Peace Movement Not Silent: Response to Ellen Goodman
by Leslie Reindl
Minneapolis Star Tribune, January 5, 2003

To the Editor: Recently Ellen Goodman referred to the "silent majority"
that she believes are against a war on Iraq but do not speak up, and stated that the peace movement has not yet rallied the public against such a war.
Perhaps when Ms. Goodman wrote this column her remarks rang true. But in the last month or so I believe there has been a mass turning against war, and public expressions of that turning. This is perhaps best evidenced by the new "Win Without War Coalition," which includes the National Council of Churches (representing 50 million congregants), the NAACP, the Sierra Club (which is usually apolitical), Business Leaders for Sensible Priorities, the MoveOn campaign, and Veterans for Common Sense. I have seen my own church move from a position of support for the administration to one of vocal opposition. I have also met numerous people in rallies and vigils who say they have never protested anything before.

The U.S. media would do well to begin reporting fully on the noise of this "silent majority," and to explore in depth the economic, social and moral effects on its own citizens, let alone on those elsewhere, of a country beginning a preemptive war on helpless civilians while bribing countries around the world to support it in this evil act.

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