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Yesss!!!
That was the largest rally for 9/11 truth yet. The energy was amazing. A real shot in the arm for any of us who have been feeling a bit pessimistic. A big thanks to the NY911truth and Loose Change crews, and Frank Morales and Alex Jones, for making this work and successful.
First of all, that morning Dylan and Jason did a great job standing up to the establishment goons sent to debate them on Democracy Now! At Ground Zero, Jones kicked ass getting the crowd hyped up, Luke did a great job keeping our crowd in line, and everyone kept their cool. I saw Zwicker and Rodreguez, still in makeup from TV interviews, talking to movement folks, and the curious. Jenette waved from her window above. Kerry and Eric got a lot of attention, as always, with their infamous and huge, "The Bush Regime Engineered 9/11" sign. Later Tom gave a rousing speech about how we fight for justice with and for the police and not against them. They certainly had to protect us more than anyone else at ground zero that day.
At one point, carrying our sign around, and not being able to set down in one place, one of the monks conducting a prayer for peace, asked us to stand behind them. He specifically wanted the side that says "9/11 was an inside job." to face forward. The other side says "The lies will not stand!" They were playing drums and chanting. The police had a hard time keeping all the people moving past us. We were both moved by the gesture, and felt honored to join their prayer.
Amid a number of high points, there were also some challenging moments. We got yelled at a bit more than others for carrying our large banner sign. Although we all felt the sting of anger that day, we knew that we would face this. To some this was an annoyance and even humorous. Others were more hurt by what was said. We decided to take our fears in hand and set up along the memorial wall, just off the main gathering area. For some reason the police nearby did not ask us to move. As we stood there, many people had negative things to say. Other's engaged us in conversation. A couple of people gave their support. At one point someone stood on a step and proclaimed that we were awful people. A crowd gathered, and he launched into an attack on our character. We stood our ground, tried to say something rational, and he moved on. A couple people told us that we shouldn't be protesting at someone else's cemetery.
That's a hard call. While I sympathize with their loss, as I fight to determine who killed their loved ones, I also recognize that some issues need to cross boundary lines of comfort. The fact that we are destroying our ecosystem, for example, should not be restricted by the boundaries of decorum. Nor should the possibility that we may killed by our government in some future false flag operation. In other words, I don't care if the truth scares you, when I see that you are unconsciously walking a suicidal path. We spank the child that runs into the street to remind them that death hurts a lot more. That's love. But, none the less, I'm not proud of having insulted anyone. I hope that they will someday soon understand why we are doing this.
While many in the movement have both professional and personal differences, the most compelling overall sense of the experience to me was one of our unity. When we are all out on the street together, all fighting for the same thing, especially in the eyes others, all subject to the same prejudice, a lot of our differences seem less important. Let's all hold on to a bit of that feeling as we go back to our various pursuits, and try to let it rub off on others.
What's next !?!
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