Standoff Between Police and Iraq War Veterans at the DNC
Posted by onehundredflowers on August 27, 2008
This story originally appeared in thedenverpost.com.
Tense veterans march ends peacefully
By John Ingold and George Watson
A standoff between Iraq war veterans and police ended after representatives of Barack Obama’s campaign finally emerged from the Pepsi Center to hear the group’s grievances.
The veterans were arrayed in formation and in uniform, marching slowly toward a line of police, who had warned them they could be pepper sprayed and arrested. They were being watched by a crowd estimated by police at more than 5,000, many of whom had marched with the veterans from the Denver Coliseum.
As the vets got within a few yards of the police, the cavalry arrived in the form of two white-shirted Obama staffers who asked a representative of the veterans to be escorted inside the security zone.
After a brief conversation, a veteran’s representative said they had been promised a meeting with Obama’s liason for veteran’s affairs. A cheer went up, the veterans did an about face, and the Democrats appear to have avoided providing John McCain with some very unflattering video footage of veteran’s being pepper-sprayed hogtied and handcuffed outside their convention.The veterans first approached the southwest entrance of the Pepsi Center and tried to ask the Democrats to allow a representative to read an open letter to nominee Barack Obama from the podium. But no one from the party or the Obama campaign emerged from the arena to speak to the group.
Jeff Key, who served in Iraq as a Marine master sergeant, said he wants to go into the convention, play taps for the fallen on his bugle and read the letter from Iraq Veterans Against the War.
“I’m not leaving until I get to read that letter,” he said, as protesters gathered behind him in a fenced zone outside the Pepsi Center. “I intend to read that letter from the podium. If they say no we’re going to tell the world they turned away the veterans.”
As Key spoke, delegates inside the arena were watching a performance by Melissa Etheridge. A spokeswoman for the DNC said she was unaware of the veterans demands or even that they were outside.”The veterans have fought too hard to come back here and be ignored as we have for the past seven years by the administration,” said Liam Madden, a Marine sergeant.
A representative of the Barack Obama campaign did not immediately return a call seeking comment.
Moments later, and after police warned the veterans that they could be pepper sprayed and arrested, they turned and began walking back toward Speer, but stopped at the Pepsi Center entrance on that side, near Market. Dozens of police in riot gear were waiting, but did not immediately intervene.
“We want to thank you for your service,” one of the veterans shouted to police over a bullhorn at 7:15 p.m. “We are non-violent. We don’t want to hurt you. We don’t want you to hurt us.”
The veterans were aligned in formation, marching, two steps at a time toward police.
The march of as many as 3,500 people from the Denver Coliseum to the Pepsi Center by Iraq Veterans Against the War reached the fenced protest zone on the grounds of the Democratic convention hall about 5:30. But while they were next to the zone, they refused to enter.
The march, led by the members of the band Rage Against the Machine and the veterans, and followed by an array of protesters including anti-war groups, supporters of medical marijuana and some anarchists with gas masks, started at close to 4 p.m.
As the head of the march reached the 16th Street Mall about 5 p.m., they stopped, and one of the veterans read the letter intended for Democratic nominee Barack Obama, who arrived this afternoon at the nearby Westin Hotel.”Sen. Obama, millions of people are looking to you to restore our reputation around the world,” the letter read. “…In this ominous time, you symbolize the hope for a better America .”
The group read out its three aims: Removing U.S. troops from Iraq immediately, providing full health care benefits to returning veterans, and paying reparations to Iraqis for the damage done during the war.
Marchers expressed disappointment that Obama had not responded to their letter by 3 p.m. today after they had delivered it to his campaign earlier.
“We are here to hold the Democrats accountable,” said an IVAW spokesman shouting into a bullhorn. “We as Americans voted them into office in 2006, and they have not done their job.”The protesters, who had divided themselves into groups based on who was willing to be arrested, were led on the march by a police SUV with a flashing sign saying, “Welcome to Denver, Follow Us.”
Police estimated that 3,000 to 3,500 people were taking part, making it by far the largest march of the convention week.
Organizers have been talking with officers along the route, and, while there is a heavy police presence around the marchers, there have been no confrontations. Some of the protesters have a phone number written on their arms for legal assistance in case of arrest.
The march followed an energetic, and at times emotional Rage Against the Machine concert at the Coliseum.
The concert opened with a stirring speech from Vietnam veteran Ron Kovic.
“I have been in this wheelchair for 40 years because of war, and I have been arrested in this wheelchair 12 times protesting this war,” said Kovic, whose story was told in the film “Born on the Fourth of July.”
“This is our country. They are not going to shut us up or shut us down,” he said. “We are going to end this war and bring the troops home.”
Nil said
That is amazing. Pretty good article too, good press.
