April 28, 1999, Wednesday, Metro Edition

 SECTION: NEWS; Doug Grow; Pg. 2B

 LENGTH: 765 words

 HEADLINE: High hopes and low expectations;
 Serious peace demonstrators have to take long-range view

 BYLINE: Doug Grow; Staff Writer

 BODY:
 What if they called a news conference and almost nobody came?

      "We'll keep trying," said Marie Braun.

      Braun, a longtime peace activist, was one of the organizers of a Twin Cities news conference Tuesday morning. Church
 leaders were to make statements denouncing U.S. policy in Iraq, a policy that critics say is leading to the deaths of 5,000
 Iraqi children a month. The Twin Cities news conference was held in conjunction with similar events across the country.

      The organizers, representing Pax Christi Catholic Community of Eden Prairie, St. Joan of Arc Church of Minneapolis and
 Women Against Military Madness (WAMM), are old hands at this. They entered Tuesday's event with high hopes and low
 expectations.

        A lot of people were invited to the news conference, which was held in a rented room in the Minnesota Church Center
 in Minneapolis.   For example, top leaders of all Minnesota faiths had been invited. But it turned out they all were busy.

         Reporters from all media outlets also were invited. But most of us were busy, too, presumably getting ready to cover
 the big Marilyn Manson protests and show at the Target Center. For what it's worth, there were more reporters on hand
 than bishops. I was there. There was a reporter from KFAI Radio (90.3FM and 106.7 FM) and there also were two camera
 operators from local TV stations. (A personal aside: On those rare occasions when we reporters do show up for news
 conferences held by the peace crowd, we're treated with kindness most of us are not accustomed to. "Oh, thank you for
 coming. Where would you like to sit? Can we get you a cup of coffee?")

       Anyway, the minuscule turnout didn't discourage a half-dozen participants from reading their statements condemning
 U.S. policy in Iraq, with most adding criticism of the NATO policy in Yugoslavia. Their voices were filled with passion.

      Why do so few seem to be listening? Why isn't the message from places such as the little room in the Church Center
 resonating from pulpits across the state? After all, the Iraq policy has been failing for years and the bombing policy only
 continues to create refugees. Where's the national outrage? The small group of organizers and participants wrestled with
 such questions after statements were read.

       "You have to convert the clergy," said Arvid Dixen, a retired Lutheran pastor. "And boy, that's a tough job. When
 nationalism takes over, we lose what's required of us as clergy. It's not the gospel that informs our thinking; it's
 nationalism."

     There were nods around the room. And there was more talk about how the current policy seems to be hurting only the
 innocents.

      "I know we're just talking to ourselves again," said WAMM's Polly Mann. "But one of the benefits of an event like this is
 that it brings us all together."

      But don't the peace activists get discouraged that such small rooms are needed when they gather?

      Mann, an activist for a half century, admits turnouts like Tuesday's are both predictable and discouraging. "I get mostly
 discouraged by the media," she said, adding that she keeps hoping the media will become more analytical of statements
 made from Washington. "And the church leaders, they could have so much influence. But they're like everyone else, they
 don't want to go out on a limb and be there by themselves."

      But Mann was quick to add that she's not going to give up at this point in her life.

      And Braun left the small gathering Tuesday as upbeat as she'd entered.

       "I refuse to get discouraged," said Braun, who has been involved in peace activities for more than three decades. "I
 come at this from a faith perspective. You witness to what you believe in."

      Braun, who frequently is involved in discussions with young people, routinely is asked about how she remains so
 upbeat amid so much apathy.

         "I tell the young people about when my daughter was 6 weeks old I took her to a demonstration at a big, downtown
 bank," Braun said. "The issue was disinvestment in South Africa. At the time, Nelson Mandela was in prison and we never
 could have believed what would happen in South Africa."

      Her daughter was an adult before change in South Africa came. But the change happened. She talked of how when
 Bishop Desmond Tutu recently was in the Twin Cities, he talked of how the pressures from outspoken citizens around the
 world had helped create the change.

     "The way I've learned to look at this is that you've got to be in it for the long haul," she said.