This entry will be updated soon (probably either tomorrow or Tuesday if I don't have a chance tomorrow) with pictures from the event, but I just wanted to quickly get on and jot down some reflections of the amazing march for peace of January 27th 2007 in Washington D.C
This was my first large protest/march, so it was particularly exciting for me. Having driven on a bus for 9 hours to get to Washington D.C from Boston, I was a bit apprehensive at first, but the event truly lived up to all expectations.
I am not a sign maker myself, so I didn't bring/make any, but the minute I walked out the metro station at Judiciary square some person handed me a sign and asked me to walk with it for him. In retrospect this seems like a really great sign of the turnout to come. I took the sing (it talked about troop casualties on one side, and about how terrorism is the war of the rich on the other so it was a pretty good one). At the mall, people were handing out united for peace and justice signs and ones promoting the march on march 17th at the Pentagon, so I loaded up on signs and went to stand by the stage.
The rally opened with a nondenominational prayer which was the sort of bland unexciting prayer one gets when attempting to appeal to everyone imo. Then, a rabbi and priest and a immam ( I know sounds like the set up for a joke) came and each gave a prayer. These were all passionate and exciting as well as managing to reach broad appeal ( except for the priests repeated exclamation of "in the name of jesus christ" which was a bit off putting honestly).
Starting the day of right were the raging grannies. These gals are hilarious and a must listen for anyone that has not heard them. Their melodies are wondrous. They did a ditty about pulling out and escalation which was very humorous. I had the fortune of seeing them later during the rally performing several more songs and each was worthy of a listen...strongly recommended...
The most impressive portion of probably the whole Rally was a speech by a 12 year old middle schooler who started an anti-war petition at her school. CNN and AP reports mention this speech, but one can not get from a static report the passion that filled her voice. The announcer made a comment afterwards that he/she would look forward to seeing this girl in congress in several years :)....makes me optimistic for the future in a way (if we survive the probably war with Iran of course)
The first few adult speakers were really not memorable at all. Typical anti-war slogans and they rarely attempted to get the crowd excited. Probably the first person to really heat up the crowd was Dennis Kucinich. Aside from being very short ( a bad omen), he had all of the clout and personality that one needs to be a presidential candidate ( not that he has a chance of winning). He did that annoying modern politician thing where he mentioned his website 3 times in a speech (ala John Kerry during the 2004 election), but aside from that he was truly impassioned.
Actually, all of the senators that spoke were certainly wonderful and it made me proud that such compassionate and passionate individuals were representing their constituents in congress rather than the embezzling shmucks of the 109th congress. The power of the purse was mentioned several times as was house resolution 508 which seems to me like a pretty commendable plan for ending the war in Iraq as soon as possible.
After several more speakers from various groups, the veterans for peace groups came up and spoke. Some were eloquent while other made rather clumsy Vietnam war stretches (not to say that Iraq is not like Vietnam, but pushing a metaphor too far is never a good thing) but all reminded of the human toil and suffering that war inflicts on individuals. They are in many ways the heart and soul of any anti-war movement. Someone commented on how it took them 6 years to join anti-nam movements in force, so this probably a good sign.
Jesse Jackson started off rather slow before crescendoing into a burst of passion and energy that left the audience ready to march. The coordinators had to actually tell us not to start marching yet because there were more speakers to come.
The actors contingency was very solid. Sean Penn was not very articulate but certainly passionate. Susan Sorandon was very great as well. Jane Fonda actually disappointed me because of all the things id heard about her from the Vietnam days. Her speech was solid but not particularly moving or inspiring.
Tim Robbins on the other hand...WOW!!! He made this amazing speech that stated that while Nixon spoke to walls, bush speaks to god not the people, but that it must be a different god then ours...he then mentioned the ten commandments and went systemically through how bush has broken many of them ( stealing, lying, killing etc) this was by far the best speech of the day and resonated with impeach bush chants...
The march itself was disorganized, but that is probably part of its charm. People meandered in different routes. Some went a full circuit around the capitol. I went up the side and then walked up the steps of the capitol as far as I could go before security stood in the way. There were student groups here chanting to the police to rebel and dissent from their government. This was pretty interesting, but obviously not full filed. On the way back around, I got to see the bush chain gang which was certainly another highlight....look for them if they come to your town...
Overall, the event was just stunning. It left me truly hopeful that we will no longer let bush or congress neglect the will of the people...
More reflections and imaged shall follow