This is the first march that I've attended that had a whole other component to it, i.e. the organizations and the music. I didn't get to actually march, as I was manning (or wo-manning!) a table. Other than the hail shower (I'm from North Texas-that was NOT a storm!) the most memorable part for me was actually while most everyone was gone in the march. There was this group that came through the park blocks twice playing what were obviously traditional instruments and dressed in traditional garb, representing to me what seemed like the spiritual death of war. I don't know if that's accurate or not, but that's how it struck me. It reminded me of Tibetan/Asian images I've seen. Either way, it was riveting.

Well... some might say that I lacked the common sense God gave a gnat, marching through hail and rain in a T-shirt. But what kept going through my mind at the time was the thought that I'd bet there are no chickenhawks who would be willing to march like that in favor of war. Yet they dare to question the patriotism and courage of those opposed to their war!?!

Just curious: had Jeff Merkley ever marched in an antiwar protest prior to becoming a US Senate candidate? Not counting Vietnam?

Ok, even I noticed the heavy Merkley references in this post but please, please, PLEASE can we keep at least one freakin thread out of the contest, as a whole?

Jeff Merkley was against going into Iraq when it counted and that is an indisputable fact. If he was our Senator instead of Gordon Smith when the vote happened, we would have had two Oregon Senators voting against giving the President authorization for starting this war instead of just one. To question Jeff Merkley's commitment to progressive causes or suggest that he just woke up and decided to do the right thing about the war in Iraq is disingenuous at best. You can support who you would like but please be civil and be honest.

Val

The reference are there because that was my experience... it's what I was doing there. By the same token, John-Mark talked a lot about the Progressive Democrats of Oregon because that was his experience... what he was doing there. I mentioned him and the PDO table because that was part of my experience.

Supporters of any of the several other political candidates or any of the organizations with a presence at the event will only have my gratitude if they chime in with their experiences too. Of necessity, if they were there to volunteer for a given cause then their experiences will revolve around whatever that cause was. That's just reality, IMHO. Further more, I'd venture that the large majority of attendees had multiple agendas which explained their respective presence there. Our common bond was protesting this unjust war. But it was stunningly obvious to me that huge numbers of participants filtered that common cause through various other causes. I rather suspect that that is perfectly normal at these kinds of events.

That said, Stephanie didn't ask a provocative question, as far as I'm concerned. But she'll have to get the answer from someone else because I have no freakin' idea whether he has or hasn't. It honestly never occured to me to even wonder. I imagine I wasn't the only newbie at the event. In fact, just based on age alone I'm certain that I wasn't the only newbie at the event. But whether Jeff was... I simply do not know one way or the other.

To bring this back to the real point, I would like to relate that we had a wonderful peace rally here in Eugene. We had over 1000 people, fantastic speakers and a great demonstration showing that there are an overwhelming number of people who want to support our troops by bringing them home.

Many thanks to to Carmen Urbina and Jonny Lake for being awesome MC's, Lane County's own Kitty Piercy and Pete Sorenson, Bob Watada, Lt. Wataba's father, for letting us know from a personal perspective the price of this war and thanks to Jefferson Smith for coming down from PDX to share.

I simply meant that Vietnam was already a very unpopular war by the time Jeff Merkley was old enough to march in antiwar rallies. He and I are the same age. Men our age didn't get draft numbers. But if he did march against the Vietnam war, that would be great too, don't get me wrong.

Val, I've been civil here. You've been a little bit defensive and paranoid. Fr. Gilhousen, please see what I said above.

Perhaps someone has the answer. If anyone does, I'd like to know. Thank you.

As mentioned above I led a troop of Willamette University Students for Jeff Merkley up to the awesome peace rally and in the process lost my voice. Apparrently "There aint no power like the power of the people cuz the power of the people don't stop" but it does get hoarse.

Kevin's experience was very similar to mine so ill keep from talking about how Merkley rocks (which he does btw) and ask some Novick supporters who were there to chime in about what their campaign was doing for the march for a little balance.

Sorry, Bradley, I've been cooped up at home with a brutal headcold, so I can't answer that.

