There's been alot of talk lately about protest. I know, because I've been doing some of the talking. Most people I've talked to seem to be for it, at least in a theoretical way. Many are supportive of protests, but they have a life, after all, with jobs and kids and previously planned activities that must take precedence. And in every discussion there are always a few naysayers who say that protest is old hat, its time has passed. They don't like one group or another, even though that group may be a very small portion of any protest. Or it's just too damned much work, not enough bang for the buck or they don't see protest as having much effect.
I've been doing some research to try to debunk the arguments presented against protest. I won't go into what I've found now, that's for another day. But what I did find while examining this issue is a group that is wholeheartedly, resoundingly in favor of protest - The Freepers. Join me over the fold to take a peek into the heart of darkness, won't you?
The other day a friend and colleague of mine gave me a link to Free Republic. Allow me to share...
The Gathering of Eagles will be holding a Rally in Boulder
time: 7:00am -8:00am date: Sunday 9/9/2007 location: 1048 Pearl Street (in front of the Daily Camera Building) at 8:00am we leave to join Move America Forward in Wichita KS.
Everyone is invited to also go all the way with us to Washington DC for Gathering of Eagles III on 9/15. Fight for Victory trip details on our webpage.
There was a link provided, which I followed to this page on the Gathering of Eagles website. Here I found a list of events they have planned this week. It's a road trip, leaving Boulder on the 9th and stopping in Wichita for a rally that same day, then a rally in Des Moines on the 10th, one in Chicago on the 11th, again in Cinncinati on the 12th, Columbus on the 13th, a meeting with members of Congress and a Capitol Hill press conference with the D.C./National Press Corps on the 14th and culminating in "support for the troops" at a march on the 15th to counteract the March for Peace that is scheduled that day. The website appeared to be the republican version of what some of us have been trying to create at Road2DC. I was intrigued. "Who is this Gathering of Eagles?," I asked myself.
Several links further down the trail I found this article. Read it and you'll find out that this organization is really part of Free Republic. That's right, Freeperville is taking a road trip. They're making frequent stops, slamming the left as they go and picking up more like-minded thugs until they finally arrive in Washington to meet with members of Congress. But the real goal, it seems, is to keep our National Monuments safe from the vandalism that we, the "radical left", are known for. I had no idea that we were known for such things. But a closer examination of several dozen articles set me straight. How, you may ask, have we become known for such evil deeds? How do you think?
The genesis of this began back on January 27, 2007 at a March on the Capitol sponsored by United for Peace and Justice. Jo Freeman, a feminist author, respected political scholar and noted photographer has written a great article explaining the deep divisions that have formed and led to disorganization and the loss of unity among protest organizers, then goes on to detail what happened that propelled the Freepers into action.
(snip)
What really happened in January? After the UfPJ march around the Capitol building, a group of anarchists (the black bloc) charged up the west front of Capitol Hill. Their way was blocked by the capitol police while they were still in a public area. There were a couple dozen anarchists (identifiable by their black clothes), more than a couple dozen cops, and a couple hundred observers (including me). After a non-violent confrontation punctuated by chants and shouts, and a little milling about, everyone dispersed.
Two days later Sen. Wayne Allard (R-Colo.) sent a letter to U.S. Capitol Police Chief Phillip D. Morse stating that "It is my understanding protesters were allowed to spray paint the Capitol steps and deface buildings around the area while Capitol Police were instructed to not arrest anyone engaging in these unlawful acts."
Conservative groups, in particular the Family Research Council, which is based in Colorado, demanded an investigation. FRC President Tony Perkins said, "For any group, such acts would mean immediate arrest. This time, the Capitol Police's hands were tied because they were ordered to stand down by their chief of police, who answers to the speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi."
On January 31 Chief Morse issued a statement denying that this had happened. He did say that "Some members of this group did covertly mark the pavement on the Lower West Terrace during their confrontation with us. Had this been observed, I would have directed arrests to be made. However, the size and continual movement of the crowd provided concealment and made detection of their actions impossible."
