From: "roger" <diogenes.jones-AT-attbi.com>
Subject: Re: My Visit to the Pro-War (Kill'em All) Rally
Date: Tue, 11 Mar 2003 16:50:49 -0800


bad news from the amerikan empire:  it looks like a lot of people who
heretofore had withheld deciding which way to jump are backing the
prez.  polls show solid support.  international opposition just makes
a lot of people more entrenched.  the only thing holding up the show
is bush's desire to pull tony's nuts out of the fire.  and i doubt if
he'll wait very long just to save the bloody labour party.

on the other hand, i think british pubic opinion is breaking the other
way.  word is that a junior cabinet mp is talking of quiting as well
as a dozen or so back-benchers.  push the bastards over the proverbial
cliff over there and let's see what happens.  something good ought to
come from this mess.

roger


----- Original Message -----
From: "Heather" <Heather-AT-teknopunx.co.uk>
To: "anarchy-list" <anarchy-list-AT-lists.village.virginia.edu>
Cc: "pd-unity" <pd-unity-AT-egroups.com>; "aa-antiwar"
<aa-antiwar-AT-lists.mutualaid.org>
Sent: Tuesday, March 11, 2003 3:17 PM
Subject: My Visit to the Pro-War (Kill'em All) Rally


> from a.nother list
> H
> My Visit to the Pro-War (Kill'em All) Rally
>
> Last night, a local talk radio station organized a "It's not about
> disrobing, but disarming" rally in support of the upcoming war on
> Iraq.
>
> As some of you may know, I had decided to go make my pro-peace voice
> heard, even if I was the only one.
>
> Friday afternoon, I got my sign ready. One side said "Honor Vets,
Wage
> Peace" and the other said "Support our Troops - Stop The War". I
also,
> thanks to some friends, had about 20 copies of enlistment forms with
> the address and phone number of every recruiting office attached to
> each one.
>
> I got to 24th street and Camelback around 5:45ish, having a
difficult
> time finding the bar they were having the rally at. I walked about 7
> times around the intersection, getting honked for and honked at.
> Sometimes flipped off and yelled at, but kept on undeterred.
>
> Then as the sun set, I decided to head into the belly of the
beast...
> off to Nixon's and the "kill 'em all" rally".
>
> At first the security wasn't going to let me near the place, because
> of my sign. Then, after pointing out to him that there were other
> signs larger than mine, and talking to his supervisor, he let me
> pass. There were probably 200-300 people there... a pretty decent
> sized crowd, but still only 10% of the usual Phoenix area peace
> demonstrations.
>
> To be honest, I was shaking and a bit nervous. I heard there was
> another pro-peace demonstrator there, and I saw him, so I was able
to
> relax a little. Two was better than one.
>
> I have never been so mocked in my entire life. I stood there
proudly,
> quietly, not getting angry, not yelling, holding my sign. Some of
the
> others stood in front of me and held their signs in front of mine,
so
> I just raised mine higher. Fortunately I'm 6'2" and had a long stick
> on mine. One 20-something held his "America.. Love it or Leave it"
> sign in my face and yelled at me. I asked him if he came up with
that
> all by himself or if he had someone else help him. I was called
every
> name in the book by some folks. An older veteran threatened me
> telling me that it was because of him that I could be out there
> today. I thanked him for his service, and then produced my DD-214
and
> VA letter stating I, too, was a disabled veteran. He
> seemed flustered and left.
>
> A lady who lost her husband in Korea called me a jerk. I asked her
if
> she ever wanted anyone else to go through what she went through and
> that I was sorry for her loss and grateful to her husband for his
> sacrifice. She muttered "asshole" and walked away.
>
> Some younger (early 20's) pro-death types then challenged me. I
stood
> my ground and asked them if they thought we should really be going
to
> war. They said "Hell Yes!" So, I pulled 5 enlistment forms from my
> back pocket and said I would go with them to sign up to fight. Their
> response "I can better support the war by staying here and paying my
> taxes." I thought. So I asked them if they thought it was ok to send
> other people's children to die in their place. Flustered, they left.
>
> I did, not to completely slam them, did have long calm involved
> debates with a few ASU college Republicans. They seemed shocked of
> the news that Saddam Hussein has never done anything without
> expressed or implied consent of the US.
>
> They didn't know that the original disarmament resolution (678?) was
> designed to create a WMD free buffer zone in the Middle East... and
> that included Israel. They talked democracy in Iraq, I talked ethnic
> divisions that would never allow that to really happen.
>
> They had no clue about the tension between Turkey and the Kurds.
They
> didn't realize that France lost 1.4 million people in WWI and
> hundreds of thousands more in WWII and that is what led to their
> internal strife dealing with Nazi Germany.
>
> The also didn't know that France has been dealing with terrorism for
> over 20 years now.
>
> The event hosts mocked me openly over the microphone. They tried to
> chase me away with chants of "USA, USA". One guy even challenged
> this "commie pinko, fag-loving hippie" (my favorite insult of the
> night) to donate $20 to the Red Cross. A challenge he placed on all
> Vets. You should have seen all the jaws drop when I put my sign
down,
> took the envelope, pulled $20 out of my wallet, sealed the envelope,
> and gave it back to him.
>
> "See", I told them, "I do support our military. I just do not
support
> the war with Iraq." The biggest vomit point of the night came when
> they played that damn Toby Keith song and all of them sang along...
> really loud during the "We'll put a boot in your ass, it's the
> American way" part. Someone asked me what group I was with. I
> said "me and my two children... that's who I'm here for". She
> actually smiled when she learned that I was there by my own volition
> (sp?)and shook my hand and left.
>
> All in all it was a very..... unique experience. Even one of the
most
> fervent pro-war people told me that he secretly hopes it does not
> come to war so that no more veterans like he and I would be created.
> We thanked each other for serving, shook hands, and parted ways.
>
> This was a guy who had a sign that said "No mercy for the
merciless".
> Priceless, huh? And, no surprise here, absolutely none of the 20-
> somethings in favor of the war took my challenge to enlist in the
> military. None. Zero. Zip, zilch, nada.
>
> As I was leaving, a woman and her 3 kids came up to me and handed me
> one of those pocket book copies of the Constitution. I thanked her
> and told her to keep it as it would become a collectors item once
> Dubya and Ashcroft were done eliminating the parts they didn't like.
> (This brought me chants of 'asshole', but ya know what... it's true.
> Patriot I and Patriot II make this fact.)
>
> About 8:30, I got back to my car, put my sign in the trunk, and
> headed back home. Yelled at, mocked, taunted, teased, and threatened
> I consider it to be a success. I didn't lose my temper and I didn't
> make an ass of myself.
>
>
> Christian S.
> Mesa, Arizona
>
>