A R C H I V E S
Madinat al-Muslimeen Islamic Message Board
| D.C Rally: A great spiritual journey |
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| ahmer |
| 04/21/02 at 19:07:44 |
| [slm] the rally in dc was a great spiritual journey for me and my friends. The travelling, meeting soo many diverse muslims of all color and languages, the rallies, slogans, chants, brotherhood, prayers, speeche by shaker al sayed, Unexplainable!! May Allah help the palestinians.. Some crazy chanting too by my crazy group..'Yalla Yalla Ya ...' fill up yourself if u know what i mean. ;) it was amazing!! subhan'Allah.. i am still there..!! [wlm] ahmer |
| Re: D.C Rally: A great spiritual journey |
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| ahmer |
| 04/21/02 at 19:13:26 |
click to see the video...listen to the hispanic sister..! Allahu Akbar..!!!! [url]http://mfile.akamai.com/920/rm/thepost.download.akamai.com/920/metro/042002-10v.ram[/url] |
| Re: D.C Rally: A great spiritual journey |
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| jannah |
| 04/22/02 at 01:47:12 |
| [slm] I wonder if anyone taped the speeches of those two teenage girls from the refugee camps. How amazing were they !! SubhanAllah. This protest was an amazing experience overall. Really amazing. I learned alot from going. I can't even describe it. I guess there are good days in life and then there are bad. This was definitely a good day. PS ahmer we saw you and your crazy crew!!! |
| Re: D.C Rally: A great spiritual journey |
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| ahmer |
| 04/22/02 at 02:00:29 |
| ??? you saw my crazy crew!!!! ?? did u see me with the black La'Ilahailallah flag in the rally??:) btw!! my crazy crew got a severe thrashing from me and my other friend!! reasons obvious!!!!!! |
| Re: D.C Rally: A great spiritual journey |
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| jannah |
| 04/22/02 at 02:29:21 |
| I didn't see the black flag, just you and your friends walking towards the big line for the march to the capitol. There were some awesome flags and signs there for sure! My favorite one was the one that said WANTED for crimes against humanity and then mugshots of sharon and then the list of his crimes... it was beautiful!!! I even asked the girl for the author and she said she didn't know!!! :( someone just gave it to her!! |
| Re: D.C Rally: A great spiritual journey |
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| Maliha |
| 04/22/02 at 07:38:28 |
| [slm] Alhamdullillah! It was an awesome experience!!!! Seeing *that* many Muslims united for one cause, the energy, the speeches, the beautiful air of Unity...I truly felt like I was a part of something much bigger and Inshaallah something positive will come out of it. Man, I saw some sisters I met in Tennessee who came from all the way down south! It was a really phenomenal day!!! We took over Pensylvania avenue man! The actual march was the best part!!! My family and I stood for a moment on the side to catch a glimpse of the crowd and it was just endless waves of people!!! The diversity was amazing too....Everyone from Koreans, to African Americans, to Arabs, Indians, Pakistanis..Subhana Allah...May He bring us together even closer and may this just be a beginning to greater things and events in human history (Amin).... excuse my excited ramblings... :-X Maliha :-) [wlm] |
| Re: D.C Rally: A great spiritual journey |
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| bhaloo |
| 04/22/02 at 09:19:03 |
| [slm] The unfortunate thing is that very little was shown in the media the next day. The paper didn't have pictures on the front page anywhere. |
| Re: D.C Rally: A great spiritual journey |
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| sofia |
| 04/22/02 at 13:10:22 |
| As-salaamu 'alaikum wa rahmatullah Masha'Allah! I was very happy to see that the protestors coming from all over were not scared off by threats that the "National Guard" would be there, and that no major arrests or clashes with law enforcement occurred. Subhan'Allah, sooooooooooooooo many more people than was expected (or reported) showed up. Most local news stations, sadly, neglected to talk about it or just showed a brief bit of a few protestors standing by the side of the waves of people, but don't believe the hype (it was more than 75,000, Allahu'alim), it was huge! FREE PALESTINE! --------------------------------------------------------------------------------- http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A22230-2002Apr20.html Demonstrators Rally to Palestinian Cause Arab Americans, Supporters Drown Out Other Issues By Manny Fernandez Washington Post Staff Writer Sunday, April 21, 2002; Page A01 Tens of thousands converged on downtown Washington yesterday to demonstrate for a variety of causes, but it was the numbers and passion of busloads of Arab Americans and their supporters that dominated the streets. Eager to make their presence felt and their voices heard in the nation's capital as never before, Arab and Muslim families marched and chanted for an end to U.S. military aid to Israel, overwhelming the messages of those with other causes in a peaceful day of downtown rallies and marches. Young men wore the Palestinian flag