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The Real Action in Denver
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How much can real people actually affect politics in this country? For one member of the 5,000 strong protest march yesterday, the immediate reaction is very little, but I believe the true test is still to come.
The Iraq Veterans Against the War, combat veterans whose courageous efforts our government has no problem invoking in their political stump speeches, were basically ignored yesterday by Democratic politicians for the soothing melodies of Melissa Etheridge.
Even more disconcerting was that they were also basically ignored by the Denver Post and the Rocky Mountain News, and the local TV stations. In case you missed it, the march was a beautiful thing to behold. Thousands upon thousands of people, being led by uniformed Armed Services members, marched from the Denver Coliseum, down Broadway St., right into the heart of the Mile High City.
Zach De La Rocha and Tom Morello, members of the band Rage Against the Machine, and legends in the rock n’ roll universe, followed the veterans on the 3.3-mile trip from the Denver Coliseum to the Pepsi Center. They joined about a dozen others holding a 20-foot-wide sign that read “Support G.I. Resistance.”
Despite this amazing, relative, once-in-a-generation story, there were no overhead, or aerial photos published to show readers just how large the gathering was. There was no live video put up on any media web site of an I.V.A.W. member reading an open letter to Barack Obama outside the Westin Hotel. No interview with Adam Jung, the man behind organizing the preceding music event, officially titled “The Tent State Music Festival to End the War.”
No TV channel bothered posting video of the event on it's web site. But, did you hear, Barack Obama worked out at the Downtown Athletic Club today!?
With the entire city captivated - there were tons of onlookers along the route, most were serenaded with chants of “Join Us, Join Us” or “Off the Sidewalks, Into the Streets” - by one of the largest anti-war marches since the U.S. invaded Iraq, the local news media acted a lot like the politicians inside the Pepsi Center.
They chose to pay the bastions of democracy courtesy lip service, and hope they go away in time for the main event.
At it’s final destination, the I.V.A.W. members and a large number of remaining protesters, stood outside the barricaded entrance to the Pepsi Center, and waited patiently for a response from Barack Obama to the letter, which among other things, called for the immediate withdrawal of troops from Iraq.
The group’s premise was simple. Since Obama based his campaign platform on his anti-war stance, the I.V.A.W. members weren’t going to let him escape his promises to bring their fellow troops home. It followed a unified message from the preceding concert: We must hold our politicians, especially Obama, to a higher standard.
Meanwhile, the Democrats inside the Pepsi Center hummed along to “Come to my Window.” And why not, they had absolutely nothing to fear. The Pepsi Center’s outside corridor was being guarded by hundreds of police officers. All of them were decked out in body armor the I.V.A.W. guys probably didn’t have in Iraq. Others were atop horses equipped with gas masks – yes, even the horses had gas masks on, or riding inside armored vehicles, or riding along the side of an S.U.V.
I do want to thank the cops though, especially the ones in shorts riding mountain bikes alongside the protesters. They were great escorts along our route to the Pepsi Center. They were with us every step of the way. Literally.
I’m not a complete lunatic. I never expected the members of the Democratic delegation to halt their celebration of the term-limit end to George W. Bush’s reign as president. I never expected the jumbotron to switch from Melissa Etheridge to Rage Against the Machine. I didn't even expect Obama to emerge from the Pepsi Center and thank us for out loyal support of America. Our time and effort to defend the constitution. And our willingness to stand for what we believe in. I just had hope.
As expected, the march ended peacefully and the I.V.A.W. veterans got representatives from Obama’s campaign to acknowledge their letter.
However, many questions remain about real people affecting the political process.
What if representatives from Barack Obama’s campaign hadn’t come out and acknowledged the I.V.A.W. members?
What if the police’s demand to disperse, a demand given under no signs of distress, to a peaceful assembly, weren’t obeyed diligently by the protesters?
What if a riot had broken out in Denver while a middle-aged, lesbian, folk rock singer serenaded the Democrats inside the Pepsi Center?
Well, that would’ve been bad for everyone, except of course, the Republicans.
Only time will tell if the peaceful, non-climatic, end to this march is respected for the right reasons, or ignored for the expected reasons.