They were certainly concealed from me, and unlike the police I was free to walk around among the anarchists and the observers while taking photographs. So were the other protestors I spoke to later, who also saw no markings, let alone spray paint. The web pages on which the black bloc brags about its exploits (e.g. http://dc.indymedia.org) have been silent on this though not about other illegal acts. The only reconciliation I can make between the Chief's statement that there were marks on the pavement and what I and other protestors did not see is to assume that they were chalk marks. It's quite common for demonstrators to chalk pictures and comments on the pavement during protests, and not worthy of note. Because such marks are quickly cleaned with water – or rain – the police ignore chalkers. Arrests are costly. Cleaning up chalk is cheap.
What was invisible to police and protestors was a bright neon light for the Right. When the Republicans grabbed another opportunity to attack the new Democratic Speaker it morphed into a major blogfest as right wing web pages and media all over the country beat their breasts over the protestors who sprayed painted graffiti on the Capitol steps. Putting a few key words into Google results in over a hundred thousand hits.
Here's more from WaPO.
(snip)
At a Jan. 27 antiwar rally, some protesters spray-painted the pavement on a Capitol terrace. Others crowned the Lone Sailor statue at the Navy Memorial on Pennsylvania Avenue with a pink tiara that had "Women for Peace" written across it.
Word of those incidents ricocheted around the Internet.
"That was the real catalyst, right there," said Navy veteran Larry Bailey. "They showed they were willing to desecrate something that's sacred to the American soul."
(snip)
Within days of the spray-painting, people were using the Web to organize, making it their mission to protect the monuments, support the troops and accept nothing less than victory in Iraq.
Yes, the republican outrage was huge. Oddly enough, though, I couldn't find one photo of the capitol steps with spray paint on them anywhere. Not one single photo. What I did find was this website with a picture taken by the blogger of what are clearly charcoal or rubber marks on the concrete. Scroll down several stories to find this pic, another of a very frustrated young army wife protesting the war, in-your-face style, and some interesting commentary from this blogger.
This lack of evidence did not deter the rabble. After all, who needs real evidence when you live in Freeperville? Another protest on Washington was scheduled for March 17, 2007, this time at the Pentagon to coincide with the fourth anniversary of the start of the Iraq war, and the right girded its loins for the apocalypse to come.
Banging away at their keyboards to produce stuff like this and this and this, the right mobilized to do battle with the evil protesters. Conservative Veteran's sites began to produce articles with headlines like "Rolling Thunder to oppose Fonda, anti-war protesters." Various groups began organizing, and posted notices like this:
ATTENTION ALL MEMBERS CRITICALLY IMPERATIVE: MEET AT THE WALL 1000 HOURS / 17 MARCH 2007
IT IS OUR UNDERSTANDING THAT THE PROTESTERS PLAN ON GOING RIGHT THROUGH THE IMMEDIATE AREA OF THE WALL / THREE MAN STATUE/ AND THE WOMEN'S MEMORIAL. IT IS OF UTMOST IMPORTANCE THAT WE PROTECT OUR PRECIOUS MEMORIALS, THE SANCTITY OF THE WALL AND DEFEND OUR TROOPS THAT ARE IN IRAQ AND FIGHTING EACH AND EVERY HOUR FOR OUR COUNTRY.
At the anti-war protest in Washington, D.C. 2 weeks ago there was ALOT of damage done at the Capitol steps. We cannot and will not allow this to happen at The Wall or to any of our memorials.
Since there were no pictures to be had of spray paint on the Capitol steps, articles and blog posts like this one, depicting pictures of two incidents, a spray painted Veteran's Memorial in Vermont and the Medal of Honor Monument in Indianapolis, were circulated and tales of other incidents were widely distributed throughout the right blogosphere. Those little charmers Michelle Malkin and Melanie Morgan weighed in strewing lies like rose petals and adding their own imaginary demons to the mix. Speeches and sermons were given, phone calls were made. The right was galvanized, and headed to Washington DC to do battle on March 17, 2007.