But at least we're not supporting the candidate who voted for HR2.

Stephanie V: your pettiness would be shocking if not so frequently displayed

If Novick is such an anti war stalwart what did his campaign do for the march? Or does the Novick campaign not think that rallying supporters to march against the war is a worthy cause?

I always thought SNOB was a Supporter of Native Oregon Beer!

Thanks for posting, Kevin. With thousands of folks out there marching, glad to see at least one first-hand account here.

Posted by: DeanOR | Mar 16, 2008 10:46:04 PM

I talked later to the wife of a military doctor from out of town who watched from inside Peets. She was very favorably impressed and implied that she and her husband are opposed to the war and felt that this was supportive of their family. Nice.

That is awesome! It is very important that members of the military, both past and present, understand that we are NOT their enemy.

It's not by chance that Jeff Merkley has such a prominant and growing contingent of military veterans supporting him. They and many other Oregonians understand why Jeff risked alienating the leftist fringe by publically showing solidarity with military members, many of whom have themselves been victims of Bush's moronic Iraq War, with his HR2 vote and statement.

Maybe it's all the OTC meds I've been taking for my headcold but I feel almost as if I've gone through the looking-glass here.

I've got LT saying "give it a rest" and Bradley Dunn accusing me of "pettiness!"

HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!! You people crack me up.

I think it is legitimate to ask whether a candidate's vigorous expressions of highly popular antiwar sentiments predated the candidacy. Such questions (if answered) shed light on the authenticity of the sentiments.

I am not the person who dragged Jeff Merkley into this discussion. Kevin did, in the original post, and through the comments. If it had simply been a discussion about the peace march, that would have been a different story. But Kevin, by gratuitously inserting Jeff Merkley into the center of the story, made the questions fair game.

As for Jack Murray's comment

PS I don't understand why Stephanie V keeps on requesting obscure information about Jeff Merkley, especially since it's very evident that she made up her mind to support Steve Novick a long time ago.

... First of all, that's not exactly obscure information. It's not like I asked the name of the first puppy he ever had or something, so I could figure out his AOL password. But the question is valid, for the reasons I cited just a few sentences ago, and somebody's got to ask it. Surely Jack does not advocate that all candidates for public office should be taken at face value. Or perhaps all others should be challenged, and only Jeff Merkley should be taken at face value?

Posted by: BOHICA | Mar 17, 2008 6:25:06 AM

Kari, Could be Spill No Oregon Beer

Zing!!

Nice... You just scored points with serious beeraholics. LOL

........had Jeff Merkley ever marched in an antiwar protest prior to becoming a US Senate candidate? Not counting Vietnam? (?)..........But the question is valid, for the reasons I cited just a few sentences ago, and somebody's got to ask it.

Thanks for putting yourself out there Stephanie. Extremely courageous of you to take the risk.

If we didn't have you defining which questions are important and got to be asked (and which ones we should ignore), many of us would be floundering around out here in the blogosphere asking the wrong questions and not even realizing the error of our ways.

And then would we have had two senators voting for funding for an immoral, illegal OCCUPATION, as Wyden has done consistently?

Harry, you are just plain flat wrong about Senator Wyden's votes. From a post I wrote back in October.

May 16, 2007. Gordon Smith votes against cloture on a bill to bring the troops home by March 31, 2008.

May 24, 2007. Gordon Smith votes in favor of fully funding the Iraq War.

September 20, 2007. Gordon Smith votes against a bill to bring the troops home by June 2008 by limiting funds to noncombat operations.

October 3, 2007. Gordon Smith voted against the Feingold/Reid bill to cut off war funding by June 2008.

On each of these votes, Ron Wyden was on the opposite side.

I'm sure there's plenty more.

[Full disclosure: I work on Senator Wyden's policy promotion website, Stand Tall for America, but I speak only for myself.]

Posted by: Oats | Mar 17, 2008 11:01:02 AM

I asked because none of the media that I have seen covered Novick but it did cover Merkley Furthermore, the only person that I saw with a Novick shirt at the march was passing out the Workers of the World News Paper. There certainly wasn't a strong organized presence.

