Reply #10: I was there (with a group of fellow DUers) [View All]

[deutsey]

I thought this certainly lacked the same energy or, perhaps, size of the demonstrations prior to Bush's invasion of Iraq.

However, the focus seemed to me to be on getting people to go back to their communities to organize opposition activity at the grassroots level, not on having a massive demonstration (although there were quite a few people there...my gut says somewhere between 50,000 and 90,000, based on a number of protests I've been to).

Regarding the "quality" of people there: as always there was an impressive mix of people from all over the US. Anarchists, church groups, old, young, suburban and urban, black and white (I seemed to notice a much larger number of African Americans than at previous demonstrations, which isn't to say there were none at other ones. Their number just seemed to be larger to me this time, which I was glad to see).

I've said before I'm not a big fan of ANSWER, but, damn it, they're the only ones providing an opportunity for these public demonstrations. I give them credit for that and I thought it was also great that United for Peace teamed up with them to stage this event on Saturday.

Can they improve? Certainly, and I did think I saw improvement over previous rallies (the stridency seemed to be diminished this time around, thankfully). One thing I'd like to see is cutting back on the number of speeches they allow...me and the DUers decided to leave the rally before the speeches were over so we could get on to the march before it got too late. A few thousand other demonstrators had the same idea: Thousands were in the streets even before the last speaker spoke.

Things like this demonstration are necessary, but the most important thing is to get involved in your community and organize events that provide a space for dissenters to come together and express their dissent. Whether this is a vigil, peace walk, forum, movie night (the peace group I belong to had 210 people show up for our showing of Bowling for Columbine in our small, rural town).