photo essay from PDX Invasion anniversary march

[rivertext]

From the 3rd anniversary of America's ill-conceived and immoral invasion of Iraq, my own photos and captions from the Veterans for Peace feeder-march rally and Portland's main rally & march.




"Nothing Accomplished" This guy had a really clever satire on Bush's flying onto an aircraft carrier a few weeks after the invasion and prancing around in his flight suit under a banner that read "Mission Accomplished."



Lars Larson, a Portland local right-wing commentator said, ""it was small, smaller than last year and smaller than two years ago." Lars Larson, obviously, hasn't been to any of the anniversary rallies. I have been to all of them and this was by far the largest. The bad news is that we're "fucked" in Iraq and at home, the good news is that almost everybody knows it.



This is the traditional street theater closing for the march. The grieving mothers were followed by...



Pundits who can't see...

In reference to this last quote I'd like to reference Eric Alterman's comments on his blog today:

"I don’t have anything profound to add to the commentary on the third anniversary of the Iraq invasion, except that it may be the single most misguided, dishonest and counter-productive expenditure of our nation’s blood and treasure in its history.  And almost all of this was evident from the start to anyone who cared to look. ...  I do think that any political commentator who supported it owes his or her readers an explanation as to why they would expect such judgment to be trusted again in the future."
Altercation -- http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/3449870/

For photo essays from four years of Portland protests see my galleries linked to from my home page:

http://rivertext.com/

[swag]

1. Great shots.

Thanks for getting those great images.

Incisive and poignant commentary as well.

[ayeshahaqqiqa]

2. Great photos!

I especially liked the first one-that fellow really did a good job. But I couldn't tell from the photo-was he on a float, or was the part of the USS Lincoln being carried by another marcher?

[rivertext]

3. more on "Mission Accomplished" satire

The Bush dressed-up-as-a-pilot satire guy is standing in front of the Battle Ship Missouri (?) monument. It is right on the March route. He just stayed there and waved at passing cars after the March passed by. Here is another view of him from the back waving to cars.

[stevedeshazer]

4. Great stuff, rivertext

I'm from Portland, too.

And Lars Larson is smaller, much smaller that two years ago.

Larson is on KXL. Their ratings: Fall '04, 4.7. Fall '05, 3.5.

Air America is on KPOJ. Their ratings: Fall '04, 3.7. Fall '05, 4.1.

Great photos, I've been to all but one of the big Portland marches in the last few years. Thanks for the report.

[Mnemosyne]

5. The Grieving Mothers, stunning and heartbreaking.

:cry:...

[mogster]

6. Great photos!

And great crowd! ;-)

K&R

[yurbud]

7. that body carrying one is a classic--great use of art to make a point

[rivertext]

8. what the photos don't show...

... is that they had a band a playing original music and a routine in which the women carrying the bodies wouldn't do anything different but at certain points the blind reporters would give out a shout and then go right back tothe hands behind their backs head down stroll. It was like that New Orleans moment when the mainstream media seemed to wake up from their slumber for a moment and then go back to sleep.

Portland has a great tradition of excellent work like this. There is an essay about my own work in street theater as the first featured gallery on my photo site:

http://rivertext.smugmug.com/

[yurbud]

9. I'll link that on my blog. I'm from Portland, so I'm glad to see it.