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A Grumpy View of M20

Did anyone else at Thursday's downtown protest feel they never really knew what was going on? What happened? We spent more time being penned-in and had more arrests than at ALL protests I've been to in Chicago (in 7 years) put together! Everything that I thought would happen at the TABD protests happened here.
[First, a note to IMC: does every single brief detail about M20 (mostly about arrests) need its own post? Isn't the idea to post follow-ups to major posts? The newswire is really clogged. And isn't this the BEST time to show the films from the canceled IMC benefit? (Of course, tonight's protest may tie up a lot of people who were going to go to it, or Women in the Director's Chair, or anything else!)]





So it's Friday, "A-Day" (aerial bombardment) according to the military. In the last 24 hours, at least 14 "coalition forces" have died in an accident and in combat. Support for the war in polls seems to keep going up (it may just be in resignation). CLTV ran a live news conference this morning with the Chicago police. A question about lawsuits appeared to be about if the CITY would sue the DEMONSTRATORS! (Suggested sign for tonight's demo: "Hey Chicago media--don't you ever get tired of worshipping cops?") When questioned about excessive force, the spokescop said arrestees were treated "gingerly," and ended the conference on the ominous note, we have "more tricks up our sleeve."





The role of protests in truly changing opinion and policy is always debatable--but I did feel pretty excited when I showed up at Federal Plaza at 5:30 Thursday, to an enormous crowd. All I knew about the protest was where it started--I hadn't heard anything about where it was supposed to go, and missed most of the rally, so I didn't hear any plans. All I heard was a man shouting for us to go on Jackson "in the spirit of Andrew Jackson." Uh…"the most aggressive enemy of the Indians in early American history" (People's History of the U.S.)? I heard no challenges to the remark. There were many police, but not necessarily more than other Federal Plaza protests I've been to--but some of them were in partial riot gear (helmets but not chest protectors). The march hit the streets, I left on the north side and walked along taking pictures. It seemed to be an endless crowd--and I'd forgotten about the other half who went south till they joined up with us.





Then we went east…I assumed from past protests we'd be going on Michigan, but it didn't happen. It finally dawned on me we were going on Lake Shore Drive--I think only one protest I've been to has done that, a Mumia march a few years back. The march was walking quickly--it was hard to catch up to the front to get pictures. Where were we going? I guess I should have asked rather than just be frustrated. Since we were going north, I thought we'd have a destination. The NBC building? Nope. The Israeli consulate? Nope. (There was some pro-Palestinian stuff at the protest, but I saw only ONE reference to Rachel Corrie, one of many murdered just a few days ago, a story that had faded from national news by the time I heard of it Monday morning!) How about Navy Pier? It's full of people. Nope. I guess shutting down traffic is some big symbolic act or whatever, but I thought it'd be better to be where people could actually SEE us!





Okay, so lots of motorists could see us, but there were no pedestrians. Many of the stuck drivers were supportive--the driver of the Telemundo station van, a Belmont bus driver, a man and woman who got out of their car and seemed to be having a good time. I saw them on Channel 2--along with a man, an African-American yuppie, no name given, who pretty much said "if I had a gun I'd shoot them all myself." Uh--so he went on record as threatening MASS MURDER for a traffic annoyance? (Not that any anti-protesters ever get in any trouble.) I didn't witness any hostility, just annoyance. We should have yelled "at least you're not being bombed from above" or "it's not like being run over by a bulldozer"!





I eventually realized the extent of the police presence. Near a wall with "Fuck War" chalked on it, I saw an arrest--but my camera wasn't working then. The walk up the drive was good exercise, I guess; we went at a fast pace, had to cross over dividers/barricades at least 3 times, and walked through a field of mud. I was trying to outpace the Sparticist section. One of their signs was so horrible, it could have discredited the whole protest. I won't even write it here!





So we got penned in on Michigan. I'd thought a significant percentage of the 10,000+ marchers had gone up LSD--but where was everyone? It seemed to be only part of the crowd. I did NOT think I was in a breakaway march--I thought this was the whole march, but what happened? I watched one guy get on the Harris bank canopy, another climb up the lightpole on the median strip, another put up an anarchist flag on another lightpole. I saw a counter-protester for the first time, waving a big U.S. flag in front of the bank. I didn't know what was going on--no organizers or police announced anything. I heard rumors of tear gas. "No chemical weapons!" People did the "our streets!" and "what democracy looks like" chants--were they being sarcastic? Attempting to influence cops? I didn't get it. At least a chant of "we just want to shop!" was clearly a joke. Some people sat down but I was afraid that was arrestable. We eventually got to disperse, and not that many yards from where I'd been was a police car that looked utterly trashed, like I could imagine happened at Seattle or Quebec City--but here I hadn't seen or heard anything going on!





