Milwaukee Rally Refuses to Rouse...

by Mikasi | March 22, 2009 at 12:50 pm

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[story by PatsPen/photos and video by Mikasi]

“What do we want?” came the cry.

“Peace!” came the answer.

“When do we want it?” came the cry.

“Now!” came the answer.

And therein lay the crux of the matter. At 1 p.m. on Saturday, March 21, a small crowd of roughly 300 protestors had gathered outside the courthouse at 10th and Wells in Milwaukee carrying placards and banners and stickers. Some wore buttons and pins. There was one dog with signs hang along its back. A few small children darted here and there among the adults. Some of the adults were on foot, some sitting on benches, and some in wheelchairs. There were toddlers, preteens, high school students, college students, middle aged adults and senior citizens. There were about an equal number of men and women. And there were sporadic, almost random burst of enthusiasm.

Other than that, it felt a bit like a not-very-well-attended bake sale.

Those attending were advocating a quick, even immediate end to U.S. involvement in Iraq and Afghanistan. Signs and banners advertised a relatively uniform set of opinion. “Fund education, not occupation,” read one. “Money for jobs, not for war,” read another. “Afghanistan: Negotiate – Don’t Escalate” read still another.

The signs carried by the dog were refreshingly light, by comparison. “Playtime, not wartime” read the sign on one side and “Chew toys, not clusterbombs” read the other.

But opinion among the protesters and speakers seemed to be unanimous. They wanted US military forces home, not in one to two years, but immediately. “A year and a half?” questioned George Martin. “Do you think that’s good enough?”

There were representatives from a variety of organizations working the crowd as it gathered to hear the speakers, including the Socialist Party and Veterans Against War. Postcards to President Obama urging the release of the “Cuban Five” vied for attention alongside postcards to the Mayor’s office, urging paid sick days in Wisconsin. Flyers advertising a national march on Wall St. (set for April 4 at noon) were handed out as well as a flyer for the People’s Books Cooperative. The Peace Action Wisconsin group handed out multiple flyers with information about local efforts and the Welfare Warriors gave out copies of their magazine, Mother Warrior’s Voice.

The day prior to the march and rally had been the sixth anniversary of the Iraq War and this was noted by a variety of speakers, including Congresswoman Gwen Moore, Willie Johnson of the 13th district and George Martin, the national co-chairman of United for Peace and Justice. There were representatives of

the Iraq veterans and general Veterans Against the War, which included Vietnam era vets, along with Gulf War vets and Iran War vets. There were Hispanic organizers and a Palestinian representative.

Speakers talked about their own efforts as well as the efforts of the peace movement in general over the previous six years. There were efforts to whip the crowd up in chants of “Healthcare, Not Warfare” and calls of “Si Se Puede!” There were also fundraising efforts as members of the group circulated among the listeners, shaking buckets labeled “Attack Iraq? No!” and thanking those pressing donations into the buckets.

Donations seemed to be brisk at times and most collection buckets seemed to be over half-filled as they were passed around. But the chants were variable in volume and enthusiasm, with some members calling out loudly and waving arms in the air, while others stood quietly and listened without comment. There were many hands raised when the crowd was asked if anyone had a friend or relative out of work, but though the crowd paid attention to the speakers, there were very few moments that seemed to capture the mood of the general group.

When the march itself got started, a small group made an effort to take a different route than the main body were directing marchers along, but were quickly and easily herded back into line with the others, despite their tendency to spread out and block traffic whenever possible. The march itself was relatively short and quick with little reaction from drivers or pedestrians along the route. The police were not visibly present either at the rally or along the march, though there was a single police car and van parked across the street after the march, apparently making sure participants left in an orderly manner without violating any traffic laws.

And when it was all over, with people leaving in small clusters, returning to cars or bicycles or other modes of transportation, a few souls looked questioningly around, as if wondering if the non-existent bake sale organizers needed help in the kitchen with the dishes.

One of the participants, hurrying to catch up with some of the others, might have put a name to the phenomenon, though she had been talking about the notable lack of police present.

“Maybe it’s the Obama Effect,” she said quietly.

And she may have been right.