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The experience of protesting Bush’s imperialist agenda on a military base was an eye-opener for some of us from Columbus -- freedom of speech may still be alive, but its voice is faint. The whole event at the Dayton Air Museum was orchestrated to give them the ability to keep us fragmented with the least visibility possible. Most certainly this is the reason that the event was moved at the last minute from Philadelphia, where United for Peace was planning a mobilization.
As we waited in traffic on the entrance ramp, Katie, Mike, and Cheryl decided to walk ahead carrying their signs. A few minutes later, a police cruiser passed by the cars along side the road with lights flashing. Just ahead of the car I could see that a military person was approaching the group. They were told that they could not walk on the road because it was “military property.” They were told to roll up their signs and go to where “your people are down at Woodman.” As visitors to Dayton, we also found that you cannot park in base housing areas. The MP who told us to leave wasn’t rude, but was very insistent even through I immediately told her we would leave. She wanted to know if there were any more of “you people” on the base.
The police had closed the original site for the demonstration (Airway Shopping Center) to the protestors before we even arrived. With the permission of the manager, the protestors moved to the parking lot of Paradise Motel, which is very close to the Air Museum. When the motel got busy (about 11:00 AM), we were asked to leave and went to the corner of Airway and Harshman. Others from Columbus were able to get to the museum grounds and even got tickets to attend the rite of Bush inside the museum. They said there were a small group of protestors at the gate and a larger group further into the grounds. We also heard that the people demonstrating at the gate were told to move somewhere else.
We estimate that there were about 100 protestors in all at various places. People came from Michigan and Kentucky. The guys from Kentucky used a bullhorn to ask the people stopped at the intersection what Bush had said about where the weapons are. Some of the Dayton people were protesting and trying to educate people about the plans to dump VX precursors in their area. The responses from passersby were mixed; some people opposed the protestors -- but many people were supportive.
It’s unfortunate that this demonstration was so weak compared to the protest last fall in Cincinnati. This points up the need to develop a statewide coalition so that we can build up momentum instead of winding down. The only thing that could have been sadder would be that Bush came to Ohio, and nobody protested his policies and his lies. See www.cpanews.org for more activist information.
As we waited in traffic on the entrance ramp, Katie, Mike, and Cheryl decided to walk ahead carrying their signs. A few minutes later, a police cruiser passed by the cars along side the road with lights flashing. Just ahead of the car I could see that a military person was approaching the group. They were told that they could not walk on the road because it was “military property.” They were told to roll up their signs and go to where “your people are down at Woodman.” As visitors to Dayton, we also found that you cannot park in base housing areas. The MP who told us to leave wasn’t rude, but was very insistent even through I immediately told her we would leave. She wanted to know if there were any more of “you people” on the base.
The police had closed the original site for the demonstration (Airway Shopping Center) to the protestors before we even arrived. With the permission of the manager, the protestors moved to the parking lot of Paradise Motel, which is very close to the Air Museum. When the motel got busy (about 11:00 AM), we were asked to leave and went to the corner of Airway and Harshman. Others from Columbus were able to get to the museum grounds and even got tickets to attend the rite of Bush inside the museum. They said there were a small group of protestors at the gate and a larger group further into the grounds. We also heard that the people demonstrating at the gate were told to move somewhere else.
We estimate that there were about 100 protestors in all at various places. People came from Michigan and Kentucky. The guys from Kentucky used a bullhorn to ask the people stopped at the intersection what Bush had said about where the weapons are. Some of the Dayton people were protesting and trying to educate people about the plans to dump VX precursors in their area. The responses from passersby were mixed; some people opposed the protestors -- but many people were supportive.
It’s unfortunate that this demonstration was so weak compared to the protest last fall in Cincinnati. This points up the need to develop a statewide coalition so that we can build up momentum instead of winding down. The only thing that could have been sadder would be that Bush came to Ohio, and nobody protested his policies and his lies. See www.cpanews.org for more activist information.