• Earth to Bush
  NYC East River (Sept. 12, 2002) IndyMedia
  [5 min. realvideo]
  email from Mitch Cohen:
  
  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
  
  

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