If you are wondering where I've been today, I have been at a protest. Today there was a protest, organized by the St Francis House of New London, at the US Coast Guard Academy in the same city. Last year the Coast Guard Academy invited president Bush to speak, and this year it was vice president Cheney. Personally speaking, I think Cheney is worse than Bush, as he has been after this war in Iraq for decades upon decades. He has had an twitchy trigger finger, and we all know what happens when Cheney's finger is on a trigger.
That said, today's event was much smaller than last year, and a bit different. It was a silent march and protest. We weren't to speak, or yelp or make noise, no singing (except for the Raging Grannies at the beginning of the rally), just silence, the occasional prayer or soft spoken word by the Franciscan Reverend, and a little pantomime act. The act included a die-in, which I got to participate in. It was great fun.
The day started out really early for us, as we had to get there at a reasonable time - because the rally started at 9 AM sharp. We met up in downtown New London, at a big monument near the train station (whose bathrooms have no paper towels!) and were handed out guidelines for the march, and lyrics to the Raging Grannies songs. We also picked up tombstones, each bearing a list of names of soldiers who have been killed since the start of war.
There were far too many of those tombstones filled to the brim with names.
Then we marched. And marched. I think the folks who organized it opted to pick the longest route possible. We got to our point of destination - and really we were just present, and plenty of local news stations were about, but Cheney was never going to see us. Neither were the folks who organized the event, invited Cheney, or anyone who even remotely supports him, not including the Gathering of Seagulls Eagles of whose numbers dwindled somewhere between 15 and 20 people.
Then we went home! It was quiet, solid, and I think we made our point without saying so much as a word. Your friendly neighborhood Anarchist however, made the news! So I'll stop with the talking, and give you guys and gals some photos to look at. Some I took, some were took of me by local news folks.
My love.
Aww, aint Anarchist couples cute?
More raging Grannies
The Smattering of Seagulls
Oh, so it IS about the money! Glad we cleared that up.
Tombstones (just a fraction of them)
Excellent protest poster!
The die-in, with Cheney killing freedom, liberty, and the constitution.
Protesters, marching.
Me again!
To see the Video Click on the first link!
Aha! finally a link to embed teh video!
33 comments:
Nice one, ninja couple! I see you were rollin' black bloc style. Heh.
Nice one. I'm sure the American equivalent of Red Watch will have you up now...
Congrats on getting on the news! How exciting!
Now that you are on the American equivalent of the Red watch list I feel comfortable telling you that I'm probably on the Canadian equivalent. It was great to see the photos and to see that your ninga style is taking off ..lol
P.S. We have Raging Grannies here too and I just happen to know them very well and well, I do love to sing ... lol ;)
How very cool! You DO have arms as Thriftshopromantic said on BC!LOL!
Great job o'Ninjas!
IMPEACH WAR CRIMINALS NOW!
Honestly, how many petitions do we have to sign before our elected ones HEAR us???
What the hell is Cheney wearing a cowboy hat for in New England? I've barely got used to 'em in Washington, DC, but I figure it's the capital and I have to put up with such things, but New England? That's just offensive.
YES!!!!!!!!!!!! You are sooooooooo cool!
You are awesome. All I did today was change diapers and do laundry. Thank you for going out there and fighting the war mongers!
GO ANOK (and hubby)!!!
Cheney IS worse than Bush and I'd love to see him behind bars.
Every voice counts!
Very good! I recognize the eyebrows. Funny but i don't remember hearing anything about it on TV which of course would be by design. It pisses me off things are so controlled. Who told you to keep quiet or was that from the organizers. I wouldn't want to see you arrested or anything but it seems like you could have raised a stink and really made the news. Did I just miss it or something?
Thanks for all the awesome comments guys and gals!
I forgot to explain in the post - the idea of a silent protest was to honor the fallen.
It also served to thoroughly piss off the other side ;)
Channel 8 and Fox news covered it, as well as the local newspapers. But, thats about all it will get.
Thats what blogs are for!!!
