report back March On the Pentagon : Cleveland IMC (((i)))

http://www.flickr.com/photos/28523211@N06/sets/72157615723485877/show/

FEET TO THE FIRE! WE WANT PEACE!
March 20-21 ,2009 Anniversary Of The Iraq War Report Back- MJ Muser

On friday March 20,2009 Cleveland peace activists participated in a march of the dead sponsored by Northeast Ohio Anti War Coalition (NOAC) around the warehouse entertainment district followed by a veritable feast provided by Cleveland Food Not Bombs in Old Stone Church.
Excellent inspiration and good vibrations were provided by talented musical artists XELA, E & J Intoxicated, Charlie Mosbrook and Johnny Philko Band.
Afterwards we filled up a bus and headed to D.C. to join in the first major protest since the election of President Obama.

The weather and spirit of the beautiful people in DC for the March on The Pentagon could not have been better.
We hung out on the grass enjoying each others company during the rally. I had positive thoughtful conversations and danced with people from all over .
Hats off to the organizers who did an outstanding job meeting and greeting the buses, having a medical bus for exhausted activists to get reprieve in during the march, to having legal advisors and march marshalls readily available if needed.

Our Cleveland NOAC contingent wore white masks to represent the faces of the dead . Our beautiful banner was large and read "Feet To The Fire We Want Peace!" On one side of it we carried a peace flag and on the other a earth flag.
At one point in the march I saw a young girl delighting in a sunny field filled with bright yellow daffodils. It warmed my heart after the long winter we had to endure and it was a true picture of peace.

When I turned around to see behind me during the march across the Potomac I saw all diverse young people stretched out across the street fired up, jumping, drumming,shouting "Hell no we won' t go we won't fight for Texaco" and "Jump Up Jump Down There's an Anti -War Movement in this town"
I was so excited & thrilled at this that I almost lost my voice from screaming with them towards the Pentagon.The crowd which stretched farther than I could see end to end vented together awesomely!...were were loud! Revolutionary change was thick in the air.
I got the strong feeling that there is truly hope in the world today, the youth on campuses are on the move in this country! Some of the huge colorful banners they carried read " Books Not Bombs" and "Occupation Is A Crime "
Palestinian flags were everywhere throughout the march as well.

There were a pitiful handful of counter protesters standing at the beginning of the march route with their usual "Support The Troops" and " You Are All Traitors" and "Love It Or Leave It" signs. It looks like their numbers have dwindled down next to nothing.
We shut them down easily by chanting "Support The Troops That's A Lie You Don't Care If Soldiers Die"
They looked pretty stupid and irrelevant to me.
I also noticed they were not aggressive like last years Rolling Thunder provocateurs who organized a counter protest that lined the march. It looks like their organizing days may be going thru hard times or maybe they were so outnumbered that they just behaved themselves.

some more pictures:

http://www.flickr.com/search/?q=March+on+the+pentagon&page=2

And for the human beings in the world... (ANSWER's Report below)
On Sixth Anniversary of Iraq war...
More than 10,000 march on Pentagon, leading war profiteers

The last two-thirds of the march (Getty Images) (If you look closely you can see the NOAC contingent on the right in white masks by blue earth flag)

A "throng of war protesters swelled Saturday as they marched across the Memorial Bridge." (AP) The protesters marched on the Pentagon and what followed was a dramatic direct action at Boeing, Lockheed Martin, General Dynamics and KBR, corporations that demonstrators labeled "merchants of death." The predominantly young crowd continued to grow as the day proceeded. They marched through the Pentagon north Parking Lot and then into downtown Crystal City, where the leading war corporations' headquarters are located.

The march was led by a contingent of Iraq and Afghanistan war veterans. There was a significant delegation from members of the Arab and Muslim communities and many students participated.

The Arlington County Police mobilized in full riot gear in an attempt to block the demonstrators from delivering symbolic coffins at the doorsteps of the war corporations. They brought tear gas, snarling dogs and pointed guns loaded with rubber bullets directly at demonstrators. The Arlington County Police also put out an absurdly low count of the demonstration, which was more than 10,000 people.

In Los Angeles, a simultaneous demonstration drew 4,000 people, which culminated with a dramatic die-in at the Kodak Theater. Another 4,000 demonstrated in San Francisco, where police carried out violent attacks on demonstrators and arrested numerous people.

"This is the launch of the anti-war movement in the post-Bush era. Bush is gone, but the occupation of Iraq continues, the war in Afghanistan is escalating, and the people of Palestine are living under a state of siege," stated Brian Becker, National Coordinator of the ANSWER Coalition.

