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300,000 at SF Peace March 2/16
On a cool, sunny day in San Francisco, February 16, 2003, we had about 300,000 people march for peace on Market St from the Bay to the Civic Center.
On a cool, sunny day in San Francisco, February 16, 2003, we had about 300,000 people march for peace on Market St from the Bay to the Civic Center.
The peace movement is clearly growing by leaps and bounds, at the same time and in the same manner as the war economy is sinking to the bottom of the sea. The number of empty stores, amount of commecial space for lease and apartments for rent seem to increase daily and this writer has never witnessed such a decline in San Francisco's economy, which is to say the entire US economy.
Our peace march was a celebration of the cultural and political activity of the San Francisco Bay Area and most of Northern California.
The labor contingent was significantly larger, with hospital workers, nurses, muni bus drivers, longshore workers and many others there in significant numbers.
As we passed one corner, we were entertained by a Musicians for Peace band, and of course, throughout the march, there was the usual variety of percussion and brass instruments of all kinds from all around the world.
Every ethnic group and every age group was represented. Perhaps the most fun, and so very common in San Francisco, was the Chinese dragon with traditional Chinese cymbals and drums.
At the rally, which remained densely packed until after 4 p.m., perhaps because this is a three-day weekend for many of us, we had many speakers and entertainers.
This writer must, at this point, make some requests regarding future speakers. Considering these peace marches are organized primarily by the socialist community, it is inexcusable and downright insulting to have religious speakers and Democratic Party politicians on the platform of any peace rally.
We all know that science means knowledge and religion is superstition. Yet, there was no speaker from the scientific community. At the very least, there should always be speakers from the medical community, such as Physicians for Social Responbility, the California Nurses Association and hospital workers, SEIU 250. They could speak on how money spent on war means less money for public healthcare services and the need for a national healthcare system, guaranteeing free healthcare, including dental care, to every resident of the US (anyone who happens to be here) from cradle to grave, which can only be done if we put people before profits. Our healthcare crisis is so bad that we have about 45 million uninsured people, half of all labor strikes are over healthcare benefits and almost 50% of personal bankruptcies are due to inability to pay medical bills, even with insurance.
Another section of the scientific community that should be represented on the speakers' list is the environmental, public power community, a very big issue in San Francisco, which has been trying to get rid of private profit Pacific Gas & Electric Co which illegally provides our gas and lights, in violation of the Raker Act of 1913. The environmental movement is very strong in the San Francisco Bay Area, and could easily have provided a wide variety of speakers on how we can do with much less oil, for example and the need for promoting free and adequate public transportation and building housing near where we work and go to school.
Scientific speakers are always very informative and provide information that we can all use, which is what we need. Believe it or not, they do not speak in terms of mathematical formula; they speak very well in terms we all can understand.
Then there are the Democrats. It was bad enough to have State Senator John Burton, a promoter of the Willie Brown-John Burton political machine of San Francico; Rep Barbara Lee of Berkeley-Oakland who routinely votes for money for Israel and voted for the resolution supporting Ariel Sharon last year as well as voting for the Democratic Party ticket and giving money to Willie Brown's re-election in 1999. In addition, we had Supervisor Tom Ammiano, who is good on many issues, but he does vote the Democratic Party ticket from President, to California's 2 horrible US Senators, to our equally despicable governor, and all the rest, as well as being a supporter of stadium swindles and of Israel, just like both the Democratic and Republican Parties always are.
