars stripes, one performer with a Vermont theatrical com pany walked the entire six miles on stilts 30 feet in the all. While dancers, acrobats, mime groups and artistS” brought the disarmament message to the delighted crowds lining the route, on the platform at Central Par rockers like Linda Ronstadt, Jackson Browne, Brucé Springsteen and James Taylor pleased the younge! crowd, while the protest songs of the 60s were revived ra Seeger, Joan Baez and the trio of Peter, Paul and ary. The June 12 rally committee had organized over 2,000 volunteers, all dressed in red T-shirts with the UN seS sion logo, to help the crowds, direct traffic and attend t0 mild ailments. At subway stations the Guardian Angels; a volunteers group of young people maintained order offered assistance and directions. Along the route peace signs, banners and slogans wel® hung from apartment balconies as residents waved t crowd along. Outside the Dakota apartment buildin& home to slain performer John Lennon the marchers broke out singing, “‘Give Peace a Chance’’. “There's a special feeling here’’, said Roby Cory of Ohio. An independent trucker, Cory delayed his return trip for a day to take part in the march. ‘‘It’s restored My _ faith in humanity’’. On an improvised sign he had writte? the names and ages of his two children and the messag® “Tm here for my babies”’.