Local community members met Tuesday at Rep. Peter DeFazio’s office in Eugene to deliver a petition requesting that U.N. weapons inspectors be allowed to continue their work in Iraq unhindered. The petitioning was part of a nationwide movement organized by MoveOn.org, an Internet community with more than 600,000 members across the country.
Representatives from MoveOn.org said the organization visited almost 500 congressional offices Tuesday, handing over nearly 300,000 signatures gathered in online petitions. MoveOn.org Regional Coordinator and Eugene resident Henry Snow said the Internet has helped the anti-war movement grow stronger, calling this site one of the purest online communities available.
“It allows people from all over the country to come together and unite in a way that wouldn’t otherwise be possible,” he said.
DeFazio, who was in Washington, D.C., when the petition was delivered, was unable to participate in the conference call initiated by MoveOn.org representatives in Eugene. Dawn Lesley, a MoveOn.org volunteer and resident of Eugene, said DeFazio’s personal aide took the call instead and expressed the congressman’s support of the movement.
“Congressman DeFazio continues to be active regarding this issue and is continuing to work against a preemptive strike against Iraq,” Lesley said.
MoveOn.org was started in the late 1990s in the wake of the scandal concerning former President Bill Clinton. With anti-war sentiment increasing across the country in recent months, membership for the site has increased.
“What I like about MoveOn.org is that they articulate the issues in a clear way,” volunteer Jennifer Knowlton said. “They speak to issues I’m concerned about in a way I really respect. They produce results.”
MoveOn.org recently garnered nearly $400,000 in support from its members to pay for newspaper and television advertisements that appeared in major U.S. cities throughout last week. One ad, almost identical in content to one aired in the 1960s, has recently received much media attention. The familiar “Daisy” ad depicts a young girl counting flower petals, followed by the appearance of a mushroom cloud from a nuclear bomb.
“As soon as the first shot is fired against Iraq, the war could easily get out of hand and result in catastrophe,” MoveOn.org president Wes Boyd said in a press release. “Therefore, it is in everyone’s interests for the Bush administration to proceed with due caution and let the U.N. process work.”

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