Anok, I'm still not sure where I stand, but I do know that thinking needs to go on and publicity is a good thing. Blogs help. Local politics is good too. --- Mark Stoneman
Thanks for marching for me!!! Marching to the beat of my peace-loving heart!
Thanks for sharing!
I applaud you Anok for being a woman who is not afraid to speak her mind and do something about it!
It's so great to find an activist round here :) I admire you for your dedication. I just wish that they listen.
Good luck!
I remember calling Cindy Sheehan a "fascist bitch" because her demands for Bush's daughters to be enlisted in the service were "too soon." (If she had made this statement when the draft was reinstated, I would've agreed.)
Now, I'm so sick of hearing on a daily basis that, "Another American life was lost after this insipid war refused to come to a halt."
Wait, too soon for what, Voodoo?
Her asking him to enlist his kids is a lead from the front initiative, and I agree with it.
The more leaders that lead from the front, the fewer was there will be.
http://www.encyclopediadramatica.com/Too_Soon
Oops. The S is supposed to be lowercase.
http://www.encyclopediadramatica.com/Too_soon
I should have known, Voodoo - I should have known :D Hahehehe...
Is it sad when your best explanation for one of your statements is a link that mocks said statement endlessly?
Hey Anok,
"forgot to explain in the post - the idea of a silent protest was to honor the fallen.
It also served to thoroughly piss off the other side ;)"
Actually, what you have done is dishonored them and their mission. They are soldiers doing what soldier do, fight for your freedom to pull these little stunts.
I grew up in the Army. Born on an Army base, raised by the Army, and served the military myself. My step-son is now serving in the Army. It's something you guys will never understand. While you don't get it, there is a war against terrorism and that is being fought in a land far away from our shores. Would you rather it be here in our own country?
They started this war well before 9/11. I was in Germany in the 70's when they were blowing up military bases. I was there in the 70's when they kidnapped and killed the Israeli Olympians.
I saw how they blew up 200+ marines while they were sleeping in their barracks in Beirut in the 80's. I was in Greece when they blew up the American ambassador's car sending his head into the streets.
I watched on the news as they pushed an old Jewish man in a wheelchair overboard from the Achille Lauro.
I watched on the news as they killed an American Navy Man and threw him out of the back of an airplane on the tarmac in Haifa.
These people are brutal and they want to kill us just because of who we are.
Your little stunt did nothing more than boost your own little ego. It does nothing to honor our fallen heroes.
However, you did accomplish your other goal - it does piss off the other side as well as myself! But, I can't fault you for exercising your rights!
See ya!
Is it bad that I'm actually looking at the hot anarchist chicks rather than the whole idea itself ?
:D Seriously though, good for you.
Bobo --
That's right! Al-Queda = Arabs = Middle East = Middle Eastern country = Iraq!
Furthermore, Islamicism is totally random, came out of nowhere, wasn't initially fostered by the CIA, and didn't gain support because of American imperialism.
On top of that, soldiers fighting half way across the globe are actually protecting your freedom. Don't ask how, but they are. If it wasn't for the US Army, the Arabs would have invaded America, enslaved all Americans in a Muslim theocracy, banned life and liberty and happiness, and Osama would be shagging Jane Fonda as they plotted a Communist-Islamic global tyranny.
Soldiers are protecting your freedom. Disagree and you might just get shot or sent off to a prison in Eastern Europe, you commie piece of shit.
"These people are brutal and they want to kill us just because of who we are."
They're kraaaazzzzy!
Voodo - Sad,? no. Funny? Yes ;)
Bobo - thanks for stopping by! As yo know we have two totally different view points about the war - about what respect means, and about the state of our country.
I too grew up in a military family. I have a very clear understanding of how it works, who has been where, what actions the US has been involved , what actions the US has IGNORED or SUPPORTED that have ended the lives of innocent civilians, allowed torture of others, and endangered soldiers.
Al-Queda is not in Iraq. The people who crashed the airplanes into the US are NOT in Iraq. They are in, and north of, Afghanistan.
Iraq war has nothing to do with protecting out freedoms. Our freedoms were not at stake from a defunct dictator. He had no plans to invade the US.
