10 years ago today, millions around the world joined to protest the upcoming iraq war.

[niyad]

and on that day, the city in which I live was one of two (the other in greece) that tear-gassed those protestors. we do not forget.

this was my post for the anniversary of that day several years ago: (from du2) http://sync.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=439x424820

[sinkingfeeling]

1. Yep, stood on a street corner with my sweet Samoyed (passed in 2009) for a couple

of hours.

[niyad]

2. I am sorry for your loss. and thank you for being there.

I think of countless gatherings where the dogs are wearing "puppies for peace" collars, or sweaters.

[libodem]

3. Those were ugly years

Glad you were there. Hope you were not gassed.


(On a different note I did go to our V day one billion rising, stop violence against women and girls, rally yesterday, ant it was peaceful and lovely.)

[niyad]

5. I was just thinking about your v day one billion rising rally. glad it was peaceful and lovely.

[libodem]

13. I'm a terrible photographer

I have some pictures but they look like people milling around with signs. Not great, even if I were clever enough to post 'em. It felt empowering just to stand with like minded people. Well dance with like minded people.

Big drum circle there, too. Great day!

[duhneece]

4. We were at the same corner yesterday for One Billion Rising

Several of us who also protested the Iraq War remarked that it had been 10 years. I'm glad that so many who recognized how wrong that war was are also part of raising awareness of sexual and domestic assault on women, girls & children.

[niyad]

6. was thinking about you and libodem just before I checked this, wondering how it went.

[duhneece]

38. It went really well

There were about 25 of us, which is a good crowd for Alamogordo! We had front page coverage today, but our on-line newspaper doesn't have the story, so I can't share with DU. I am hoping to share pictures, but I forgot a camera, so I'm hoping the woman who took pictures & videos share on facebook so I can copy to DU. The front page pic was of a young woman who shared a monologue at our last year's "In Our Own Voices" of being sexually abused as a 12 yr old and the man was never charged. THAT'S what her sign said. Supposedly, the abuser is now under investigation. We'll see.
None of knew the dance to 'Break the Chain' perfectly, but we danced with passion!

[Earth_First]

7. I eneded up in a horrific scuffle with NYPD and their horses immediately following this event...

It was that day that I refuse to support horses being used as a crowd control method.

[niyad]

8. oh my word--how badly were you injured?

[Earth_First]

9. Thankfully, I was not injured...

However I did see a woman knocked to the ground, trampled; I saw several people kicked (by horses)

I saw horses being punched and kicked back by panicing protesters.

I've never seen a horses eyes so wild-eyed in fear of a situation than I did that day.

I'm told that horses are specifically chosen and trained for this; however I refuse to believe that a horse is ever truly ready for this type of situation after that day.

[niyad]

11. glad that you were not injured. I was thinking about what the horses must have been going

through, as well. never seemed like a good idea to me.

[ReRe]

24. Wonder what they would do if...

... protestors showed up on horseback? With water balloons? With long red hair pulled back in pony tail, costumed up like Thomas Jefferson? I think horses should be nowhere near noisy crowds. Has anyone ever been around when a horse got spooked in a parade or at a protest? I have. Twice. They usually STOP the parade in its tracks. Or go berserk and stomp on everyone in their path. Police on horse back at protests have nothing to do with public safety (which is their answer if you ask them why they use them.)

[patrice]

10. I was in the New York demonstration . . . .

or was that one of those that was in D.C., sorry I can't remember clearly now, but I think it was New York and I do remember people blowing conch shells from the balconies along one part of the route.

[intheflow]

12. I was there.

I also think Turkey used tear gas on protesters that day, but my memory could be faulty there.

[niyad]

44. you were in the springs? or one of the other protests? I do not recall hearing anything about

tear gas being used in turkey on that day, but could be wrong.

does anybody here know if tear gas was used in turkey that day?

[intheflow]

47. I was in the Springs.

I would have been there anyway, but my professor/mentor was one of the speakers at the rally. Another friend was arrested for literally stepping over a line painted on the road, onto Air Force territory.

