March 19, 2008
Anti-War Protests in D.C. in Photos
K Street, Tuesday, 5:41 p.m., photo by llunardi2
The Post is reporting that participants in today's Iraq war protests were disappointed by the turnout. What did you see? Here's some of the images that have already been uploaded to the DCist Flickr Pool.
17th Street, Wednesday, 8:44 a.m., photo by Fredo Alvarez
17th Street, Wednesday, 8:42 a.m., photo by Fredo Alvarez
17th Street, Wednesday, 8:27 a.m., photo by Fredo Alvarez
17th Street, Wednesday morning, photo by Bas88
Tuesday, 5:54 p.m., photo by llunardi2
Wednesday, 11:03 a.m., photo by Pak Gwei
Wednesday, 10:06 a.m., photo by Pak Gwei
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I can't imagine why anyone wouldn't want to burn a vacation day to come protest in the pouring rain. I wonder what that's about?
Perhaps if these people would put on suits, act and dress like adults, and go march on Congress to see their elected representatives, something more substantial would come of this. Unfortunately this smattering of unorganized people engaged in symbolic and fruitless street theater doesn't move anyone to action. It just annoys those of us trying to get home.
"Perhaps if these people would put on suits, act and dress like adults, and go march on Congress to see their elected representatives, something more substantial would come of this."
You don't honestly believe that, do you?
boomhauer-
aha, but you don't have vacation days until you have a job!
I saw a pretty large crowd gathered at Farragut North around 2:30/3 pm this afternoon, despite all the rain.
Tibetans know how to protest...this on the other hand, is just a big fucking annoyance
bummer that expressions of participatory democracy on the anniversary of over 500,000 dead (and counting) makes you 5 minutes late for your evening commute. priorities, priorities; one can't be suits all the time, and much good it has done so far for us and, more importantly, for the innocent dead.
i saw the kids on 17th street this morning . . . wish they were doing something interesting then. have any protests turned hostile yet? now that's the news we know we want to hear.
Generals are often accused of re-fighting the last war. I think the same holds for the protesters.
Lesscars:
Isn't deriding the protestors also taking part in participatory democracy? Does the First Amendment guarantee that you're taking seriously? Or would your participatory democracy only allow the most solemn to speak?
After a day of listening to sirens, horn honking, general havoc, and effed up commutes, I'm ready to start another war: let's invade Hippiestan.
Protests, million man marches...it's the price you pay for living and working in the nation's capital. You want quiet, move to Lawrence Kansas. I hear they have a nice Federal prison.
Lawrence doesn't have any federal prisons, let alone a nice one.
"You don't honestly believe that, do you?"
How long have you lived here? In case you haven't noticed, ideological cynicism is the coin of the realm here. If the gent actually believed in something, he'd be turning scrap iron into butterflies in Des Moines or studying bonobo society in the DRC. Not grousing darkly about a bunch of latter-day flower children who refuse to play by your rules, man.
If I had to choose between freedom of political expression and minor inconveniences, I'd choose a lot more dirty fucking hippies taking back the streets and gumming up the works. Thousands, hundreds of thousands, millions of dirty fucking hippies, a human chain of them from the Pentagon to the Capitol.
I'll just stand to the side there at the blockade, in my suit, with my briefcase and my blackberry and my plastic id badge, giving them a furtive thumbs-up. Rock on, hippies, rock on.
Generals are often accused of re-fighting the last war. I think the same holds for the protesters.
I love it, you've found a way to insult everyone in two sentences. The generals and the protesters would scoop out their eyes with melon-ballers if they had any idea how much they have in common.
In case you haven't noticed, ideological cynicism is the coin of the realm here.
Riddle me this friend, how does one avoid becoming a cynical dick living in this town?
I've spent the bulk of the last twelve years working as a gov't contractor, subject to the capricious and arbitrary whims of petty bureaucrats that are largely immune to the consequences of their own stupidity because of gov't HR rules. There are others here who work in the service industry and see how lobbyists dip, glide, and slide through loopholes in the regulations to curry favor with lawmakers. Yet others among us fight the good fight to little or no effect; they work long hours at a rate of pay well below what they might otherwise command, only to see their valiant efforts trumped by a platinum card carrying lobbyist at the Capitol Grille.
The list goes on and on, but what these folks tend to have in common is a pretty good working knowledge of how money trumps morality and connections beat competence when it comes to how our gov't functions. Perhaps that old saying about familiarity breeds contempt is true?
All I wanted to do last night was go home but instead, I sat on the bus because they decided to sit in the middle of the road. Rather than protesting on the Mall where they would be a nuisance to politicos and tourist (enhancing the DC experience, no?), they gum up the works for poor saps like me who work for non-profits.
Really, I'm flattered they think I can pull our troops back but at that moment, I wished I could have just gotten myself home.
decks n fx - some of us have jobs but don't get vacation days, we're just lowly underpaid interns who are allowed to work up to 39 hours a week but not 40 cause then it would be full time and they'd have to give us *gasp* benefits!
So last night on the NBC4 6 pm news broadcast, they had a protester on who said something to the effect of "We apologize if we are inconveniencing commuters in this city, but if you want these protests to end, contact your Congressman and tell them to end the war".
And I was taken aback by this person's remarks because not only are DC residents' lives inconvenienced by this, but that we are also powerless to stop it Constitutionally. And that this person doesn't realize that our Congresswoman can't do anything about the war except make speeches.
Lesscars:
You say you want to end the war, but your actions and their irritatng results are focused not on those who actually have the power to make a change (i.e., lawmakers in Congress, the President, the Pentagon) but rather on the poor slubs who, more than likely, are in agreement with you about the injustice going on in Iraq. All you have succeed in doing is to alienate those who would want to help you.
If you, or any of the protesters, were serious about changing something, you'd start with sit-ins in key congressional offices (Armed Services and Defense Approps), then move on to permanent protest in front of the White House, and then, perhaps if you got enough interest, go for a massive demonstration of civil disobedience by blocking access to the Pentagon.
Instead, you chose yesterday to behave like a bunch of spoiled, attention-seeking brats while simultaneously making a mockery of the whole idea of a protest. Do you honestly believe that people dancing around in polar bear costumes will make anyone in America take you seriously? Or that blocking random traffic on the street will do anything except inspire road rage?
And, don't bother with the whole "we're raising awareness" bs. We've been at war for 5 friggin years, so everybody who bothers to pay attention is already well aware of what is going on.
@ DudeLooksLikeALady
your post is irritating.
Dude...
your post is not irritating at all...skaterboy is just a ninny
@Skaterboy....
Sorry that my post wasted 2 minutes of your precious web surfing time. Don't you think a little inconvenience is worth the 4,000 servicemember lives lost in Iraq so far? Or, were you one of those oh-so-effective protesters throwing paint on sidewalks as a way to bring the troops home?
Flame on!!
I wish the code pink hippies would've blocked my car because I would've just run them down. They protest outside of walter reed and military funerals. They called my friend a murderer and said he deserved to lose a leg in Iraq. Then another evening they threw rocks at his car at the hospital. No class.
By the way I'm against the war and would love to bring the troops home.