---------- Forwarded message ----------
Date: Sun, 28 Apr 2002 11:52:36 -0700
From: radtimes <resist@best.com>
Subject: 75,000 marched to free Palestine, but was anyone listening?
Echo Chamber:
<http://www.prospect.org/webfeatures/2002/04/polakow-suransky-s-04-22.html>
75,000 marched to free Palestine, but was anyone listening?
By Sasha Polakow-Suransky
Web Exclusive: 4.22.02
April 20 was a day of contrasts in the streets of Washington. Gigantic
Maryland Terrapins mascots urging people to "Mobilize" commingled with
Palestinian flags, massive street theater puppets, and the occasional
Korean drumming circle. Though the causes ran the gamut from ending
union-busting to lifting sanctions on Iraq, the demand for Israeli
withdrawal from the occupied territories and the creation of a Palestinian
state dominated the ethnically diverse crowd of more than 75,000 that
converged on Pennsylvania Avenue to march toward the Capitol. Even some
police motorcycles carried stickers reading "End the Israeli Occupation
Now." Small children had stealthily placed them there while unsuspecting
officers revved their engines.
The message of the protesters was no more or less inflammatory than that of
pro-Israel demonstrators last week. Indeed, the polarization of the
conflict has led members of both camps to move to their respective
extremes. "[Yasir] Arafat is a terrorist" signs last week were met with the
rebuttal "[Ariel] Sharon is a war criminal" on the weekend; graphic
pictures of the Israeli victims of Palestinian suicide attacks were
answered by photos of Palestinian children maimed by Israeli shells.
Some pro-Israel extremists at last week's rally declared "Kahane was
right," referring to the right-wing rabbi who advocated forcibly expelling
Arabs from the occupied territories and who is celebrated in Brooklyn
graffiti and West Bank settler circles despite his classification as a
"terrorist" by the Israeli government. Likewise, similarly hateful
extremist groups chanted "Death to Israel" on the weekend. But
interestingly, these inflammatory calls came not from the throngs of
flag-waving Palestinians but rather a group of 10 to 20 "New Black
Panthers," who joined the crowd of pro-Palestinian and anti-globalization
marchers.
These Panthers, with branches in several cities, bear little ideological
resemblance to the original Black Panther Party and have in fact been
denounced by the original Panthers and their heirs. The new Panthers
marched with posters of Osama bin Laden and signs such as "The American
Israeli white man is the devil." Entering the crowd, they provoked several
arguments and one near-fight. Palestinian demonstrators largely ignored
them and distanced themselves from the New Panthers' message, though one
flag-waving youth joined their ranks.
As the Panthers moved forward, the press descended upon them, snapping
photos and digesting sound bites about "Jihad" and "destroying Israel." But
their glory wouldn't last long. No sooner had they become the center of
attention than an open-bed truck carrying 20 college students and blaring
Beastie Boys music approached from behind. Suddenly hoarse calls for "Death
to Israel" were drowned out by the shrill and annoying voice of a college
student. "While you're shopping, bombs are dropping," she wailed from the
truck. Incredulous, the Panthers looked up at their competition, a waifish
college student barely five-feet tall. Frustrated, the Panthers ran forward
along the sidewalk, visibly troubled that they had been drowned out.
As the four separate rallies converged at 14th and Pennsylvania, the
panthers disappeared into a sea of Palestinian flags, kaffiyeh-clad
Palestinian youths ran past perplexed theatergoers, and the true flavor of
the protest emerged. The rain did not hinder the procession of tens of
thousands towards the mall. Half-naked headdress-and loincloth-wearing
dancers got down to Arabic techno music while veiled women looked on
curiously. A small group calling for peace on the Korean peninsula drew
crowds of shirtless hippies with their drumming performance and an
impromptu rock concert on the steps of the Justice Department took the time
to denounce Attorney General John Ashcroft between acts.
By the time the march came to a halt on the mall, many stragglers had
already headed home or stopped to rest on the steps of the Canadian
Embassy. Filling the grass from the Reflecting Pool to the Washington
Monument, the remaining crowd listened to rally organizers and the renowned
Egyptian feminist writer Nawal el-Sadawwi.
A Palestinian flag hung from the stage decorated with a large anti-war
banner. Variations on the theme "End the Israeli occupation of
Washington/Congress/Capitol Hill" could be seen, a marked contrast to six
days earlier when a pro-Israel rally drew similar crowds but also a sizable
bipartisan congressional contingent. Yet at a rally defending Palestinian
rights, only the ever-present Bush critic Democratic Representative Cynthia
McKinney of Georgia chose to speak, a silent testament, perhaps, to the
extraordinary influence of the pro-Israel lobby that so many here were
speaking out against.
Partisans of the Palestinian cause demonstrated that many people share
their anger at the Sharon government and its American surrogates. But the
weekend's demonstration also proved that simply matching the numbers of the
pro-Israel lobby in the streets will never be enough to win the PR war for
Arab-Americans. The distortion caused by the New Black Panthers didn't help
matters. Until the message of the 75,000 gathered on the Mall reaches the
halls of Congress, uncritical support of Israel, even when it makes the
Bush administration look spineless, is likely to remain a fixture in the
American political landscape.
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