By far the worst two Democrats that were on that stage were Cecil Williams and Amos Brown, two proud and long-time members of Willie Brown's election fraud team. Willie Brown is a lifelong reactionary, election-frauding pro-gambling and pro-tobacco politicians, who became a millionaire supporting the real estate interests against tenants, while using progressive causes as a cover, in other words, a typical Democrat. Brown is also viciously anti-public power, anti-labor and anti-tenant. He is rotten to the core. Cecil Williams and his Glide Church are many decades members of Willie Brown's election fraud team. For more on that election fraud and Cecil Williams, see:
http://www.brasscheck.com/stadium
and
http://www.brasscheck.com/jonestown
Amos Brown, while supervisor, was a complete puppet of Willie Brown, refusing to support the living wage petition, and all other progressive causes. He was viciously anti-tenant, anti-homeless, anti-public power, anti-labor, anti-gay, anti-immigrant and was a complete spokesperson of the Chamber of Commerce, as is Willie Brown. His statement on the events that 9/11/01 that America must have done something horrible to cause people to be so angry with it is also erroneous. The 9/11/01 events were a Reichstag Fire, perpetrated by the US military and CIA, to promote war abroad and fascism at home, the same as Nazi Germany did. There were no hijackers on those planes; they were on automatic pilot. The 9/11 events were the CIA's Operation Northwoods realized when the entire Joint Chiefs of Staff approved, only to be vetoed by Defense Secretary McNamara, a plan to have the CIA do a variety of provocative actions, such as blowing up a US airplane, and blame it on Cuba to have an excuse to invade Cuba.
To have Amos Brown and Cecil Williams on the stage is to make the peace movement look ridiculous in San Francisco. Since we all know the Democratic Party exists to keep the Reds out of office by singing the progressive tune to get votes and carrying out the same capitalist agenda as the Republican Party when in office as it is a twin capitalist party, it is outrageous that any Democratic Party politician is even allowed on any peace movement stage. All of the above-named Democrats are staunch supporters of the US military base in the Middle East to protect US oil profits, namely Israel. They all support the entire Democratic Party ticket.
It is time the preachers of all religions and the Democratic Party politicians not be invited to speak at the peace rallies.
As to political leaders, the socialist and other workingclass organizers of these demonstrations and the workingclass communities are outstanding speakers in both form and content, and it is they who need to be heard. I look forward to all of them running for office so we have real choices on the ballot.
My favorite event on the stage was the performance of Joan Baez. Her voice is just as gorgeous as ever. Her duet with Bonnie Raitt was outstanding.
The wide variety of literature tables provided a golden opportunity to obtain more information and exchange ideas with members of our peace community.
The peace movement is clearly growing by leaps and bounds, at the same time and in the same manner as the war economy is sinking to the bottom of the sea. The number of empty stores, amount of commecial space for lease and apartments for rent seem to increase daily and this writer has never witnessed such a decline in San Francisco's economy, which is to say the entire US economy.
Our peace march was a celebration of the cultural and political activity of the San Francisco Bay Area and most of Northern California.
The labor contingent was significantly larger, with hospital workers, nurses, muni bus drivers, longshore workers and many others there in significant numbers.
As we passed one corner, we were entertained by a Musicians for Peace band, and of course, throughout the march, there was the usual variety of percussion and brass instruments of all kinds from all around the world.
Every ethnic group and every age group was represented. Perhaps the most fun, and so very common in San Francisco, was the Chinese dragon with traditional Chinese cymbals and drums.
At the rally, which remained densely packed until after 4 p.m., perhaps because this is a three-day weekend for many of us, we had many speakers and entertainers.
This writer must, at this point, make some requests regarding future speakers. Considering these peace marches are organized primarily by the socialist community, it is inexcusable and downright insulting to have religious speakers and Democratic Party politicians on the platform of any peace rally.
We all know that science means knowledge and religion is superstition. Yet, there was no speaker from the scientific community. At the very least, there should always be speakers from the medical community, such as Physicians for Social Responbility, the California Nurses Association and hospital workers, SEIU 250. They could speak on how money spent on war means less money for public healthcare services and the need for a national healthcare system, guaranteeing free healthcare, including dental care, to every resident of the US (anyone who happens to be here) from cradle to grave, which can only be done if we put people before profits. Our healthcare crisis is so bad that we have about 45 million uninsured people, half of all labor strikes are over healthcare benefits and almost 50% of personal bankruptcies are due to inability to pay medical bills, even with insurance.
