October 16 was a perfect opportunity for anarchists living in Chicago to express their opposition to the war and to express their politics in general. I saw only about ten anarchists at the anti-war march in downtown Chicago on 10/16. These big protests don’t happen very often so it’s important for all of us to be there when they do happen. There are about 500 anarchists in Chicago so there should be at least 300 of us at these big protests. The 500 figure does not include “anarcho-capitalists.” If you have a good reason for not being at a particular protest like work, health problems, childcare, legal issues or being out of town then it’s okay. It doesn’t take much effort to be at a protest. All you have to do is go to websites like Indymedia, Chicago Radicalender or even Facebook to find out the time and location of the protest and go there and tell other people you know to be at the protest also. If anarchism is going to have a big impact on the world in our lifetimes then lots of us have to be at these protests. Life is what we make of it. We can choose to pass up certain opportunities and watch things get worse or we can choose to take advantage of these opportunities and things will get better. Consider these questions: Why bother having anarchist views or anti-war views if you are not going to act on what you believe in? Why believe in something like anarchism if you are not willing to stand up for what you believe in? Why complain about the war if you are not willing to protest the war?