We went back to LSD. I was ready to leave the whole thing. I thought we were going to Water Tower or somewhere to have a wrap-up rally. Some people left the route via a side street. Now I wonder if they actually got out or were trapped like the rest of us. We went on Chicago, and people did some chants in French (the French consulate was nearby). We got almost to Michigan. It took me a while to understand it was another standstill. There was drumming and chanting for a while, more people sitting down. I wasn't going to sit down for even 10 seconds because I thought that could be used as an excuse to arrest. (I guess we were all at risk anyway…and I ended up having to stand for 5 hours in all).





Things got annoying and frustrating fast. I know and like the people who were drumming, but wanted them to shut the hell up in case we got any news. The shopping cart/drum contraption was taken away later by cops. As before, no one--organizer or police--ever made any announcement to the whole crowd. I realize now that many of the organizers had been arrested. Again, I couldn't figure out what had happened to the rest of the protest--when did they leave? I certainly didn't consider this a breakaway march, nor was it a crowd just of people who wanted to do civil disobedience--it was as diverse as the larger crowd. I heard that some of the other protesters were outside the barrier in solidarity with us--was that true? I didn't see the pro-war demonstrators mentioned by the media.





The brutality began in earnest. I don't know what started it, but the crowd rushed back, I heard "shame!" and saw someone with a mohawk get knocked to the ground and attacked. I saw what looked like someone else's t-shirt getting torn off. (I didn't get pictures of this either--I'm still adjusting to my new camera.) Some time later, I saw arrests of kneeling people. I saw some police buses show up--a seriously bad sign.





I was really panicking. And was infuriated by the lack of information. All I wanted to do was go to Walgreen's to get some VHS to tape the news with, and go home. But of course that wasn't an option. I futilely hoped the buildings we were in front of--hotels or apartments--could be a way out. I tried to stand in the doorway of one and cry, but they told me to move. In 7 years of Chicago protests, this is the first time I felt truly afraid. (The second day of TABD protests was somewhat scary, but not like this.) It seemed to go back and forth whether we'd all get arrested.





I didn't quite believe we could. I thought there were about 500 of us and they wouldn't arrest THAT many. As it turned out, 1000 were arrested in San Francisco, and this morning I heard 543 here; I've also heard 800. But the buses and the increasing presence of plastic handcuffs were ominous. But then I heard something about leaving by showing IDs, or leaving single-file. But then I was hearing details of where people would be taken--women to 55 W. Grand, men to 111th & Cottage Grove. I actually didn't see any major drawback to my getting arrested--except I'd miss getting to tape the news! As it was, I'd forgotten to tape the 9:00 broadcasts (because I thought the protest would be typical, over by 7:30, and I'd be home!), and I realized I wouldn't be home by 10:00 either. But I also feared it'd be a long detention--keeping people in jail until all the weekend protests passed.





Finally--around 10:30--we were let out about 3 at a time, and I was relatively near the front. I saw Grant get arrested; he chanted (he didn't even have to use a sarcastic tone to get the point across) "this is what democracy looks like!" A cop barked an over-the-top nasty warning not to congregate or we'd be arrested. (Which probably meant they could get groups of 5 or 10 people for "congregating".) We rushed east and north past the MCA, Water Tower Place, Water Tower. The Chicago/Michigan Walgreen's was still under occupation, so I went to get the Broadway bus to go to another one. Buses had been rerouted, with few instructions given to frustrated riders.





Waiting at Chicago and State, I heard shouting and confrontation. I thought perhaps antiwar protesters were on a corner exchanging words with obnoxious drivers. It was actually an apartment on the northwest corner with a big "4 War" sign in the window. They may have had a bullhorn. All I could make out was "Sadaam is an asshole!" and "Go to Canada!" I had a particularly nasty retort (about getting off from pictures of dead Iraqi children) but felt too isolated to respond--especially with cop cars with screeching sirens passing by every few minutes. Of course, you're welcome to pay these idiots a visit. (Not to do anything illegal, of course.) I got my tapes and went home, but I don't know if the local news was rerun or not. Channel 2 at 2 a.m. had a fairly accurate report of what happened--their reporter was caught in the mess. (I was amused to see the "Fighting for Peace is Like Fucking for Chastity" sign clearly visible in a crowd shot on WGN today.)





I'm still piecing together what happened. I've naively thought that antiwar protests in Chicago never get a large police presence, never get attacked, never result in mass arrests (except for small CD protests like this morning's). But at heart I knew that the worst could happen at absolutely any protest, no matter how big, mainstream, or permitted. It's good to be prepared (affinity groups, emergency plans, protection from tear gas), but I also want demonstrations like this to be accessible to anyone who wants to join in. At no point last night did I clearly know what was going on or where we were going. I'm not too keen on getting ordered around by parade marshals as happens so often--but last night I actually missed that! As for the police reaction, I think I got a false sense of security after the other big antiwar demos, and TABD, that the bullshit I've experienced in other cities--L.A., Philly, NYC--just doesn't happen in Chicago. (I guess it did in Chicago in '96, but I wasn't politically active then.) For me at least, last night everything changed.
 
 

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