around their necks like a cape. Arabic was heard nearly as often as English, and cardboard signs held by women and children denounced Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon and President Bush. Protesters rallying against corporate wrongs and the global economy found themselves tweaking Vietnam War-era chants to the Palestinian cause, shouting, "One, two, three, four: We don't want no Mideast war!" "The message here is we must support the Palestinian people against a military occupation and an apartheid state," said Randa Jamal, a graduate student at New York's Columbia University who joined thousands at a pro-Palestinian rally near the White House. She said her cousins were killed in Ramallah, in the West Bank, and her 16- year-old sister has been unable to attend school because of the Israeli occupation. "What they are going through," she said, "is crimes against humanity." Palestinian rights was the theme of two of four permitted marches that merged on Pennsylvania Avenue NW in a loud and colorful procession to the Capitol. The host of other issues -- anti-corporate globalization, antiwar and anti-U.S. policies in several areas -- were boiled down to an essence visible on banners, placards and T- shirts. Banners read: "Drop debt, not bombs" and "Peace treaty in Korea now." Bumper stickers on T-shirts declared: "No blank check for endless war" and "We are all Palestinian." It was possible to stand on the Washington Monument grounds and hear simultaneous speeches from three rallies nearby -- antiwar demonstrators, counter-demonstrators and pro-Palestinian activists -- in a mind-boggling surround-sound mix. Protesters came from the Anti- War Committee in Minneapolis, Middlebury College in Vermont and the D.C. chapter of the International Socialist Organization. There were teenage anti-capitalists with black bandannas over their faces marching alongside Muslim mothers wrapped in traditional headdress and pushing baby strollers. Other demonstrations are planned today and tomorrow near the Washington Monument grounds and outside the Washington Hilton, the site of a pro-Israel lobbying group's annual conference. District police said the crowds were larger than they had anticipated and put the number at about 75,000. Metro transit officials said ridership increased significantly yesterday, but estimates would not be available until today. Organizers of the Palestinian-rights rally at the Ellipse said the gathering was the largest demonstration for Palestine in U.S. history. "We are here because we want to do something, to send a message," said Amal K. David, a Palestinian American who made a 12-hour trip in a 21-bus caravan from the Detroit area to join the rally organized by International Answer, an antiwar, anti-racism coalition that shifted the theme of its protest as violence in the Middle East escalated. In tears, David spoke of the destruction that U.S.-financed Israeli weapons and tanks have done to Palestinians, saying: "My beloved country is financing such death and destruction. I am so ashamed." Many pro-Palestinian marchers said they learned of the march through their mosques. "All over the U.S., everybody got the word," said Issam Khalil of the Bronx, who traveled in a fleet of 50 buses from New York. Several downtown blocks away, thousands of other pro-Palestinian activists took to the streets for another march to free Palestine. The group was made up mostly of Arab Americans with relatives in the occupied territories and U.S. Jews opposed to the occupation. "The Palestinians here in the crowd look at us mistrustfully at first," said Rabbi Yisroel Weiss, 45, of New York. "But then they speak a few words with us, and they show us respect and friendship." Weiss traveled to Washington with several dozen Orthodox rabbis to join the march, which left the Washington Hilton, joined anti- globalization demonstrators outside the Foggy Bottom headquarters of the World Bank and International Monetary Fund and continued on the Capitol. He said his group favored dismantling Israel and returning it to the Palestinians. Buses carried Jewish supporters from Boston, Chicago, New York and Philadelphia, among other places. Organizers at the march privately urged participants to strike swastikas from their posters, but few complied. It was a running debate among many participants, though several swastikas appeared on signs in reference to Sharon by day's end. Walking down the sidewalk of Pennsylvania Avenue near the Justice Department as thousands filled the street, D.C. Police Chief Charles H. Ramsey praised the decorum of the demonstrations. "The organizers did an outstanding job," said Ramsey, baton in hand. "If it stays this way, it will be the best one we've ever had. . . . This is really what protest ought to be." By about 4 p.m., no major clashes had broken out between police and protesters. The events were a stark contrast to Washington demonstrations in April 2000, when protests against the World Bank and IMF led to a virtual shutdown of the downtown area and sparked clashes between police and demonstrators that ended in mass arrests. D.C. emergency officials said only two people were transported for medical treatment, though neither case was serious. Both were falls, one