David Ledesma has been at the corner of Stevens Creek Boulevard and Winchester Boulevard protesting the US wars in the Middle East since the Iraq invasion 6 years and 3 months ago.
David Ledesma with his peace flag and sign.
Every Saturday and Sunday at 11:30 am Ledesma sets up his signs at the busy intersection and holds his peace flags until 2 pm. He began protesting with South Bay Mobilization in March 2003 in the weeks leading up to the invasion of Iraq. A few weeks later the organization he was with stopped protesting, but Ledesma continued on. Even though he’s now acting on his own, often supporters of his cause will join him, holding up signs and waving flags.
Ledesma is in opposition to all the US military actions going on in the Middle East. “The United States has been, through foreign policy, meddling in other people’s affairs for decades, both Democratic and Republican administrations, and people are tired of it. People around the world are sick of it and that’s what gives rise to extremism.”
Ledesma does not hold much hope that the change in administration from Bush to Obama will end the conflicts. “During the campaign, Obama said he was not going to bring troops home from Iraq for 16 months, and to me that’s not acceptable. And today, he’s now said it’s going to be until 2011 before he makes his decision. Even then there’s no guarantee that are troops are going to be coming home. As far as Afghanistan is concerned, he said during the campaign before the election, that he was going to increase US troop presence by 20,000. After he got elected, he increased it to 30,000.”
Under no illusion that he’s going to stop the wars, Ledesma just wants the public to know that there’s an opposition. “I did it because I want the American public to see resistance, I want them to see that there’s opposition. I want them to see the message because they’re not seeing this message on the news, they’re not seeing this kind of message on TV. So at least in my own small way, I’m getting a message out to the thousands and thousands of people that pass by this intersection, but I’m under no illusion that I’m going to stop the war. I’m not. I know that. But I’m just going to do what I can do.” As he speaks, car horns blow frequently showing solidarity with his message.
Foreign wars is a particularly close topic for Ledesma who, at age 13, lost his older brother Joseph to the Vietnam war. “I’m researching for a book that I’m writing on his life and I’ve contacted 8 men who served with him in Vietnam, including the medic who was with him when he died, and in my research I found my borther didn’t even die the way the government said he died. They lied to us about how he died. It’s not uncommon that the militay lies to the families because they don’t want the families to know the truth. They want to glorify the death. ”
Ledesma doesn’t limit his message to those driving through the busy intersection. He regularly visits high schools teaching students about alternatives to military service. “They’re really marketing the military to young people. The work that I do now for the last four years, every week I’ve been on the high school campuses of Wilcox High School and Santa Clara High School setting up a table during lunch time talking to the students about their options to military service, specifically not to join the military – to go to college or go to vocational training, do something else after high school.”
There’s a great interview with Ledesma here taken at the 5 year anniversary of his protest.
