As promised, I went to the anti-war protest on Saturday accompanied by my friend Zain and his wife Kathryn. The first stop was Dupont Circle where the Mobilization for Global Justice was having a rally. Shortly after arriving the march began, with the crowd -- I'd estimate at 1,500 or so -- strolling down Connecticut, making a right down K St. and then a left towards the World Bank.
After some milling about in front of the bank the crowd then made a right, heading back towards Dupont. Fortunately they were stymied by some well-placed city maintenance vehicles blocking the street, and finally turned around to head off to join the larger protest by the White House. The main protest was a big event. While some conservative sites have tried claiming that there were only a couple thousand people there this is not true, there were many times that number.
My thoughts:
On the one hand a protest is something to behold as an exercise in democracy. As Zain, a former Peace Corps worker in Uzbekistan pointed out, nothing of the sort would ever be tolerated in that country. It is a testimony to this country that we allow such an outpouring of dissent almost literally at the President's front door.
As for the protesters themselves, a not insignificant number of people were there I’m sure out of genuine outrage, and a sense that they needed to make their voices heard. That's fine and is even healthy. There was another component to the protest, however, that really struck a nerve with me. The black clad anarchists. The cheerleaders engaged in mindless street theater. Those who wrapped themselves in the imagery of Che Guevara and railed against U.S. policy towards Cuba.
These people, or at least I suspect the vast majority, care far more about themselves than the causes they profess to support. It’s all very self-congratulatory -- go out, behave like a clown, and then feel virtuous for participating in the fight against global capitalism/imperialism/chimperor etc. Protests and calls for revolution in a democracy such as the U.S. doesn’t require courage. It requires little in terms of sacrifice. The real dissidents that deserve to be praised, the true keepers of the flame held by Martin Luther King and others are those who run the wrath of their governments to do so. Cuba. North Korea. Venezuela. The very governments so many of these protesters take to the streets to defend. It’s sick.
After some milling about in front of the bank the crowd then made a right, heading back towards Dupont. Fortunately they were stymied by some well-placed city maintenance vehicles blocking the street, and finally turned around to head off to join the larger protest by the White House. The main protest was a big event. While some conservative sites have tried claiming that there were only a couple thousand people there this is not true, there were many times that number.
My thoughts:
On the one hand a protest is something to behold as an exercise in democracy. As Zain, a former Peace Corps worker in Uzbekistan pointed out, nothing of the sort would ever be tolerated in that country. It is a testimony to this country that we allow such an outpouring of dissent almost literally at the President's front door.
As for the protesters themselves, a not insignificant number of people were there I’m sure out of genuine outrage, and a sense that they needed to make their voices heard. That's fine and is even healthy. There was another component to the protest, however, that really struck a nerve with me. The black clad anarchists. The cheerleaders engaged in mindless street theater. Those who wrapped themselves in the imagery of Che Guevara and railed against U.S. policy towards Cuba.
These people, or at least I suspect the vast majority, care far more about themselves than the causes they profess to support. It’s all very self-congratulatory -- go out, behave like a clown, and then feel virtuous for participating in the fight against global capitalism/imperialism/chimperor etc. Protests and calls for revolution in a democracy such as the U.S. doesn’t require courage. It requires little in terms of sacrifice. The real dissidents that deserve to be praised, the true keepers of the flame held by Martin Luther King and others are those who run the wrath of their governments to do so. Cuba. North Korea. Venezuela. The very governments so many of these protesters take to the streets to defend. It’s sick.
At one point Zain jokingly started a “Down With Karimov” chant. While it was used in a humorous manner, I wondered how many people there who professed to care so much for the Palestinians and multitude of other causes represented knew or cared who Karimov is -- especially now that the U.S. has pulled out of the country. If it isn't anti-U.S. they simply aren't interested.
In fact, these people actually do a disservice to the causes they claim to support. They make the movement appear unserious, like a circus freak show. I also noticed an inordinate amount of F-bomb dropping, not only spontaneous verbal usage but also on signs and banners. Indeed, I spotted one woman wearing a shirt with a picture of Bush and Cheney that said "Meet the F***ers." She received numerous compliments on it. Organizers of such rallies would be well advised to expunge their movement of such elements. Of course, that isn't possible, because the organizers themselves are a front group for a bunch of hard-core socialists. If there was any doubt how closely intertwined the organizers were from the lunatic fringe it should have been firmly erased when Jesse Jackson, Cindy Sheehan and Al Sharpton all marched side by side with banners of Che Guevara fluttering directly behind them.
In fact, these people actually do a disservice to the causes they claim to support. They make the movement appear unserious, like a circus freak show. I also noticed an inordinate amount of F-bomb dropping, not only spontaneous verbal usage but also on signs and banners. Indeed, I spotted one woman wearing a shirt with a picture of Bush and Cheney that said "Meet the F***ers." She received numerous compliments on it. Organizers of such rallies would be well advised to expunge their movement of such elements. Of course, that isn't possible, because the organizers themselves are a front group for a bunch of hard-core socialists. If there was any doubt how closely intertwined the organizers were from the lunatic fringe it should have been firmly erased when Jesse Jackson, Cindy Sheehan and Al Sharpton all marched side by side with banners of Che Guevara fluttering directly behind them.
The result was a protest that had a high whacko to non-whacko ratio. It wasn't mainstream America voicing their outrage, it was the extreme. And that's not really going to keep either George W. Bush or Karl Rove awake at night.
Also, forgot to mention, perhaps the strangest note of dissent sounded at the protest was a guy who had a sticker on his Nalgene bottle that said "Canada Out of Haiti Now".
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