Impressions of a protest

[deutsey]

I've been without Internet access for the past couple days because I went to New York for the United for Peace and Justic protest on Sunday. Here are my initial impressions of the protest in somewhat scattershot form. Maybe I'll turn my experience into a narrative of the day later.

Basically, I'd have to say that there were at least 500,000 people participating in the Sunday protest. Don't believe the official bullshit that there were 125,000 protesters. I was in NY during the massive Feb. 2003 protest against the invasion of Iraq and many other large demonstrations, and I would rank this one among the larger ones I've attended. There was a bottleneck around Madison Square Garden that stalled the march in the hot afternoon sun, so a few people bailed before they even got to the Garden. Still we had lots of people waving and giving support from their windows as we marched.

Hot spots during the march were around Madison Square Garden, a hotel that had a banner welcoming the RNC, an area where maybe six or seven Bush supporters held signs, and a big billboard and video screen for Fox News. Protesters were particularly pissed at any business that expressed welcome for the RNC and many protesters went out of their way to go over to the few Bush supporters there were to hurl angry epithets at them. Signs expressed anger and disgust at Bush coming to NY to exploit 9/11 for political reasons. Between chants that "Fox News Sucks" and "Fox News Lies," the Fox video screen cut to a clip of a Kerry rally where Kerry and W. Clarke hugged. The crowd went wild with enthusiasm and started chanting "Kerry! Kerry!", although there was a rather sizable number of marchers (and not just the "radicals") around me that dismissed Kerry and the Democrats as being under the same corporate thumb as the Republicans.

The police, from what I observed, were very cool (or at least were not aggressive). One officer, in fact, was using a bullhorn to thank demonstrators for demonstrating peaceably and even ended what he said by wishing us peace. I had to keep looking back to make sure this was indeed an NYC cop saying these things. No other officers around him were trying to take the bullhorn away from him, so I guess he was legit. He was wearing a white shirt, so I believe he was a higher ranking officer than those around him in blue.

As usual, there was a huge diversity of people attending this protest. People in wheelchairs, Vets, anarchists, Communists, Democrats, religious people, gays, families with small and teenage children, women, men, African Americans, Latinos, whites, young, old, etc. It's so refreshing to be among such a cross-section of American society at these demonstrations...whenever I see a Bush "rally", I'm always struck by the bland, generic whiteness of it all. Attend an anti-Bush protest and see what America really consists of.

One image that stands out in my mind was of a black man carrying his son, who was probably three or four years old, ahead of me. The son was smiling and clapping along with the crowd as his dad and the rest of us chanted anti-Bush phrases.

There were a couple instances in which either misguided "revolutionaries" or police provocateurs were trying to instigate something in the crowd, but they mostly went unheeded, from what I could tell. By and large, what I would consider "average" people were joining together to express anger and outrage at the GOP and, in a few instances (which I readily joined in), at the DNC, too. The crowd was overwhelmingly Kerry supporters, though, (including me), and very angry that Bush would dare use the trauma of their city to further his paltry political ends.

Above all else, I believe what the 500,000+ protesters demonstrated to me was a still living resiliance of the American spirit amid the constant barrage of scare tactics used by the GOP (and even the DNC, sometimes--booga booga, Bush is going to win unless you stop asking uncomfortable questions or expressing dissent). It was an expression of democratic (small d) defiance against those who distrust or dismiss the will of the people. You can say "this isn't a democracy, it's a republic" all you want, but the fact is democracy is the lifeblood of the American Republic. It has grown from the narrow vein of white, male property owners to encompass a network including all of us, thanks to the democratic movements of labor, civil rights, and suffragists. We ignore the will and the voice of the people to the detriment of the vitality of our Republic.

I think the RNC and DNC both should take what happenend in NYC yesterday as a warning that growing numbers of "the people" are increasingly restive against the "same ol' same ol'" political establishment of this country. While Democrats--by default--have throngs of people supporting them, they should not take that support for granted.

Just my two cent observations, for what they're worth.

[coalition_unwilling]

1. A great report. Thanks and

wanted to say that Santa Monica, California had a small solidarity demonstration yesterday afternoon which my wife and I attended (about 100 protesters). A lot of horn honks of support and only a few "middle fingers of peace".

[ayeshahaqqiqa]

2. Thank you for your observations

even though I live in Arkansas and only watched on TV, it was obvious to me there were more than 100,000 people there. When NPR said "over 100,000 protestors" again this morning, I said, "You'll find out how many were there come November when they all vote."

[progressiveBadger]

3. Very nice account

Thank you. It's tough finding any coverage of the protests. And your positive view of democracy in america made my day a little better.