Another section of the scientific community that should be represented on the speakers' list is the environmental, public power community, a very big issue in San Francisco, which has been trying to get rid of private profit Pacific Gas & Electric Co which illegally provides our gas and lights, in violation of the Raker Act of 1913. The environmental movement is very strong in the San Francisco Bay Area, and could easily have provided a wide variety of speakers on how we can do with much less oil, for example and the need for promoting free and adequate public transportation and building housing near where we work and go to school.
Scientific speakers are always very informative and provide information that we can all use, which is what we need. Believe it or not, they do not speak in terms of mathematical formula; they speak very well in terms we all can understand.
Then there are the Democrats. It was bad enough to have State Senator John Burton, a promoter of the Willie Brown-John Burton political machine of San Francico; Rep Barbara Lee of Berkeley-Oakland who routinely votes for money for Israel and voted for the resolution supporting Ariel Sharon last year as well as voting for the Democratic Party ticket and giving money to Willie Brown's re-election in 1999. In addition, we had Supervisor Tom Ammiano, who is good on many issues, but he does vote the Democratic Party ticket from President, to California's 2 horrible US Senators, to our equally despicable governor, and all the rest, as well as being a supporter of stadium swindles and of Israel, just like both the Democratic and Republican Parties always are.
By far the worst two Democrats that were on that stage were Cecil Williams and Amos Brown, two proud and long-time members of Willie Brown's election fraud team. Willie Brown is a lifelong reactionary, election-frauding pro-gambling and pro-tobacco politicians, who became a millionaire supporting the real estate interests against tenants, while using progressive causes as a cover, in other words, a typical Democrat. Brown is also viciously anti-public power, anti-labor and anti-tenant. He is rotten to the core. Cecil Williams and his Glide Church are many decades members of Willie Brown's election fraud team. For more on that election fraud and Cecil Williams, see:
http://www.brasscheck.com/stadium
and
http://www.brasscheck.com/jonestown
Amos Brown, while supervisor, was a complete puppet of Willie Brown, refusing to support the living wage petition, and all other progressive causes. He was viciously anti-tenant, anti-homeless, anti-public power, anti-labor, anti-gay, anti-immigrant and was a complete spokesperson of the Chamber of Commerce, as is Willie Brown. His statement on the events that 9/11/01 that America must have done something horrible to cause people to be so angry with it is also erroneous. The 9/11/01 events were a Reichstag Fire, perpetrated by the US military and CIA, to promote war abroad and fascism at home, the same as Nazi Germany did. There were no hijackers on those planes; they were on automatic pilot. The 9/11 events were the CIA's Operation Northwoods realized when the entire Joint Chiefs of Staff approved, only to be vetoed by Defense Secretary McNamara, a plan to have the CIA do a variety of provocative actions, such as blowing up a US airplane, and blame it on Cuba to have an excuse to invade Cuba.
To have Amos Brown and Cecil Williams on the stage is to make the peace movement look ridiculous in San Francisco. Since we all know the Democratic Party exists to keep the Reds out of office by singing the progressive tune to get votes and carrying out the same capitalist agenda as the Republican Party when in office as it is a twin capitalist party, it is outrageous that any Democratic Party politician is even allowed on any peace movement stage. All of the above-named Democrats are staunch supporters of the US military base in the Middle East to protect US oil profits, namely Israel. They all support the entire Democratic Party ticket.
It is time the preachers of all religions and the Democratic Party politicians not be invited to speak at the peace rallies.
As to political leaders, the socialist and other workingclass organizers of these demonstrations and the workingclass communities are outstanding speakers in both form and content, and it is they who need to be heard. I look forward to all of them running for office so we have real choices on the ballot.
My favorite event on the stage was the performance of Joan Baez. Her voice is just as gorgeous as ever. Her duet with Bonnie Raitt was outstanding.
The wide variety of literature tables provided a golden opportunity to obtain more information and exchange ideas with members of our peace community.
For more information:
http://www.brasscheck.com/stadium
Add Your Comments
Comments
(Hide Comments)
I get very weary at "movement cheerleading"...so I especially appreciated the critical comments in this story regarding Democratic Party hacks and superstition-mongers.