I just tried to look it up on google, the only reference I could find of Turkish tear gas on 2/15/2003 was a caption on a picture (no longer there) about police holding a tear gas canister. It's possible I saw that photo back in the day and in the heat of the time, just assumed it had been used. Or some such. I'm willing to admit to a faulty memory.

[niyad]

48. are you still in the springs? and who was your professor?

I know, I tried to google it as well, and didn't find anything. I did, however, find some interesting pics of what was going on here:

http://cursor.org/stories/csphotogallery.html

[intheflow]

49. No, I lived in Denver at the time.

Live 40 minutes north of there now. My professor was Dr. Vincent Harding from the Iliff School of Theology.

[Downtown Hound]

14. That was an amazing day, so many people. 15 million across the globe.

Bush of course, dismissed us as a "focus group."

I caught some tear gas and pepper spray a little over a month later during the Day X protests in San Fran when the war broke out. There were so many of us in the street and so many got arrested that we actually began to strain the resources of the city. The mayor made a public plea with us to stop.

It's a shame that the level of resistance there was to the Iraq War will probably never be truly known by history and discussed the same way that the protests of the 60's are. We were just as big, if not bigger, and just as determined. February 15th was the largest protest in the world EVER at that time, and a monumental event in human history. Yet it will probably never be discussed in history books, never talked about on the evening news, and is largely forgotten today.

That's sad. But there are those of us that will always remember and will never forget.

[ReRe]

29. I will never forget that day either...

... I wasn't there, but was able to see clips from all over the world on the computer. There was a million in the street in London alone. And does anyone remember the protest in Rome????? It also had at least a million (if not more) people in the street. What I will never forget about that one was multicolored peace flag that was blocks long. Unfuckingbelievable! The protests in Athens were great for visuals. They all had their hands died red and help them high in the air. And yes, I will never ever fucking forget GWB calling the protests "focus groups." And our news media ignored them all!!!!!

[valerief]

15. The day the media forgot. nt

[HelenWheels]

16. Was as NY protest

My daughter, grandson and 50 others of us were bused from Wisconsin. I got heat exhaustion marching in the sun. I looked so bad one of the cops told me to drink more water. My daughter took me to sit in the enclosed doorway of Macys. We were sitting on the steps and the manager came to chase us out. He took one look at me and told us we could stay until I felt better.

[Cooley Hurd]

17. I was home, watching it on CNN...

...and also on DU. I'll never forget, as long as I live, watching the coverage on CNN and was pleased about how extensively it was being covered (I even remember the correspondent - Maria Hinojosa). Then, a DUer (who claimed to be within CNN) posted that the word had come down from CNN mgmt that the coverage was to stop. Within 20 minutes of the post, no more reports were broadcast from Maria.

That was the moment I started believing in Operation Mockingbird.

On edit - at lunch now from work - wish I could find the post from DU1. It was chilling and has made an imapct on me to this day.

[Spitfire of ATJ]

18. And what was the big story of the day in the media?

Flights cancelled due to a blizzard.

[SaveAmerica]

19. Wish I knew DU back then, I was sure I was the only one

in the world against the invasion (from before they went across the dessert with that guy from MSNBC riding sidesaddle).

I honestly heard nothing of protests until I saw a magnificent picture here on DU about 4 years ago of the street in NY that was wall to wall with protesters.

[colsohlibgal]

20. Big Media Abdicated Their Responsibility

Instead of asking tough questions about Iraq they were cheerleaders, all they lacked was pom poms. Edward R Murrow was turning over in his grave. MSNBC even canceled it's highest rated show because Phil Donahue dared to question the idea of an Iraq war - replacing him with a raving fascist nut job, Michael (Weiner) Savage.

They also took great pains to not show much of the massive protests against this move - much as they did not showing the large protest crowd gathered in Washington, January 2001, as Dubya was installed as president after the Florida/Supreme Court coup.

Thinking of the men and women who have died or been maimed because of this still makes me livid, it's an unnecessary tragedy.