involving a police officer and the other involving a civilian. Ramsey said that in his view, yesterday's demonstrations '('newline'=>1)); $formvar->start("","POST","$fixedparam&func1=insert",$target=""); $formvar->show(true,0); $formvar->finish(); } /************ modify routine *********/ else if ($func1=='modify') { $ftop = new FC_SQL; $qry = "select * from $filename where $whereclause "; $ftop->query($qry); $ftop->next_record(); $formvar = new form; $tp=$ftop->f('unitid'); $formvar->add_element(array('type'=>'show+hidden','name'=>'munitid',"value"=>"$tp", 'size'=>11,'label'=>'Unit Id','newline'=>1)); $tp=$ftop->f('unit'); $formvar->add_element(array('type'=>'text','name'=>'munit',"value"=>"$tp", 'size'=>30,'label'=>'Unit Name','newline'=>1)); $formvar->add_element(array('type'=>'submit','name'=>'submit', 'size'=>20,'label'=>'Submit','newline'=>0)); $formvar->add_element(array('type'=>'reset','name'=>'reset', 'size'=>20,'label'=>'Reset','newline'=>1)); $formvar->start("","POST",lowed Ramsey and Gainer into the tunnel and delighted in the cool shade and underground echo for their chants. That cooperation was in marked contrast to the first day of demonstrations, when more than three dozen bike-riding protesters were arrested downtown during a Friday evening action at rush hour. All of the 41 people arrested were released, a D.C. Superior Court official said. Yesterday, though, no incidents of that nature occurred. The only arrests came after most protesters had disbanded. Police arrested 24 adults and one juvenile who were found in a parking garage in the 1000 block of 13th Street NW. All were charged with unlawful entry, a misdemeanor, and police said they were scheduled to be arraigned tomorrow. Police said they collected backpacks, a riot helmet and a gas mask from the suspects, who were taken to the D.C. police academy in Southwest Washington. Members of the group who were not detained said the demonstrators were not sleeping in the garage, as police first said, but had parked two cars there for the day's protests. "They went back to the car to get food because they were tired," said Jacob, 23, who drove from Baltimore for the protests but would not give his last name. "We were going to leave to go home." Earlier, the day was marked only by little dramas on street-corner stages among the tangle of protesters, tourists, police and counter- demonstrators clogging downtown on a humid, sticky afternoon. The atmosphere was mostly civil and occasionally comedic, with brief flashes of arguments or hostility. About 1 p.m. at H and 16th streets NW, a small scuffle broke out between members of the New Black Panther Party and a man intent on disrupting them. A couple of dozen members of the party showed up at the anti-globalization rally wearing black masks and black military- style uniforms. They had swastikas and shouted anti-Jewish slogans. The scuffle amounted only to pushing and angry remarks before members of the crowd broke them up. A short time later, the Patriots Rally for America -- a collection of counter-demonstrators that opposed the United We March antiwar protesters with whom they shared the Washington Monument grounds -- had heated up and was getting protection from 10 police officers on horseback and 13 more on foot. At many points during the afternoon, D.C. police and federal authorities enveloped the marches and rallies with officers on foot and in cars, on horseback and on bicycles. But their presence was less dominating than in previous Washington demonstrations, and most officers were not outfitted in riot gear. More than a few were spotted at downtown intersections yawning or leaning on police gates. "That's the way we like it," Ramsey said. "They ought to be low-key. People have a constitutional right to protest." The effect of the pro-Palestinian demonstrators became evident when their smaller march joined anti-globalization forces outside the World Bank and IMF. The emotion of the Mideast conflict appeared to overpower issues of economic fairness, and many of the signs and chants called for freedom for Palestinians and the end of U.S. sponsorship of Israel. The Mobilization for Global Justice, which played a part in organizing the day's activities, acknowledged that the pro- Palestinian sentiment had overtaken its economic issues. "It seems more important to the safety of the world," said Mark Rickling, a Mobilization organizer. "But we're all united on the issues of oppression. I'm just floored by the amount of people here today." By afternoon, the more militant forces of the pro-Palestinian movement dominated, with swastikas and anti-Sharon and anti-Bush slogans and banners. Aside from handing out signs, organizers seemed to have taken care of nearly every need of protesters, in an ad-hoc way. One all-important telephone number -- 202-462-9627 -- was inked onto many arms; it's the number those arrested are to call. Legal support was being provided at the number by a local law collective, the National Lawyers Guild, and D.C.-based Partnership for Civil Justice. But yesterday, there were no confrontations or trouble during the marches. There was even day care, a service offered for many activist- parents by the Anti-Authoritarian Babysitters Club. A gentle rain started about 2:30 p.m. as marchers walked along Pennsylvania toward the Capitol, but the sun broke through about 3:15. By then, most marchers were at the east end of the Mall, and many had stopped to pray on the puddled ground. Next came speeches and music and, as the light faded, the protesters began drifting away, with only 100 or so still on the Mall as a light rain began to fall at dusk. |