Below are a few additional photos from the march, which can be downloaded in hi-resolution and credited to Bill Hackwell if used:
Demonstrators cross the bridge to the Pentagon (View hi-res)
Demonstrators lay coffins at the doorstep of the War Profiteers (View hi-res)

Front banner of March (View hi-res)
A protester carries a coffin draped with an Afghan flag (View hi-res)

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more pictures to be found at;

http://www.flickr.com/search/?q=march+on+the+Pentagon+3-21-09&page=3

http://www.flickr.com/search/?q=DC%20protest%20March%2021%2C2009&w=all

Video :

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bHLVbwCQF8s

Peace rally in San Francisco's civic center turns into angry confrontation. Activists scream hatred at Jews. Angry Lakota Sioux radical spouts racist rant, finishes by bad drumming and unintelligible chanting. Dick Becker has a fit. Speaker at microphone calls the police mothe***88ers and accuses them of wanting to kill people. Arab bites cop. Palestinians attack Jews in metro.
Saturday March 21st, one PM to about three PM.

DEMONSTRATING FOR PEACE... AND THE DESTRUCTION OF ISRAEL!

There had been nearly two thousand people at Justin Herman Plaza earlier, but by the time the marchers reached Civic Center there were only seven hundred of them left - over half of them angry Arab teenagers, anxious to prove to their kinfolk overseas that they had NOT gone native in the US, but in fact despised the country where they lived, and were against everything American. Especially the despicable liberties that allowed other people to express opposing points of view.
Such as the seventy of us who had gathered on Polk Street in front of SF City Hall to counterdemonstrate the anti-Israel message of International ANSWER and their co-conspirators.

CONFRONTATION

As soon as the crowd reached Civic Center, about two hundred Keffiyeh-wearing young persons headed towards us intent on mayhem, but the presence of the police forced them instead to scream insults and threats, at one point starting a lively chant of "ba ruh, ba dam, nafdeek ya Filistin" ('with our soul, with our blood, we will redeem you oh Palestine'), which follows the traditional formula for swearing a bloody cleansing in service of some Islamic cause or other. And as usual, their non-Arab sympathisers stood there smiling their approval.
Having learned that hate-slogans in Arabic are bad public relations, the organizers of the event stilled the chant, and got them instead to scream something more acceptable, which was the promise to ethnically cleanse the area between the Jordan river and the Mediterranean sea.
The police eventually gently persuaded all of them to return to the proper side of the street for uttering death threats, that being the area designated by the permit for the peace rally.

As only one of them had a megaphone, this tempered the noise considerably. Shaking fists and giving the one-fingered salute is, on the whole, a rather impotent display.

PALESTINIAN YOUTHS

Not that one should consider the San Francisco Palestinian youth impotent. In fact, that might very well be the problem - there is probably massive sexual frustration in their ranks. It really is hard to get laid when you despise people outside your own community, violently disapprove of relations before marriage, and treat the weaker sex like dirt.
Despite the dimwitted blondes who are attracted by Arab machismo, and the revolutionaries who are willing to do anything, anything! to prove their devotion to the cause, well, when you don't have a place of your own AND all of your praeconceptions are going full-tilt, humping just isn't a solution.

Of course, if you are female, the likely prospect of sexual brutalization by a cousin isn't very appealing either.

A TWELVE-YEAR OLD WITH A ROCK

True to cultural trope, at least one of the Palestinian-Americans wished to throw rocks. Unfortunately he did so at the SFPD, who were not amused by this charming display of traditional self-expression and wished to arrest him. The crowd then waxed belligerent at the SFPD's insensitivity, chanting and screaming at the police - several of them needed to be restrained.
I believe the police eventually decided not to arrest the twelve-year old, who was blubbering like an infant by then. Instead they chose some of the more violently inclined older individuals who attacked them.

One of whom, we now know, has teeth.

Attacking the police is not a wise thing to do - neither is calling them motherf****s, as one of the ANSWER speakers on the podium did - his words were clear, distinct, and amplified. He was urging people to stay away from 'tha po-lees, do not provoke tha po-lees, don't get tha po-lees angry, man, you can't win against tha po-lees, they be jest wanting to put you six feet under, man, tha po-lees'.

The twelve year old who was nearly arrested is the son of a Palestinian-American family that runs a liquor store. I shall not say anything negative about them, as Palestinian store owners are hardworking people making an honest living in some interesting parts of town. Once you get to know them, you discover that they are very genuine people, with big hearts, who care about the community in which they live.

