White Scarfs for Peace

Subject: White Scarfs for Peace
From: InOBU
Date: 13 Mar 03 - 01:04 PM

Look guys, we need a new prefix here, asking a Quaker to call peace concerns BS is well, just too much, Max I love ya, but come up with a second prefix as an alternative to BS please!!!!

This was sent to me and I am passing it on to you...

Date: Tue, 11 Mar 2003 12:26:37 -0500
White Scarf For Peace

A spontaneous war protest has started in
Montreal after a popular radio host here announced that Mrs.
George W. Bush had cancelled a meeting with a group of
women at the White House because several of them planned
to attend the meeting with a white scarf round
their necks as a silent symbol of their desire for peace.

This symbol had power as it disturbed Mrs. Bush. This
story has triggered a grassroots email campaign
asking those committed to peace in the world to wear a white
scarf. If everyone who disagreed with the war were to
wear a white scarf around their neck, tie a white
handkerchief to their back-packs, their attaché case, their
school bags, white pennants from car antennas, white
flags on balconies and hanging in front of houses the world
over, would this not be a powerful message to send to
our leaders? Sometimes images and symbols are
more powerful than words. If you feel that this idea
has any validity, please join the email campaign
and pass this on to your network.

Subject: RE: White Scarfs for Peace
From: katlaughing
Date: 13 Mar 03 - 02:23 PM

Thank you, Larry. Brings to mind the white kata I received from Tibetan monks.

Subject: RE: White Scarfs for Peace
From: GUEST,Clint Keller
Date: 13 Mar 03 - 02:53 PM

Can anyone direct me to the original news story about Mrs Bush and the women with the white scarves? Can't find it.

thanks

clint

Subject: RE: White Scarfs for Peace
From: katlaughing
Date: 13 Mar 03 - 03:32 PM

Apparently it was announced on a Montreal radio station, according to this webpage from PEI: Island Peace.

The only other thing I could find were references to Mrs. Bush cancelling the poetry reading earlier this year because she didn't approve of the fact that many poets were going to voice or show their opposition to war. In those stories I found the poet lauriet of CT was going to wear a silk scarf imprinted with peace symbols which she commissioned just for the ocassion.

I'll keep looking.

Subject: RE: White Scarfs for Peace
From: GUEST,Clint Keller
Date: 13 Mar 03 - 03:54 PM

That's all that I found.

I think wearing white scarves is an ok idea, but if the story is a phony it weakens the case considerably. Better just wear the scarf on your own authority.

clint

Subject: RE: White Scarfs for Peace
From: InOBU
Date: 13 Mar 03 - 03:56 PM

Ah Clint, I have to say, with a friendly hug, picky picky picky! A little myth makes the world a soft and fuzzy warm place. Cheers Larry

Subject: RE: White Scarfs for Peace
From: open mike
Date: 13 Mar 03 - 04:03 PM

someone mentioned a yellow ribbon on their ante4nnae
not their antennae-their cars' one!
any one got a story behind that action as a statement?

Subject: RE: White Scarfs for Peace
From: katlaughing
Date: 13 Mar 03 - 04:10 PM

I think that's in support of the troops and to wish them home, ala the Viet Nam war.

Subject: RE: White Scarfs for Peace
From: gnu
Date: 13 Mar 03 - 04:21 PM

I have a yellow ribbon ready for my truck... I'm going to tie it on early morning March 18. God help us all. Especially the citizens of Iraq.

Subject: RE: White Scarfs for Peace
From: CarolC
Date: 13 Mar 03 - 04:26 PM

I live in a town with a big army base, and it's pretty common to see yellow ribbons on antennae and other parts of cars here. I feel a lot of sympathy for these people. My attorney's paralegal's husband is in the army and her son is in the air force. She's a really nice lady, and I hope no harm comes to any of her family members. I think it would make a powerful statement for people to display both a yellow ribbon and a white scarf together.

