Stop These Wars

Well, I'll never make it as a real-time, on-the-spot blogger or tweeter!  Here are some photos I took at Thursday's rally:

Here's Chris Hedges.  "We cannot rely on any systems of power, including the pillars of the liberal establishment—the press, liberal religious institutions, universities, labor, culture and the Democratic Party. They have been weakened to the point of anemia or work directly for the corporations that dominate our existence. We can rely now on only ourselves, on each other."
http://www.truthdig.com/report/item/no_act_of_rebellion_is_wasted_20101213/




As you can see, snow was falling on Daniel Ellsberg and the rest of us.

The rally was led by veterans who know from first-hand experience that "just war" criteria are just excuses for war.

 This vet steadfastly opposes torture...

Protesters, each adopting the name of an Afghan or Iraqi civilian who has perished.

All proceeded in silence, except for the stark beat of  hand drums.

Here's how things looked from across the street from the White House.

Mounted police.

Police were careful to separate those chaining themselves to the White House fence from those of us bearing witness to their act of civil disobedience.  We were made to stand across the street at the edge of Lafayette Square Park. Three mounted policeman faced a sort of central passageway, created by barricades, reserved for officers arresting the protesters.  Another group of mounted police were on the other side of this barricade, facing us. Those doing civil disobedience were arrested slowly, by one of three officers who handcuffed them, led  to a space under a red canopy where they were ID'd (I guess) and then taken to one of two buses. All proceeded peacefully. Those at the White House fence chanted and we responded. According to the report at Stop These Wars, a total of 131 persons were arrested.

More photos, taken with more sophisticated equipment than mine, and another account.

For me, it was a vacation day put to good use.