The size of the crowds, both anti-war and anti-anti-war, and who, in the end, shouted who down is up for debate. Much of it depends on who you want to believe. But what is known for certain is this. While ANSWER had put in for permits for crowds as large as 35,000, they fell short of their expectations. The previous day's bad weather and bitter cold temperatures that followed is the biggest factor cited for the shortfall amongst the anti-war crowd. Jo Freeman had this to say about it.
With so many different groups contributing, 30,000 people might have come to DC on Saturday if it hadn't snowed, rained, and sleeted the day before. Long distance busses were canceled.
Certainly more buses would have come from NYC if UfPJ hadn't organized a competing march down Sixth Avenue on Sunday.
UfPJ encouraged its constituent groups to participate in local actions all over the country and those in DC, Virginia and Maryland did just that.
The pro-war forces, undeterred by cold and fortified with their distortion-and-lie-fueled righteous indignation, was larger than anyone anticipated. Actually trying to put a number on the size of both camps is where things get a little hairy. Let's take a little peek at what the various players had to say on the days after the march.
From a Gathering of Eagles blogger:
The GOE website says the Park Service is putting our numbers at 30,000 compared to 4,000 or so for the pro-terrorists. I don't have access to all their figures, but I do know that in one place at one time we had close to 13,000 people. My methods were general, not scientific, but reasonable. The media gave conflicting numbers all day, and ended up trying to say that the vets were outnumbered by the pro-terrorism forces, as if that matters. Fact is, just about everyone agrees that all the Fonda/Sheehan forces could muster was about 4,000 demonstrators and terrorists. If I am wrong by fully half in my estimates, which I'm not, but let's just say if, then we still outnumbered the terrorists by double.
A blogger who was there in support of the pro-war contingent made his own estimate, and recited an interesting little tale of his encounter with his very own group:
Ok, guys ... that wasn't funny.
I mean, well, it was sorta funny. But not that funny.
True story: these guys wouldn't let me into the Gathering of Eagles rally. Seriously. They called me names. I tried to explain to them who I am and what I'm trying to do, but no go. Is it my fault I need to "blend" when covering ANSWER? One of the marshalls explained patiently to me that ... while I had every right to protest the war ... I needed to keep to my own side of the street. Sheesh. And when I said (patiently) that I'm really on their side to begin with I thought the cops standing around were going to arrest me. Crimminy. I had to high-tail it back into moonbatland. I mean ... would you mess with these guys?!
(snip)
If we're counting numbers ... and I haven't seen any "official" count yet ... I'd say that the Gathering of Eagles and ANSWER were about even. 25,000 to 35,000 each ... give or take.
This guy sounds like he's trying not to tell a hugely blatant whopper, but he's just not able to really count that high or estimate sizable numbers. Michelle Malkin took these whoppers and ran with them. This is, of course, not at all what the Park Service estimated. The Washington Post, hardly a bastion of liberal thinking, had this to say on the subject.
Organizers, who had predicted tens of thousands of marchers would demonstrate, gave estimates ranging from 15,000 to 30,000. Police no longer provide official estimates of crowd size but informally put it at 10,000 to 20,000, with a smaller but sizable contingent of counter-protesters.
CBS Online echoes those numbers. Jo Freeman puts the estimate of anti-war protesters for that day at roughly fifteen thousand and the anti-anti protesters at two thousand. I consider this far more credible than anything coming from the land of the Freepers.
How did this all play out? Jo Freeman continues:
At the western end of the Mall they were greeted by men in motorcycle jackets chanting "USA, USA." A hundred feet onto the grass hundreds of flags surrounded a stage where a sign declared "United We Stand. Together We Kick Ass." The two thousand anti-anti-war protestors were the largest contingent of anti-antis to show up at an anti-Iraq war march. Most of them were Viet Nam vets, primarily from Rolling Thunder, a large organization of biker vets who come to DC every Memorial Day to remember POWs and MIAs.
