You may have heard there were protests this weekend. Or not, if they didn't happen in your city or you didn't go - you may very well not know that tens of thousands of people did go.
Oddly, despite the number of TV trucks that I saw
...the coverage was minimal, I can bet you heard about the handful of counter protesters who showed up and I'll bet that you heard about the arrests. There were five the day of rally and those people intentionally aggravated the park police. Did you hear that the SDS is back? - expect more arrests. I did learn that they make riot gear for police horses and that the park police come with their very own tear gas canisters. This was the fourth time I've done this and I've never seen that level of "preparedness". It was a little off putting.
But, the rest of us kept our cool...
...Which wasn't hard because it was colder than a witches tit!
If you ever want to feel at one with George Washington and his troops, cross the Potomac during a strong wind and freezing temperatures. The two dozen leather c clad Bikers For Bush/counter-protesters/mercenaries lined up before the bridge and shouted obscenities and pro-war, pro-Bush rubbish. The obscenities were aimed at the women and girls marching. Such butch guys the Bikers For Bush, picking on the woman and girls. I think they also failed to keep in mind that just about everyone was carrying a sign on what could, should it be needed, as a club. Don't mess with chicks who are armed. Exspecally a bunch of chicks, we could peck you to death.
The Bikers For Bush were also carrying signs that at first glance, appeared to be home made. But...they were all the same size, used the time type face and employed the same colors. And were not in anyway blowing around in the 20 MPH wind. In my experience home made signs are hand written, employee mixed media, and get ripped apart in the wind.
I was a little curious about the genesis of our leather clad friends. The theme of this rally was "From Protest to Resistance" ( which was oddly used by the SDS back in the day) They pushed for sit ins, walk outs and individual acts of disobedience. They speakers mentioned the counter protester's over and over and over again. There have been counter protesters at every rally I have attended and they have never been validated in any way and this time every speaker mentioned them or refered to the group as "Bush's' Puppets" . I think they were there as props. The rally never went close to the Vietnam Memorial - which is why allegedly our leather clad buddies were in attendance. I think the rumors about the activities at the site were circulated with the idea that people like that would show up and act as a foil for the assembled masses. It made me very suspicious.
Ever wonder what the Socialist movement is up to? They are alive and well and publishing newspapers. Lots and lots of newspapers. Every socialist group has their own newspaper and they all wanted to give me a copy. Everyone with anything to flog, had some handout to publicize it. Where were we supposed to put all these things? everybody had some card or some hand out they kept offering. I didn't want any, no one wanted any! What were we supposed to do with them? If it had been less windy we might have burned them for warmth - but how could we, between the wind and the low altitude helicopters buzzing us over head, we wouldn't have been able to keep a fire lit anyway.
Despite the cold, and the weirdness, I had a great time, but there were people on my bus for whom the day was a life changing experience; these people were having epiphanies about themselves about their country and what they can achieve as a citizen - I'm not even sure these kids bothered to vote in the past, but now, they wanted to stop the war. NC State didn't have it's own SDS chapter on Friday, by Monday, they will.
More pictures : Here
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