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In the News
Coverage on the rally at the SMH is here. This is an aerial view of the massive turnout.
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Snapshots from my first Anti-War March. (Thumbnails are links which open a larger image in a new window.)
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Everyone gathering at Hyde Park. | Mr Wiggins is angry about war! (Actually he's just squinting at the glare.) |
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On Elizabeth St, heading toward the park. | Some of the banners that fellow marchers made. |
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Listening to some of the pre-march speeches. | Lining up to march. |
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Marchers with banners. | "Think Local, Bomb Global" |
Late Sunday morning Adam's mother came over, and we all took the bus to the Sydney CBD and met up with at least 200,000 (some reports claim over 300,000-- who really knows) other people to march around downtown Sydney denouncing a war with Iraq. It was the first time I've really been involved in a peace rally (the only other demonstrative event that I joined being a Take Back the Night march around campus while in college). It was overwhelming to be a part of something so massive that didn't involve commerce or entertainment. By the time the first of the marchers had gone around the roughly 6 block route enclosing most of the CBD, we were still waiting along with many others to get in line.
There were all kinds of people there, too-- I saw flags from about 6 or 7 different countries (counting Australian flags too), and signs in at least 4 or 5 languages. Lots of children were there. What really struck me was the gentleness of the crowd. On the news later that night I saw some footage of protesters getting in arguments with the police, but in Sydney, at least in the group of marchers immediately around me, every one seemed pretty peaceable. In fact, the only time the crowd got remotely disgruntled was when a security man at the QVB removed an anti-war sign from the statue of Queen Victoria. The crowd said "Boo" then kept marching and chanting.
It was an interesting follow-up to watching Bowling for Columbine for the second time on Friday night. I found the film to be just as moving the second time around, and what was really reinforced was the hypocrisy and foolishness of the US's foreign policies. Here we are, on the brink of war with Iraq because Saddam Hussein was a bad guy, when just over 10 years ago, our government was giving him money, weapons, support. The same thing with Al Quaeda and Afghanistan. It's a scary and destructive pattern, and it makes me wince to see it repeated yet another time.
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