"What Does Democracy Look Like?" In Chicago, it Looks Like This

You had to wonder if all the police - and there must have been a few
hundred of them, city county and state officers included - were getting
time and a half for working the Chicago  5th Anniversary Iraq War
protest.  According to more than one officer along the route though the
city police budget would not be taking a bit hit on this one - the cops
were all being paid straight time.

And considering that there were no protest-related arrests anywhere
along the march route from the Federal Plaza to Washington Square Park,
either the concentration of police had a deterring effect or this one
was considerate group of 2200+ protesters. Perhaps it was a bit of both.

But while police presence may have deterred criminal activity it did
nothing to dampen the spirit of the marchers who chanted, whooped and
beat on makeshift drums while listening to a roster of speakers.

Those in attendance came to march against what they saw as empire
building, naked economic aggression and an illegal war. But they also
came to stop the killing, both of people they would never have known
and of those close to their hearts.

[q
url="http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/local/chi-iraq-anniversary-webmar20,0,412024.story"]Kate
Caleal has two friends who are fighting in Iraq. She wants them to come
home now.

So the Rogers Park resident joined about 2,200 other anti-war
demonstrators Wednesday, the fifth anniversary of the U.S.-led invasion
of Iraq, at a rally in Federal Plaza and a subsequent march through
downtown Chicago calling for an end to a conflict that has gone on
longer than World War II.

[/q]

As marchers strode through Chicago's Gold Coast they beat their drums, hoisted their signs and yelled their chants -

"What does democracy look like?" they asked onlookers.

Answering themselves they replied "This is what democracy looks like!"

And, indeed, this is what democracy looks like.

(for more pictures from the Chicago march, follow this link.)