Reflections on the rally/march

[blueraven95]

First let me say that I had a really, well, interesting time. Most of the march/rally was incredible. Ramsey Clark (I assume that’s how his name is spelled) and Cindy were phenomenal speakers, as was the chairman of the NAACP and others.

My mother and I went together, and I was a little concerned about her to begin with, because she was a little nervous beforehand (having heard all the stuff about counter-protestors). I shouldn’t have worried though…within 5 minutes of being in Washington she was really into everything. She’s also a veteran of protests, so I think things were pretty calm by her standards.

I was thrilled to see so many families…with more than one generation present. The whole scale of the march was unbelievable; I cannot fathom how many people were present. I can easily believe somewhere between 200,000 and 300,000, and I understand many more had trouble making it because of Amtrak and Metro problems. (Although we took Metro and were totally fine.)

The signs and t-shirts were genius, and I have to say, our side is much more creative about that sort of thing. (I am thinking back to the bumper stickers that protested Clinton during his presidency – ours are a million times better.)

I never did find the DU group, which I was looking for, but that’s okay, because it means there were that many people there. In fact, many of the displays that other DU’ers are talking about we didn’t see at all, and I’m sure we saw others that they didn’t see. For a while we ended up marching with the socialists, not because we are socialist, but because we were funneled into the march there. I am going to have to tell my great-aunt that…she is a socialist, and at 87, living in Arizona, she couldn’t make it and asked us to march for her. Eventually we marched just behind Code Pink (at least, I think that’s who they were, they were all in pink, anyway).

Overall people were very friendly. We did see 4 counter-protestors…three of whom were merely noisy. At the end of the day, as we were leaving, we saw one middle-aged, grumpy-looking man pull a sign off of the fence and throw it away. He was rather violent about it, breaking the stick it was attached to. We did not engage, after all how do you reason with someone who obviously does not believe in free speech, but we did pull the sign out of the trash and put it back up.

I do, however, have one major bone to pick with the organizers of the whole thing. We were there to protest the Iraq war and Bush’s incompetence. That’s what was advertised and that’s why at least a hundred thousand of us showed up. Now, we all have our own agendas and wedge issues we believe in, and that’s fine. But to put them on the main stage is diluting the message. I do not know enough to comment on the issues of Haiti and the other countries mentioned, but I will say that it felt like they were trying to co-opt the march. They were issues that deserve their own march. When they start talking about the Israeli-Palestinian conflict as if it were exactly the same as what the United States is doing in Iraq, I have a problem. It was divisive. I think the majority of Americans have no idea about the history of the two people, and I don’t really want to get into it here, as it belongs in a different section of DU, but let me just say that to represent the Palestinians as a sympathetic people without acknowledging the suicide bombers who attack Israel nearly everyday, even during the Israeli pullout, is a problem. I am not saying either side is all right, but neither side is all wrong, either. It is a very complicated issue, and I don’t think anyone has a satisfactory solution. However, bringing it up one-sidely at this rally suggests that it is as simple a problem as the one we are facing with our troops illegally in Iraq.

As a Jew, it made me feel like I was the enemy, and I am certainly not. I felt unwanted at the rally. We suddenly felt like we were unable to talk to anyone because the dialogue had changed, and we were afraid of engaging someone who was rabidly pro-Palestinian. At one point, my mother and I had to walk away, we were so upset. We were tricked into being there to support a cause in language we cannot. I have no problems with those individuals who do see the situation the way it was presented, that is their prerogative. But to make it appear as if we all do is wrong. Also, if you notice, there were many Christian clergy there, but I didn’t see any Rabbis. This is not because Jews are any more for the war than the rest of the nation. By throwing in such a huge wedge issue, the organizers effectively shut out many of us who want to change the current regime as much as they do and who will work tirelessly for it.

I hope that the anti war movement can transcend this minor situation and bring together all of us who are unhappy with the direction our country is taking.

Overall, though, I am glad that I came and exercised my civic responsibilities.

[JoMama49]

1. Thanks for your honest and heartfelt reflections on yesterday's

march and rally. Although I wasn't able to be in D.C. for this one, I have felt the exact same thing at other anti-war marches here in san francisco. Us lefties need to stay on task!! Why can't we focus on an issue like the rightees do? That's where the power is! Your word "dilute" is exactly what happens when we don't. So, I thank you for your thoughtful and true words!
JoMama.

[demnan]

2. I'm sorry you felt that way

I was also uncomfortable with some of the more extremes of the group. I do think one of the speakers (can't remember the name) was complimentary towards Israel regarding the recent Gaza City pullout. I think the extremes on both sides of the Israel/Palestine issue are wrong, but that the moderate sides will eventually make peace and work things out. I don't belive in inflamatory messages towards Israel, knowing that Jews have a particular sensitivity towards anything that seems to attack the Jewish people in particular.

I also was not sure about the praise of Haiti's leader and the kids passing out Socialist newspapers was ok but not my cup of tea shall we say.

The nature of liberals is that we have a lot of different groups and ANSWER has been an umbrella to many groups of extremism, unfortunately.

We who are just plain moderate liberal people against war and racism have to make a huge effort now to take this movement forward. I think it is our fault that we have allowed the fringe issue people to take such an active role in the anti-war movement. Where are your good white leaders (so to speak)?

That is why the Veterans for Peace and Cindy Sheehan made such a difference in this protest. To have the people who have suffered the most from this war (why, oh why didn't Kerry speak out - he was one of us!) was cleansing. When we were sitting on the Ellipse, the pictures of all the American soldiers who died in the war were brought along side me. It made me cry to think of the families lost in grief - just like it makes me cry to think of poor Iraqi families who have lost so many of their loved ones.

This is our strength, our sorrow and our passion.

