Michelle Samenfeld
City Editor
In conjunction with a national organization of families who lost members Sept. 11, 2001, members of the Madison community will hold a remembrance vigil by candlelight Wednesday night at James Madison Park.
“We will take time to silently remember victims of the Sept. 11 tragedy and also remember victims of the ongoing U.S. policy of war in Afghanistan and Iraq,” said Rae Vogeler, spokesperson for the Madison Area Peace Coalition, a co-sponsor of the event.
The 7:30 p.m. vigil will be at the same time as a vigil held at Ground Zero, sponsored by Families for a Peaceful Tomorrow, a group of people who lost loved ones in New York, Washington and Pennsylvania.
According to Vogeler, Families for a Peaceful Tomorrow organized to oppose U.S. military reprisals and aggression.
“The violence would continue the pain and suffering. They did not want loved ones to be used as an excuse for U.S. military occupation in other countries,” Vogeler said.
The vigil at James Madison Park, located on Lake Mendota and East Gorham, will not have any speakers and will be silent, Vogeler said, to act in conjunction with the Ground Zero vigil and other vigils held nationwide on the night of Sept. 10.
“The vigil should provide an opportunity to mourn the loss of the Sept. 11 victims, but also to make their presence known in opposition to the U.S. foreign policy of endless war, which we’ve seen since the fall of 2001,” Vogeler said.
The Madison Area Peace Coalition was created Sept. 25, 2001, prior to the U.S. invasion in Afghanistan.
“We heard the U.S. administration beating the drums for war,” Vogeler said.
The Madison chapter of Veterans for Peace, another sponsor of the vigil, was formed in January 2003 and is comprised of veterans from World War II, the Korean War, the Vietnam War, the Persian Gulf War and one veteran of the Israeli army.
“We know the consequences of American foreign policy because once, at a time in our lives, so many of us carried it out. We find it sad that war seems so delightful, so often, to those that have no knowledge of it. We will proudly, and patriotically, continue to denounce war despite whatever misguided sense of euphoria supports it,” reads their website.
In addition, Madison Women for Peace, which organized March 2003 in response to the likelihood of the strike in Iraq, and Madison East Students for Freedom and Peace are co-sponsoring the vigil.
University of Wisconsin students, however, say they are not sure a vigil to commemorate the second anniversary of Sept. 11 should also include an anti-war stance.
“I don’t think both are really connected that much,” said UW junior Jeff Egley. “It’s OK to combine them as long as you differentiate between the Iraqis not being responsible for Sept. 11. Saddam is another issue.”
