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White House Protest Report
Saturday, July 30, 2005

ycw@yellowcakewalk.net
http://www.yellowcakewalk.net
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Amigo,

I enjoyed meeting your aunt and uncle yesterday. You are lucky to have family
that supports your activism...my family is all Republican and would gladly
stick me in Guantanamo in the service to their Evil Lord Bush!

The pic of you in your Abu-Ghraib outfit with a diminutive relative under each
arm, with the WH in the background will be passed down thru the generations in
the family photo album.

In a previous post to the discussion group I took issue with the street theater
side of protest. Hey, after a few beers we all think we are a lot smarter than
we actually are, and well, that's the way I write after a quart of cheap malt
liquor! I hope it didn't piss off anybody too badly.

Street theater, IMHO, can be and is really effective if it results in a
compelling and clearly understandable image. Your Abu-Ghraib outfit is
excellent, and with the White House in the background, is the kind of photo
that could circle the globe. It is right-on message.

Another excellent street theater is the image of The Supremes in their prison
garb in front of the Supreme Court.

I would love to see more Abu-Ghraib imagery in front of the WH...maybe even a
prisoner being dragged about on a leash by a Lyndie England actress.

These images are so good...the context is instantly recognizable by virtually
every citizen of the planet, without a single word being necessary. I wonder
if we could get a serious photo-shoot of such iconic images, make up some
postcards and such. Just thinking.

Matt R, Mighty Joe H, and myself kept up the protest at the WH until dark
last nite. The Boy Scouts are 37,000 strong in DC this week, and hundreds and
thousands of them came by the busload to visit the Monkey House. This was a
low-hanging fruit that just dropped into our laps.

We engaged many of them with an anti-recruitment message, helping them weigh
their future as conscripted cannon-fodder in the service of Halliburton,
Exxon, and Lockheed Martin. Aside from the Scouts, we were as usual, engaged
by the occasional bleating sheep, which we vociferously corrected. The Secret
Service separated the sheep from us protestors at one point.

We now have placards in French, Spanish, Portuguese, and Russian which some of
the tourists enjoy for their photo op. Will try to have Arabic, German, and
Turkish for the next turn of the wheel.

In all, a good day's protest, the 9/11 inquiry rally was good and I am curious
about how it went at American U afterwards. Anybody have any photos? N.B.
Their placards were pretty good but I am not so sure about how the color
scheme came out in photos.