The genuinely progressive members of the scientific community should DEFINITELY be given a hearing at anti-war rallies and other events...they have real information to impart that we NEED to hear and understand.
As for Democratic Party hacks, they should only speak if they plan to announce their immediate and permanent RESIGNATION from the Democratic Party.
The genuinely progressive members of the scientific community should DEFINITELY be given a hearing at anti-war rallies and other events...they have real information to impart that we NEED to hear and understand.
As for Democratic Party hacks, they should only speak if they plan to announce their immediate and permanent RESIGNATION from the Democratic Party.
I agree with you completely. The moment I heard someone introduced from the Democratic party, I almost lost my lunch! Religious speakers, maybe, if they can focus on the common goal of peaceful resolution. Thanks for helping me feel less alone in my mind.
while i agree with your basic points for most SF rallies, this was not most SF rallies. this was one rally of over 600 around the world with a common purpose. my feeling is that rather than exclude groups, this particular cause needs the help and leadership of everyone.
religious leaders voicing their opposition to this war are valuable, they let the world know that within their systems of ethics, this is not acceptable, and that god (i know, i know) doesn't want people to fight wars in his (yes, i know, i know) name. certainly jerry falwell wouldn't be welcome, but remember that desmond tutu is also a religious leader, and one of the great activists for social justice in modern history.
democratic leaders, while tainted with the muck that pollutes everything at the federal levels of government, do in fact represent a large part of the population, and it's important for the world to know that there is opposition to the bush regime among our elected leaders. if a democratic speaker brings out 50,000 more people for this particular cause, i'm for it.
the thing about this protest is that it wasn't a bay area phenomenon for a bay area cause. it was part of a global protest and drew people from every walk of life and thousands from the mainstream who've never thought to actively protested before. i think this is a bigger issue globally than PG&E, California Nurses, tobacco or gambling. for this one day, i feel that reaching the hearts and minds of everyone that can be reached, especially those who wouldn't ordinarily come out to march, is the top priority. but, i do see your point and understand if you disagree.
religious leaders voicing their opposition to this war are valuable, they let the world know that within their systems of ethics, this is not acceptable, and that god (i know, i know) doesn't want people to fight wars in his (yes, i know, i know) name. certainly jerry falwell wouldn't be welcome, but remember that desmond tutu is also a religious leader, and one of the great activists for social justice in modern history.
democratic leaders, while tainted with the muck that pollutes everything at the federal levels of government, do in fact represent a large part of the population, and it's important for the world to know that there is opposition to the bush regime among our elected leaders. if a democratic speaker brings out 50,000 more people for this particular cause, i'm for it.
the thing about this protest is that it wasn't a bay area phenomenon for a bay area cause. it was part of a global protest and drew people from every walk of life and thousands from the mainstream who've never thought to actively protested before. i think this is a bigger issue globally than PG&E, California Nurses, tobacco or gambling. for this one day, i feel that reaching the hearts and minds of everyone that can be reached, especially those who wouldn't ordinarily come out to march, is the top priority. but, i do see your point and understand if you disagree.
Remember cointelpro during the 60's?I think the feds are trying to break up the antiwar movement.
I agree, democratic party speakers is a true insult. There's no excuse for that.
Even green party speakers is a little rough to take.
What we need are clear goals which will rid our community of the violent police state that we've had since the early 60s, culminating in almost outright guerrilla warfare in this area in the last generation. What will this generation bring?
This generation will bring victory.
viva la revolucion camaradas!!!!
Even green party speakers is a little rough to take.
What we need are clear goals which will rid our community of the violent police state that we've had since the early 60s, culminating in almost outright guerrilla warfare in this area in the last generation. What will this generation bring?
This generation will bring victory.
viva la revolucion camaradas!!!!
300,000 seems a little large. Also, Rome said 1 million and protesters are saying 3 million. Given that the protesters estimates are overexagerated to imply something that didn't happen, I tend to go along with the estimates given by the typical sources.
