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Peace, Picketing and "Boffo" Business -- War Protest on the Mall

WASHINGTON -- It could have been a party Saturday afternoon at the National Mall what with the movie stars at the microphone, rapers singing tunes for peace, girls giggling, congo drums pounding cheerfully and touristy peaceniks snapping photos of each other in front of the Washington Monument.
But the carnival-like atmosphere belied a serious attack on the war and on Bush that drew thousands ranging from babies in strollers to oldsters leaning on canes.
Just ask the middle-aged homemaker, the retired magazine editor, the government engineer, the 20-something lobbyist, the 13-year-old boy in braces or the activist peddling antiwar books, buttons and bumperstickers.
"Business is boffo," Max Obuszewski of Baltimore said.

A $1.50 bought a button or bumper sticker from his card table, including his most popular sticker, "There's dirt under every Bush."
T-shirts, pastries and protest signs were also for sale from enterprising peace lovers making a buck from those protesting Bush's plan to increase U.S. troops in Iraq -- not to mention a hodgepodge of left-leaning causes.
The familiar voices of actors Sean Penn, Susan Sarandon and Jane Fonda blasted from giant speakers while protesters milled around, waiting to march.
"What's Hollywood doing here today?" Penn said. "We're here because it's our jobs, just like it's yours, my fellow Americans."
For the Eberlys, the protest was a family affair.
For mom -- 58-year-old Jane Eberly -- the target was Bush's brain.
"We hit him over the head with a baseball bat in November," the Burke, Va., woman said. "I'm hoping with the numbers here that he'll get it. He just can't do this anymore."
Her 61-year-old husband David, who is an engineer for the Environmental Protection Agency, and her sons, 13-year-old Shane and 18-year-old Nathan were also along.
Nathan Eberly, a Fairfax High School student, was busy filming the action with a handheld camera for a project, maybe for himself and maybe for school.
He declined to reveal his war stance, saying he was there "mostly for the project and to try to get a massive, powerful look of the people."
Jane and David Eberly are both veteran Vietnam War protesters, and they weren't the only ones there Saturday.
Brian Brown, a 72-year-old New Yorker, was hoisting a sign overhead that said, "Elder Voices" and "Grandparents for Peace," representing an informal group.
"More and more we seem to be coming together," Brown said. "But we're not a dot-org yet."
Vietnam War protesters once upon a time, he and other members are back at it again, said Brown, a retired magazine editor.
Not everyone was quite as mainstream as Boomers who earned their protesting chops during the Vietnam War.
A 28-year-old construction worker identifying himself as "Wes" said he was protesting "the whole administration of war, death and occultism."
"You're standing in front of one of the most occultist buildings there is," he said.
Look at the Capitol on a map, and the shape of an owl becomes clear, Wes said.
He gave his last name as "Johnson" and then admitted it was false.
Across the crowd, a 23-year-old lobbyist carried pamphlets and papers.
Ellen Massey of D.C. said she was working with the Friends Committee on National Legislation. The Quaker lobby is advocating against the troop surge in Iraq and urging people to call their members of Congress on Monday.
Would the protest do any good?
"I don't know, umm, yes," Massey said, gathering her thoughts. "I think this will do good because I believe that this represents the view of a huge number of people in the United States, so our representatives will have to listen."
By 2:30 p.m., marchers were still slowly trundling down the Mall toward Constitution Avenue.
In the opposite direction, moms and dads pushed strollers bearing sleeping babies toward packed subways, and a smattering of others headed toward home.
A man dressed in a dark coat and cap relaxed on a crate and rattled a red and white cup at passsersby, saying, "Spare change? A little change? Have a good day."
His cup sounded heavy. Business was boffo for him, as well.
Note: If anyone from the Wichita Falls, Texas, area is protesting in D.C. Saturday or who has ties to the area, please call Scripps Howard Texas Regional Reporter Trish Choate at (202) 664-9439.
Another Note: The next blog entry will give readers and idea of what messages protesters were seeking to make public.

Posted by Trish Choate at 01:54 PM | Permalink