Protest

Today there was a march in New Orleans as part of the global day of protest against the war in Iraq. It’s been two years since the United States invaded. Over 1,500 US soldiers are dead and countless civilians — maybe as many as 100,000. It’s time for this madness to end.

So we marched through the Central Business District and the French Quarter. It was a beautiful day. There were a couple hundred people there. Protests in New Orleans tend to take on the appearence of parades, with brass bands and outlandish costumes. Daiquiri-sipping tourists get caught up in the festive atmosphere before they even realize it’s a protest. Well, not really, but I can dream…

I was disappointed to see a number of anti-Bush signs at the march. It makes it seem like we’re a bunch of sore loser Democrats. The fact is, we’d still have been marching today even if Kerry was in office. A protest like this needs to send a focused message of opposition to the war. Many Americans, even Republicans, may oppose the war, but they will be turned off by any disrespect to the commander-in-chief. Anti-Bush rhetoric is like burning the American flag. It tramples on a symbol that some people hold dear, which only further divides us, and doesn’t help build an anti-war movement. I wish people would give a little more thought to such things.