(snip)
I heard a lot of name calling, but saw only one woman (an anti-anti) break through the police line to attack someone on the other side. She was quickly removed. I also heard a couple of degrading comments about Jane Fonda, who was not there. One large sign said "Why Call it ANSWER – Workers World Party is a Commie."
What was most striking was not the ignorance of left wing splits displayed by this sign, but the cultural metamorphosis. The twenty-something protestors of the anti- Viet Nam War era were ridiculed for beards and long hair. The fifty-something Viet Nam vets were a hairy crowd, adorned with a lot of metal. By comparison, the anti Iraq-war protestors were rather clean cut. In age, sex, race, and attire they looked more like America.
From WaPo:
It was quickly apparent that the weather had not prevented counter-demonstrators, many in black leather motorcycle jackets, from showing up in force and surrounding all sides of the Wall.
At one point before the march started, counter-demonstrators formed a gantlet along an asphalt walkway on Constitution Avenue and heaped verbal abuse at protesters who walked through on their way to the assembly area. One Vietnam veteran in a wheelchair yelled obscenities at demonstrators, including some with children.
Some demonstrators supporting the war effort engaged in good-natured banter with war protesters. But others blocked paths and prevented marchers from getting near the Wall, particularly anyone carrying a sign. District resident Eric Anderson, 47, had his sign ripped from his hands and thrown in the mud.
Bob Anders, 60, an Iowa banker who said he served with the 25th Infantry Division in Vietnam and rode a bus from Iowa to protest the war, had his heart set on seeing the memorial but turned around after seeing the situation. "I've never seen the memorial, and I wanted to see it in a spirit of protest," he said.
From CBS Online:
Police on horseback and foot separated the two groups of demonstrators, who shouted at each other from opposite sides of Constitution Avenue in view of the Lincoln Memorial before the anti-war group marched. Barriers also kept them apart.
But war protester Susanne Shine of Boone, N.C., found herself in a crowd of counterdemonstrators, and came out in tears, with her sign in shreds. "They ripped up my peace sign," she said, after police escorted her, her husband and two adult daughters from the group. "It was really pretty scary for me."
Protesters walked in a blustery, cold wind across the Potomac River with motorcycles clearing their way and police boats and helicopters watching.
The Freepers came to make a stand. It was based on false information and misdirected anger, but who the hell cares about such trivial details? The turnout was much better than the usual handful that had shown up in the past and the anti-war protesters made a poorer showing than they'd hoped and planned for due to the bad weather and factional splits among the organizers.
Based on this "show of force", the Freepers have once again put out the call, escalated their misinformation campaign, girded their loins for battle, and intend to be in Washington DC on September 15th to protect our national monuments and treasures from the evil that is the anti-war movement,not to mention lobbying Congress for all that is right and just, in their not so humble opinion. And as the time draws near, the rallying cries have become louder.
From Michelle Malkin:
Earlier this year, I reported on a new, nonpartisan movement that arose to challenge the surrender lobby. On a bitter cold weekend in March, the Gathering of Eagles brought together veterans, families of active-duty servicemen and servicewomen, Rolling Thunder members, military bloggers and their grass-roots supporters to raise their pro-troops, pro-mission voices. I interviewed Eagles who flew in from San Francisco, rode motorcycles south from Georgia, drove all night from Boston, and trekked in caravans from coast to coast to answer ANSWER. At the crack of dawn, facing biting winds and contemptuous taunts, tens of thousands of Eagles stood guard over war memorials threatened by anti-war anarchists and lined the streets where bongo drum-beating retreatists marched.
(snip)
For every anti-Bush activist agitating for immediate withdrawal and throwing rocks at ROTC offices, an Eagle will be there in Washington to oppose the planting of the white flag. The organizations leading the way include the Gathering of Eagles, Eagles Landing, Move America Forward, the Military Order of the Purple Heart, Free Republic, Vets for Freedom and the Victory Caucus. (Visit gatheringofeagles.org and moveamericaforward.org for details.)