Neither was the US in any danger of being taken over by Al-Queda after September 11th. If they had even intended to make a statement about taking our freedoms away - they would have hit more poignant symbols of freedoms and democracy such as the Statue of Liberty, and the Whitehouse.
Instead they hit symbols of capitalism (WTC) and military power (pentagon) and a personal hit on Dubya (an attempt anyway). This was personal and had nothing to do with taking over the US. They don't even posses the means to do so.
But you think it is disresepectful to speak out against a government that is using our loved ones as cannon fodder to line their pockets.
I think the highest form of disrespect is supporting a government who is killing our men and women over there, and over here after they've served for the US, for the sake of a greasy buck.
I'm aware that there is still a small fraction of the country who still agrees with this administration, and this war - but I am amazed as to why.
I would urge you to start digging a little deeper into non revisionist history and learn what THIS country has done to FUND the very terrorists you claim to want to be safe from. How many WMD's WE'VE funded, and turned a blind eye to while the dictators we supported used them on innocent civilians.
But, thanks for stopping in! I really do appreciate it (that's not snark!)
Alex - YES! you are bad! naughty!
Anok I was just going to come to your defense but you did a good job. I just got a call from Jim in Iraq and despite daily rocket attacks the fool just volunteered to go to a more active area so they are going to start rotating troops to this so called safe area. Good luck my crazy Patriotic ballsy son! jeesh!
Anok,
No revisionist history here. I lived through it and witnessed what the terrorists did and were doing well before 9/11. It had nothing to do with Dubya and everything to do with we as Americans and infidels and anyone else (non-American included) who disagrees with their religious beliefs.
Yes - I get the whole backwards policy of the enemy of our enemy is our friend thing and the fact that we funded the Mujahadeen in Afghanistan to fight off the Russians then installed the Taliban ourselves. I know the history.
However, while I disagree with past military and foreign policy (Clinton furthered those policies as well) the fact of the matter is that the terrorists are acting globally now - Spain, Bali, England, etc. It's not just the U.S. they're after. It's a Global Jihad these guys have started in order to put in a global Caliphate.
The fact of the matter is that we are drawing these madmen in to Iraq and fighting them there rather than here.
have a Happy and safe Memorial Day weekend Anok!
Jim, thanks! you too buddy!
Bobo - I would disagree that we are luring terrorists into Iraq to fight, thus minimizing terrorist activities worldwide. In fact, i think it's done just the opposite. You don't see terrorists from around the globe flocking to Iraq to fight the US military.
The numbers indicate the exact opposite. I believe that directly correlates with the time, efforts, resources and troops that are now tied up in Iraq, thus freeing up a great deal of of the world and leaving them open, and vulnerable to attacks. And as we have seen, the terrorists that are active have capitalized on that fact. Attacks have increased, not decreased.
I think the Iraq war wasn't just stupid foreign policy, but dangerous foreign policy.
Excellent action & looks like the screaming eagles did their best to start fights, but the silent treatment just makes them seem all the more lunatic-- which they are.
Your group made a statement & even made it on the news.... a good effort.
Liked the tombstones as a prop (not for real).
Someone told me of an action back in teh 60's a bunch of people did an action @ the pentagon-- it invovled shovels & people began digging graves in the lawn of the pentagon!
Wow!
Post 9-11 it would be considered a weapon & who knows what trumped up charges.
As for Raging Grannies-- there were actions where a bunch set up rocking chairs i nfront of the recruitment centers, when they were evventually arrested, the rocking chairs were taken as "evidence".... but evnetually returned.
Can you imaging? Exhibit A- rocking chair #1.
Please- you want to find criminals? Go look in the white house.
hey! i met you at the protest, i gave you the crimethinc magazine that i'm sure you already have plenty of. i just thought i'd check out your blog, great pictures!
Hey Maggie! Good to see you - er - read you! Glad you stopped by, too. You need to drop me an email though - we have to get together for more protest action ;)
Smattering of Seagulls, hehehehe
Good one.
A very enjoyable protest too.
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