[Fight2Win]

26. +1000000 to everything you said! The media still needs to be held accountable

"Thinking of the men and women who have died or been maimed because of this still makes me livid, it's an unnecessary tragedy."

[xxqqqzme]

21. I joined the other 1000s in LA that day.

That may have been the day it poured rain (so many protests). Holding a sign aloft caused rained to run down my arm and collect in a puddle at my elbow. I had to lower my arm to empty my sleeve every few minutes.

I met so many other local activists through those protests, I thanked W for allowing us to meet. Many of us ended up forming a local Dean For America group, that survives to this day.

[mokawanis]

22. I drove 3 teenagers 900 miles to NYC for that

Because I wanted them to see what large-scale resistance looks like. I wanted them to be part of a massive protest, so they would know we as citizens don't have to quietly sit by while our government launches an unjust war.

The trip cost me a pile of money because we were stranded in Pennsylvania by a blizzard on the way home and I had to pay for hotel rooms. It was worth every penny.

[randome]

25. Good for you (I mean that) but I wonder what they took away from the experience years later.

All the protests didn't stop us from invading Iraq.

[mokawanis]

35. You are correct

W sneered at the protesters and proceeded with the invasion. My kids still talk about that trip and are grateful for the experience. I guess the lesson learned is that it's important to resist and to do the right thing, even if you don't get the results you want.

Eight years after the war protests I was proud to see all 3 them join the protests here in Madison when Walker launched his attack on unions and the working class (even though we didn't succeed at defeating him either).

[randome]

36. Sounds like 'Never give up' is the lesson learned by your kids. Kudos!

[ReRe]

33. I drove a long way....

.... On Jan 3, 2003 to DC with my grown son, as I wanted him to see what it was like. He had always told me he seen no sense in protests. Ha! Boy did his opinion turn on a dime that day. When we was driving home through Maryland in an all out blizzard, he apologized for telling me so long that protests don't matter. And he had a beautiful smile on his face.

[hfojvt]

56. I would have just driven to the nearest one

which I did. The massive protest was supposed to be happening all over the country, but I am not sure how massive it was. I mean, we had a mere 1,600 people in Lawrence, a county that contains about 25,000 Democrats. Maybe if the rally had been 15,000 people there is might have made a difference. But the sad fact is that too many voters, too many Americans did not consider stopping that war to be very important. Nor were we able to make Bush or Republicans pay at the polls in 2004.

[liberal_at_heart]

23. My husband and I were at the Seattle protest

[eridani]

30. Yes--nothing like it since the Vietnam War protesters took over I-5--

--which we probably should have done. I think it was probably even a larger event. The Times and P-I had pictures the next day; not sure about TV coverage.

I think this was the only time in the history of the world that a war was universally protested against before it started, and on every single major land mass on the planet, including Antarctica.

[Johonny]

27. I wish once our media would point this out to people like Dick Cheney

and Rice and all the other worms that said everyone was fooled by the intelligence we had. Bullshit the vast majority of Americans were against the war before it started and most of us weren't fooled. That line they repeat over and over is total 100 % bullshit. They had drawing of weapons of mass destruction and passed that off as evidence to the UN. They forced the UN inspectors out of the country while they were finding mountains of nothing. What a fucking joke it all is to this day! We were not all fooled you stupid evil *.

[niyad]

42. I remember someone saying recently that colin powell could only go by the "intelligence" he was

given as he made that lying statement to the UN. B***--WE all knew, the world knew, and it was all ignored.

the sheer waste and destruction is almost incomprehensible, on all sides. we will never be out from under the burden.

[nineteen50]

28. How

could so many have it so right and not be listened to.

[niyad]

43. because the powers that be had too much to gain from their long-planned wars. we were simply

the first of the collateral damage.

[rocktivity]

31. I froze for peace in NYC that day

http://www.rocktivity.com/rally1/


rocktivity

[lindysalsagal]

53. Me, too. 4 hours with my sign, screaming. I made it to the street that could see the stage, did you?

20 degrees and windy. Yikes! There were others coming from cross streets that wanted to get to our block, but it was too crowded, so the police didn't let them, and they thought the police were keeping them away. The truth is, they were protecting us from the stampede.

