Counter-Protestors crash Pro-Zionist rally at State Capitol

We swifly organized a small counter-presence at the foot of the Capitol steps yesterday, a couple dozen maybe, but very spirited & colorful, lots of signs & flags, kafiyehs, and effigy of an Israeli soldier with "baby killer" on him etc.

Meanwhile up on the Steps, mostly Christian and Jewish Zionists gathered in a crowd so small it took up only a small portion of the grounds of the West Steps. Interestingly it was very well-organized but kept under the radar. They had good sound systems which they used to spout typical brainwash religious rhetoric irrelevant to the conflict. But there presence was so small for such an organized demonstration it was laughable.

It was funny how washed out their event looked visually. They had plenty of Isreali flags, many faded, and beaucoup "machine-made" signs, almost all alike, only two or three designs. They had "Christians for Israel" signs to which a Palestinian Christian from Bethlehem with us responded, "I'm Christian, don't support Israel."

Mohamad posted the event and after correspondence with Steve & Virginia who were in Berkeley when about 2pm, they verified the announced event; they dropped everything, hightailed it up to Sac, grabbed the stash of flags/artwork/signs & were on the spot talking to the media when I got there about 5:35.

Several people who'd been demonstrating at the SAPA 16th & J vigil in the heat for two hours then proceeded to join us on the 10th St sidewalk.

All went smoothly while I was there; no problems with the CHP who were totally relaxed about things; only one or two fanatical-punk types tried to start an argument but quickly dropped the idea & moved on. A few pro-isreal demonstrators were allowed to cross our picket line as they headed for their cars, but the CHP kept them moving along.

The news at 6pm showed our presence live countering the protest and the news at 11pm on all stations showed the event and our counter-protest. On Fox 40 News they gave us the last word saying "we just wanted Israel to stop its ethnic cleansing campaign against Palestine and Lebanon." All broadcasts showed our interviews and presence. During the event a Zionist angerly denounced KCRA 3 news reporter Pamela Wu who then responded strongly, "excuse me for wanting to show both sides of the story!"

All in all despite our small presence it was a resounding success. We had a suspicion that news organizations would be there, like Steve put it, why would they seek attention at the West Steps of the Capitol at 5:30 when so few cars are present? His intuition was right, because it was all symbolic. They had the media show up and tried to make it look like California stood by Zionists. Well it doesn't, and we were there in a heartbeat despite there attempts at keeping the event a secret except only to the media. It goes to show that as long we make our presence known at every event the Right-Wing fascists organize, we'll take the press off there demonstrations and gain some press of our own.

Keep tuned to indymedia so that we can have a rapid-response team ready to protest whenever needed by our community. Thank you all who showed up and for the others, we'll see you at the next protest!


Sincerely,
Dan Elliott, Sacramento
Stephen Pearcy, Sacramento
Edited by Mohamad, Sacramento