As this was my first Freep, I was lucky to have Little Bill, a veteren in both senses of the word to provide direction. Luckily he had brought some signs and markers.
We were greatly outnumbered, there were hundreds of people. A woman gave a speech that sounded like a lecture from a mean mom. She was followed by among other things, an emasculated-sounding liberal demagogue, some arabic singing and a girl with a guitar. There were all kinds of signs and flags - among them a large black flag with the red A for anarchy, a sign saying "Get us out of the Middle East" and the dreaded blue United Nations flag. This was a demonstration to oppose the US military action against the Taliban.
Although the Itinerary for the demonstration said it would include a somber memorial to the thousands of people murdered Sept 11th, I noticed no reference to those poor souls.
There were many types of people in attendance- Trench-coat mafia-types, anarchists, people wearing YassirArafat-style scarves, curious bystanders, a Lesbian Brigade, Arabs, A guy with a pro-communism sign, there was even a frizzled-out hippy who looked like he had been cyrogenically frozen in 1969. He was ranting about something, I'm not sure what. There were some cute girls doing a political skit. Unfortunately they did not offer me any free love.
When Little Bill and I first arrived we met up with two young guys with an America flag. Shortly therafter, we were joined by the Israeli with the dog and a Russian-American man. Those guys were great - they are so opposite the deluded suburbanite punks this rally was full of. One guy commisioned a poster which I made for them with Little Bill's materials. It said "WANTED: OSAMA BIN LADEN, DEAD or alive."
I was interviewed by a sociologist from Harvard and a reporter from the big local newspaper. They were both good listeners and took notes.
This rally was the precursor to a march through the city to a park. I took my "No Excuse For Terrorism"-sign and got into the crowd with the Anarchists. There was some kind of camera crew with what looked like a large TV camera, but they weren't from the networks. I got my sign in front of it and started saying "7000 DEAD!" loudly and clearly. They stood there and taped me.
I was going along with the parade saying "We want Revenge - 7000 DEAD!" over the drone of the hippies. They heard me and they were surprised. Very few dared to argue with me. A burned-out looking guy made a remark equating US military action with "terrorism," which is exactly what I had discussed with the reporter - my dislike of the attempts to redefine terrorism as liberation and vice-versa.
After rushing ahead, I took up a position and held my sign as the parade went by. The people in this crowd were a nasty lot. Some looked foolish, some looked subversive, some looked stoned, some looked silly, they were an obnoxious gang. I didn't see the freepers again after this point. After everybody passed by, Boston reverted back to peace and quiet. I got a cup of coffee and took the subway back to my car, drove home and took my dogs for a walk.
Thanks Little Bill! I'll try to get my pictures on-line in the next hour.
LOL, I love your description. I know the type!
Excellent point. In publicizing the march, they made much of their compassion for the dead. Don't make me puke. Dead Americans? They celebrate that! It's dead Muslims they can't stand. That must be in response to the great Muslim tradition of tolerance and of cherishing all human life ...