One Saturday in March I went to Lafayette Park in Washington, D.C., across the street from the White House, in order to protest several wars. The squirrels were out doing seasonal things. A tree was balancing big buds on the finger-ends of its curving branches; the brown bud coverings, which looked like gecko skins, were drawing back to reveal inner loaves of meaty magnolial pinkness.
A policeman in sunglasses, with a blue and white helmet, sat on a Clydesdale horse, while two tourists, a father and his daughter, gazed into the horse’s eyes. The pale, squinty, early spring perfection of the day made me smile.
The protest featured various speakers including Ralph Nader, Daniel Ellsberg, Watermelon Slim, and Brian Becker. Protesters discussed opposition to wars in Iraq, Afghanistan, and the then-new intervention in Libya. Veterans spoke about their experiences and opposition to ongoing conflicts. The protest included displays like a model Reaper drone, and speakers criticized President Obama’s continuation of military interventions.
Ellsberg reminded the crowd how kings once locked their critics away in dungeons until they were forgotten. Bradley Manning was now in an oubliette at Quantico for revealing America’s war crimes, and the Libyan intervention was, like Korea, an illegal war waged without Congressional approval.
More than a thousand protesters stood against the barricade, chanting slogans like ‘This is what democracy looks like!’ and ‘Money for jobs and education, Not for Wars and Occupation!’ One hundred and thirteen protesters were eventually arrested, including Daniel Ellsberg, who flashed a peace sign from his zip-corded hands. The arrests took hours, requiring paddy wagons and two city Metro buses to transport all the detainees.