| NS |
| 04/22/02 at 13:15:51 |
| sofia |
| Re: D.C Rally: A great spiritual journey |
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| The_Naeem |
| 04/22/02 at 13:26:52 |
| salaams, Well I had a slightly different experience. Well i took my little brother with me so he could have his first protest experience, and it was really good for him. We got there late, like after 12 so we missed alot. Especially since when we got off the Metro at Freedom Plaza, we saw a million people so we jump in when we saw like this HUGE palestinian flag come down the street. But this was the wrong rally, then I heard someone yelling my name. It was an old MYNA bud who found that their crew was caught in the wrong really too. So we headed over to the south lawn and hooked up with our brothers and sisters. Basically you knew which rally you were at by the chants, the muslims where like ALLAHU AKBAR and La ILLAHA ILALAH, while other protesters where like, HEY HEY HO HO the Occupation got to GO. But when we finally hooked up with a good amount of friends and people we knew we really plugged in and got into it. Say what you will about what rallies can do for a cause, but my ni'ah was to be counted amongst those who did something for the cause, and I hope that's what all of our ni'ah reflected. But later that evening I got kinda sick I think from the heat and not really drinking or eating. Next time I go I think i'll do a few things differently. For one thing DRINK MORE [] Oh and one more thing for the people who think rallies are just passive, all I can say is sometimes you just have to take it to the streets. Letter writing, and calling elected official are very powerful, but sometimes you have to TAKE IT TO THE STREETS. It's liberating on so many fronts. For the rally's cause and for our own personal causes. |
| Re: D.C Rally: A great spiritual journey |
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| Maliha |
| 04/22/02 at 13:35:02 |
| [slm] I was sooo mad at how CNN tried to brush it off as "one of the many causes"...they really didn't even mention the Palestinian cause which was by far the largest and loudest voice heard..and the clips that were shown were totally unreflective of the masses. One of the clips showed a couple of the IMF protestors and mad gaps on the lawn suggesting not even that many people showed up! >:( ABC and NBC didn't do much better either.... I heard C-Span showed the whole thing, although I didn't see it.... The media can gloss over what happened, but it doesn't take away from the fact that people took to the streets in large numbers and I am sure for those that are "election conscious" this will seep into there thick skulls if nothing else. Maliha :-) [wlm] |
| Re: D.C Rally: A great spiritual journey |
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| Nazia |
| 04/23/02 at 06:55:02 |
| slm, As other have stated, the rally-experience itself was simply amazing. It's not often that the capital of the world's "most powerful country" is flooded..literally...flooded with Muslims and their supporters. Alhamdulillah, we were in the right rally, but we couldn't get close enough to the front to hear speeches! We heard a couple, briefly, but not as much as we would have liked. But as others have stated, the real party started during the march. It was such an awesome feeling Alhamdulillah. The light rain, the clouds blocking the sun- giving us a nice shade, Muslims uniting and complying with the law and holding a peaceful rally. Alhamdulillah. I too think the numbers far exceeded 75,000. At one point, we just stood at an intersection and watched as a seemingly ENDLESS procession of people walked by. There was literally no end in sight. Subhan'Allah. ooh..someone mentioned favorite signs... I saw a few good ones... Here's one I remember off the top of my head that was kind of catchy. "Israel wants peace: A piece of Gaza A piece of West Bank A piece of...." Anyways, overall, the rally was great. We even got to hook up with friends we haven't seen in a long time, meet new people, etc. (ps-Naeem, we never did find our ADAMS center bus! But its ok, Alhamdulillah, we just took a metro, and then got dropped off at our car.) Take Care everyone, Wassalam, Nazia |
| 04/23/02 at 06:59:06 |
| Nazia |
| Re: D.C Rally: A great spiritual journey |
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| Kathy |
| 04/23/02 at 08:30:05 |
| [slm] Good for you- I am proud of you guys and gals! What was the age mix- were there many like me- 40's/50's? |
| Re: D.C Rally: A great spiritual journey |
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| nouha |
| 04/23/02 at 18:05:56 |
| [slm] i thought it was soooooooooooooooooooo good!! mashallah, and your right bhaloo, they didnt put too much on the media for the palestiniain cause....:( CNN SUCKS!!!!! they are soooooooooooooo pro isreali, it makes me sick to the stomoch, i hate them !!!! yes kathy alhumdulilah, there were people of all ages from months old 100+ years of age:) wasalam nouha:) |