But even if your numbers were correct, the protests were small. I added up the numbers estimated by protesters as listed on the front page of SF-IMC. They came up to approx. 12 million worldwide (and that's given the overestimated numbers I believe them to be). But add an extra 3 million for extra safe-mesure to that and you still got only 15 million worldwide.
Until the anti-war movement can mobilize a minimum of five hundred million (500,000,000) people on one day, we very simply cannot and will not take you seriously. For you locally, that would include having a minimum of 5 million (5,000,000) protesters in SF alone.
But even if your numbers were correct, the protests were small. I added up the numbers estimated by protesters as listed on the front page of SF-IMC. They came up to approx. 12 million worldwide (and that's given the overestimated numbers I believe them to be). But add an extra 3 million for extra safe-mesure to that and you still got only 15 million worldwide.
Until the anti-war movement can mobilize a minimum of five hundred million (500,000,000) people on one day, we very simply cannot and will not take you seriously. For you locally, that would include having a minimum of 5 million (5,000,000) protesters in SF alone.
It goes back further than that. The 50s sucked bigtime. Before that came the Palmer Raids, the Ludlow Massacre and the roust of the Bonus Marchers.
All states are police states. Without force, no state can exist.
All states are police states. Without force, no state can exist.
The peace rally was launched with an interfaith coalition of almost two dozen spiritual leaders serving members of many different religions in San Francisco, reflecting the religious, cultural, racial and ethnic diversity of the Bay area. They prayed, sang, led us in song, and gave speeches.
I listened for the first hour and was moved by how powerful each one was and felt blessed by the inner peace they shared. It's true that in most public events started with a prayer, that section of the program only lasts a couple minutes and this was rather long. I felt it was an attempt to be all-inclusive, though, and I appreciated their inspiration. I would like to thank them for their service in this public forum.
I didn't stay to hear everyone, though. Around noon I moved on to join up with the Threshold Choir led by Kate Munger. We stood on a corner and sang peace songs. Kate gave me a blue flag of the planet to wave and I had a great time singing and waving the flag in the erratic wind.
Before I set out from Oakland in the morning, I had to decide whether to wear my raincoat or bring an umbrella. Not wanting to be burdened if it didn't rain, I took a chance and left them home. Fortunately the storm clouds sailed past even though it sprinkled a little around 11:00 a.m.
What I want to know is what were all those fire engines doing that moved into the intersection and drove down the street, forcing the marchers to move to the sidewalks to let them by? Was there really a fire or were they trying to intimidate, disrupt or control the crowd? It was so bizarre.
We kept singing and holding the peace. Though marchers looked grim, everyone gave way peacefully and nothing happened that I was aware of. When the fire engines retreated, I exchanged looks with one of the firemen whose impassive face nevertheless showed his puzzlement about what we were up to. I sensed they really expected to have caused more of a disruption and to at least have scared us a little.
One of the women singing in the choir started urging marchers to form a human chain to stop the trucks, but I dissuaded her, thinking that there might possibly be a true emergency situation. Now this may be paranoia speaking, but I thought there was a real possibility that CIA operatives might stage a terrorist attack in the subway, either in New York or San Francisco, to discourage people from marching in these peace rallies.
Terrorism has been the MO of the Bush administration from the get-go from Republicans harrassing vote counters in Florida back to Governor Mel Carnahan of Missouri's convenient death in the senate race against Ashcroft (Ashcroft lost anyways as the people of Missouri elected him posthumously and his wife Jean valiantly served his term in office) to the bombing of Baghdad, killing women and children, a week after Bush "took" office to the anthrax planted in the Senate offices of those Senators such as Tom Daschle who spoke out against his war on terrorism to the yet again so convenient death last fall in the Senate race of Senator Wellstone who courageously spoke against Ashcroft's appointment to Attorney General and the "war against terrorism" to the bombing of Afghanistan which continues to this day on the flimsy pretext of rooting out terrorist enclaves (what about the School of the Americas right here in the U.S.? On those grounds, an attack against the U.S. is fully justified also. Several people who staged a protest against the School of Americas were arraigned this week and given hefty fines. Some were sentenced to serve a term in prison.)