Subject: RE: White Scarfs for Peace
From: *daylia*
Date: 13 Mar 03 - 04:30 PM

Here's the story about White Scarves for Peace. Scroll down to the fifth entry.

And here's another. This one looks like it's the original. If you do a google search on "white scarves for peace" you'll find quite the list.

I think it's a great way to get a message across, but I'm wondering - do terrorists wear scarves? If so, are they white???

;)   daylia

Subject: RE: White Scarfs for Peace
From: InOBU
Date: 13 Mar 03 - 05:16 PM

My big worry, is that as a plain Quaker, white scarf will complete the Quaker Oat's guy look! Ah, what we do for peace. Cheers, Larry

Subject: RE: White Scarfs for Peace
From: GUEST,Clint Keller
Date: 13 Mar 03 - 05:20 PM

I like daylia's second reference. (I'm all for a good myth, InOBU, but I'll take a dream as myth over a fabrication any time.)

And in case there's any doubt, I'm for wearing the white scarves.

I don't know if terrorists wear scarves but the Dalai Lama seems big on them & that should be a recommendation of some kind.

clint

Subject: RE: White Scarfs for Peace
From: Beccy
Date: 13 Mar 03 - 05:21 PM

I'd like to see the original story sourced, please. If someone has a link to an independent news article that describes Mrs. Bush as "being upset" I may believe that she cancelled a meeting with women who were going to wear the white scarves. Otherwise, I think the white scarf story is- forgive me my next phrase- a red herring.

...And just how did Mrs. Bush know they'd be wearing white scarves as a "silent" protest? And who were these women? And why were they to be meeting with Mrs. Bush? Too many questions, folks...

Beccy

Subject: RE: White Scarfs for Peace
From: GUEST,Clint Keller
Date: 13 Mar 03 - 05:59 PM

Beccy

I think the story is a phony, but not a red herring. A red herring is "something that draws attention away from the central issue" according to my dictionary.

The central issue is "is it a good idea to wear a white scarf to show a desire for peace?" Concentrating on the story, with the implication that because the story is probably false, wearing a scarf for peace is somehow invalid --that's a red herring.

Wear the scarf, lose the story.

clint

Subject: RE: White Scarfs for Peace
From: DougR
Date: 13 Mar 03 - 06:34 PM

I thought scarfs went out with zoot suits.

I read the story at the time the White House session was cancelled but I don't recall anything in about white scarfs. I think that might be an after thought. As I recall, the purpose of the meeting was to encourage the reading of poetry. Naturally that wasn't enough for the left wing poets and when Mrs. Bush learned that the session, intended as an educational promotional purpose was to be turned into a war protest, she cancelled it. I commend her for doing that.

DougR

Subject: RE: White Scarfs for Peace
From: GUEST,clint keller
Date: 13 Mar 03 - 07:10 PM

More red herring. See definition above.

The scarf is supposed to be an ethical/political statement, not a fashion statement.

Opposition to war is not confined to the left wing. Whatever that is. There's even old Republicans agin it.

Poetry is about life. All of life, not just sweetness & Easter bunnies. War & peace are included. Read Walt Whitman, for one. Poetry separated from life is meaningless and the threatened war is a big part of our life right now.

But all that's peripheral and a distraction. The central issue is "is it a good idea to wear a white scarf to show a desire for peace?" Not a hard question.

clint

Subject: RE: White Scarfs for Peace
From: catspaw49
Date: 13 Mar 03 - 07:52 PM

Hell Doug, I wish Zoot Suits would come back man! I mean I ain't got the "figure" for it, but it's a great look and you feel about 10 feet tall and skinny!!!

Spaw--Who wore one in a play and at 6 feet tall and 230 pounds, still felt skinny!!

Subject: RE: White Scarfs for Peace
From: Troll
Date: 13 Mar 03 - 09:57 PM

'Spaw, there are several shops in the LA area that specialize in Zoot suits. Do a google and learn all about it.

troll

Subject: RE: White Scarfs for Peace
From: DougR
Date: 14 Mar 03 - 12:52 AM

Spaw: did you have the long watch chain too?