When I saw them knock over the barricade, chase the police horses and go totally nuts, I found the nearest empty street and hi-tailed it outta there. Don't know what happened after that, but at least I had my say.

We all knew it wouldn't stop the occupation, but we wanted to be there that day, anyway.

My best protest of all time.

[niyad]

54. to be part of this world-wide effort was truly amazing. if only that had been the last time we

ever had to do something like that.

so glad you made it out of there safely.

[triplepoint]

32. Lather, Rinse, Repeat-The United States of Amnesia

You'd have thought that the Vietnam "War" would have satiated Wall St and the military-industrial complex. But noooooooooooooooooooooo! Every twenty years or so, it happens all over again here in "The United States of Amnesia" (the late Gore Vidal's phrase I believe).
.
.

[RandiFan1290]

34. Saddam Lover! Saddam Sympathizer! Saddam Apologist!

Do you remember the names we were called? All because we didn't want to go to war and we knew there were no WMD.

Sound familiar?

[niyad]

40. indeed it does sound familiar. I have been called many names over the years for my activism,

but the one thing the name-callers never seem to understand is that I really do not care what they call me. because their opinions do not matter to me in the least.

[KurtNYC]

37. Set of pictures from around the globe that day

http://warisacrime.org/content/where-were-you-21503

[niyad]

39. thank you for sharing those pics-- a good reminder of that day

[mnhtnbb]

41. I was there. DC March.

[hfojvt]

45. I did not think it was that early in the year

I rented a car and drove to Lawrence. http://cjonline.com/stories/021603/kan_warprotest.shtml

I remember it was a pretty cold day. Probably the coldest day in February that year.

While we were waiting in the park for the march to start a skinny young girl in a cheerleader outfit tried to lead us in cheers. We all sorta looked at her like she was nuts. A cheerleader? Were we on candid camera? I regret not helping her out.

I sorta took the lead of my half. At least I was the first person at the intersection when the light turned red, and I stopped and everyone stopped behind me. I wasn't sure about that move. Maybe we should have stopped traffic. Lives are at stake people, so your drive is gonna be disrupted, but my first thought was, why hurt the cause by annoying people?. I wasn't carrying a sign, but halfway through somebody asked me to take one. It said "who would Jesus bomb?" so I carried that. I wasn't happy with the anti-Bush signs there. I thought the message needed to be "we are against war" more than "we are against Bush".

But we walked half a mile to another park, listened to a few speeches and then went home without incident.

[niyad]

52. fortunately, it was not terribly cold here--was reminded about the blizzard in the eastern part of

the country in reading these posts (had forgotten that)

a cheerleader? hope she wasn't freezing, but imagine her heart was in the correct place. I am glad your event was peaceful.

[Initech]

46. So when do the prosecutions for war crimes start?

[niyad]

55. only when the icc can get some of these criminals rounded up. this country certainly is not

going to prosecute.

[LeftInTX]

50. They ignored the worldwide protests

Just because of PNAC.

I'll never figure out what they were trying to accomplish.
Yet these sickos still live on and on. (Bill Kristol etc)
Sick, sick, sick

[niyad]

51. don't forget that iraq sat on about the second largest deposit of oil in the world. and look who

controls that oil now--it isn't the iraqis. their resources were handed out like plums to the greedy, thieving corporate vultures.

do you remember the old question "what if iraq's primary export were broccoli?"

[polly7]

57. And Bush's buddy Ray L. Hunt of Hunt Oil got that very first plum. nt.

[niyad]

58. . . .

[FredStembottom]

59. I still await full reporting of what happened that day.....

....it was buried by a compliant and corrupt media empire.

Some day we will all know that something unprecedented happened that day- the first world wide protest against evil.

[niyad]

60. unfortunately, I think it will be a VERY long time in coming.