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FLC takes on Wilder classic
written by Missy Votel
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Michael
Moore and Arundhati Roy are
two of the speakers featured in
Thursday’s “Voices of Patriots”
video. |
In the last year or so, the word patriotism
has taken on new meaning for many Americans. While it’s
often associated with images of the flag and heroic soldiers
marching off to battle, a group of local anti-war activists
would like to challenge that notion. On Thursday night,
the Abbey Theatre, with KDUR, local peace and anti-war
groups the Southwest Colorado Peace and Justice Coalition
and People of Conscience, is sponsoring “Voices
of Patriots,” a collection of video excerpts from
various well-known luminaries on alternatives to war.
 As
Tom Bartels, organizer of the event and owner of the Abbey
explained, the event used the word “patriots”
in its title to dispel the notion that being a patriot
means being pro-war.
“I believe there are millions of Americans who
are very patriotic but don’t believe in going out
and killing innocent people,” he said. “A
lot of times people who are against war are accused of
being unpatriotic and told, ‘If you don’t
like it, get out.’But the fact is, we love our country.
Therefore, we don’t want it to go to war.”
Bartels said the video, which runs a little more than
two hours, was culled from a collection of speeches given
at various colleges across the country. The speeches were
taped by Justice Vision, a national anti-war group whose
goal is to disseminate the tapes across the country to
people who wouldn’t normally have a chance to see
them.
“They do it so people in outlying areas can see
the speeches,” he said. “They’re barely
covering their costs; they just want to get the word out.”
Bartels said he went through 60 hours of tapes before
editing the video down to five speakers: MIT linguist,
author and political dissenter Noam Chomsky; Boston University
professor, historian and author of The People’s
History of the United States, Howard Zinn; novelist Arundhati
Roy; filmmaker, writer and social activist, Michael Moore;
and former Harvard professor and author of When Corporations
Ruled the World, David Korten.
“These aren’t just a bunch of hippies standing
on the street corner talking about it,” he said.
“These are some pretty astute individuals who have
been studying world affairs for more than 30 years.”
Each speech is about 15 to 20 minutes with the exception
of Roy’s, which was given in Santa Fe last September.
“I left her speech as 40 minutes,” he said
of the author famous for her novel set in India, The God
of Small Things. “I just couldn’t edit her
because she’s so good – very poetic and strong.”
Dennis Lum, a professor of sociology at Fort Lewis College,
will introduce each of the clips and act as moderator
for anyone who may have questions. In addition, several
anti-war and peace groups will be on hand to answer question
and give out information, and there will be an intermission
and silent auction. Proceeds from the auction and ticket
sales will go to the Peace and Justice Coalition and People
of Conscience.
Bartels is hoping that the event will draw not only peace
activists but those who are in favor of war or not quite
sure where they stand on the topic.
“I hope that we don’t just get the choir
there,” he said. “I want people who are on
the fence so they can at least get a different perspective.
“I also want to tell people who may agree with
peace that if they know a friend who doesn’t agree,
then bring them,” he continued.
It is this fundamental exchange of ideas – free
speech – that America is founded on, Bartels said,
and perhaps there is no better time to exercise it than
in the face of impending war.
“If there ever was a time for people to get out
and get active, the time is now,” he said.
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