From the open publishing newswire: John Lewis was the featured speaker today, March 15, 2003, in Portland Oregon, at the Peace gathering at Waterfront Park.  This is an audio file of that address (~10 minutes, streaming). [ More about John Lewis | Thousands fill Waterfront Park - now crowding through downtown ] 
 PHOTOS
Photos from peace march 3-15-03
Photos from peace march 3-15-03, part 2
Portland Peace March
Portland Peace Protest
over 50 photos from today's rally in Portland
Indymedia readers respond to "Hypocrisy Formula Part 2..."
From the open publishing newswire: It is estimated that 35,000 people are supposed to show up in downtown Portland to protest our upcoming "oil war". That said, I started to wonder how much gasoline would be consumed by the participants traveling to and from such an event. I came up with a rough estimate of an overall average of a 10 mile round trip per person, although I suspect its probably higher. This means 25,000 people multiplied by 10 miles which equals 350,000 miles. With an average fuel economy of 12 miles per gallon that comes out to 29,166 gallons of gasoline. At an average price of $1.89 a gallon that comes out to $55,125.00 That seems like an awful lot of gasoline to burn just so you can make yourself feel good. One response: NO, we would not be better off "organizing yourself into a cohesive political party and trying to get your candidates on the ballot for the next election". i don't know if you are aware of this, but by the next time an election rolls around it will likely be too late to stop imperialist military action and occupation in the middle east. Another response: I am a homeless person. I live a sustainable lifestyle. The protest today was valuable because it works toward building a political will. We may well go to war with Iraq, yet this experience will build in people's hearts. In the future we will take another step. No nay sayer, reguardless the motive, will weaken this. This is not a sprint, but a marathon. Please respect that we are all human beings with human mistakes and a learning curve.
[ Join the pile-on ] Peace cop gets violent
I was walking alongside the large permitted march today when the march took a turn to the right. At the intersection there were 3-4 cops. Not the usual portland police, but rather peace cops wearing green armbands. As I approached, I saw the fellow at the front say "You have to go this way" and pointing to the right. One person kept walking straight forward, and the peace cop grabbed the person by the arm and pushed them. So here we have the so called peace cop assaulting someone for not doing what they are told. This person is acting just like Bush, only on a smaller scale. This is the very behavior that needs to be changed. As I reached the front peace cop, he also ordered me to turn right and got in front of me. I told him in an angry voice, I don't have to do what he said and walked ahead. He was quite pushy. Behind him were two more peace cops and they tried to deter me from crossing the street also saying "You have to go this way" and pointing to the right, and saying "We have an agreement with the city".
[ Read More... ] See also: [ Pro-War counter protest Main CNN website story ]
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