I saw 4 or 5 Novick T-shirts, but the guy pitching the communist newspaper was by far the most visible. Although in fairness that was largely his stature - he's about as big as two Steve Novick's.

Here's the list of sponsoring organizations, which includes both of the US Senate campaigns we've discussed.

Noting the presence of Oregon AFL-CIO, SEIU, AFSCME, and a number of other unions on the sponsor list and Tom Chamberlain among the speakers, it's not surprising that Jeff Merkley was allowed to address the gathering. This is one of the illustrations of why it's an advantage to get union endorsements: it increases your visibility.

It sounds like an amazing event. Let's hear more without the intramural stuff.

I agree Stephanie, the events were amazing and it was great to see so many different people out there working together towards a common goal.

Thanks Val

It sounds like an amazing event. Let's hear more without the intramural stuff.

I'd like to know if anyone else made the march in just a T-shirt. Or was I the only insane asylum escapee at the dance?

;-)

I think marches are a somewhat outdated form of protest. Mass actions happen more efficiently and effectively electronically, these days. I'm sure some of the old war horses will disagree, but all they seem to accomplish in PDX--where marches should be more popular and relevant than in other cities--is to counterproductively annoy motorists and show off a host of unrelated fringe concerns. I'm not discounting the personal value of having participated, or in the flesh connectivity--but as a tool for displaying mass opinion and inspiring action for change, not so much anymore.

Will Kevin get through a single post without violating a Blueo guideline??

Remembrance of the 5th anniversary of the invasion of Iraq isn't over yet. MoveOn PDX Council is holding a vigil on an I-84 overpass on March 19th (the actual anniversary); sign up and join us. MoveOn.org national has called similar events around the country, and United for Peace & Justice, the biggest national anti-occupation war coalition also has many events planned. I believe that in Portland there will be some other events involving civil disobedience; also the Seriously Pissed Off Grannies are planning to shut down the N. Portland recruiting center on Good Friday again & invite participation if you're willing to do c.d. and other support too I suppose.

As MoveOn PDX Council's rep to the PDX Peace coalition, who played a minor role in some of the organizing and in helping out yesterday, and as a Steve Novick supporter, I was happy that the Merkley campaign turned out several dozen people and that I'm glad for their effort at connecting different kinds of politics. Thanks specifically to Kevin & Bdunn.

That the Novick Campaign was a co-sponsor (as was Merkley's) means they contributed at least $50 toward the organizing, in addition to the tabling they did. Steve took part in a smaller demo last September, btw, which Jeff did not. What really matters is that both are against the occupation war and both need to see the peace movement and its supporters as an important constituency to whom they will hold themselves accountable. I believe both do so.

It is kind of cool to read Kevin's account as a neophyte, since I've been doing these things since I was 11 (a Vietnam Moratorium vigil on the town square of my Massachusetts suburb) in various movements. My experience this time was different than usual because I got drafted to help carry the lead-off banner, so I missed the chance to walk up and down the march and see all the groups & creative folks who characterize this movement in Portland. Joe Keating, who organized the internal peacekeeping efforts, kept us on pace. Immediately behind us was the Veterans for Peace contingent, it was an honor to be near them.

When we set out it wasn't raining much if at all and by the time we got back to the Park Blocks it had stopped, with everything in between -- one thing that struck me was that when the heavy squalls came through the crowd behind us would raise a spirited yell of determination -- someone started a chant of "Rain Won't Stop -- We Won't Stop". Not just sunshine patriots, I guess.

But it's a funny thing about the Portland peace/anti-war movement -- despite the great creativity with signs, the humor of the Radical Cheerleaders & other street theater & puppetry groups, colorful clothing and lively drumming, our chants are pretty limited & we don't sing nearly enough, compared to other times & places I've known. Dogged & persistent chanters, yes -- creative, got work on that one.

Speaking for the fundraising committee for the event, we could still use contributions to help defray costs, any amount welcome. If you weren't able to be there & would like to show support, that would be a great way to do it, because the PDX Peace Coalition is continuing its organizing work.

