From left to right, John and Susan McCabe of Pekin and Jennifer Bass of Peoria protest U.S. military manuevers in Venezuela.
BILL KNIGHT
Early in the morning of Jan. 3, President Trump ordered U.S. military forces to bomb Venezuela’s capital Caracas and seize the country’s president, Nicolás Maduro, and his wife, Cilia Flores.
Most Americans were surprised, many were angered, and some mobilized to take their outrage to the streets.
Demonstrations also occurred in Chicago and St. Louis, and also in Galesburg and Macomb. Between cities large and small were protests in Champaign, Decatur, Edwardsville, Rockford and Springfield.
“We didn’t want to leave Peoria out,” said Jim Haptonstahl, one of the organizers at Peoria 50501, which in a matter of just 22 hours planned and carried out a Jan. 4 rally at the intersection of Main and University.
“We thought the seriousness of the situation was such that we had to act to have some show of force,” he said.
Other Illinois towns had the same thought that Sunday, and additional protests took place in Bloomington, Quincy and Rock Island.
Weeks before ICE shootings in Minneapolis and Portland, everyday people were already increasingly frustrated and agitated.
More than 100 people turned out in and around Peoria’s Campustown block despite cold temperatures. The afternoon seemed warmed by crowd chants of “No blood for oil,” “No kings, no crown, Peoria will not back down,” and supporters in passing vehicles honked and rolled down windows to wave and thrust their fists in the air.
“Trump’s [poll] numbers are falling and there are cracks in his MAGA and Republican base,” Haptonstahl said. “Studies show that protests have an impact, and the impact is starting to touch legislators.”
Next month, activists nationwide are planning “No Kings 3.0” rallies to follow October’s “No Kings” events at more than 2,700 communities, where almost 7 million people in all 50 states participated, including an estimated 6,000 in Peoria.
Haptonstahl continued, “As [author and former Labor Secretary] Robert Reich states, ‘The nightmare has awakened much of the U.S. to the truth about what has happened to this country — and what we must do to get it back on the track toward social justice, democracy and widespread prosperity.’
“Be ready to act!” he added.