Candlelight Vigil Held to Protest Torture and Spying

Citizens held a vigil Wednesday evening in Northampton, MA to protest Bush administration policies that are undermining civil liberties. People stood in the cold for half an hour holding candles and signs to protest the administration's secrecy, wiretapping, and its record of human rights abuses. The local chapter of 'Raging Grannies' sang acapella songs about torture and wiretapping with three part harmony. People took turns reading the bill of rights and took the microphone calling for the Impeachment of president Bush.

Armed with a microphone from the kind folks at WMUA I canvassed the people for comments about why they were there - obviously, because they have a big problem with Bush's policies - and what they thought could be done about it. I also asked people what they would say to president Bush if they got the chance. I'll hopefully have an edited version of the piece within the week.

The people who came out for the vigil were mostly thirty years old and up; there were a couple small "protest dogs" wearing clever signs; but there weren't very many college-age people from what I could see, and I walked up and down the block quite a few times during the vigil.

The vigil was coordinated nationally by MoveOn.org and organized locally by members of the nascent Coalition to Oppose Secrecy and Torture and cosponsored by the Western Mass Progressive Democrats.

For more information on this and other events, check out MoveOn.org.