From Eagles Up, Colonel's Corner - August 27, 2007:
Eagles will land in Washington to protect our monuments from desecration, show overwhelming support for our troops and their mission, and ensure that Gen. Petraeus knows he has an army of loyal supporters here at home.
We will gather as we did on March 17 to confirm the 60s generation’s day is over and that the battle has been joined on the home front. Eagles will make the point that the benign intentions expressed to a collaborating media are not the true intent of these fake ‘patriots’ who, when no one is looking, desecrate our memorials, insult and assault wounded members of the military, interrupt and dishonor warrior burials, and undermine our troops who are putting their lives on the line to secure our freedoms.
Members of the ANSWER organization have gathered on Friday nights outside the gates of the Walter Reed US Army Medical Center in Washington to hurl verbal insults at wounded American soldiers and their families entering and leaving the facility.
This reprehensible, despicable behavior is not an aberration, as demonstrated by the nationwide drive to desecrate memorials to our war dead and veterans.
In March, the Vietnam "Wall" and other war memorials on the National Mall were targeted for desecration by the ANSWER demonstrators, as they may be again on September 15. In March a mass of pro-troop supporters, outnumbering the ANSWER forces by at least 3 to 1, gathered between the Vietnam and World War II Memorials, and sent people to the Korean War Memorial to dissuade anyone who doesn’t understand the difference between free speech and criminality.
In March an attempt was made to overpower police lines and force its way to the Vietnam Memorial by a group dressed in a manner mimicking Islamo-fascist terrorists. It failed because we blocked their way, peacefully but firmly.
Attempts to do the same thing on September 15 can expect to meet a similar obstacle, and a similar failure.
So as you can see, the right has discovered the wonders of protest, of mobilizing in ever growing numbers to make a physical presence to go along with their rhetoric. I have serious doubts if they will show up in numbers to equal the anti-war protesters in Washington DC on September 15th, but I could be wrong. Certainly, there will be more there than they had in March, and their numbers will grow with every protest. They will do this because they are motivated, however wrongly, to protect what they feel is sacred.
I'll be in Washington DC on September 15th, as well. I'll be going because I, too want to protect what I feel is sacred. I'll be going because I believe in the sanctity of life, freedom of speech, the rule of law, and protecting our Constitution. I'll be there because I want to protect our freedoms, our liberties and our rights. But most of all I'll be there because of my grandchildren, who I love above all else, and whose future looks more bleak by the hour. I want them to have a better life than I've had, not worse. I would gladly lay down my life for them. Making a cross-country trip to protest for the way of life they are entitled to seems like such a small sacrifice by comparison. On September 15th I'll be marching from the White House to the Capitol, with my signs and my voice raised, trying to protect everything that I hold dear and sacred.
But where will you be on that day? Will you be in Washington DC protesting for everything that you hold sacred? Will you be protesting locally, letting those in your area know that there is no time to waste, we must act now? Will you be at your computer, writing letters to your Senators and Representatives, writing Letters to the Editor for local and national publication, on the phone registering your displeasure with what is happening at the highest levels of government to those in a position to do something about it?
Yes, I know where I'll be on September 15th. The Freepers know where they will be, too. I will do my best to shout them down, but it's not something that I can do alone. We need every body in motion, protesting in whatever way we can possibly participate. We've reached the point where we have to make a stand, and do it now. We do not have time on our side. It has been squandered, just like the lives of our soldiers and that of millions of Iraqis, our freedoms and liberties, and the good will of the world at large that was once given so freely to America and its citizens has been, squandered by the greedy and miscalculated acts of our government. We can no longer afford to sit around and debate this action over that one, we can not longer hem and haw about what action to take or whether we should even take action at all. The time has come where we must act, and we must do it now.
If not now, when?
Please join us at Road2DC to participate in ride-sharing, lodging, and other information to help you facilitate your participation in the March for Peace in Washington DC on September 15th. Feel free to set up your own threads to organize for other local, regional and national protests, whether big or small. We will do all we can to assist you. All donations are gratefully accepted, and will be used to help those who wish to participate but have financial constraints.