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News :: Protest Activity |
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Another Account of the Counter-Inaugural Protest |
Current rating: 0 |
by Faith Swords
Email: faith (nospam) ucimc.org (unverified!) |
26 Jan 2005
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On January 20, I was in Washington, DC with 6 other local activists to protest the inauguration of George W. Bush. This is an account of my experience there. |
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When we got off the Metro at Judiciary Square, there were already tons of people milling about in the streets. One of the ANSWER people was passing out flyers and directing traffic and he sent us down to the checkpoint at 7th Street and Indiana Ave. He said that we would probably get in faster there than we would anywhere else. So we walked down the street to where the line for the checkpoint was, and there were already several hundred people there, waiting, before the checkpoint was even open.
A little note about security on J20: there were 12 checkpoints. The one we were at had 3 gates, about 6 people wide apiece. Every 20 minutes or so, the National Guard guys would let about 30 or so people through the gates. With 1000+ people standing around, that took a really long time.
When we finally made it through the gates into the screening tent (we got there around 8:45, and it was 11:45 by the time we got to the other side, Z. and I were the first through), there were female cops searching the ladies and men searching the men. They asked us to remove our coats and spread our arms and legs so they could pat us down. Then we moved forward to the metal detectors, where they removed everything from our pockets and made us turn on our phones and cameras and show them where the battery compartments were so they could be sure that they were REALLY phones and cameras. Then we walked through the metal detectors, and they checked Z's pompoms. The guard asked her, "What are these?" and she said, "Pompoms" and he said, "Are they made out of paper?" and she said "Plastic, I think?" and he looked very suspicious but let her go anyway.
We waited for everyone else to get through the lines and then proceeded (with a slight coffee detour) on to the ANSWER rally at 4th Street and Pennsylvania Ave. Getting there was a little bit tricky because the streets were blocked off in this incredibly maze-like way so that if you strayed a block too far at any given point, you'd have to go all the way back to the beginning of the whole mess (i.e. the 7th and Indiana checkpoint). We got to the ANSWER rally in the middle of all the speeches. People got up and talked about whatever issue it was that they were working for. Anti-war activists, environmentalists, women's rights activists, gay rights activists. One of the ANSWER people said that they had been interviewed by one of the local network TV stations, and the reporter had mentioned ANSWER's diverse portfolio of issues. And the guy said, "These are the people's issues. All of them."
The layout of the parade route was such that to get between the actual inauguration ceremony to the bleachers where all the VIPs (read: ticket holders) were sitting, they had to walk directly through the anti-bush area. So there was this small area of sidewalk where all the fur-coat-wearers had to walk. The ultimate walk of shame, really. So of course, there was a lot of heckling going on. Lots of yelling of "Shame! Shame! Shame!" and people saying specific things to specific people. I took it upon myself to tell all the women walking by with kids that as mothers, they should be here, at the anti-war protest, because neither war nor the Bush administration is good for kids. None of them had anything to say about that.
One woman kicked a young man who was sitting down in the pathway. She also directed her children to kick him. Another man got into a shouting match with a girl in the crowd and jabbed his finger at her chest while he cursed at her. A middle-aged man came weaving his way through the crowd with his kids and people were yelling at him, so he stopped and said, "Look, I voted for Nader. Me and my kids are just trying to get closer to the stage. I’m on your side." My personal favorite was the boy (he must have been like 7 or 8) standing on a flower planter by the pathway, wearing a shirt that said, “If Bush was my father, I’d be ashamed”. He just stood there quietly, watching people go by.
When the parade finally got started around 3pm, people surged up to the barricades to watch and shout. Military bands and limos and secret service and floats dominated the event. Honestly, I didn't even see Bush drive by; all I could see was the solid wall of secret service surrounding his limo.
All things considered, I actually feel let down by the whole experience. It seemed, generally, just too canned. Like, “Now we are here to exercise our freedom of speech, but we're going to do it within the lines they've drawn for us. Because we can't afford to go to jail, and that's what happens to people who don't play by the rules.” I think that it was really important for someone to be there, disagreeing, but I don't really feel that it was a good use of my time. My recollection of the whole day is that we spent most of it standing around in lines, waiting to be allowed inside. And that once we finally got through, it was almost like waiting at the gate had been more exciting. We weren't really given terribly many options as to what to do. There were other events going on, but they were all scheduled at the same time. The whole thing just left a rather sour taste in my mouth, but I’m sure that if I had stayed home, I would have felt like I was missing out. |
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