July 4th Protest in Philadelphia
an article by Rich Gardner

The coalition Justice in July carried out a demonstration in central Philadelphia on July 4th. The march was a great success! Everything remained peaceful and civilized and the marchers displayed a lot of energy.

I was a Peacekeeper (Parade Marshal, Event Staff, etc) and wore an orange vest and because I don't walk very quickly, was put right at the front of the march. We had some counter-protesters hollering at us about three-quarters through the march, when we approached the Liberty Bell. My fellow peacekeepers jumped in on the problem and we quickly had them sealed off from the marchers, so further trouble was headed off.

About two months ago, it was announced that the President would be attending Philadelphia's July 4 celebration along with a host of former Presidents. Bush cancelled just a few weeks back. We took credit for driving him away as he has been careful to appear only in front of friendly crowds (It was reported in BBC News on March 8th that he demanded a guarantee of a standing ovation before he would agree to make a speech at the European Parliament.) and we were a most decidedly unfriendly crowd.

The Philadelphia Inquirer (our local newspaper) estimated we were about 3000-5000 strong. They gave us such a good write-up the next day, I immediately e-mailed PRAWN (Philadelphia Regional Anti-War Network) and encouraged them to "say nice things" to them about their coverage.

I have pictures at my website along with a more detailed narrative (Click on "2003" and then click on "Protest09") at http://home.netcom.com/~rlg3526

DISCUSSION

Question(s) related to this article:

How should we respond to those who oppose our efforts for peace?


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MAKING AN EFFECTIVE PEACE MOVEMENT

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For a very interesting comment on this theme see the entry by Annie in the Pravda English Forum (Russia).

This report was posted on July 14, 2003. The moderator is David.

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