Mitchel Cohen
NO BLOOD FOR OIL!!!! STOP THE WAR!!!!
Wed Sep 18 05:09:41 2002
208.152.73.14

NO BLOOD FOR OIL!!!! STOP THE WAR!!!!

Last week's antiwar demo at the UN
Date: Wed, 18 Sep 2002 02:54:25 -0400
From: Mitchel Cohen mitchelcohen@mindspring.com

Hey folks, do check out www.nyc.indymedia.org  for photos of the great
earthtobush banner-boating activity on Thursday, Sept. 12 at the United
Nations. (You might have to search around a bit for it as it's already 5
days old.)

This great banner "hanging" opposite the UN took place at 7 am Thursday
morning in the East River. The banner was lifted by giant helium balloons
from a large yacht obtained by the Ruckus Society and Global Exchange.
Proud to say, a member of the Brooklyn Greens was one of the troublemakers
aboard the Yacht. The banner stayed up for a while facing the UN as Bush
was to speak there slightly later.

They had also rented a second boat which they used for press. Aboard were
photographers from Reuters and AP, as well as local media, so it's not as
though those photos were not posted -- they just were not selected by the
editors of many papers.

At the same time, a rally beginning at 9 a.m. amidst a well-fortified,
barricaded 47th Street took place. It was originally called by some of the
more progressive folks in the Democratic Party -- no politicians -- but its
size was doubled by the large Green turnout!!! The Democrats were most
gracious to us, even though we did not hold back our critique.

When my turn came to speak around 10:20 a.m. on behalf of The Greens/Green
Party USA before around 400 antiwar protesters at Dag Hammarskjold Plaza
Thursday morning, I chose to use the "Seattle DAN" method of speaking --
"Repeat After Me" (everyone becomes a human amplifyer) -- so that everyone
would be able to hear. I announced the banner hanging, it was repeated by
around 100 of the people pressing against or nearby the stage, and as they
repeated it a huge cheer went up from the entire crowd. The ghost of
electricity howled in the bones of our faces, as Bobby once put it. I went
on to talk about the incessant stream of lies emanating from the Democrats
as well as the Republicans, my favorite line being:

"If pro is the opposite of con, then the opposite of 'Progress' is ....
'Congress'.

We repeated that a few times as well. The banner hanging really inspired
the imagination of the crowd, which went on to echo our support for the war
resisters everywhere, in the military in the US as well as those in Israel
refusing to fight in the Occupied Territories. I was surprised at the
excited applause that that generated!

The foreign press -- Japan, Germany, France -- covered us extensively, but
nothing on TV in NY. (Friends in Miami might see an interview with me on
FOX-TV.) I think Joe Friendly has a video of the entire rally, including my
talk, and I'll try to obtain a copy from him. I must say, I LOVE those sort
of speeches, everyone gets involved, and I get the chance to actually think
about the next thing I'm going to say while the crowd is repeating..

Near the end of the rally at Dag Hammarskjold Plaza at the UN, six people
-- all our friends -- decided to commit civil disobedience. After talking
with the police ahead of time, they ducked under the barricades and walked
into the street. They were all arrested. At first the Democrats running the
rally were peeved, but as we began chanting "No Blood for Oil" at the top
of our lungs, the folks running the rally really got into it as well, and
made some fine speeches about freedom of speech. They even called lawyers
from their cell phones to get some assistance for the arrestees.

On WBAI radio news, however, we heard that all did not turn out so rosy.
Green Party activist Paul Zulkowitz (Zool, of the Frank Zappatistas) -- one
of those arrested -- was being held on felony assault charges as well as
Resisting Arrest, which is totally bogus -- I saw Paul's entire sequence of
arrest from around 10 feet away -- he's not exactly a big feller, and the
cops carried him pretty easily as he yelled slogans in their ear
(assault?). The others arrested include Manhattan/Action Green Pat Logan
(who is blind); Catholic Worker Felton Davis; No Spray Coalitioner Joel
Meyers; Michael Shanker of War is Not the Answer; and Lower East Sider
Eric ... All had stepped out into an area which was actually open to
pedestrians, who were walking down 1st Avenue! They were all charged with
disorderly conduct, while Eric was being held overnight over traffic
tickets they claimed he'd never paid, and Pat was charged with Obstructing
Governmental Administration because once the police handcuffed her and took
away her cane, she could not find her own way to the van and so they had to
"escort" her there.

It's been one helluva week, with constant activities. Every member of the
Brooklyn Greens local and our friends have been out there this week, for
the first time doing things all together! Loads and loads of action greens
folks out there all week long. I have only a handful of copies of Green
Politix left -- guess it's time to put out a new issue! (If you want me to
mail you one, please send your name & address. A small contribution would
also be nice to cover mailing and printing, but it's not required.)

THANK YOU!!!!!! NO BLOOD FOR OIL!!!! STOP THE WAR!!!!

Mitchel