This is a response to a Friday Fictioneers 100-word photo challenge. These people standing together in single file, in the rain, brought to mind a protest I attended in Heilbronn, West Germany, in 1985. It took place outside the American military base, where nuclear armaments were located.
There were many peace activists there, and lots of signs that expressed the general discontent of the locals–such as “AMIS RAUS!” or “Americans, get out!”– regarding the Cold War encampments of American soldiers and military hardware. The bases had been there more or less since World War II, and showed no signs of leaving, forty years later. In addition, the rhetoric had started ramping up under Reagan, and nuclear accidents or accidental nuclear warfare seemed more and more likely.
This protest attracted media attention, in that a few news stations, even one or two from the US, attended. I remember being totally paranoid, that I would get caught or seen on camera and suffer some repercussions from this unsuitable behavior. This, fortunately, did not happen.
Hope you enjoy my fictional re-creation of the scene, and thank you, both for the prompt and for reading!
April settled like a wet blanket, around the fenced compound at Heilbronn. Lousy anti-nuclear-missile-protest weather.
Joss trudged uncomfortably, beside Erik.
Her hood slid back, exposing her uncooperative, totally recognizable hair.
“What if I’m seen?” Her gut tightened.
In two short years, Reagan would demand Gorbachev tear down the Berlin Wall. But for now, the Cold War seemed interminable.
“AMIS RAUS!” signs screamed.
Joss blushed. Anonymous, in this swirl of pacifist students and gray-hairs.
Barring disarmament, Germany would become the battleground. Conveniently wedged smack-dab between the two belligerents.
“Look! CNN!”
Erik dragged her toward the shoulder-camera.
“Joss. Time for an interview.”
For another side to contemplate, read The Other Side.
Maybe Joss should allow herself to be seen and recognised. She could be a figurehead for the movement if she keeps popping up at all the rallies.
Dear Andrea,
You gave me a real sense of being there Just what Joss didn’t want…to be recognized. Well done.
Shalom,
Rochelle
Yes, not sure being interviewed would be wise. Good take on the photo prompt, Andrea!
Susan A Eames at
Travel, Fiction and Photos
Thanks Susan. I tried to use the title, to point out how subsequent years would be more friendly toward the notion of reductions in nuclear weapons, though some current leaders seem willing to reverse this stance.
I agree with Neil, this interview is going to land them in trouble!
Thanks Iain. This has a bit of a spy vs spy feel to it doesn’t it? A few thoughts:
I imagine it was easy to feel paranoia and think someone was out to get you, in a time like the Cold War. Nations seemed ready to react on a hair-trigger, if there was reason to question someone’s true allegiances.
So even if someone might be acting in the best interests of mankind, and even if, looking forward, one might be on the “right side of history”, in the moment, one would be perceived as disloyal and wrong, and perhaps even criminal.
The question of loyalty keeps popping up in the news, and casual references to treason get bandied about nearly every news cycle (I almost spelled it “psych-le”!)
The irony is, that now, the time-honored methods of reducing the threat of mutually assured destruction, such as diplomacy and cooperation between nations and disarmament, are being discarded and dismantled, in an effort to start all over again.
We can only wonder, what new age of paranoia these actions will usher in.
By the way. This someone is me. ?
Being interviewed may not be the wisest thing for her
True…