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| struggling |
| 04/23/02 at 23:04:02 |
| [slm] It is so gr8 to see that it was a real gr8 protest. Over here in NZ, what I can remember, Media mostly showed it as "anti-Globalization" march.... :-( They are all biased. Wassalam |
| Re: D.C Rally: A great spiritual journey |
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| jannah |
| 04/24/02 at 01:54:50 |
| nazia you were there!!! ! maannnnnnnnnnnnn next time let us know and we'll wear out albanyia mafia sistahs headbands or something :) |
| Re: D.C Rally: A great spiritual journey |
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| Nazia |
| 04/24/02 at 10:17:28 |
| slm, [quote]nazia you were there!!! ! maannnnnnnnnnnnn next time let us know and we'll wear out albanyia mafia sistahs headbands or something [/quote] Yes! I was there!!!! I ran into one Albanyian, (Mona) and she was wearing a head band thing around her hijab! It looked pretty phat..did you guys all do that? Its so cool that so many people from this board were there! I wish I met more of you guys!! Well Take Care, Wassalam, Nazia |
| 04/24/02 at 10:31:42 |
| Nazia |
| Re: D.C Rally: A great spiritual journey |
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| bhaloo |
| 04/24/02 at 11:18:05 |
| [slm] This was a beautiful account of someone that went there. Its unfortunate the majority of Americans don't know about the terrorism that Israel is doing. ;======================== We left for the demonstration around midnight on Friday night, in three buses. About twenty-five Muslims attended the rally from our area, and about 200 non. We arrived early, around 9 AM, when booths were just setting up and signs were being made. When I got off the bus, one of the first people I saw was brother Altaf Hussain, president of MSA National, hard at work already. His tireless dedication to the cause of Islam humbles and baffles me. Where does he get this energy? Does he ever rest? Does his wife ever see him? :) One of the sisters I was with made green "Allahu Akbar" bands for us to wear around our foreheads. When we arrived, we strapped them on, wrapped black and white checked palestinian scarves around our shoulders, and armed ourselves with massive "no justice no peace" signs. We looked fierce, angry. Not like people you wanted to mess with. A few of us went down to the street, held up our signs for passing traffic to see. We got some curses and some middle fingers, but we just smiled and waved. Bus after bus after bus after bus pulled up, one after another, and a slow but steady stream of people poured into the Ellipse area. By 10:30 there must have been 50,000 of us, and we started marching. U. S. do you know Where your tax dollars go? Sharon, Sharon what do you say? How many kids have you killed today? There were *so many* non-Muslims there. One of the best outcomes of this march, I think, was that it opened up the Palestinian cause to the social justice scene. People kept coming, and we kept marching. The photographers focused on the odd and extreme - the kids who painted their faces (and their car) like the Palestinian flag, the swastika = star of david signs, the kids stomping on the Israeli flag. One woman, from Reuters, got in my face. I guess I looked like one of those fanatical, emotional types that'd give her a nice quote for her article. She made me mad, and I went off on her a little bit. My comments didn't make it in any papers :P We stopped to hear speeches, all of which rocked. One woman just made me shake my head in amazement. She was non-Muslim, eight months pregnant and literally having *labor pains* as she stood on stage. She was head of some organization, and despite threats from her Jewish backers that they'd pull support if they attended the protest, she and all her people came down. She stood up on stage, close to tears, in pain, and she said, I am Palestinian today. The White House in front of us, helicopters overhead, police at our backs, and the thousands of us screamed, we are Palestinian today. It was live. Then, it was time for the big kahuna march. We met up with two or three other masses of people, that were protesting globalization, civil rights, etc and we formed one body of people, marching towards the Capital. There were *at least* 100,000 people there. I know this because 50,000 people attended ISNA, and there was more than twice that number here. We were in the thick of it, thousands of people in front of us and behind us, to the left and to the right, and it was just AMAZING. It was.. it was awesome. It looked like Muslims had taken over Washington D.C. At one point we moved to the side and watched, and it looked like there would be no end to the number of people marching by. This sheer ocean of people, screaming, crying for justice. My throat is still raw from shouting. At the end of it, we all moved into the place were MLK gave his “I have a dream” speech. It was drizzling a little bit, warm, and we stretched out on the grass and rested, watching as the place filled and marchers settled down. We performed salah, a couple hundred of us, and we made dua for a long time. Then we made our way back to the buses, and we headed home. Alhamdulillah, it was a good day. |
