KABOBon-the-ground operatives Will and Fadi are at the protest, sending over updates. Chaim “Hussein” Sugarman has the day off.
1:53 PM – WILL: Lafayette square is too packed. Just about everyone’s on Arab time. (Fadi’s not there yet.)
2:12 PM – FADI: (who just got there): Idiots carrying hizballah flag and Israel swastika flag. Tried talking to them and they accused me of being Israeli. They not Arab or Muslim.
2:18 PM – ANSWER Coalition’s sexy signs.
2:31 PM – WILL: Some from Jewish Voices for Peace just said good riddance to Bush. He yelled it in a New Yawk accent. Loved it. I saw Cynthia Mckinney backstage. She was a pop star here. Ralph Nader spoke as well. He was sharp but too nerdy for a protest. He gave props to Keith Ellison and Kucinich, but said we must pressure congress. This is a big protest. Lafayette park is packed, more than it was for the 2006 lebanon bombing.
Hard to have an estimate, but any figure below 12,000 is underestimation. Wouldn’t be suprised if it’s 20k. And it’s very diverse. Like the “We Are the World” video. The counter-protests are tiny and marginal — and as white as rice spilled on snow. Still. I wish we had London numbers and energy.
The speaker now is naming a history of Israeli massacres. A long record, and as he said. “Made in the USA.” He Said israel’s campaign in gaza is to kill the hope in every Palestinian child. Will’s thought, what a contrast with Obama’s campaign rhetoric of hope. Is hope in the US producing the death of it in Palestine?
2:34 PM – FADI: I like this sign:
2:42 PM - FADI: Never coming to mass rally again; too many religiously themed speeches and chants
2:49 – WILL: Balloons take the Palestinian flag up.
2:50 PM – FADI: March is about to start, but rain just started.
3:08 PM – FADI: Fucking rain, but barely anyone has left, now marching
3:48 PM - WILL: The turn out: 25k at least.
4:18 PM – FADI: I left, too much “Allahu Akbar”-ing for me.
4:42 PM – PROGRAMMER BUYDATTI: Amazing turn out, but I left too. When nine of ten speeches start with “bismillah al ruhman al raheem,” that’s my cue to leave. I want a free Palestine, not a Muslim Palestine. These folks have to knock it off with this marginalizing “allah hu akbar” stuff…
5:48 PM - WILL: Got home recently. Fingers were to frozen to type. I agree that the religious sentiments being expressed were off-putting, but I did not mind because it’s likely how Gazans would prefer it. They reference the same God Gazans pray to, and there’s something powerful about that — even if is bad for coalition-building and having a protest message.
The best thing with this protest was seeing so many young people out. There were tons of teenagers, and protests will politicize them. This was an observation made by an old Iranian lefty I spoke with. He said he remembers the Camp David demonstrations thirty years ago. That was led by students. Today was community-driven.
As we marched earlier, we stopped in front of the Washington Post. I could see employees huddling out the window. I doubt we’ll be covered even if we went to them. We also stopped in front of Obama’s hotel. Later I saw him on local TV. He was with DC Mayor Adrian Fenty, they ate at the DC establishment Ben’s Chili Bowl, a Muslim and Black-owned greasy spoon (that I love). Obama was glad-handing the locals. I just hope he was not stuffing his mouth with a half-smoke while we froze our asses off yelling outside his hotel — not that we could change his, or anyone’s, mind.
11:58 AM - WILL: OK, so 25K was way off. Even the organizers are only claiming 10,000. I thought I was better at estimating crowd sizes. For the 15,000 who did not show up — where were you?!?!?
Related posts:
- Last Night’s DC Protest for Gaza
- Unprecedented protest in Kuwait
- Images from the Gaza protest at the State Department and White House
- Gaza Protests Around the United States
- Obama T-Shirts Must Be Hot in Gaza
I do see some urgency created by thousands of missiles being fired into Israel. A military response seems the only immediate possibility.
Ham handed targeting, lack of publicly stated justification for some actions, the appearance of collective punishment, and the biblically inspired settlements in occupied territory clearly exacerbate fanatism, as is argued here.
But according to leaders of Hamas, the ones sending missiles, the most basic of underlying causes are the existence of Israel and the insistence by Jews of continuing to breathe.
Posted by Burr Deming | January 10, 2009, 12:00 pmYeah, someone making homemade rockets that don’t kill anyone and barely hit anything is a real reason to bomb people from ships, helicopters, tanks and then marching in on foot and killing innocent people with guns, rocket launchers and God knows what else… yeah, makes sense to me…..
Let’s not forget the major FACT in all of this… Israel is an occupying force, not welcomed, invited or even asked by the people who were already living there if they could come in 1948… Israel was created and didn’t exist!!!
Justice is the only answer for peace…. WAKE UP MUSLIMS
Posted by Anonymous | January 10, 2009, 12:35 pmIs that guy holding the "When is killing women & children OK?" sign even serious?
The answer is obviously that killing Muslim women and children is only OK when Muslims do it. Everyone else's women & children are fair game, 24/7.
Posted by programmer craig | January 10, 2009, 12:42 pmYeah, someone making homemade rockets that don’t kill…
The capacity to forget the whole second intifada is really pretty amazing. Is that all ancient history, now? Less than 10 years ago, and all should be forgiven and forgotten? When did Palestinians start believing in forgiveness, and forgetting past grievances?
