JPG Magazine: Stories: Photo Essay: Boston March 24 Anti-War Protests

Boston March 24 Anti-War Protests

By Ian Maclellan

25 March 2007

On March 24 I went to my first large anti-war protest on Boston Common. This was a very large protest with speakers such as Cindy Sheehan, an anti-war activist famous for her protests outside of Bush's ranch in Texas after her son's death in Iraq, and Howard Zinn, the author of the bestelling book A People's History of the United States. It was a beautiful day and even though some counter protestors came all tensions were kept under control and there was a very large number of police officers around with horses, motorcycles, bikes, and cars. There was a march to government center and back again and there was a long open mic time. A common cheer was "Show me what democracy looks like! This is what democracy looks like! Show me what a police state looks like! This is what a police state looks like!". Many of the speakers called for impeachment of President Bush and there were groups such as Billionaires for Bush, Bikes not Bombs, and Raging Grannies. People were from many different political(or anti-politcal) groups from the anarchists to the socialists to the libretarians to the marxists to the democrats. I think this will be the first of many peace protests for me and even though I can't vote yet I still feel I can make my own minute contribution to democracy.