There is a threat to justice in Georgia!
Atlanta Solidarity Rally speaker
I attended the rally yesterday at the Capitol Building in Atlanta Georgia.
Below are a few pics, a video of a fiery speech,and more than a few words of my observations and reactions.
Atlanta is just not a good place to protest. People are oblivious.
When I went downtown in 2003 to protest Bush's War, I had to look around to find the protest. The police lead us around like a guided tour. We did get over a thousand people yelling at CNN, who totally ignored us. It's their job.
Today the crowd likely did not top 900. Max.
Not including the 70-80 teabaggers clustered across the intersection.
The folks across the street:
Go Home SEIU Thugs
A very severe taunting, indeed.
At one point early in the rally, the 'people across the street' tried to stationg themselves directly across from us. Apparently the police - who lead us antiwar protesters around like a kindergarten class back in 2003 - were pretty much protecting the People's rally and keeping the Teabaggers at a distance.
Some of them tried anyway and got into a discussion with the police:
They were successfully kept across the intersection, catty-corner to the Capitol Building for the duration of the event. I left about 6 pm.
Here's a general pic of the crowd at the front of the courthouse
The police had barricaded the lawn....we couldn't step on the lawn but he had the courthouse steps and the whole block on the sidewalk.
I took a "STOP THE WAR ON THE WORKERS" sign and staked out the curb, right at the street and spent about an hour with others trying to get drivers to honk horn and show some love.
And it was there that I likely did the most good.
As I said above, Atlanta is a terrible place to try and protest. Most people drove past the protest oblivious to the outside world. Stuck in their cars, yakking on their phones, fidgeting with iPhones and music players. We yelled, whistled (I was easily the loudest whistler there) and made what I called the 'International Symbol for honking' mostly without success.
But some folks did make the connection and we did get some respectable honkage.
It was quittin' time at Tara in Atlanta so the street was very frequently packed with cars at a standstill and we got to talk to a few drivers. There were 3 occasions in which I spoke very briefly with a driver who questioned what we were doing, who didn't want to honk, who did end up honking once I broke it down to them as far as what's at stake.
One young man asked what the noise was about and another person started talking about the assault on the unions and the young man did seem concerned about that but had the "what's that got to do with me" look.
I intervened and explained that the Republicans want to kill collective bargaining for public employees and that if they accomplish this you can expect a general assualt on ALL wages in this country...even yours.
That hit home and we got some mad honking out of him.
Another young man in a convertible stopped near us and my cohorts were calling on him to honk. He said "I'll honk when we start moving...somebody might see me", drawing a rather odd look from those around me.
I directed his attention to the lady in the Beemer next to him, totally involved in her phone call with her windows rolled up and said "This is Atlanta! People are Oblivious to the outside world. Look at that lady next to you!"
He glanced over and then....Honk honk honk! went his horn and cheers and whistles filled the air. Another mind corrupted with the solidarity message.
Then I decided I needed to move around and take some video and just happened to catch this rather fiery speech by a man whose name I do not know. I was lucky to get this, I think:
There is injustice in Ohio!
There is a threat to justice in Georgia!
And we gotta remember that this moment isn't about us! This moment is about our children, and future generations!
So we are standing here today to make sure that our children and grandchildren will be able to benefit from the rights that we have RIGHT NOW!
That really sent chills down me spine and makes even a harsh person like myself get all wispy.
But then the man calls out "the people across the street and the whole crowd just falls silent for like 4 seconds...very noticeable. It's absolutely unscripted and - to me- hysterical. The speech continues
Now... there are some people across the street........................... that don't want us to have those justices!
Well, we need to let them know that they were able to take off work, they were able to leave their jobs and protest against us BECAUSE OF UNIONS!!
Go tell them they are here right now because of the Labor Movement!
The speaker goes on to talk about the right next steps and tells the crowd about MoveOn.org's plans for
This Saturday, the 26th
We call for emergency rallies in front of every statehouse this Saturday at noon to stand together to save the American Dream
I know the Great and Powerful Kos has pooh-poohed street protests as dead, but I guess I am saying I don't care. I think MORE protests, not less are needed so I am thrilled to hear about more being planned. Set it off, I say!
As far as I am concerned, it's not a real protest without...a protest dog!
I dubbed the little dog "Camo the protest dog" and noted he was calling out FOX for lying and complaining that Walker is a tool of Koch Industries. A very smart little dog, eh?
On my way out, I stopped and talked to a nice older woman who described herself as a "child of the 60's" and I introduced myself as Doc from Daily Kos. She commented on my t-shirt, which is the same as my avatar - the Punisher logo. She "liked my skull' because it was colorful and I explained (as I am explaining now) that it's actually a good luck symbol and a warning to evil spirits to not mess with the innocent. I strongly identify with that.
I told her about the issue with transitional homes preying on the mentally il, explained it in some detail and she was appropriately appalled. One more person enlightened about THAT ugly reality.
And that more or less wraps it up.
The baggers were singing "nah nah nah nah goodbye' to us liberals as we left. I remain traumatized by the brutal taunting I had to endure. (Nothing a little medicinal herb couldn't soothe, though.)
We didn't have a massive throng here in Atlanta but we did it. We stood up for Justice.
We need more of it.
Set it off!