I'm going to the protest in NYC, if anyone here is going, and wants to talk soccer and politics, let me know....
Love soccer my religion, but I happen to believe the President and powell when they say iraq has a link to terrorism. They get intel reports no one else has. Do you get intel from anyone that really knows what's going on? I believe it is in our national interest to clean that place out of weapons of mass distruction. Whether the UN is with us or not. I do believe in future UN and nato activities we should aid them with money and equipment but not our troops like France does now. So I will not be joining you in the protest, but respect your right to protest even if it is not backed by solid information. Some may call protest with a lack of real information stupid, but not me. So protest away
http://www.geocities.com/castmind/protest.html I just took this at 1:45 from my terrace. Pretty loud and large crowd. I have to go back out. I imagine it's moving pretty close to 72nd Street by now. And you you can see, it's spilling over on to 2nd Avenue as well.
I knew it was only a matter of time b/4 this thread popped up.. Do us all a favor and kill it.. Dont give the hippies and "intellectuals" a reason to pipe up..
Nothing wrong with sharing thoughts an ideas, Dave.. I am not even necessarily for the war w/Iraq.. It's just the protesters that annoy me.. Gives everyone who missed out on the 'nam protests a 2nd chance to be a nuisance.
Seriously. How dare they exercise their right to assemble? So if we're anti-war, we should stay home and communicate our opinions to Bush through telepathy? Something tells me that won't make for a good story for the mainstream media.
So you would deny people who are against the war the right to peaceful assembly to protest against our current leadership? Nice.
Just got back. This was an extremely powerful march and cathartic for me and thousands of New Yorkers. I was fortunate to make it to the main rally point but many weren't and what was supposed to be just a rally turned into a march as the police made us walk 10 blocks north just to come back down 1st Avenue. I've never seen so many people crowded onto the streets here ever. I love democracy.
ahhh. <gasp> breathtaking... Some activist crack-pots even got arrested, I guess they acccomplished their mission...
Oh, come now, Skip, it is not possible to actively participate in a democracy anymore. Those days of hippy legend are gone. We must merely sit in our houses and apartments and post on BS. God help us if we smoke pot while doing so...
Can't write much right at the moment (at a friend's house), but those thousands - hundreds of thousands actually - like me, who spent the entire afternoon stuck on 2nd or 3rd Avenue or Lex, never having a chance to get near the actual demonstration, and dealing with a NYC police corps - talk about wasting your public goodwill! - that shamefully (IMO) provoked peaceful protesters and kept them blocks away from the UN the entire afternoon...well, we'd say they did a damn good job of taking away that right to peaceful assembly today. More later.
Damn all these rallied did inspire me to go out and protest, but its just too freaking cold. If it was 70 and partly cloudy I will be there with my BOMBO leading the cheers and turning soccer songs into anti Bush ones.
You love democracy? If you love democracy so much why are you attending rallies that will benefit brutal dictators and allow them to continue raping and pillaging the innocent people of a poor country? Bloody fool.
Much to my own surprise, I did show at the rally. I had not planned to attend, because I despise groups such as A.N.S.W.E.R. and feel that between their militant Stalinism and Bush's imperialism for idiots, that Bush is the lesser of two evils. I literally changed my mind the night before after reading Robert Byrd's speech as well as an article by Salman Rushdie (written back in November). Rushdie in fact supports a war to liberate Iraq, but realizes that Bush's war is not that. As it turns out, I was not subjected to the moronic anti-U.S., anti-Israel rhetoric that usually accompanies these rallies, though I'm sure plenty of those people were there. Part of it was probably my decision to march with the Jewish contingent's feeder rally. There was definitely an incredibly diverse group of people there, and from the conversations I had/overheard, people had remarkably nuanced views about the matter. Definitely not the stereotypes that certain people would like to use to dismiss the anti-war effort. I didn't even get close to the speakers or even a P.A. system. So I stopped around 53rd and 3rd and hung out there, then took the subway back to the office (far too much work this weekend). It was cold, but so what. That's what layers are for.
Thanks JPhurst. the media, even the NYT, haven't really given us a floavor of the march. I gather the many marches in Europe and the UK were pretty well attended. We had a small but vocal rally here in Atlnat with Sweet Honey in the Rock giving a really great concert.
Protest summary Well, I attended the protest as I had posted, and here are some of my observations: 1. As some on this thread have indicated, it was a great forum for a lot of "hippies", old and young, to demonstrate. Of all the protesters, they comprised maybe about 10-15%. These were the people that I took least seriously, because they seem to protest anything the government does. 2. As some also expected, there was a small contingent of socialist/Marxist radical types. Similar to the hippies, these folks also seem to protest anything the US government does. 3. However, besides the hippies and neo-Marxists, most of the protesters seemed to be trying to sincerely demonstrate and show their opposition to the Bush administration and their Iraq policy (including me). 4. I saw firsthand the hypocrisy of the police force. I was at 3rd and about 52nd in a crowd of peaceful protesters, when for no apparent reason, they decided to push us all onto the sidewalk. The way they did this was both brutal and savage, they had no regard for our safety and at one point I was afraid that there would be a crowd crush. A few protesters on the perimeter then fought back and were promptly arrested. So when you hear about the arrests at these events, realize that it is just as likely to result from police provocation than unruly demonstrators. 5. Finally, I am not aware of the political impact, if any, the protests will have, but being there does give you a great sense of the importance of exercising our rights in a democratic society, especially when it is apparent that we are not being heard by the upper echelons of power and influence.
Re: Protest summary Perhaps they were trying to clear the streets of sitting protesters who refused to move? Traffic still has a need to circulate and the march was declared over. It's always the police's fault, according to the protesters, in these confrontations. If they were truly civilized and peaceful, they would've obeyed the request to move onto the sidewalks. The police were doing their jobs.
Re: Re: Protest summary "New York City cops always act in the interest of public safety and never overstep the boundaries of good police work." signed - Herbert Louima "If I didn't want to get shot to death, I should've never reached for my wallet." signed - Amadou Diallo
Re: Re: Re: Re: Protest summary Except, much like my view on the Bush administration, I refuse to allow the NYPD to use 9/11 as an excuse to do whatever the hell they please.
Re: Re: Re: Re: Protest summary This has got to be the most unintentionally funny thing you have ever posted. It would be brilliant if it wasn't so irrelevant. Have you bookmarked www.smiley-faces.com for future reference?