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I’m no stranger to public protest. But, it’s been a while since I’ve taken to the streets. I was surprised to read an article [link may expire] [tiny URL] in today’s Kansas City Star – on the back page of the “B” section – describing someone’s innovative approach. The “old” media tends to not cover this type of activity.
A few weeks ago one of my nephews, visiting us from out of town with his family, surprised me with his knowledge of current events. He mentioned the Project for a New American Century. I told him that I didn’t know very many people his age who were conversant on the subject. He told me that he was a fan of a musical group which addresses PNAC [not very favorably] in their music.
We spent some time discussing my public protest activities – our entire family knows my history. I told my nephew about the Freeway Blogger. His father quickly interjected that such activity probably wasn’t a good idea for someone in his early teens. I agreed with the other responsible adults.
The article today in the Star reminded me that there’s still a lot of education to be done. And silence means consent.
…A war protester rolled up a huge cloth banner and secretly secured it to the ceiling above a catwalk in the back of the Polsky Theatre at Johnson County Community College.
The banner initially went unnoticed by the nearly 400 people who attended a 90-minute lecture on bipartisanship Monday night. The lecture featured U.S. Rep. Dennis Moore, a Kansas Democrat, and Sen. Pat Roberts, a Kansas Republican…
…In large block letters, the banner accused the Bush administration, Moore and Roberts of “crimes against humanity.” The last line was a plea to end the Iraq war…
What an artist! I had to smile.
one of the best protests I’ve ever been to was one put on by CODEPINK and the Ruckus Society at the Halliburton Shareholders meeting in Houston a few years back (before they moved to Dubai). There were banners hanging from overpasses all around Houston, and stencils with anti-war messages must have covered a 1-mile radius around the rally. The theme of the rally was “Hallibacon,” referring to all of the government pork given to the company, and organizers passed out plastic pig snouts to all of the protesters and also had a 20 foot long inflated pig hovering outside of the hotel where the shareholders meeting was (I don’t remember the name of the hotel). Finally, right when the march was about to start, a giant pink banner unfurled from the hotel reading “no more blood for oil”. Apparently, CODEPINK cofounder Medea Benjamin had rented a room in the hotel and she was later arrested for “disturbing the peace.” It was just a great rally where all of the participants had a lot of fun and which had to have garnered attention from most of the Houston residents.