Activism; Posted on: 2003-10-07 23:21:19
Action Report by Neil Camberly
I could hardly contain my joy a week ago to hear Justin Cowgill tell me that former Clinton Secretary of State Madeleine Albright, one-time wielder (not to mention user and abuser) of unimaginable military force, undebatably the worst female war criminal alive, would deliver a lecture at my alma mater, the University of Washington in Seattle. I and many others I know have waited anxiously for an opportunity to protest this hideous (in more ways than one) monster since early 1999, when she launched a brutal NATO bombing campaign against Yugoslavia, brazenly violating multiple central tenets of the GENEVA CONVENTIONS CODE ON WARFARE.
I spent all day thinking up and manufacturing large, double-sided signs and an event-specific flier, excited at the prospect of my group of 20 friends joining a protest staged by leftists angry about Albright’s nonchalant, dismissive remarks concerning the US-induced deaths of hundreds of thousands of Iraqi infants.
Alas, we were the only protestors (!) in a city notorious for its ability to muster up anti-establishment rabble. There wasn’t even heavy security for Albright in a building with a dozen entrances that we ultimately infiltrated after being kicked out a half-dozen times.
This was a slight disappointment, but shouldn’t have been much of a surprise: The event was sold out two weeks ago, they already had they audience they wanted, and the local (including student) media essentially hushed it up to avoid trouble and embarrassment for the school and city. They’re beginning to learn their lesson.
In any case, we didn’t let a lack of rif-raf-augmented ranks stop us from doing what we could to spoil Albright’s presentation and educate star-struck students and faculty about her criminal background. We marched from the library to the hall, lined up outside the entrance to the hall, displayed our (awesome) signs, loudly chanted catchy slogans (MADELEINE ALBRIGHT: WAR CRIMINAL), and ensured, despite constant police interference, that roughly one-third of the 800 people in attendance was armed with our FLYER. I’d bet it was this latter action of ours that bothered her most. Note-cards or no, I doubt I could concentrate enough to describe a court with Kim Jong Il if I faced an audience as a quarter of its faces turned down periodically to study a digest sheet of my life’s biggest no-nos. But then again I’m one of those people who know the sting of actually having to buy a scary mask on Halloween.
We capped it off with some great local food and drink and big smiles all around. This is serious business, we were protesting the cold-blooded murder of thousands and thousands of innocent people –- our people -- but I don’t think I dishonor their memory by emphasizing the great feeling, the FUN of reasserting our will on the territory our people gave up decades ago. EVERYBODY should be doing this. Even lone individuals. SHOWING or presence is how we will wedge our feet back in the door of the ideological battlefield. The gods know that is one place where our swords are BY FAR the mightiest.
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