American Samizdat

Friday, September 23, 2005. *
Troops Out Now!
Tomorrow, in Washington, DC and in cities around the country, tens of thousands will turn out to demand an end to Bush's war and occupation in Iraq. The Young Angry Liberal has a helpful list of "Do's and Dont's [sic]", among which I would particularly like to highlight these:

Don't have a hippy drum circle:

There are few things more annoying and irrelevant than a bunch of dreadlocked Boulderites banging on drums while dancing around with erect nipples under their hemp shirts.

Don't have a gothic pagan chorus on the stage talking about mermaids:

This actually happened at the last November 3rd movement rally. It has nothing to do with the overall point of the protest. Rather it is just an opportunity for superficial hipsters to whine about "mother earth". They then leave to go get coffee and don't stay for the rally.

Do be serious:

Protesting is not a hobby. It's not about being a humanitarian and it's not about feeling good about your self. Be prepared to die for your cause. Ok, so that's a little extreme. But be prepared to take a stand. Arrests are not unlikely in any protest. If you bring kids or animals, stay on the sidewalk.

Do be creative:

I don't know about you, but I'm sick of doing the same thing over and over again with little to show for it but a frustrated mind. We have to protest in a way that's intriguing, news making. Block the street, do guerilla theater, dose your self in gasoline and go out for ice cream. Whatever. Just don't do the same thing when it doesn't work. Think.

Somehow I suspect that the protest here in San Francisco will feature a hippy drum circle, and worse. Still, I'll be there and I hope you will too.

(Thanks to Fink Tank 3000 for the pointer.)
posted by The Continental Op at 4:00 PM
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