Subject: Letter to city council
Date: Thu, 27 May 2004 17:05:28 -0700 (PDT)

Dear Olympia City Council,


            On Tuesday May 25th, like many others, I attend the public comments that the council agreed to organize in regards to the
possible passing of a resolution to exclude the USS Olympia from the ports of Olympia and make Olympia a Nuclear Free Zone.
First, I would like to congratulate the council on creating a form to allow citizens from Olympia and other communities a place to
express their views and discuss the issue. At the crux of any issue of public concern is the nature and process of democracy. The
more open opportunities such as the one on the 25th that are able to happen the more powerful the character of Olympia’s citizens-
regardless of the outcome.

            On that night I heard many things that I was not expecting to hear. I heard cries for greater appreciation for hard work and
sacrifice that others make for us; I heard a need to belong, to recognize oneself as part of a community; I heard a need to be free
from exclusion, a need for honor of the brave, and I heard a need for safety and security and an appreciation for those who work to
ensure it. I think, and I believe that no one would dissent with this, that these needs are things that we all strive for and desire. The
people who were delivering these needs to the council I would not label as Fascists or nut-cases, as I have heard some do, but
people who are genuinely concerned with the future and state of their communities, their country, and the world- and perhaps there is
some truth to their cries, and we as a community must do more to address the issues behind the language of these citizens.

            I also heard a great cry to make those members of the USS Olympian welcome in our city. I would strongly advise the
council to never exclude any current or former US soldier from its limits, or any soldier around the world for that matter. It would fill
me with a sense of pride to know that Olympia would be seen as a beckon of acceptance and tolerance for all people, and fill me
with dread to think of any policy that did not protect and promise the safety and acknowledgment of any person.  

            However, the needs and values that were expressed by this camp of people are not the only ones to be considered. There
also concerns for ecology, for community autonomy from the military and federal government, for openness and democratic
governance, and an elementary concern for peace. I believe it to be a truism that we cannot fulfill one value or need without fulfilling
all of them- and for that reason, I would support the council in passing a future resolution in support of banding the USS Olympia
from entering its ports, or any other military vehicle or vessel for that matter from city limits, along with making the city of Olympia a
Nuclear Free Zone.  

            On that night there was some talk of the inability to separate the USS Olympian from its crewmembers. When I heard such
remarks, a shiver ran down my spin. I can honestly say that I am more afraid of that thinking than I am of any vessel coming to
Olympia, because it is that thinking, the reducing of people to objects and believing that those objects have more power over our
lives than another person, is the type damages any hope for the values of either camp are met. We as people can connect with other
people- we cannot have a connection with an object. We cannot know how an object feels, who it is, or the possibility of what it can
become through the workings of its own power. I believe that a separation between the two is not only possible not critical to
understanding the gravity of the situation. I think it is possible for Olympia to be a place where violence is shunned, but the people
who have been violent or complacent in violence are accepted with open arms. Our ability to do so is not only necessary to maintain
justice in Olympia, but also peace, for the true advocate of peace knows no enemy; the true advocate of peace searches for the need
behind any actions and tries to fulfill it in a hope to get to the root of violence rather than merely guard against the action.

            This past week I heard a provocative thing that I would like to share with the council: violence becomes enjoyable at the
point is given the illusion of necessity. I believe that this truism explains a lot about our given circumstance. I would urge the council to
look past the illusion of necessity that the war is Iraq has, and place the burden of proof for violent action on those who perform it. If
that proof does not stand, then we all have an obligation, to make an effort to stop it; especially those with a particularly degree of
power. If we don’t, then I shiver at the thought of our payment; a world less free, less just, less peaceful, and less democratic.  

            Again I thank the council for their time and hope that they brood on these comments with a lot of consideration.

 

PEACE

Marco Rosaire Rossi
Olympia, WA 98501