And what about all the tactics being used to intimidate resistance, the Patriot bill and other legislation designed to steal us of our privacy and right to dissent in a democracy?
The truth is when those fire engines converged on the intersection where we were singing, I did experience a twinge of fear. I did not know what was happening. Kate Munger kept her cool, though, and pointed out to us that one of the firemen on the street was actually a woman so that we were admiring how she hefted an oxygen tank on her bank as she took to the street and our fear quickly shifted to love for this woman doing her job.
Kate steadied me. And I kept on singing and waving the flag, feeling joyous again and loving everyone there, including the firefighters and police. I thought if I were to die in that moment while singing for peace, I would die happy and I was not afraid.
I listened for the first hour and was moved by how powerful each one was and felt blessed by the inner peace they shared. It's true that in most public events started with a prayer, that section of the program only lasts a couple minutes and this was rather long. I felt it was an attempt to be all-inclusive, though, and I appreciated their inspiration. I would like to thank them for their service in this public forum.
I didn't stay to hear everyone, though. Around noon I moved on to join up with the Threshold Choir led by Kate Munger. We stood on a corner and sang peace songs. Kate gave me a blue flag of the planet to wave and I had a great time singing and waving the flag in the erratic wind.
Before I set out from Oakland in the morning, I had to decide whether to wear my raincoat or bring an umbrella. Not wanting to be burdened if it didn't rain, I took a chance and left them home. Fortunately the storm clouds sailed past even though it sprinkled a little around 11:00 a.m.
What I want to know is what were all those fire engines doing that moved into the intersection and drove down the street, forcing the marchers to move to the sidewalks to let them by? Was there really a fire or were they trying to intimidate, disrupt or control the crowd? It was so bizarre.
We kept singing and holding the peace. Though marchers looked grim, everyone gave way peacefully and nothing happened that I was aware of. When the fire engines retreated, I exchanged looks with one of the firemen whose impassive face nevertheless showed his puzzlement about what we were up to. I sensed they really expected to have caused more of a disruption and to at least have scared us a little.
One of the women singing in the choir started urging marchers to form a human chain to stop the trucks, but I dissuaded her, thinking that there might possibly be a true emergency situation. Now this may be paranoia speaking, but I thought there was a real possibility that CIA operatives might stage a terrorist attack in the subway, either in New York or San Francisco, to discourage people from marching in these peace rallies.
Terrorism has been the MO of the Bush administration from the get-go from Republicans harrassing vote counters in Florida back to Governor Mel Carnahan of Missouri's convenient death in the senate race against Ashcroft (Ashcroft lost anyways as the people of Missouri elected him posthumously and his wife Jean valiantly served his term in office) to the bombing of Baghdad, killing women and children, a week after Bush "took" office to the anthrax planted in the Senate offices of those Senators such as Tom Daschle who spoke out against his war on terrorism to the yet again so convenient death last fall in the Senate race of Senator Wellstone who courageously spoke against Ashcroft's appointment to Attorney General and the "war against terrorism" to the bombing of Afghanistan which continues to this day on the flimsy pretext of rooting out terrorist enclaves (what about the School of the Americas right here in the U.S.? On those grounds, an attack against the U.S. is fully justified also. Several people who staged a protest against the School of Americas were arraigned this week and given hefty fines. Some were sentenced to serve a term in prison.)
And what about all the tactics being used to intimidate resistance, the Patriot bill and other legislation designed to steal us of our privacy and right to dissent in a democracy?
The truth is when those fire engines converged on the intersection where we were singing, I did experience a twinge of fear. I did not know what was happening. Kate Munger kept her cool, though, and pointed out to us that one of the firemen on the street was actually a woman so that we were admiring how she hefted an oxygen tank on her bank as she took to the street and our fear quickly shifted to love for this woman doing her job.
Kate steadied me. And I kept on singing and waving the flag, feeling joyous again and loving everyone there, including the firefighters and police. I thought if I were to die in that moment while singing for peace, I would die happy and I was not afraid.
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