[Terran1212]

4. Deluded to think "Kerry is one of us"

That is utter nonsense to the highest extent.

[demnan]

6. No, I'm just probably older than you

Kerry was the equivalent of Cindy Sheehan during anti-Vietnam protests. He's lost his soul, unfortunately.

[blueraven95]

8. I hope you are right...

that the moderates can find a way to make peace.

And I agree that moderate liberals need to make a push now. I'm just not really sure how to go about doing that.

[Chi-Town Exile]

3. Thank You For Attending The March and your comments

You have brought up such an important point. For those that know their history, they will find that American Jews have always been a large part of the American Left. From being called Communists and hunted down in Congressional hearings to marching with Dr. King in the South or being killed in Mississippi (that old Rat Bastard has been sent back to jail recently)for civil rights, American Jews have always had a seat at the table when debating, protesting, witnessing how our society has evolved.

As a Jew, I have felt increasingly left out of the Left's agenda. I feel as if there is nowhere for me to go. I am not a right-wing neo-con and I am not a one of the nouveau leftists or a self-loathing Jew that would much rather see Israel pushed into the sea.

Unfortunately, it seems to be quite in vogue these days if you are a college student to hate Israel and Jews in general. While I don't condone all of Israel's behavior I will ALWAYS ALWAYS ALWAYS support her survival for one simple reason ... it was not too long ago (sixty seventy years ago approximately) that my people were being put into ovens.

While a rational person would say, Okay, why do the Arab countries have to deal with the sins of Europe, which is a very good point, btw, it isn't quite that simple. ANSWER has done a very good job of distorting the history of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and grabbing the hearts and minds of college students. While I applaud the pure idealism exhibited by young people, I fear their slavish devotion to the Palestinian cause. I know how difficult it is for these people to understand or have any inkling of what it is like to be part of a ethnic group that was literally almost wiped off an ENTIRE (Europe) continent.

It's very difficult to comprehend and quite difficult for Jews to live with, especially when you are an adolescent and you finally come to the realization of what happened to your people such a short time ago. While I realize that my ethnic group is not the only one that has suffered (Native Americans, African Americans, Armenians, Serbs, Croatians ... the list could go on and on and on)I must point out that what happened to European Jewry happened in the 20th Century! There are still people walking around with numbers tattooed on their arms.

And there are still people being slaughtered ALL OVER THE WORLD and thrown into mass graves like the European Jews were. When will it stop? When will it stop?

NEVER, if we only take ONE side of an issue.

I've run off track here, I guess the point I wanted to make was, it is becoming increasingly difficult for American Jews to remain a part of the Left. It seems as if we are not wanted and we have been completely marginalized. I know that because I live in Georgia and am part of a Jewish community that has started to embrace the right and the Republican party more and more. The truth of the matter, Jews are being driven to the Right, because that "seat at the table" is getting pushed further away.

It's time to reevaluate, people, because we cannot lose the Jewish voice in the Left and sadly, it gets eroded more and more each day.

Do we have a place here? I pose that question to you.

[Chi-Town Exile]

5. A Rabbi was not allowed to speak in San Francisco

I forgot to mention what happened during the Anti-war protests before our incursion into Iraq, a Rabbi was barred by ANSWER and not allowed to speak at the San Francisco rally.

That probably is why you didn't see any Rabbi's at this rally ... they are not being asked and don't feel welcome.

I think that is deliberate on the part of ANSWER, they want it to look like the Jewish community doesn't care and is the enemy.

[blueraven95]

7. oh wow, I had not heard anything like that.

[regnaD kciN]

9. The Rabbi in question was Michael Lerner...

...head of Tikkun, who has been in an ongoing feud with ANSWER for several years. Although I don't recall the origin of the dispute (you might be able to find out more if you search the archives of www.tikkun.org), I always thought it spoke ill of ANSWER that they would be unable to perceive that Rabbi Lerner is one of the strongest voices in support of the Palestinians, not only in the American Jewish community, but in the left as a whole.

To me, this is depressingly similar to the beginning of the unraveling of the left during the last few years of Vietnam. Around '69 or '70, a laundry list of doctrinaire identity politics began to replace the notion of a united movement toward peace and justice, and people began to get excluded based on whether they were in or out of the aggrieved group, rather than their own positions. Thus, back then, whites were no longer welcome in the civil rights (rechristened "Black Power") movement, men were automatically pigeonholed as the enemy in the women's rights campaign, etc., etc. Eventually, those so excluded got tired of being lectured about how, no matter what their own views or efforts, they were still by definition part of the oppressors, and wound up falling away. I'd hate to see that happen again, but it seems as if at least some of the decision-makers of ANSWER are leaning in that direction.

[nadinbrzezinski]

10. And we have been debating the role of ANSWER and

antisemitism for the last several days... and yes Jews have been thrown out of the left, and I have my suspicions why...

But many folks here deny that this is driving people, thousansd in fact, away.

I have said it before, and will repeat it, AMSWER plays, I don't go

And I will also say it again, what ANSWER is doing reminds me of the RUSSIAN tactics, of the late 19th and early 20th century, using antisemitism to distract from the real caouse and keep a group away.

Oh and as to the Israeli Palestinian problem, at this point it is up to them to solve it, for we have no moral authority, Jews or Palestinians living in the US, let alone Americans, not after Abu Graib

[bklyncowgirl]

11. Good post

Like you I was at the rally and was struck by the thought and creativity that so many people, myself included, put into their signs and banners.

Like you I would have been much more comfortable with a focus on the war and the outrages of the Bush administration. Bringing in all of these other issues just dilutes the message and turns off people who might be sympathetic. It plays into the hands of our enemies.

I to am glad that I marched and enjoyed meeting all of the wonderful caring people I met along the route.