AMY GOODMAN: “Our grief is not a cry for war!” This was the statement that 70 artists and writers made in a guerrilla performance at Times Square earlier this week. We’re joined by Ashton Applewhite, a writer with the Artists Network of Refuse & Resist!

Welcome to The War and Peace Report.

ASHTON APPLEWHITE: Thank you. We assembled from all different directions just before 6:00 to minimize the possibility of police interference. We were wearing black with white dust masks. We swiftly picked up big placards that had the saying, “Our grief is not a cry for war!” joined hands and formed long lines on either side of the little triangle at the heart of Times Square, just north of the recruiting station, and stood silently for an hour. We picked Times Square because it is the center of so much media activity in New York and because it’s completely covered in red, white and blue flags and bunting these days. And our purpose is to get the message out as widely as possible that there is a strong and active antiwar movement growing in the U.S.

AMY GOODMAN: Well, this sign is cropping up all over the city: “Our grief is not a cry for war!” There was a previous action at Union Square, which is becoming a real kind of peace and democracy park.

ASHTON APPLEWHITE: Yeah.

AMY GOODMAN: That’s lined by also hundreds of pictures of photographs of those who have been unaccounted for in the World Trade Center attack, and then also these little postcard-size, in psychedelic colors, “Our grief” —

ASHTON APPLEWHITE: We’ve been stickering as widely as we could and posted the files on a website so people can download them, which they’re doing all over the world.

AMY GOODMAN: At which website?

ASHTON APPLEWHITE: It’s — you can get to it through artistsnetwork.org, which is a division of Refuse & Resist!

AMY GOODMAN: Well, I didn’t see you at Times Square in your action, but I was there last Friday night for the antiwar protest. And as thousands of people marched to the square, right in that triangle with the news zipper that was showing all the latest countries that were joining the United States, scores of riot police moved in on the protesters and moved them out.

ASHTON APPLEWHITE: I was there. It was quite, quite scary to see them change from, you know, friendly cops to riot gear cops.

AMY GOODMAN: But that didn’t happen with your action.

ASHTON APPLEWHITE: No, there was no effect — interfere with us at all, nor did any people on the street. It was much more — I think the standing silent is a pretty effective statement in itself, and no one interfered with us.

AMY GOODMAN: What are your future plans?

ASHTON APPLEWHITE: We’re organizing now for some movements in — to participate in the Saturday march in Washington and to stage future actions here in New York.

AMY GOODMAN: And we’ll certainly be there in Washington, as well, and we’ll bring the sounds of the streets to our listeners and viewers around the country. Thank you very much for being with us.

ASHTON APPLEWHITE: Thank you.

AMY GOODMAN: Ashton Applewhite, writer with the Artists Network of Refuse & Resist!