3/19 Anti-War Rally Photos

Last week, on the fifth anniversary of American military involvement in Iraq, anti-war rallies were held in various locations around the country. These rallies, inevitably, got short shrift in the mainstream media, which could barely rouse itself from its somnolence to recognize the anniversary. Today seemed like a good day to run photos of the rallies in Washington, D.C. -- the day that the official total of American military deaths in Iraq tops 4,000.

These photos were provided exclusively to ChrisWeigant.com from our intrepid roving photojournalist Eric Varela, who is on assignment in the nation's capital where he attended some of the rallies and demonstrations.

[Apologies in advance if the photos take a while to download. Be patient.]

 

[Reprinting or posting these photos is allowed, but only with proper credit and only to sites which provide content to the public for free. For reprint and copyright information, please see our Photo Reprint Policy page on ChrisWeigant.com.]

 

March of the Dead. With the names of dead Iraqi civilians around their necks, they marched around the city from their starting point in Arlington National Cemetery.

 

Marchers led by the Rude Mechanical Marching Band.

 

More of the march, and of the band.

 

George W. Bush as Satan, with sign reading: "All Hail Your Torture President."

 

More of the march.

 

Getting arrested at one of the entrances to the Internal Revenue Service, for attempting to block entry to the building in protest of tax money spent on Iraq.

 

"Stop Paying For Atrocities."

 

Passive resistance while being arrested. This sit-in was organized by the War Resister's League.

 

World Can't Wait table. These people staged a waterboarding demonstration in Lafayette Park, across Pennsylvania Avenue from the White House. They also attempted to wrap the White House fence in crime scene tape, but were rebuffed by police. Their signature Guantanamo-orange colors could also be seen elsewhere in the city throughout the day.

 

Funk The War (the D.C. Students for a Democratic Society) led a dance party / march that blocked several intersections.

 

This student-led protest marched to "Pillars of Support" for war (recruiting stations and other institutions funding or profiting from the war), as well as blocking intersections.

 

People chained to school desks to shut down this intersection.

 

The crowd was big enough to effectively stop traffic, and was led by a dancing polar bear.

 

Polar bear doing a sound check of his equipment.

 

Not Another War had a float of George W. Bush in a Slim Pickens-inspired pose on a bomb.

 

Chris Weigant blogs at: ChrisWeigant.com

 

Comments

[JoDeeVa]

Me, again..3rd time's the charm?.....

Protest in my neck of the woods was somewhat diminished this year and I'm wondering if that was the case in D.C. and other cities, hence the dearth of coverage. Perhaps it is a reflection of the apathy or sense of futility in the populace as much as it is the MSM turning a blind eye?

I particularly like "Stop Paying for Atrocities"..with the protester, handcuffed and being led away, resigned to his fate, his face almost in shadow, yet looking directly and piercingly into the camera. While the police, looking almost ashamed leading him away to his fate, hold their heads down and try to avert their eyes from the camera. Kind of an apt analogy of how the government should feel about the Iraqi war 5 years on, eh?

"March of the Dead" is powerful, as well..in how it just fades into the background, smaller and smaller into insignificance.....Great work, Eric Varela!

[JoDeeVa]

Thanks, Chris..very nice to see some coverage, given the MSM black-out, other than the repeated footage I saw of the IRS protestors. Any thoughts on why that particular protest got so much heat and M$M expo$ure?

[JoDeeVa]

For some reason, my whole comment didn't post. Don't think it was content. maybe just a ghost in the machine, so I'll try again.

[Nutcase]

Congress is willing to impeach a president for sexual indiscretions but not for starting an undeclared war, denial of Constitutional rights, theft or any number of other crimes. Bush and Cheney not the problem. The problem is with Congress . . . or the people who vote to keep them there.

[BongWater]

Huffpost ignored the Winter soldier meetings and the anti-war marches. I had eight out of 12 comments with links to the Winter soldier web sites censored last week. Nice of you Mr. Weigant to post this but the coverage of this last week shows me that (on this issue) there is no difference between huffy and the mass media. Check out the michaelmoore site for serious coverage of anti-war efforts in our nation.

[ReasonIsMyReligion]

Sad to say, last year's anti-war / pro-impeach rally was much bigger than the above photos imply went down this year.