| Re: D.C Rally: A great spiritual journey |
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| muqaddar |
| 04/24/02 at 13:18:37 |
| [slm] I don't mean to sound cynical people but what exactly did you achieve apart from 1) providing great material to convince the world how tolerant america is of muslims 2) allowing certain commentators to start saying how many muslims there are in the USA now and what a great threat their numbers will be I mean if all of the rulers of the Arab world with control of the oil and condemnation from all of the peoples of the world can't prevent Bush from stopping the supply of missiles and bombs for the shanty's and hovels of Palestinians what chance have you got? Secondly do you believe that forming links with left wing groups in America will help or hinder you? How do you think right wing groups who oppose aid for israel will react? It would have been better for Muslims to organise on their own and do dawah rather than doing some sort of to use the indian term jalsah The greatest disaster that happened to muslims in Britain was believing that left wing parties like Labour would look after their interests. Disengage and learn self help first. |
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| Anonymous |
| 04/24/02 at 14:01:41 |
| Assalamualkium, If anyone missed the march this past weekend about Palestine (April 20th) in Washington you can catch on C-span.org: http://www.c-span.org/search/index.asp?Recordset41_Next=Next&Recordset41_Action=++&Recordset41_Position=FIL%3AORD%3AABS%3A11KEY%3APAR%3A&Recordset41_Looper1_State=10 If this link does not take you to it search in the archives. Its about 2 hours long with most of the beginning speeches. Wasalmalkium |
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| Anonymous |
| 04/24/02 at 14:09:35 |
| alsalamu alaykum wa rhmat Allah wa barakatuhu check out this excellent article about the rally... http://yellowtimes.org/letterofweek.php pls make dua' for our bro's and sis's walsalamu alaykum wa rhmat Allah wa barakatuhu |
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| Kashif |
| 04/24/02 at 19:29:46 |
| assalaamu alaikum a rahmatullah We've just had a long discussion on the pros/cons of attending demos/rallies [url=http://www.jannah.org/cgi-bin/madina/YaBB.pl?board=ummah;action=display;num=1018985020]here[/url]. For the time being, i think we put this discussion into the background. jazakumullahu khair Kashif Wa Salaam |
| NS |
| Re: D.C Rally: A great spiritual journey |
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| jannah |
| 04/26/02 at 02:51:33 |
| [slm] This is from one of the organizers of the War Resistance coalition that attended the rally. I found his comments, especially on the Muslim participation interesting. I think that when people are standing up for justice, fighting for the SAME things we are for and against, the LEAST we can do is support them. I think that April 20th they learned that there are alot of muslims here that are willing to be active, and most importantly we learned that there are alot of americans who know the truth (aren't brainwashed, let's not get into that thread again :)), and are fighting for justice just like we are. ******************************** Washington DC Rally Report When I got home at midnight Saturday from Washington I was dead tired - as were tens of thousands of others across they country. To catch the 6 a.m. bus from the War Resisters League office in lower Manhattan I had skipped sleep Friday night. But I had enough energy left when I got home that I almost typed this up last night. Almost...but not quite. I fell asleep with good intentions. So let me get this off this Sunday afternoon. By now you know what we didn't know in DC, since it was almost impossible to make a crowd estimate "on the ground" - except that the demonstration was very large, much larger than we had expected or dared to hope for. (Some of the organizers privately feared we wouldn't get as many as 10,000 - the Washington Post has estimated 75,000). We were lucky in the weather. I'd brought an umbrella, thunderstorms having been promised. But all that materialized, late in the march, was a smattering of rain, which ended long before the march did. First - hello to the many people I met whom I knew personally over decades of marching to DC. It felt like old home week. (Or old peoples' home week. A long time ago a kid named Seth Foldy from Ohio had first made contact with the War Resisters League and gotten active. Seth's mother was there yesterday, along with Seth's son, older than Seth had been when I first met him. Seth has gone on to work for the city of Milwaukee). Venerables present included George Houser, Ralph DiGia and a host of others too numerous to name (or remember), reminding us that the current youth movement of protest and affirmation had "healthy parents" of men who served prison terms in World War II, the Korean War, the Vietnam War, fought McCarthyism in the 1950's, and worked against Jim Crow and racism before most of the Saturday marchers were born. But what was important was not the gathering of the old clan, but the gathering