http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/local/397388_peace25.html
For years, Fourth Avenue and Pine Street has been ground zero for peace activists of all stripes.
But this Saturday marked the first time in eight years that the usual array of banner wavers, aging hippies, singing grannies, and kaffiyeh-sporting protesters had someone new to persuade.
One might think that President Obama -- who has already promised combat withdrawal from Iraq and axed the Guantanamo Bay detention camp -- would have an uplifting, put-down-the-megaphone effect on protesters. That he might mellow them out, somehow.
Based on the roughly 100 people standing in near-freezing temperatures at the downtown Seattle plaza Saturday, the answer would be no.
"We're hopeful we'll see a change in attitude in the administration," said Mohammad Kaddoura, a program manager from Issaquah. He was part of the Save Gaza Campaign, which had set up a traditional mourning tent and a collection of coffins outside the Sephora cosmetic shop.
"But it's too early to tell. He's still new. You can't judge a book by its cover."
Plus, even with the Israeli withdrawal a week ago, there was still much to protest, he said. Humanitarian workers were struggling to get into Gaza with food and supplies, and many children had lost their families and homes.
The Saturday scene included Helen Von Erichsen, a 53-year-old activist who has stood vigil once a month for more than two years in support of 1st Lt. Ehren Watada of Fort Lewis, the first officer to publicly refuse serving in Iraq.
Watada's court martial ended in a mistrial in 2007, which his supporters say has left him in legal limbo. Over the years, Von Erichsen and her group's vigil has grown to include all war resisters.
"Obama should call Fort Lewis and say 'Just cut the guy loose,' and pardon the war resisters," she said.
For Abie Flaxhammer, a public-health researcher and member of Jewish Voice for Peace, the glimmer of hope in the new administration meant more urgency for activists.
Flaxhammer had been inspired by Obama's retelling of a conversation between legendary labor organizer A. Philip Randolph and Franklin Roosevelt.
President Roosevelt had told Randolph that he agreed with everything he said.
But Roosevelt ended with the words: "I would ask one thing of you� go out and make me do it."
That's what Flaxhammer intends to do. Sunday, he has another protest to attend -- a die-in he helped organize with Palestinian and Arab students at the Pike Place Market to protest the suffering in Gaza.
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