Quorri said
I like what the dude said to the police about thank you for your service, we’re non violent, etc. You know because, I hate the pigs and I fear them and feel like they are going to rape me whenever I see them, no joke, I know it’s a little over the top but that’s what happens mentally when you’re attacked by them…. but anyway, despite my dislike of them, acknowledging them as humans who probably might actually think they are doing their job and doing it well and being helpful to people in the world, well, that could dismantle some tension that might otherwise explode into needless violence.
I don’t know, I’m sure they would attack if they wanted to, anyway…. but at least it might help. And, I really can respect the desire to want to help people and I can respect being in the position where you haven’t figured out YET that you can’t be in the system and be doing good…. just seemed like a good, well placed comment.
Paul L said
While I did not get a chance to attend the concert or impromptu march, I did attend a performance of Jeff Key’s one-man play, “Eyes of Babylon” on Sunday in Denver. Key was a man who admitted like most Americans knew nothing about the world they lived in and signed up full-time to retribute for 9/11 (I think he was in the reserves up to this time). The atrocities were so apparent for what we were doing in Iraq (shown through graphic slides) that he bacame politically aware of what we were doing to the world. He used the policy of Don’t Ask- Dont Tell as a way of freeing himself from the service and openly challenging military goals our government has towards other nations. Only 6 people were in the audience, but Jeff came down the stage to talk to us after the performance.
Iris said
I was at this march. What an awesome strategy to follow a concert with a march! We (a block of 40 to 50 people) were standing in formation behind the IVAW, ready to sit down and be arrested. When the demands were met by the Obama campaign, the veterans were sobbing and laughing. Older protesters had tears streaming down their faces. It was a moment of small victory, even in the context of the elections.
Instantly, the WCW/RCP crew started agitating about how Obama and the ruling class had no intentions of ending the war. Instead of being flexible and considering the implications of people demanding Obama end the war, and even paying reparations to the Iraqi people–and watching these demands not be met, and the potential radicalization here–they latched on to ‘divert’ people’s aspirations.
We need to open a dialogue on how the Left speaks to Obama supporters, including what they really think, how radical they are, and how we are going to enter this debate about ‘change’.
Carl Davidson said
{This is ‘Day Five’ of six ‘Denver Diaries’ I posted on http://progressivesforobama.blogspot.com Read the rest if you like –CarlD
A DNC Victory:
For the Iraq Vets
And ‘Rage Youth’
By Carl Davidson
Progressives for Obama
I start the day early loading leaflets and joining Leslie Cagan, Judith LeBlanc and five other United for Peace and Justice volunteers headed to the Denver Coliseum on the North Side of town before 9:00AM.
We’re going to the ‘Rage Against the Machine’ benefit for Iraq Veterans Against the War, organized by the Tent State kids and their allies, and we’re expecting about 10,000 young people. It’s a beautiful day-sunny, not too hot, blue skies with a few clouds, and the first range of the Rockies clear on the horizon. The concert is to be followed by a mass march to the Pepsi Center, led by the vets, to press their antiwar demands on the Democrats. Since there’s no permit, and the Pepsi Center is restricted with ‘protest pens’ no one intends to enter, there’s a sense of tension in the air.
Our UFPJ leaflet has a simple message: Join us Sept. 20 to knock on a million doors for peace. Get signatures on petitions, get to know your neighbors, get outside your ‘comfort zones’ into new neighborhoods and help us double the size of our movement with new names, addresses and emails.
Since the lines are long and organized, we quickly get out thousands of flyers. A brief rap, and most people say, ‘Oh, this is cool. I can do this.’ Some don’t want to be bothered, interested only in the bands, and a few kids are rather spaced out early since no intoxicants other than the music are permitted on the grounds.
I get a ‘workfare’ pass into the concert with terrific seats. This means I’m on the security team for IVAW inside the concert and along the line of march. We get our special chartreuse armbands and blue wristbands, a quick training in nonviolent methods in dealing with problems. Then we’re into the cavernous space, with a local Denver band, Flobots, which is decidedly left and high-energy hip-hop. IVAW speakers appear between numbers and keep the politics of the day clear and focused.
They have three demands: ‘Out Now,’ full benefits for returning vets, and reparations for Iraq. They have no great love for the Democrats who keep voting to fund the war, they’re angry with Obama for not taking a harder line, but they see McCain as more dangerous, both to the world and to vets. They want militancy, but they insist on nonviolence for the day, and demand a resolute respect for their leadership and ground rules.