Some of their children, on the other hand.... Well, many of the kids are typical urban American teenagers. Meaning that they have horrible taste in music, chips on their shoulders, attitude problems, and are desperate for someone to hate.
Oh, and frustrated. Very, very frustrated. That doesn't help.

POLICE PROVOKE CONFRONTATION BY REMAINING CALM AND ACTING IN A MATURE FASHION

That was the strident message of one of International Answer's speakers. While the pro-Palestinians were screaming insults at the police on the southwest corner of the plaza, this speaker was demanding loudly into the microphone that the police leave civic center, insisting that their being there was enough to cause trouble, the mere presence of police was a disruptive influence on the peaceful natures of the peace demonstrators, who had no choice but to bay for the blood of the officers.

Actually, the seventy of us who were there standing for Israel's right to exist were the disruptive influence - if the police were not there, they would've bayed for our blood. As they had repeatedly clarified.
And most of the time, they did in fact bay for our blood.

It was rather dreary, and very unimaginative. Though very much appreciated by the union members and older radicals from Berkeley who attended (heck, those delicious youth could've danced the rumba and the Berkeleyites would've been appreciative).

VIOLENCE IN THE UNDERGROUND

Some of the Palestinian youth were so frustrated by the police maintaining order that they gave vent to their fury in the Civic Center Bart Station. From all accounts, they ganged up on a group of four people who had left the protest in disgust. What might have turned into bloodshed was prevented by the judicious application of pepper spray and the arrival of the police, who arrested the most criminally inclined of the mob.
Quick action by the SFPD prevented assault and battery from becoming a visit to the emergency room.

ATTENDANCE

Altogether, about a dozen violent peace activists ended the day in handcuffs. The police acted with remarkable restraint, and succeeded in maintaining order despite the provocative behaviour displayed by a violence-prone mob.

This did not please the organizers of the peace protest. Several of their speakers foamed incomprehensibly into the microphone, upset at this peaceful turn of events.
I'm still not sure what the Lakota drumming and chanting was for (that speaker had called the Arabs, Chicanos, and Philippinos his bruthas, and angrily damned all white people without reservation), and the hysterical Arab hatemongstress had bored even her own side, who preferred to stand facing the Israel supporters, screaming about Jew-Nazi-Kikes and promising to kill our families.

Standing proudly alongside the Israel-haters were the American Postal Workers Union, the Communications Workers of America, Code Pink, Black Block and other anarchists, various individual members of Bay Area Women in Black, Students for Justice in Palestine, JVP, and several other groups who do not object to anti-Semitic rhetoric for peace, as well as numerous adherents of conspiracy theories about nine-eleven. Conspiracy theories, by the way, proved incredibly popular - second only to the cheerleading for Jew-death at the front of the crowd.

RICHARD BECKER

It must have been immensely frustrating for Dick Becker of International ANSWER that only several hundred people stayed with the rally all the way to Civic Center. His speech to the crowd (completely ignored by the Arab Jugend trying to provoke the police) asserted that San Francisco Voice for Israel was a racist group that existed only to harass him.

Sorry, Richard, that just isn't so. You are actually irrelevant. We know that you do not wish the annihilation of Israel, and the Arab youth also know that. It wouldn't make you happy at all.
You probably prefer that anti-Semitism survive at the present near-boil, so that you may surround yourself with all those delicious young Levantines, eh?
Mmmm, zesty!

Richard, are you upset at the low turn-out? Was it disappointing? Do you feel, somehow, inadequate? You should, you really should!
It really is you - you're too old, Richard.
Karmicly you are losing hair, and your aura is nearly invisible.
Again, for us in SF Voice for Israel, it ain't about you. Don't flatter yourself.
You're an egomaniac, but most people will never even know who the heck you are. You are totally unimportant.

Several of the other elderly white people from Berkeley who were at the rally were also there for the frisson provided by angry radical teenagers. But unlike the teenagers and mister Becker, they probably weren't nearly so frustrated, having developed coping mechanisms for their various urges long ago.
Still, angry young people can be so exciting!

SAD BORING END

Sometime after three o'clock the peace demonstration petered out, the crowd's enthusiasm for bloodshed having waned. The weather and the calm behaviour by the police had made clear to even the most delusional people that no Jews were going to die that day, though as the events at the BART Station subsequently proved, several stupid teenagers would end up in jail because of their violent tendencies.

This was the smallest International ANSWER peace demonstration in years. It is unlikely that Richard Becker will be able to pull together another event in March of next year. I just hope he manages to keep some of his young acolytes......
It is so sad when a manly man's vigour fades.

Cleveland Indy Media Center