I'm putting this diary together to coordinate information and add a little informed backstory - not to take away from davefromqueens excellent diary on the subject, but to add some information I don't want to see lost in the sheer volume of comments on his diary.
It's ironic that my diary Friday announcing the Smithhaven Mall protest barely got a nod from the community, but I realize that's the way it goes sometimes (and I personally can't wait for the end of the candidate circus, le sigh). We would like to see a lot more of you at the next Long Island mall protest - and there WILL be a next one.
By now most of you know who this guy is: Don Zirkel, arrested for wearing an anti-war T-shirt in the Smithhaven shopping mall on Saturday.
Some of you have asked how to get his T shirt. I have that information and more, below the fold.
First things first: here's how to get a T shirt of your own.
To order a shirt, send an email to enough.tshirt(at)gmail.com
The shirt is $12 Check or Money Order (to cover print & shipping cost) and is available on white shirts, Men's sizes S-XL. Larger sizes, long sleeves, and sweatshirts are also available at an additional cost.
Please limit your emails to orders. Thank you.
NB: I do not know the T shirt maker personally, I got this information from the Topix bulletin board comments that are attached to the Newsday article.
On December 28th, CodePink did a protest similar to the Smithhaven mall one at another Simon Properties owned mall - Roosevelt Field in Garden City, Long Island. There were eight of us and we were mostly ignored by people in the mall, although some people did ask us questions and take flyers. There was a mock "invasion" of a store that sold many pink items, which I facetiously "claimed in the name of Medea Benjamin". The shirts were similar, and the idea was the same - to raise public awareness about the war issue.
After about an hour we were confronted by mall security and asked to leave the premises. They escorted us out. We tweaked their noses a bit by taking a roundabout way out of the mall and pretending to be "lost", but we did leave the building.
The Smithhaven mall protest happened in the way it did because of assorted confrontations that have been taking place between small groups of isolated counter-recruitment protesters (including CodePink Long Island) and the Gathering of Egos at recruiting stations in Patchogue, Huntington and Greenlawn. One protest with a vicious pro-war presence was also the weekend before someone tried to set off an explosion at the recruiting station at Times Square on March 6th. You will recall that there was an attempt to blame CodePink and the Raging Grannies, who have peacefully protested there in the past, by some of the more deranged elements in wingnut land.
The Greenlawn demonstration got particularily nasty, with the freeper goons screaming obscenities at the little old CodePink ladies and threatening them with violence. One right-wing thug snarled, "Bring your man next time so it's a fair fight!" at Charlotte Koons, a well-known retired schoolteacher, lifelong peace activist, a member of the NYCLU - and a widow.
Charlotte, our CodePink "Peace Crone", is well respected. The response from the Long Island anti-war community to this was immediate and furious.
As you have read in Newsday, over two hundred people from Suffolk Peace Network, Long Island Alliance for Peaceful Alternatives, North Country Peace Group, South Country Peace Group, CodePink Long Island, Veterans for Peace, MoveOn and Pax Christi Long Island participated in the next demonstration. One of them was Don Zirkel. You know the rest of that story.
Most of us who have been lobbying Congress or attending public Congressional hearings with CodePink in Washington DC are familiar with the "Simon Says" game played by the Capitol Police. On the pretense of objecting to a message on a piece of clothing or a sign, they demand that you remove it or risk arrest. These charges are usually thrown out of court, and rightfully so. It's simple harassment and control-freakism. Capitol Police have also been known to profile, mandating that people wearing pink cannot go into public hearings.
This behavior has been going on in DC for years now - and has never EVER been covered by mainstream media - but those of us who are all too familiar with it by now are VERY pleased to see that the "Simon Says" police dominance game's debut in suburban America has not gone well with the general public at all!
That the "Simon Says" game was played in a Simon Properties mall is even more ironic. The same thing that happened within the local Long Island community when they heard of the abuse Charlotte had to endure from a vile right-wing thug is happening as America learns of the arrest of Don Zirkel. A nationwide backlash in the form of a boycott of Simon Properties malls has caused USA Today to sit up from it's torpor and take notice, albiet through the customary fog of disinformation that usually accompanies the right-wing party line. The USA Today story mindlessly parrots the police press release that falsely claims that the T shirt apparently had "graphic anti-war images"; and for some strange reason (heh!) does not include a copy of Zirkel's picture in the T shirt, although it does link back to the Newsday article.
Long Island has been a conservative bastion for decades, mostly because it was strategically important to the United States during the development of our air power. A local TV station reported the demonstration as being comprised of "pro-war veterans and their families" and "anti war protesters", with the false implication that none of the anti-war protesters were military or had military family members. This falsehood was addressed both directly by myself and others both in calls and emails to Cablevision, and in the Topix boards attached to the Newsday article, in a manner that publicly and widely corrected the misinformation.
If you choose to participate in the national boycott of Simon Properties malls you can call to inform them at (317) 636-1600. Go here to determine which malls near you are owned by Simon Properties.
Corporate America, be on notice: the anti-war movement will NOT play "Simon Says"!
There will be another Long Island shopping mall protest, and it will be soon. I hope those of you who are local can join us.