Local anti-war groups struggle to mobilize opposition

To be sure, the foundation's president, Rich Rathbun, doesn't support the administration's actions. But "our primary focus," he says, "is now our Center for the Evolution of Culture." His Palo Alto foundation studies cultural differences and supports the increase of intercultural contacts. But it doesn't do demonstrations like it used to.

But why the specific lack of activism in the nation's second largest city? In Northern California, protest against the U.S. military posture has been building for days. Joanie Tyson of the San Jose Peace Center notes that there was a simultaneous candlelight vigil held on February 11 in Berkeley, Sacramento and San Jose. She says a mass action is planned for Saturday, February 21, at the San Francisco Federal Building.

On February 10, a full-page ad sponsored partly by Peace Action ran in the West Coast edition of The New York Times, touting these demonstrations and others slated for Seattle, Salem and Eugene. But there was no mention of anti-war events south of San Jose. Tyson says she knows of nothing of the sort going on anyplace in Southern California.

Jerry Rubin thinks the local movement will grow as war becomes more imminent. "I'm sure the demonstrations will get bigger," he insists. If they don't, there remain the protests of moral witness from pacifist groups. For Sonia Tuma of the American Friends Service Committee's regional headquarters in Pasadena, continuing anti-war protest "is in the tradition of Quakerism." Her group posts vigils of 20 or more people on the corner of Garfield Avenue and Colorado Boulevard in Pasadena every weekday at noon.

Meanwhile, some would-be protesters are still seeking outlets for their convictions. Mary Olson, a longtime Ventura activist, called the Fellowship of Reconciliation offices in New York, fruitlessly seeking information on what the peace movement's plans were in Greater Los Angeles. "Even Pax Christi [the long-established regional Catholic peace group] seems to have disappeared," she says. "I'm still looking for some peace activity here or in Santa Barbara."