Posted by programmer craig | January 10, 2009, 12:45 pmIsrael was created and didn’t exist!!!
Same could be said for Palestine. And why no comment about the mass immigration of Arabs to the region during the first half of the 20th century? Why does everyone pretend like all those Arabs were there for the last 2000 years, when they weren’t? Do you know where and when Ariel Sharon was born? Do you know where and when Yassir Arafat was born?
Posted by programmer craig | January 10, 2009, 12:49 pmI’ll help you out with that:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yasser_Arafat
Yadder Arafat was born and raised in Cairo. He went to college in Cairo. During the 1948, he voluntarily fought alongside Muslim Brotherhood from Egypt. After Arabs lost that war, he returned to Egypt. Where he served in the Egyptian Army during the 1950s.
Does Yassir Arafat have a better claim to land in Israel than Ariel Sharon, who was born in the Sharon region of central Israel, then British Mandate of Palestine?
Posted by programmer craig | January 10, 2009, 1:03 pm” thousands of missiles being fired into Israel”
Umm… its home-made rockets. Not missiles. Missiles are things that fly into Gaza and blow up. Qassam rockets are things that land on the ground and crumble up. No explotion. Please learn the difference before you exaggerate.
Posted by Anonymous | January 10, 2009, 1:32 pmAnon, does the moral standing of Hamas shift, directly relative to the level of weaponry they have access to?
This is an honest question. If they get Katushyas, does their morality change more than if they’re launching Qassams? Does sucking at war make you more moral in war?
As for the protest, sorry to hear that it got all religious. Also sorry to hear that ANSWER was involved.
Protests go best when you go MLK style; appeal to the mass audience watching at home, and WEAR YOUR SUNDAY BEST EVERYONE. No BusHitlers on stilts.
Posted by Joe | January 10, 2009, 1:46 pmI think Hamas and any other Palestinian group or otherwise has a right to refuse occupation, and what was stolen by force can only be taken back with force, OBVIOUSLY!
There is no debate, IT’S STOLEN LAND!!!!!
May Allah help them!
MAY THE PEOPLE OVERTHROW THEIR TRADER PRESIDENTS!!!
Posted by Jennifer Previously Anonymous | January 10, 2009, 2:02 pmMAY THE PEOPLE OVERTHROW THEIR TRADER PRESIDENTS!!!
So, you admit to being a communist?
Posted by programmer craig | January 10, 2009, 2:54 pmWho said communist craigy?
Overthrowing a traitor and unfair leader sounds almost similar to, or exactly like (depending on your knowledge of history) What happened in the 13 colonies in New England…in the US if you weren’t aware that’s where they were Craig…
Posted by Wael Bakr | January 10, 2009, 3:10 pmI see my sorry ass pix didn’t make the cut… can’t say I blame you!
Posted by Karim | January 10, 2009, 4:53 pm“Allahu Akbar” is ok by me and I am not even Muslim. I understand religious sentiment makes some people apprehensive because of the way it is misused, but can’t you at least sympathize with the positive aspect in this regard? giving people hope. that there is a greater purpose and reason behind the wretched existence they live?
Posted by Fabian J. & Andrew W. | January 10, 2009, 5:17 pmOh my goodness it was freezing outside!! We were all soaking wet and freezing. I left around 4 because I couldn’t feel my fingers. It was such an amazing turnout! I don’t think people should have been bringing their young kids though. I saw so many strollers.
Posted by AK | January 10, 2009, 5:58 pmIsrael is not the Enemy alone. ARAB LEADERS ARE THE BIGGEST ENEMIES TO THE ARAB WORLD ALONG WITH THE WORLD SILENCE.. Wake up
Posted by Anonymous | January 10, 2009, 5:59 pmDespite the fact that I am a Muslim (a rather practicing one)I sort of agree with you guys about adding too much of “Allahu Akbar”. If it was all-Muslim parade/march/rally, I would understand, but otherwise, I am not sure if it is good for seeking a common ground among many different people. If we are targeting mostly a non-Muslim crowd, I am not sure if we should use any religious one-liners, or anything in foreign language, period!
So, now that we froze our life out and lost our voice, what’s the reward? I am wondering why we did it if there is no expected (tangible) result. I don’t know… just wondering.
Posted by Ajnabiyya | January 10, 2009, 7:24 pmBeautiful turn out. I’m so proud to be a part of this community of enlightened and mobile people.
Posted by fatoom | January 10, 2009, 7:53 pmARE YOU KIDDING ME?????
is this serious??? are you really trying to tell the Gaza people to stop being the VIOLENT ones???
Do you know how many people have died in Gaza? Just about 913+ and more to come, im sure. And half of them are women and children!!!
You know how many in Israel? About ten! TEN vs. 913……..hmmmm gee i WONDER who the violent ones are.
If you still don’t get it look at it this way. you’re at home and a guy barges itno your house and he is loaded with guns and shoots your first son/daughter, your second son/daughter, your wife, whatever, would anyone expect you to sit there nice and quiet and ‘try to talk to them in a rational way’?? NOOO if you could, you would use whatever you had to stop/kill that man so he could stop causing you and your family all this terror. Of course, I mean anyone would, and that’s not wrong!
thats just about the same thing that’s going on in Gaza
Posted by DB | January 13, 2009, 1:04 pmN1Hz79 comment1 ,
Posted by Xagjlprr | June 27, 2009, 4:31 am