Ron “Born on the 4th of July” Kovic speaks at the rally on his 37th anniversary (to the day) of being shot and paralyzed in Vietnam.
The counter-inaugural protests were a huge success. Several thousand came in L.A. and the mood and tenor was decidedly more pissed off than in previous demonstrations. The D.C. protest made the news everywhere and was carried live on C-SPAN. ANSWER organizers in DC were widely seen on network news, and protestors were ten thousand strong in the stands booking Bush as he drove by, despite snow the day before and having to wait upwards of two hours in checkpoints.
I drove the lead truck in the LA march. This is the truck that heads the march, with people on it leading chants. The crowd really wanted to march with some starting before the truck, thus I, creeping along, had to carefully watch for protesters running in front of the truck to get photos, etc. As is usual, all is chaos when the march starts, with other organizers running up and yelling at me to slow down, speed up, or stop. Sometimes this happened simultaneously!
The mood in the country has shifted. Antiwar sentiment has gone mainstream. The ANSWER Coalition organized nationwide for at least four months to pull off these demos in D.C., L.A., S.F., and elsewhere, and if I may permit myself a pat on the back, we did good, yes we did.
This was a warmup for the March 19 protests. Be there!
March 19. Global Day of Coordinated Actions
on the 2nd Anniversary of the “Shock and Awe” Invasion of Iraq
initiated by antiwar organizations worldwide including the A.N.S.W.E.R. Coalition in the United StatesAntiwar actions in Washington DC, San Francisco, Los Angeles and in other cities around the country and around the world will take place on March 19/20.
The front of the march just before starting.
Just say No to Four More Wars.