Do's and Don'ts

Time to take a look at how well the Daily Kos Do's and Don'ts advice went over with this weekend's protest crowd. We're only looking at the "don't" list today. The remainder of the text below is from Daily Kos; the pictures from various reports on the festivities.

Don't have a hippy drum circle:

There are few things more annoying and irrelevant than a bunch of dreadlocked Boulderites banging on drums while dancing around with erect nipples under their hemp shirts.

Don't have a gothic pagan chorus on the stage talking about mermaids:

This actually happened at the last November 3rd movement rally. It has nothing to do with the overall point of the protest. Rather it is just an opportunity for superficial hipsters to whine about "mother earth". They then leave to go get coffee and don't stay for the rally.

Don't talk about gay rights or other issues that have little to do with the Iraqi invasion:

Believe it our not, all of the protesters do not see eye to eye. Although Palestine and gay rights are very important issues (and yes, I do realize that there are parallels between imperialism with Palestine and Iraq) that does not mean we should have speakers that talk for 30 minutes on the subjects. It is sloppy and off message to the united coalition of organizations and individuals against the Iraq war to talk about different issues that they may not agree with. Stay with a poignant message and prosper.

Don't use the slogan "No Blood For Oil!":

Face it. The bromide is tired, used. Be creative.

Don't march to the Halliburton building:

Guess what, most of the workers aren't there on Saturday. We've done it two times with little to show for it, enough is enough.

Don't talk for an hour and a half, leaving supporters standing:

Last time different speakers talked for a little over and hour and a half. The primary reason we showed up was not to hear people speak about things we are already aware of or don't care about. We wanted to march! By the time the speeches were over, a good chunk of the crowd had left, and no media was around.

(Greyhawk notes: Read here. Also see Cindy Sheehan told to finish her speech here.)

Don't wear black bandanas or gas masks:

Want the police to target you? Wear a black bandana over your face. Wear a gas mask. I know, I know, it's the cool anarcho thing to do, but it's also very foolish. If you feel you might need them later (for whatever reasons...), put them in your bag where you'll have easy access to them.

If you bring kids or animals, stay on the sidewalk.

Don't set up a [deleted] T-shirt stand selling Anti-Bush propaganda made in Hanes sweatshop factories:

Everytime I go to a rally I see some baby boomer liberal [deleted] shelling his shallow and petty white T-Shirt crap. Don't do it. To ad insult to injury, the shirts are usually from some sweatshop company like Hanes. When you try and talk to the vendor he gets all defensive and babbles something about an "honest" living. Yeah, right. For that matter, let's keep all aspects of consumerism out of the rally. Protests are about community empowerment and action, not buying stuff. Save it for conferences and book signings.

DC photos here

Counter protests at Walter Reed here and here. (Move over Lebanon - America has lots of "protest babes" too.)

LA protest photos here.

Video of rally to honor military families (a counter-protest) on CSPAN here.

Closing thought from Holly Aho, must read.