of a new clan. Youth. In their thousands. War Resisters League had gotten two busloads down from New York (on one of which was Jason Schulman of DSA and a young woman friend of his from Boston - good to see some of DSA active). The Socialist Party folks were scattered through the crowd but tried to gather under the SP banner - gathering anyone was very hard!! I saw SP members from New York, New Jersey, Michigan, Texas, Kansas, North Carolina, Massachusetts, and thanks to Greg Pason, the SP National Secretary, they did, from time to time rally around the red banner. Other groups with which we work - Committees of Correspondence for Democracy and Socialism, Solidarity, etc. - were also present and had put in hard work on building the rally. However the largest political contingent was the Green Party - several hundred folks with their banners. In their numbers they dwarfed all the little sectlets with the usual leaflets trying to simplify the problems of the world in a few weary slogans. This afternoon I saw a press release from ANSWER, largely run by Workers World (a key giveway was that the statement's main quote was from Larry Holmes, a long time activist and leader in WW, as "co-director of the International Action Center"). I mention the ANSWER release because it failed to begin to do justice to the demonstration. Under the headline "100,000 March For Palestine", it went on to speak of the demonstration as being primarily a pro-Palestine, anti-Israel demonstration. This misrepresents what this demonstration meant. And if I discuss this bluntly, it was because Workers World, for all their enormously hard work, continues to be a problem for the broader movement because they are so determined to control or dominate a mass movement. When the April 20th rally was first called - months ago - the Middle East had not exploded. The original organizers were students, their demands were rather vague. Later, Workers World set their own date for April 27th (focused then mainly on Afghanistan, not Palestine) but when they saw their support weak and most people opposed to two rallies a week apart, they changed their date for the 20th - so in some ways there were two rallies on the same day. By April 20th the Middle East had indeed take over as the most immediate problem. It wasn't that Afghanistan was forgotten, the danger of war with Iraq ignored, the danger of a police state (The Patriot Act) avoided. Given the horrors of Jenin, Palestine leaped to the head of the list of demands. Yes, the Muslim community was there in a way I had never seen before. Thousands and thousands and thousands of Muslims, most young, (but some very old, helped through the long march by younger people). Mothers with their babies in carriages. The PLO flag was everywhere. On the way back, when our buses stopped for food, the Muslim men took time for their prayers to Mecca. No one should for an instant underrate the importance of the Muslim participation. But for Workers World to term the rally only, or primarily a pro-Palestinian event, is to discredit the power of so massive a rally in protest against Bush and his backers. This was the first loud, clear voice from a nation which had been told by the media that there was no protest. In the words of Cokie Roberts, one of those air-headed talking heads, if there were any protests against the war in Afghanistan they were not important, not from "anyone one who counted". But yesterday even she could have counted. And we DO count. For the supporters of Israel it was a warning shot that they have lost the American Left, lock, stock and barrel. And that includes losing a great many American Jews who were there at the protest and had helped organize it. The issue of Jenin isn't one of Jews against Muslims. It is one of Sharon against the world, against the United Nations, against a very large number of American Jews and against a great many Israelis. There were moments surreal, as when early in the march a small group of orthodox rabbis, with their fur hats and long coats, were led through our march by escorts. No problem, no shouts. and no idea where the rabbis had come from or where they were going, except that, being the Sabbath, they had to go there on foot. And there were moments of utter frustration, as when I found I had not brought down any extra rolls of film as I had thought and had to hunt down a supply from a street vender. Some of those from the more traditional peace movement talked to me of their dissapointment that some issues seem to have vanished - Afghanistan was barely mentioned. But this misses the point - and one can be sure that Congress and the White House will not miss it. I doubt if one person in that whole vast mass of people supported Bush's illegal actions against Afghanistan, or bought into the rhetoric of his "war on terror", a war which has become a terror in itself, reminding us that war and terrorism are intimately linked and often, as in the Middle East, become one and the same thing. What was important, in my view as an old veteran at these events, was that where the media had assumed silence, the world now saw public dissent - in far greater numbers than even we had hoped for. (It got excellent coverage on the BBC). For the "internal