media coverage of DC demos

The US newspapers are unanimous in saying that pro-Palestinian slogans were
hegemonic at the demonstrations in DC yesterday.  This makes me proud to be
a part of the US left: there has been a lot of criticism of US-based
Movement forces lately to the effect that they were emphasizing
anti-corporate and anti-World Bank/IMF slogans that seem woefully sheepish
in light of the urgency of the Palestinian cause at this moment.  But it's
quite obvious that the forces which had gathered to oppose the international
financial institutions and to oppose other engines of US imperial repression
(such as the School of the Americas) joined forces with those supporting
embattled and endangered Palestine yesterday.  The Washington Post article
below is subtitled, "Arab Americans, Supporters Drown Out Other Issues," but
that's bullshit: no one from the other progressive struggles was
complaining, because we know that an injury to one is an injury to all. And
that is to the credit of US progressives.  Those who are in DC this weekend
should know -- if they don't already -- that there are plenty of other US
progressives (myself included) who could not make it for various reasons,
but who stand in solidarity with these mobilizations.

Here are accounts from the two "newspapers of record."  Unfortunately only
The Washington Post is giving the demos very prominent coverage, because to
them it is a significant local news story.  In The Pittsburgh Post-Gazette
this morning there is an article from The Los Angeles Times (of all
newspapers!) and an AP photo of an Arab-American woman in a hejab in front
of a crowd on the Ellipse.  The story is on page A-16, which is an
unfortunate commentary on how seriously most media are taking this story.
The story says that "Federal and District of Columbia authorities do not
give crowd estimates, in an effort to avoid political controversy" -- but
the story from The Washington Post below says the police estimated the crowd
size at 75,000.  When even the cops are saying it was that many, that's a
big demonstration.

Former Solidarity national organizer Rodney Ward is quoted at the end of the
rather brief New York Times piece below.  Rodney is now "an unemployed
flight attendant," says the article, but I remember Rodney sleeping over at
my apartment in Pittsburgh when he had an interview with US Airlines when he
was first looking for a job in the airline industry.  It appears the
recession isn't over for Comrade Ward, nor -- it's safe to say -- for many
of his less politically-active brothers and sisters in the airline industry.
Not incidentally, there are a number of news stories floating around right
now saying that Bush's poll numbers are slipping.  Time to take advantage of
that situation to do some political damage to him, before he whips up some
more jingoism and attacks Iraq (probably just in time for the fall
elections, of course).

John Lacny

  
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http://www.nytimes.com/2002/04/21/international/middleeast/21PALE.html

The New York Times, April 21, 2002

Many Thousands in Washington March in Support of Palestinians

By STEPHEN LABATON

WASHINGTON, April 20 ? Tens of thousands of Arab-Americans blended with
demonstrators against the military campaign in Afghanistan and those
criticizing international financial institutions during protests today in
Washington, with the cause of the Palestinians and criticism of Israel
turning into the main message of the multifaceted crowd.

The protest was as peaceful as it was pained, with many families arriving
with their young children to spend the day urging American policy not to
support Israel's actions in the West Bank. On Monday, a large rally in
support of Israel had taken up the same space on Washington's spacious Mall.

"My sister has been trapped in the Church of the Nativity for more than two
weeks now," said Issa Danho, a 44-year-old construction worker from
Alexandria, Va. "It is a holy place. They thought they would be safe there."

Mr. Danho said he had not talked to his sister, Diana, since she entered the
church because there is no electricity to charge her cell phone. He said he
had wanted to speak rationally about American foreign policy but that it was
hard not to lapse into emotionalism.

"If this president, with his limited vocabulary, says Sharon is a man of
peace, then Napoleon was a man of peace," he said. "There is black and white
in the country right now because of September 11, but the Palestinian issue
is not black and white. It is a hopeless time and, I'll be honest, I have no
answer."

Thousands of police were in the streets, many of which were closed.

Those who marched against globalization seemed largely sympathetic to those
marching for peace or in support of the Palestinians. Organizers said it was
the biggest rally ever here in support of the Palestinian cause. Though the
causes represented here today were disparate and disjointed, many protesters
appeared to lump them together.

"The airlines have taken advantage of the September 11 attacks to attack the
labor movement," said Rodney Ward, an unemployed flight attendant, listing a
variety of reasons he had come to town. "It certainly doesn't help to be
humiliating the Palestinians, and the war in Afghanistan only breeds more
terrorism. It's important for citizens to speak up. That's part of being a
patriot."



**********


http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A22230-2002Apr20.html

The Washington Post, April 21, 2002
 
Demonstrators Rally to Palestinian Cause
Arab Americans, Supporters Drown Out Other Issues


     
By Manny Fernandez

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, 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 bandanas 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 officials 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 weathered 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 the 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, several thousand 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, New York, Philadelphia and
Chicago, 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 the end of the day.

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 went smoothly
because organizers worked closely with police. At least three field marshals
from the pro-Palestinian side negotiated with Ramsey, then barked
instructions into their speaker-phones.

Hani Ahmed, 16, of the District was one of them, and he was marching with a
pro-Palestinian group that swelled the ranks of the anti-globalization
forces across from the World Bank and the IMF. "That kid, he was only 16 and
he was working so well with us. That was one of the things that made it work
so well," Ramsey said. At one point, the parade got to Dupont Circle, and
marchers wanted to go around the circle rather than through the tunnel,
where their permit instructed them to go.

Tashim Sallah, 45, of Buffalo told Ramsey and Executive Assistant Police
Chief Terrance W. Gainer that he was worried that people would suffocate in
the tunnel. Gainer grabbed his hand and said, "We're going down with you.
There's no danger."

The group followed 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 protest 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 inside a parking garage in the 1000 block of 13th
Street NW, apparently preparing to spend the night. All were charged with
unlawful entry.

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 only 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 one 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 group that opposed
the 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 large 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 kind of 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.

---------- Update ----------
Arrests Made Last Night; Protesters Prepare for Today's March