The Power of Protest

A group of FCNLers traveled to New York on April 29 to participate in the United for Peace (UFP) march. The theme was supposed to be simple – no more wars and stop the current one. Well, as inevitably happens, a number of other laudable causes were tacked on including universal health care, immigrants’ rights, civil liberties and privacy, nuclear weapons et cetera.

Many protesters asked me to plaster their bodies with War is not the answer stickers.

Despite the multiple themes, our reason for being there – bringing the War is not the answer message – was well placed and well received. The march was a success -- in case you don't happen to get the NY Times Metro section at home -- and I personally was impressed with the turnout.

I also had a blast, and of course also took the opportunity to enjoy some New York sights and sounds. FCNL was circulating a petition on the Biden amendment which prohibits funds appropriated in the emergency supplementary appropriations bill from being used to make permanent bases in Iraq or control its natural resources. FCNL and a number of other organizations and prominent people think that the US needs to tell Iraqis that we will not be there forever. The amendment passed, and while I’m no stranger to cynicism, this is a great step.

The best part for me was talking with young people though. While I was going around with the petition, I was overwhelmed by the number of people there. My strategy was to talk only with young people. I wanted to tell them about what was going on in DC and hopefully peak some interest. Despite only getting to a handful of the thousands there, I think that I was successful. I walked around with the petition and chatted with groups of people eating food, chatting, picking nats out of each other’s hair, playing cards and the like. I asked them if they knew what was going on in DC about the war. I told them about the Biden amendment and how I thought it was an important message to send to the Iraqis and the billions of other people alienated by the US and its aggression. I also gave them information on how to lobby and talked about how it was important to make phone calls, write and visit their representatives. Many also had much to say about their frustrations with politics in DC and what they thought about war.

I was energized and encouraged. I came away from the march excited – about the energy and enthusiasm of the people I talked to and the creativity of the protesters. I talked to people who had never voted before, some who had clearly voted many times, and some who didn't even have a vote. We were united in our enthusiasm to send our message to Washington through the march and through our vote.

For more coverage, check out http://www.april29.org/article.php?id=3266.