There is almost universal agreement within the coalition that marches & rallies are not enough. Some people might go as far as TJ. Personally I think the challenge of the new is integrating it with the old & modifying both accordingly, rather than just Wired-magazine style fantasies of complete replacement.

N.b. that MoveOn,org which began as internet-based mass organizing and still does primarily that, nonetheless is working to build an on-the-ground organizational structure too, in Councils like the one I work with, which is part of the PDX Peace coalition, co-sponsored Saturday's events & had a table there.

In fact Saturday's events were a departure from the pure march & rally format, as there were nine thematic tents providing presentations, performances, activities, displays and other sorts of information on a number of topics that ran all day from 10-6. A full list can be found at the PDX Peace website. However, most people turned up at the rally time (2 pm). This form remains a part of our political culture it seems.

Still, going forward we will be looking for other forms of action as well and anyone with good ideas is welcome to help out. PDX Peace is both a coalition of organizations and has individual members. Political parties can join the coalition, but not candidate campaign organizations. Join us!

To my mind one of the key features of the movement today is the centrality of veterans, military families, recruitment resistance and resisters in the military. There was a tent on those themes yesterday which attracted much interest. Supporting these people is incredibly important IMO, given the disgusting way in which the immediate burden of the occupation war is being placed on a narrow segment of the population, for the rest of us hidden in off-budget borrowing that's mortgaging our futures, and while we can spend $12 billion a month (minimum) on the occupation the government chisels and nickels & dimes soldiers & vets over injuries, benefits and services.

Along those lines one thing we should look to is the announced deployment of over 3200 Oregonians to Iraq next year. This will have a major impact on our state.

Fr. Gilhousen's campaign sounds very promising and I think represents a place where electorally-oriented Democrats and the peace movement can converge -- exposing the costs of the occupation war, not just in blood, material destruction and destroyed-wasted wealth, but in opportunities lost, and showing those enormous costs contribute to our increasing economic instability and insecurity. Making this link is a necessary Democratic campaign strategy IMO. It also is important for the peace movement in its efforts to reach out and mobilize more people.

To clarify one other thing, Jeff Merkley's speaking was as Kevin wrote impromptu & done with a bullhorn, because there was a conscious decision not to have candidates or elected officials speak from the platform. That was partly in the interests of keeping the speechifying piece of the rally short. But it was also because last year there were a number of officials who spoke or were on the platform, including Representative Blumenauer, Mayor Potter, State Rep. Tomei (my rep. so I remember), I think State Rep. Rosenbaum, & a couple of others.

That rally was considerably bigger than yesterday's, and there was a lot of hope being pinned on the Democrats after the Fall election, hopes which have been sorely disappointed. The decision in Portland this year (evidently there was a different tack in Eugene) also in part reflected disillusionment with the failure of the Democratic leadership in Congress to do more to challenge the administration to stop the occupation war.

I believe similar disillusionment kept participation down yesterday (attendance was 4000-6000, last year may have been as many as 15,000). That is to say, while the demo organizers had somewhat soured on officials, clearly the outside-electoral politics movement also has failed (partly due to the private censorship of opposition conducted by the mass media), and many anti-war people don't see anywhere to turn.

Pitting the two forms of politics against one another isn't going to help either, though, IMO. Focus on the costs of the war, human, material and economic, and connecting the war and economy issues I believe is the best way forward in both realms.

However, should the Democrats win the White House and retain control of Congress in the Fall, there may be divisions ahead. Neither Barack Obama or Hillary Clinton is really committed to fully ending the occupation of Iraq -- only to reducing its scale, and rather slowly at that. Some of us, including many Democrats as well as others not in either major party, won't be satisfied with such measures. Even if it's better than McCain, it's not enough.

Wow, Chris... that was great! Thanks for all of that color commentary. It really helps flesh out what I experienced. As a neophyte I had no baseline of reference, so the context you provided was fascinating for me to read.

Pitting the two forms of politics against one another isn't going to help either, though, IMO. Focus on the costs of the war, human, material and economic, and connecting the war and economy issues I believe is the best way forward in both realms.

I agree. It seems to me that that is essentially what Fr. Gilhousen was doing with the PDO table.