Surprising Unity Found at LA Peace Protests
By Peter Douglas
Staff Writer

There is something about being surrounded by tens of thousands of chanting, marching people that is both satisfying and uncomfortable. Satisfying because in that crowd shouting in unison there is a sense that finally your voice can be heard and some change will come from it; uncomfortable because as the words get repeated by thousands and thousands of very different people, the message gets distorted until you can no longer be sure its your own.

This past Saturday in Los Angeles, a group of at least 20,000 people, including myself, marched through Hollywood demanding, that the United States not go to war with Iraq. This march coincided with similar demonstrations, some much larger, some much smaller, across the nation and the world. By most accounts, it was the largest day of protest against any war, or perhaps anything, in history. Despite a few misgivings, I found the protest to be a positive and encouraging experience, and hopefully it is a sign of things to come.

The most amazing thing about the protest was that it happened at all. We are a country that is supposed to be extremely apathetic about politics. Less than half of us vote to decide who will make decisions that will directly affect our lives, yet almost everyone will take four hours out of their lives to watch the commercials of the Super Bowl. That several million people across the United States saw fit to spend five hours or more of a Saturday, many of them in frigid weather, walking and wearing out their voices expression a strong political opinion should be encouraging to anyone who believes in democracy, whether they are for or against a war in Iraq.

Just as amazing was how peaceful and well-ordered the demonstration was. Before I left, I joked with a friend that I didn't want to look like a protestor so that if things got crazy the notorious LAPD wouldn't rough me up. When thousands of people go into the streets over a controversial issue, a little chaos is to be expected, especially in this city. However, nothing of the sort happened. The march moved smoothly from start to finish, and while people were loud, no one was interested in throwing rocks at the several Starbucks that were on the route. The police made their presence known but were generally friendly and helpful.

This pattern was repeated across the country, with very little tear gas being sprayed anywhere on Saturday-a positive omen. Many recent World Trade Organization protests have turned violent; a protestor was even killed in Genoa a few years ago. While there can be many causes or reasons for the conflict at these demonstrations, it is truly important that a peace march remain peaceful. Once people get hurt or property gets damaged, demonstrations lose both their popularity and their legitimacy; and in an age of terrorism which has resulted in such losses of freedom such as the Patriot Act, there is a distinct risk of protests being shut down by the government.

Another encouraging sign this Saturday was the diversity of the protestors. Pundits and politicians on the right love to dismiss the anti-war movement as a bunch of aging hippies and college students. Both these groups were present, but they were far outnumbered by the blue-collar workers, yuppies, senior citizens, recent immigrants, movie stars, soccer parents, Vietnam veterans, teenagers, business executives, rabbis, anarchists and dogs who were making it clear that they wanted peace now. It was obvious that, instead of the "small faction" its detractors speak of, the growing peace movement represented a vast cross-section of the United States.

People carried an array of messages on their sings. Messages ranged from simply "No War On Iraq," to the popular phrase "No Blood For Oil," to more specific thoughts such as "Smoke Weed, Not Iraq" and "Who Would Jesus Bomb?" Many signs questioned the domestic impact of the war, demanding "Money For Schools, Not War" and "Healthcare, Not Warfare." Many people carried flags and signs saying "Peace is Patriotic." A vast number of signs were directed at Bush and his Cabinet, labeling them the "asses of evil" and calling for impeachment. Though everyone there was opposed to war in Iraq, it seemed that the reasons for that opposition were motivated by many different concerns. It was impressive that all these people, each with their individual causes and priorities, had realized the overwhelming importance of stopping this war as soon as possible.

Impressive in a different way were the many signs that painted Bush as Hitler and the U.S. as Nazi Germany. These and flyers which linked the government with the September 11th attacks seemed to be taking their animosity towards the government a little too far. Also disconcerting were the many t-shirts I saw with the word "Intifada" across the top. While I don't know the background of the shirts, they reminded me of when I read earlier in the week how International ANSWER, one of the groups organizing the march, had banned Rabbi Ben Lerner from speaking at the San Francisco rally because he supports the existence of an Israeli state. These few unsettling observations made me wonder in exactly what direction the anti-war movement was heading. Hopefully, the more radical ideology of some of the leaders of the peace movement won't derail its growing popularity.

Despite this misgiving, I found myself feeling enthusiastic and hopeful about the march. I left feeling there was a chance that we could in fact stop the war, which I had previously believed was impossible. President Bush said today that worldwide protests would in no way shape his decision, and some newspapers have said that the war could begin as early as March, so maybe at this point, preventing the war isn't feasible. But this fact makes the need for more and larger protests even more important.

The more people in the streets the clearer the message is to Bush and future presidents that pre-emptive military action is not the will of the American people. It is also a sign that democracy is alive and kicking in this country. On Saturday in Hollywood, author Gore Vidal recounted how in 1789, Benjamin Franklin warned the framers of the Constitution that sooner or later the leaders of the United States, intoxicated by power, would seize tyrannical control of the country.

In Vidal's opinion, that point has already been passed. In my opinion, however, the demonstrations on Saturday make it clear that when the government makes corrupt and callous decisions, as it has now, the people will rise up and make sure their voice is heard.