movement" it was noteworthy that Workers World had their bluff called, was forced to cancel their original demonstration date, and MAY (though I am skeptical) be prepared to work more honestly with the broad range of peace and justice groups. The loose coalition of peace and justice groups, from the Black Radical Congress to the War Resisters League, from the American Friends Service Committee to Peace Action, from the Committees of Correspondence for Democracy and Socialism to the Greens, have shown that they can pull off a national demonstration and provide leadership. The problems of such a coalition are enormous - it is vastly easier for a group such as Workers World, a very small Marxist/Leninist formation with strong central leadership, to set up fronts, and through those fronts to give the impression of a mass movement. (They have been greatly helped by the willingness of Ramsey Clark to give his name to their formations). The broader movement lived through such splits before, during the Vietnam War and during the Gulf War. What is important for us, internally, is to have faith in our ability to work together through the slower process of compromise, dialogue, and coalition. What is essential for older radicals to see is that a new generation took part in the largest single peaceful protest of this century. This does NOT discount the importance of all the anti-Globalization actions, which helped build to where we are. Nor does it mean that mass peaceful civil disobedience will not be needed. But it does mean that just as Workers World is more marginal than it has seemed, the "Black Bloc" does not command the support of all the youth. Whatever is to be built will need democratic involvement of many, not the vanguard tactics or the "smash and run" tactics of the smaller groups. April 20th was a major victory for the forces of democracy, of dissent, of the peace and justice movement, and of the possibility of broad coalitons involving black and white - and Muslim and Jew. At a very difficult time in our history, this is an enormous victory indeed. No, I didn't hear the speakers. I don't think many did. Rarely are the speakers important. (An exception would be the great march in August of 1963 - I can always be glad that I was able to heard Martin Luther King Jr. give his great "I Have A Dream" speech). After all the usual long debates about who was to speak, in the end what mattered were the sheer numbers that turned out. I was happy War Resisters League was there with our "End War" tags - one way I got a chance to meet to so many old friends was in handing these out. The WRL tags have become so much a part of these demonstrations that almost everyone wants them and by the end of the day almost everyone seemed to be wearing one. The first ones were handed out in the harsh days of the Vietnam protest period, when some sought to provoke the police, and our tags said "Practice Nonviolence", with a now classic design by Markley Morris. We may have some tags left over - if you want one check the WRL web page, which I'll give in a moment. It was very good to see the international support - a group of Japanese, mostly young, had come from Gensuikyo. I am only sorry I didn't have a chance to talk with them but it was good to see them and be reminded that the broad Japanese peace movement, which includes Gensuikyo, stands with us. Something else new, free, and important was War Times, put together by a coaliton of radicals on the West Coast, with almost half the text in Spanish. If you want informaiton about War Times, go to http://www.war-times.org If you want one of the WRL "End War" tags (or if you are interested in an analysis of my own titled "War Without End") go to http://warresisters.org And if you want to know that there are many in Israel who deeply oppose Sharon, subscribe to Gush-Shalom by sending a post to mailto:Gush-Shalom-subscribe@topica.com To the many others of you who demonstrated on the West Coast, or in your own towns - we all did well. April 20th is a day which may stiffen the spine of the weak left within the Democratic Party - and give us all the strength to stop Bush's next move - his long-promised attack on Iraq. Peace, justice, and solidarity, David McReynolds staff emeritus, War Resisters League |
| Re: D.C Rally: A great spiritual journey |
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| Anonymous |
| 04/28/02 at 05:02:57 |
| Salaam Not running you guys down or anything, insha allah the muslims who are attending surely allah (swt) will reward them, just saying we have to be careful how the media will present what we are doing and be careful how we look on camera. CNN is especially good at turning a rally of 100,000 into 10,000 with inventive camera work . We are always happy to see you guys over the pond on a sunny day taking part in great cause ;) |
| Re: D.C Rally: A great spiritual journey |
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| Anonymous |
| 04/29/02 at 03:12:02 |
| tiny bit of US history, in case some people reading here don't recognize this name: Peace, justice, and solidarity, David McReynolds staff emeritus, War Resisters League this author was a US Presidential candidate in 1984. |
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