War hits close to home in the South. As documented in the pages of SE, more of our region's sons and daughters are in the armed forces, more of our economy is dependent on military bases and weapons contracts, and more of our politicians are hawks for war than in any other part of the country.
So the tidal wave of protest that ripped across the globe on February 15 for "A World Says No to War" day -- 10 million strong, on every continent, making it perhaps the biggest global gathering in history -- had special meaning in our region.
For one, Southerners yearning for peace don't have the luxury of viewing those in the military as a distant "other." In our region, there are few (if any) degrees of separation between the peace activists and the men and women in the services, which is why the 2,500 who marched in Asheville, N.C., on February 15 drew a warm reception for their central slogan: "Support our Troops/Bring them Home!"