I think the scarf thing may be a marketing gimmic probably by some obscure scarf manufacturing company in Rhode Island. The market for scarfs hasn't probably been very good lately, so some marketing director thought up the idea of promoting peace to the marchers by selling them a white scarf. Or, it's possible that the company had tons of these things leftover from aviators in World Wars I and II and the marketing director is trying to get rid of inventory.

Check out "White Scarfs" on the Internet and see if it leads to a little scarf manufacturing company somewhere in Rhode Island. If you find it, you can thank me! It's possible, perhaps, that a price war could erupt in the scarf manufacturing industry. Wouldn't that be something? If one waits for awhile it might be possible to buy one and get one free!

DougR

Subject: RE: White Scarfs for Peace
From: GUEST
Date: 14 Mar 03 - 09:40 AM

Good idea Peaceniks: the symbol the scarf says to the world is; you are surrendering to a dictator and bunch of terrorists, by wearing your white flags.

Subject: RE: White Scarfs for Peace
From: Bagpuss
Date: 14 Mar 03 - 10:00 AM

I always wear a white poppy (rather than a red one) for remembrance day - but it looks like you can order them all year round from peace pledge union.

Bagpuss

Subject: RE: White Scarfs for Peace
From: Rustic Rebel
Date: 14 Mar 03 - 03:05 PM

The way I read the story one of the poets was to wear a scarf with peace symbols on it. Laura didn't want to turn her meeting into a political thing and cancelled.

Guest what's with the -'peaceniks' label you use? I think that terms was used a long time ago. Not to mention your surreal assumptions of linking a white flag of surrender with the wearing of white scarves. So now anyone wearing a white scarf is a symbol of surrender to you? OK.
Peace. Rustic- flying my WHITE freak, peacenik, flag, chanting-get a life.

Subject: RE: White Scarfs for Peace
From: Ebbie
Date: 14 Mar 03 - 03:19 PM

I already have a white silk scarf- I don't yet have a yellow one. I think twining together yellow and white ones, as CarolC said, would make a powerful statement. At the very least, it will serve as a conversation starter- and these days the more people we can get to talking, the better.

Or, if that ends up being too bulky around my neck, I think a white scarf entwined with a yellow ribbon will serve the same purpose.

Subject: RE: White Scarfs for Peace
From: GUEST
Date: 14 Mar 03 - 04:45 PM

The French Connection
By William Safire
New York Times | March 14, 2003


France, China and Syria all have a common reason for keeping American and British troops out of Iraq: the three nations may not want the world to discover that their nationals have been illicitly supplying Saddam Hussein with materials used in building long-range surface-to-surface missiles.

We are not talking about the short-range Al Samoud 2, which Saddam is ostentatiously destroying to help his protectors avert an invasion, nor his old mobile Scuds. The delivery system for mass destruction warheads requires a much more sophisticated propulsion system and fuels.

If you were running the Iraqi ballistic missiles project, where in the world would you go to buy the chemical that is among the best binders for solid propellant?

Answer: to 116 DaWu Road in Zibo, a city in the Shandong Province of China, where a company named Qilu Chemicals is a leading producer of a transparent liquid rubber named hydroxy terminated polybutadiene, familiarly known in the advanced-rocket trade as HTPB.

But you wouldn't want the word "chemicals" to appear anywhere on the purchase because that might alert inspectors enforcing sanctions, so you employ a couple of cutouts. One is an import-export company with which Qilu Chemicals often does business.

To be twice removed from the source, you would turn to CIS Paris, a Parisian broker that is active in dealings of many kinds with Baghdad. Its director is familiar with the order but denies being the agent.

