Los Angeles WCW Protest - Pics & Descript

[cui bono]

First of all, I had to park a few blocks from the train station. (Yes in L.A. we really do drive to the metro station, what can I say...) I was getting more positive response than the last few times when walking down the street with my sign. Then I hadn't eaten all day and it was around 2:30 so I stopped in at Quizno's for a sandwich and the woman making it said her boyfriend is in the army and is going to Iraq this year. We talked a bit, she said she tried to talk him out of it, she hates Bush etc... and I wished her family well. So then when I was paying she whispered to the cashier and the cashier looked at me and my sign and gave me a 10% discount. So I asked if that was the protester's discount and she said yeah, I already gave it to you. And I said really? I get a discount? And she said yeah, for speaking the truth. It was pretty cool. :)

I got there (downtown) when the marching began so I missed the opening rally. I would guess there were about 2000 people. At one point we marched over the freeway, stopped on the overhang and waved our signs, during rush hour :) and got lots of honking in return. I did see one guy motioning thumbs down while driving.

The police seemed rather chipper as well. They were lined up along the railing to the freeway, keeping people from the edge, and several of them were smiling, happy little smiles. I saw one read a sign and smile. Then later when I was standing and waving my sign to the cars below one cop nodded his head to me, saying "hi", and smiled. About 10 feet away a cop was talking and laughing with a protester. It was really refreshing to see that.

When I left though, while waiting for the metro in Union Station, a couple Sheriffs came up to me and told me I couldn't have my sign out while at the station or on the train. I was tired and didn't ask them why, and now I'm wondering what's wrong with that?


Posting some pics below. They're not very good as I took them with my camera phone and didn't ever position myself to get good pics.









The next two are Ed Asner speaking, reading the Call of World Can't Wait:





Cool sign:



Another:



I thought this was interesting because there's a banner on the lamppost that says
"There's no room for domestic violence in L.A.".



"Preemptive Impeachment":



"Fascism Sucks":





I had posted this in the Minnesota protest thread:
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=160x21664
and it was suggested that I cross post it in GD, so there you have it.

[Quakerfriend]

1. Wonderful pictures! You just made my morning!!

[xchrom]

2. thank you!

:woohoo:

[texpatriot2004]

3. Thanks for the pics nm

[dubykc]

4. Great pics...

I'm just sorry I found out about this so late I was unable to attend, due to child care issues and previous non-work related committments.

[sinkingfeeling]

5. My favorite: Bush out of Ixxx America! (Don't know how to put a line

through a word).

[cui bono]

8. I loved that one too. n/t

[Subdivisions]

6. Of course, there was no MSM coverage whatsoever of

a couple hundred protests nationwide.

Thanks for giving your voice to the cause!

[bluetrain]

7. I was there, too.

The opening rally was a bit tedious. Some good speeches, but not so great speakers. Tom Morello played a short set and was quite good.

It seems weird to me that the various organizations didn't band together for this. Seems as though you'd want to get as many people out in the streets as possible. Maybe your 2000 people number is correct, but it seemed smaller than that to me. It was my first protest in LA; I recently moved from NYC and maybe I'm just used to the streets being narrower or maybe NYCers are just more inclined to hit the streets and scream and shout more. There was a small group from Code Pink and a slightly larger group from...I don't know...some Katrina Survivors group and they were awesome and drummed throughout the march and led the most passionate chants.

Toward the end, during the closing speeches, a friend of mine noticed a newscaster and cameraman who had his camera in a case which, effectively, hid whatever station they were with. They were shooting a couple of oddball looking people who were sitting separated from the crowd with a row of cops behind them. My friend went over and asked what station they were with. The newscaster replied that they were with Fox 11. My friend began announcing to everyone that Fox was there and pointing at them. Other people joined in yelling at them. Someone we had met earlier, got up in their faces and started screaming at them about being tools for fascism, etc. The cameraman chuckled smugly. The guy who was yelling at them looked like he was about to punch the cameraman, but disappeared. He reappeared a few moments later and pegged the cameraman with a smoothie and, then, ran off. The cameraman brushed the smoothie off himself and his camera onto a few people who just happened to be sitting nearby. The cameraman and the newscaster, then, began chasing the guy who did this, but didn't catch him. An official or organizer or whatever for World Can't Wait got into an argument with another guy and my friend about driving off the Fox crew. He claimed that any media coverage was good coverage and that none of the Corporate Media were biased, including Fox, and that should we see any other media people, to direct them to a World Can't Wait official. My friend argued that we are World Can't Wait.

So...yeah. It was kind of a mixed experience. It felt good to be out on the streets again and, particularly, when we were on the overpass getting folks in cars to honk and give the peace sign back to us. But it seemed insane to be marching through the deserted streets of downtown L.A. instead of in a more populated area and more and more I'm feeling like the protests are pointless other than giving an outlet for a some of the built up rage.

[cui bono]

9. welcome to L.A....

I love NYC. Wish I had moved there when I was younger.

Yeah the crowd could have been smaller, I'm not that great at estimating. It seemed biggest during the march. But don't be too let down, they're usually much bigger when held on a weekend. And I remember the crowd being huge when they had the DNC downtown. But this being a weekday and downtown I'm sure kept people from coming out. Parking, traffic... anyone teetering will stay home if they think about that stuff. A lot of people have never taken the metro here and that really makes it nice and easy to go downtown.

Regarding Fox 11, that's KTTV and they're a local station that's been around forever. They really aren't the same as Faux News, even though they now have the same owner. They air The Simpsons after all...

[GreenPartyVoter]

10. I am most pleased to K & R this post