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Hollywood
Celebrities Mobilize for Peace
Barbra
Streisand isn't the only celebrity banging the drums of peace.
Hollywood,
which banded together after Sept. 11 to raise funds, flags and patriotic fervor,
is mobilizing an anti-war front to protest President Bush's plans for an attack
on Iraq.
BY
CAESAR G. SORIANO
USA Today/Reposted by Bulatlat.com
October 2002
Barbra
Streisand isn't the only celebrity banging the drums of peace.
Hollywood,
which banded together after Sept. 11 to raise funds, flags and patriotic fervor,
is mobilizing an anti-war front to protest President Bush's plans for an attack
on Iraq.
Susan
Sarandon, Tim Robbins, Danny Glover, Martin Sheen, Jessica Lange, Ed Asner,
Joanne Woodward and Jane Fonda are among the list of U.S. artists speaking out
against the Bush administration's policies.
It's
a dramatic departure from last year, when Republican leaders and Hollywood
officials worked together to increase the entertainment industry's support for
the war on terrorism.
Dozens
of celebrities have signed the ''Not In Our Name'' anti-war declaration that ran
as a paid advertisement in the Los Angeles Times on Friday and last month in The
New York Times. Playwright Tony Kushner, filmmaker Oliver Stone, actor Ossie
Davis, performer Mos Def, writer Gore Vidal and historian/author Howard Zinn are
among the signers of the declaration. It also opposes threats to civil liberties
and the government's treatment of Arab-Americans.
On
Sunday, the Not In Our Name group held an anti-war rally in New York City's
Central Park that drew Sheen, Robbins and Sarandon. Sheen, who plays the U.S.
president on the NBC drama "The West Wing," urged protesters to put
pressure on their congressional representatives to oppose Bush's quest for the
all-clear to wage war.
''I
don't think that a military expansion of violence is the solution,'' Sarandon
told reporters in Scotland recently. Sarandon also has narrated a documentary
about the importance of protecting post-Sept. 11 civil liberties. Bruce
Springsteen and Zinn also lent their support to "First Monday 2002,"
which premieres at college campuses nationwide today.
Compared
with Britain, where 150,000 people and celebrities held an anti-war rally in
London last month, a peace movement has been slow to build in the U.S.
Not
In Our Name rally organizer Mary Lou Greenberg says U.S. celebrities fear being
labeled anti-American. ''In this country, when Bush says 'You're either with us
or with the terrorists,' that's a deliberate effort to discourage people from
speaking out,'' she says.
''As
a publicist, I would advise my clients to stay away from the topic,'' says R.J.
Garis, a publicist and damage control expert.
Lange
spoke against war while in Madrid last week. The actress said she ''hates'' Bush
and said his call for an attack on Iraq is ''unconstitutional, immoral and
illegal.''
Other
celebrities have made a concerted effort not to take sides. At the Italian
premiere of "Minority Report," director Steven Spielberg and star Tom
Cruise said they could not support Saddam Hussein if Bush's reasons for
attacking are accurate. But after some newspapers said the superstars were Bush
backers, Spielberg quickly sent out a news release: ''It was never my intention
to give an endorsement.'' Bulatlat.com
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