| Tom Duck is holding a "W
is for War" sign. A few years ago, it would have been the
last place to find the Dalhousie University professor, he says:
"Until the disaster at APEC in Vancouver, it never occurred
to me."
Duck wasn't alone in Halifax this morning. People
from all four Atlantic provinces had converged in front of
city hall to tell US president George Bush that he was not
welcome in Canada.
Estimates of the crowd size ranged from 4,000
to 7,000 people, making it by far the largest protest in Halifax's
history.
After listening to speeches, and music by the
Raging Grannies and Dusty Sorbet, the protesters poured out
into the downtown core along Barrington Street to Cornwallis
Park, only two blocks from where Bush would be speaking.
Their signs ran the gamut: one said "Buddists
against the Empire". A young woman's said, "Get
your rockets out of my space." "Less Bush more Trees",
"How many lives per gallon", and "Stop Mad
Cowboy Disease" were others. A car sported artsy wooden
shingles and a huge sign bolted to the front which read: SMUSH
BUSH. A pair of brilliant red hands, each on a stick, appealed
to the blood on George W. Bush's hands.
The protesters, who ranged from school-kids who
took the morning off school to the elderly, moved peacefully
and very slowly down Barrington Street, as if theirs was a
dirge or a bizarre wedding march escorted by police officers
on motorcycles and foot.
Reporters, some sporting foreign press badges,
and many amateur videographers and photographers clambered
for unique shots of the spectacle.
Longtime protestor Carole Kowcun, who arrived
with a group of students marching from Dalhousie University,
said today's demonstration had a particularly "strange
tension" that had almost physically drawn her to the
Parade Square.
Sulwa Subhani, who calls herself "a citizen
of the world," showed up because she wanted to reinforce
Canada's "1950s reputation" as a peacekeeper.
Former RAF officer Michael Cook, 76, was among
the oldest prostesters in Halifax. Cook, who lives three hours
outside of Halifax, considers his message essential. His placard
reads: FLAGRANT VIOLATION OF GENEVA CONVENTIONS ARTICLES 12
& 13, referring to the American takeover of hospitals
in Iraq.
After reaching Cornwallis Park, and a 5 minute
delay while the bike cart holding the sound system arrived,
almost all of the protestors split off and continued to Pier
21, where Bush was inside delivering a speech to 300 invited
guests. Gridlocked and surrounded by concrete and security
forces, they stood chanting protests and drumming before returning
to Cornwallis Park for more speeches and a wrapup of the main
rally.
At that point, a few hundred protestors returned
to the downtown streets, joining a group called Block The
Empire. An hour later, past the time of Bush's scheduled departure,
the protestors were still drumming and chanting under police
observation. A small, cardboard sign deliberately placed in
a postage stamp of grass said defiantly in black paint:"
Insiste Resiste Desiste"
It was a media savvy protest. People sported
Canadian flag beanie hats which had been given out at the
previous evening's protest, because "they looked good
on television." The placards were smart. The protestors
knew why they were there. To peacefully let the world know
that the Canadian people do not support George W Bush.
Lis van Birkel, Jane Kansas, Jan Meyerowitz
|