A shipment of 20 tons of HTPB, whose sale to Iraq is forbidden by U.N. resolutions and the oil-for-food agreement, left China in August 2002 in a 40-foot container. It arrived in the Syrian port of Tartus (fortified by the Knights Templar in 1183, and the Mediterranean terminus for an Iraqi oil pipeline today) and was received there by a trading company that was an intermediary for the Iraqi missile industry, the end user. The HTPB was then trucked across Syria to Iraq.

Syria has no sophisticated missile-building program. What rocket weaponry it has comes off the shelf (and usually on credit) from Russia, so it therefore has no use for HTPB. But cash-starved Syria is the conduit for missile supplies to cash-flush Saddam, as this shipment demonstrates. We will have to wait until after the war to find out how much other weaponry, for what huge fees, Saddam has stored in currently un-inspectable Syrian warehouses.

The French connection — brokering the deal among the Chinese producer, the Syrian land transporter and the Iraqi buyer — is no great secret to the world's arms merchants. French intelligence has long been aware of it. The requirement for a French export license as well as U.N. sanctions approval may have been averted by disguising it as a direct offshore sale from China to Syria.

I'm also told that a contract was signed last April in Paris for five tons of 99 percent unsymmetric dimethylhydrazine, another advanced missile fuel, which is produced by France's Société Nationale des Poudre et Explosifs. In addition, Iraqi attempts to buy an oxidizer for solid propellant missiles, ammonium perchlorate, were successful, at least on paper. Both chemicals, like HTPB, require explicit approval by the U.N. Sanctions Committee before they can be sold to Iraq.

Perhaps a few intrepid members of the Chirac Adoration Society, formerly known as the French media, will ask France's lax export-control authorities about these shipments. U.N. inspectors looking at Iraq's El Sirat trading company might try to follow its affiliate, the Gudia Bureau, to dealings in Paris.

Is this account what journalists call a "keeper," one held back for publication at a critical moment, made more newsworthy by the Security Council debate? No; I've been poking around for only about a week, starting with data originating from an Arab source, not from the C.I.A. (Anti-Kurdish analysts at Langley have it in for me for embarrassing them for 18 months on Al Qaeda's ties to Saddam, especially in the terrorist Ansar enclave in Iraqi Kurdistan.)

This detail about the France-China-Syria-Iraq propellant collaboration makes for dull reading, but reveals some of the motivation behind the campaign of those nations to suppress the truth. The truth, however, will out.

Subject: RE: White Scarfs for Peace
From: mooman
Date: 14 Mar 03 - 05:33 PM

Good idea Larry, I will wear my white and yellow katas together when out in the coming days...

Pax

moo

Subject: RE: White Scarfs for Peace
From: open mike
Date: 15 Mar 03 - 03:59 AM

the trouble with symbols is that they may convey different meanings to different people who see them. I remember once there were at least
3 interest groups procaliming that red ribbons stood for their cause:
Drug-Free School campaing, Mothers Against Drunk Driving, AIDs research and cure, and Boycott Aparttheid in So. Africa. So what are you saying when putting a red ribbon on? hard to tell...
and yellow ribbons were used as some sort of solidarity with loggers
a while back in northern california...and still some are seen tied
to antenae of pick up trucks with chaing saws in the back with bumper
stickers that say Earth First--we'll log the other planets later..
and crude remarks about wiping your ass with a spotted owl.
sheesh...you might un-knowingly allign yourself with that campaign
by "tie a yellow ribbon round the old oak tree..."
and BTW the plural of scarf is scarves...

Subject: RE: White Scarfs for Peace
From: open mike
Date: 15 Mar 03 - 04:23 AM

in looking for that elusive scarf pusher in Rhode Island,
all i found was the Society for Creative Anachronism
Sword Fighting Treaty called White Scarf--
S.C.A. White Scarf
swords into plow shares, I say!
here is a picture that happens to be in turkey
/White Scarf pix
and her is another mention of white scarf:
this airway is in Georgia
it could be a plot started by them!