Instead of demonstrators storming police lines, Mary Bull of San Francisco and Assistant Chief Terrance Gainer negotiated a peaceful arrest. Barricades were opened to protesters, who walked through and were arrested. The 400 voluntary arrests defused what might have been the last big standoff. Photo: Jeremy Hogan/Reuters.
A Baby Boomer Reflects: Observations of an Old Hippie
By Eleanor Inskip
For Planet Waves Digital MediaThere is reason to be proud of Washington DC and the care and feeding of freedom of speech and peaceable demonstration. There is good reason to be proud of a new generation of peaceful demonstrators; the ones who are now taking the message of peace further and giving of themselves to create justice and joy.
Arriving at the All Souls Unitarian Church Saturday night for the ritual in preparation for Sunday's demonstration, I was pleased to a group discussing "what ifs?" College-age folks sat in groups on the floor to discuss possible solutions and actions if, for example, one of their group were to freak out and start screaming at the police!
It was inspiring to see the message of peace taken to another level and to see people being given real tools for peaceful activism. These are young people who believe that it is not enough to make sure that our own children are fed and clothed. These are students extending a helping hand. This was nurturing for my soul.
As that group finished, the Washington DC Wiccas announced that their coven had spread a web of peace and protection over Washington DC. They began last year on the Spring Equinox and completed the weaving this year on the Spring Equinox.
Next, we all joined Starhawk in a ritual of weaving for the planned events. We danced the spiral dance and sang a song of weaving. We left the room filled with the not only the power of each other, but a bit of yarn in our pockets for weaving the spell of justice throughout the city.
Sunday came early. Damp fog filled the city air with wetness. I rode the 16th Street bus into the heart of the city. The regular route had been changed and the bus took a detour of three blocks. When those of us demonstrating or witnessing got off the bus at 13th and K Sts. N.W., the smell of pepper spray was in the air. Barricades blocked the streets. It was strange to see so many police officers dressed in battle gear; a very surreal sight. I walked the edges of the closed streets and stood and watched as one demonstrator broke through the barricades. He then waited peacefully while the police handcuffed him and led him away.
The streets were strangely quiet; no traffic noise, deserted, only the demonstrators and the police. Both were in costume and both were doing their jobs. By 11 a.m. it was over, the world had received the messages and the IMF had agreed to forgive the debts of the countries struggling to feed and care for their people. Details remain to be worked out, but now a very public process and change is in the air. Jubilee 2000 is in action.
Many people gathered Sunday at the rally site -- a grassy spot behind the White House, across from the Corcoran Art Gallery, on Constitution Ave. just across the street from the Washington monument -- a great symbolic background for the day's activities
Many speakers, many messages, many musicians, a parade of costume and ages. It was a pleasure to see a mixed crowd and not just the usual white people -- this was a multicultural gathering and many many views and ideas were represented, ranging from "Free Tibet" to "increased debt increases AIDS." The unifying theme was justice and the rest is still a work in process.
If someone out there knows what the new economics can be it is time to share it we are done with socialism and we are almost done with capitalism finding the way of commerce for fair trade will begin the path to justice.
Later, I walked the barricades on the other side of town to within a block of the World Bank offices -- more police and more pepper spray smell but there was a feeling a victory. Monday I went to work and smiled as the metro passed the Judiciary Square stop -- closed for the demonstration -- and today I was so very pleased to see the joyful dancing pictures of the demonstrators who were allowed to walk past the buildings where the meetings were being held and then get arrested. We are Great Blessed Be.++
What is the IMF? | Return to Main Article | Editorial By Eric Francis