When “Rage” comes on the stage and gets itself and the crowd wound up, one thing becomes crystal clear. If you’re interested in radical and democratic social change from below, here is one powerful engine for it. You dismiss, ignore or demoralize the high energy and critical force of these young people at your peril. This is a multiclass, multinational force of youth, and on this day, they are accepting the lead of the working class, even if it’s taking the form of the politics, militancy, organization and discipline of the Iraq vets.
The beautiful thing is how well it all worked.
The vets marched in formation with cadence at the front, dozens of them in uniform, some in full dress with a chest full of medals. They wanted us to keep a short space for media behind them, then everyone else another few yards back behind a large banner supporting GI resistance to the war. No breakaways and no nonsense. If arrest situations came up, we had our instructions on how to keep those who didn’t want to risk arrest still involved, but out of the immediate reach of the police.
I’d guess that at least two-thirds of the 10,000 Rage fans joined us, then we picked up other youth, a few workers, and even Convention delegates along the way. The banners and signs and costume were colorful, the chants imaginative and militant, and the energy infected everyone, even the crowds of bystanders, many of whom broke into applause.
I had one of the harder jobs, keeping people from breaking the front ranks and jumping the banner. But with the vets leadership, we kept the spirit both upbeat and disciplined. Denver’s overkill police presence was everywhere, but everything remained civil. Some even felt some sympathy for them, sweltering on a hot sunny day in their new Black Ninja Turtle outfits, which must have been unbearable.
It was a long march, nearly five miles. One problem was keeping everyone hydrated, but cases of water kept showing up at critical points. The best energy was downtown Denver, with the cheering and applause from Convention delegates. But we all knew there were trouble spots ahead.
Denver’s security rules meant you couldn’t get closer to the Pepsi center than several hundred yards, and then you were to be put in fenced ‘protest pens.’
The vets would have none of it. They hadn’t risked their lives, supposedly defending the Constitution, to be treated this way. They were going to march until they were stopped and then we’d seen what would happen. As we got closer to the skirmish line, they stopped several times, and the vets took turns giving heart-rending stories to the press, which, by this time, was everywhere, and driving us nuts trying to keep them to respect our lines and discipline.
At the final stopping point, a decorated Marine told the cops they would get no violence from us, and we expected none from them. The three demands were read to Obama’s campaign and the Democratic Party. The vets demanded a response, and were determined to wait for one.
So now we had the problem of keeping thousands of people, encircled by police and barricades, in an upbeat, but patient and calm state of mind.
One young Black kid from Denver of our security team rose to the occasion. He starts doing his raps, and those of others as well. The crowd loves it, especially when he gets on their case for not being too good at ‘call and response.’ So he starts an on-the-spot workshop on how we can all become better rappers.
Next two young African American women start softly singing an old church-based civil rights song ‘Those Who Love Freedom…” The lyrics are simple and lyrical, and soon hundreds are singing it, over and over. For me, powerful memories come up from my days on Freedom Marches in Mississippi, when we sang this same song in the face of the Klan and cops. When I start to sing along, my eyes fill with tears from long-buried emotions. To hell with it, I decide, let the tears flow, and I sing along.
Finally, we get the word. The other side blinked. The Obama campaign’s top veterans affairs people ask the Vets to send two reps into the Pepsi center to discuss their demands. Moreover, they want an ongoing series of discussions to make sure all veterans concerns are heard and dealt with. That’s enough for IVAW to call a victory, even if a partial one, and work out a way to bring the day to a close. It’s decided that we part the crowd down the middle, opening a path. The vets do an about face, march in formation though the crowd, and as they pass, to many cheers, we fall in behind, get back to the downtown area, and go our various ways.
I find a way to get to my car, then back to ‘tent city’ to secure our display in preparations for leaving. I meet up with my team in a Taco joint, where they, along with some of the new media people working with Laura Flanders, are watching Joe Biden’s speech. I’ll have to read it tomorrow, because given everything we’ve been through, right now it seems rather trivial.
Linda D. said
Damn it…just lost my reply. In a nutshell…think this is great that we can read the different perspectives by Iris, Carl D. and Paul L.
And while I know that people have geared up for the RNC and obviously our work has to continue on that, thought it worth noting what the Repubs. are up to. They are talking about “curtailing” the convention under the pretext of worrying about possible victims from Hurricane Gustav. Yeah right. Even W and Cheney have opted out of appearing at the RNC because of the same convenient pretext. (Tell all this to Katrina victims, por favor.) In case any of you are interested this article appeared today on the AP:
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20080901/ap_on_el_pr/cvn_convention_rdp
Will look on the Huffington Post for a more “progressive” one.
Linda D. said
Another article re the above from the Huffington Post–at least some of McCain/The Repubs. sinister tactics not lost on lots of folks:
http://www.time.com/time/politics/article/0,8599,1837807,00.html
“McCain to Seize the Stormy Moment?”