So I went to the antiwar rally today...

[Happy Monkey]

It was in DC, on the lawn in front of the White House. The weather was perfect - Overcast with occasional drizzle heavy enough to cool you down, but light enough to leave you dry afterwards.

On the way to the rally, we saw this billboard truck.


At the rally, we settled in, waiting for the march to start. There were speeches over the intercom, but these started to get a bit offtopic.


(in full size, you can see a couple of White House Roof Snipers)

After a couple of speeches on Israel/Palestine, Haiti, and South Africa the crowd started getting restless to march. When a seemngly endless series or poets started speaking, the crowd up and left the stage, to go and do the march on its own.



The people with the speakers made a few plaintive attempts to keep the crowd in attendance, but the march was on.



As they have since Bush took office, the Park Service fenced off all the lawns, and made many of the sidewalks dead ends, to "protect the grass". Apparently they've been resodding for five years. Eventually we got through the maze, and joined the march.

This view is from a point somewhat near the beginning of the march, down a street to a point near the end of the circular march; people were already there.



Some revolutionary college students cheered the marchers on from the sidelines. Is a black and red flag, divided diagonally, a French Revolutionary flag, like in Le Miz?



The march curled around the other side of the White House, and I got a somewhat better shot of the snipers.



This was one of the more amusing little groups of activists.

[Undertoad]

red/black = anarchy

[Happy Monkey]

Close enough...

[xoxoxoBruce]

Bill For First Lady dot Com?!?!

[ashke]

Man, you never see this kind of thing in Singapore...

[Bullitt]

Originally Posted by Undertoad

red/black = anarchy

anarchists just kill me.. "i hate government, but i don't want to give up all the benefits of organized society because i love my digital camera"

[Tonchi]

Tom DeLay has mocked the Democrats as losers with "no ideas, no leadership, no agenda". How sad that the demonstration got hijacked by just such people. If you wanna march against Bush's disasterous policies you don't give equal time to some bozo who wants to rant about injustices in Haiti or the never-ending boycot of the United Farm Workers against anything edible in California! You do not come in drag or parade like a skit from SNL. You just simply MARCH and PROTEST! Man, sometimes I really do miss living in DC.

[Griff]

Lady forgot her irony tags wearing a Che shirt to a peace rally.

[Undertoad]

She's the only one philosphically grounded, Griff. The march is sponsored by A.N.S.W.E.R. which is a Worker's World Party front. These are Communists.

The anarchists are the ones who are confused. To A.N.S.W.E.R. they would be "useful idiots". They can't really be mad about a billboard wanting to cut government in half, eh, when they want to cut it in whole?

Nor can they be mad about Bush producing anarchy in Iraq and New Orleans.

[Happy Monkey]

Nor are they, in all likelyhood, actual anarchists.

To tell the truth, in this instance ANSWER were the useful idiots. They did the schlep work of organizing the march, getting permits, etc etc, and when they veered off from the antiwar message to their pet projects, everyone left.

[Trilby]

I looked at the link UT provided. Um, these people want Mumia to be freed? Yeah, right. Can't really get behind that one. Dumb-ass, rich-hippie kids at Antioch had that complete asshole give a commencement speech not too long ago--via satellite. A local business man wrote the college that he would never hire any member of that year's graduating class because of it.

[Urbane Guerrilla]

Pure crap, the whole thing. One hundred thousand Americans want a war launched against America to be lost -- immediately if not sooner. ¡Cacacabezas! Their only idea of what to do about the worldwide and very easily identified evil that is totalitarianism (which we Americans are NOT practicing and never shall, in spite of any ill-informed opinions to the contrary) is to cut and run! Incomprehensible, immoral, inhuman, anti-freedom, and idiotic.

[Griff]

Um... wasn't this complete fuck up supposed to be about wmd? We do, after all, have totalitarian allies in this war.

Oh and King Georges war is incomprehensible, immoral, inhuman, anti-freedom, and idiotic.

btw as of 09/23/2005 your national debt is $7,920,697,571,825.43 Thanks Georgie!

[warch]

One hundred thousand Americans want a war launched against America to be lost -- immediately if not sooner.

Hmm. I'll agree that the situation is more complex that just cutting and bring them home right now. But you must admit its also more complex than "Iraq launched a war against America."

Come on. If you have any shread of critical thinking skills (and I know you do), the case and rationale for the invasion of Iraq was weak from the start, poorly presented. Some argue effectively that it was illegal and perhaps most imporantly to the situation right stinkin' now, the management of the war effort even weaker. The noble reasoning, the strain of failing in Afghanistan, is all tarnishing the official story, the Administration deadly gaffes, cronyism, and incompetence. This mismanagement is shocking. Trust and security are eroding and the moderates are starting to speak out along with your usual yahoos. Once most felt speaking out against the war in Iraq compromised our security. No a growing number feel that not speaking out, to let the mistakes of this bunch continue unchecked, is more of a risk.

This is a big hairy turning point. The army is trying out a new ad campaign.

The far left are just like the far right- narrow minded ideologues. Sure the hippy with a giant puppet gets the attention as does the destruction loving anarchist, on flip side are the hateful abortion center blockader and the brilliant crew promoting creationsim when we lived with the dinosaurs. In the middle is where it swings.

I caught some of the speakers, but stopped watching when the point was lost. Still, there was an eloquent minister, and a profound mom of an 81st airborne soldier that did make me think. But it was about the turnout.

I don't know that I can support immediate withdrawl, but we need some leadership and clear ideas. And it seems that the only way to get the current federal leaders to take or at least communicate responsibility for their decisions is to get a bit noisy. And the tent is growing.

[Undertoad]

"I don't know that I can support immediate withdrawl, but we need some leadership and clear ideas." The problem with that catchphrase is that it doesn't fit on a sign.

I have seen pictures of anti-protestors. I think it would be funny, some day, to go to a protest and be the one demanding the middle position.

"Staggered withdrawl from Iraq on the basis of Iraqi troop promotion NOW!"

"Careful public review of all no-bid contracts NOW!"

What do we want? An emphasis on reasonable metrics to govern spending on future programs!
When do we want it? After a careful study of how to practically apply such a thing!