From the top steps of the Square organizers first quoted Thomas Paine. Next, after stating that the Oregon Constitution was written expressly to safeguard the civil rights of Oregonians beyond those of the U.S. Constitution, excerpts from the Oregon State Constitution were read. One excerpt stated that the citizens had the ability to determine whether the government was acting in the best interests of the people, and guaranteed them the power to do so.
Following the Rally, the people marched through Portland to the South Park Blocks for an open microphone, where various citizens spoke their mind about the war in Iraq and the machinations of the Bush Administration. The use of Depleted Uranium (DU)in U.S. weaponry and the misuse of public funds to harass and intimidate protesters were only two of the many brief but poignant speeches given at this time.
From there all marched down to support the Peace Camp, a 24 hour a day Peace Vigil, located along fourth street across from City Hall. This Vigil will continue until the bombs stop falling.
Along the way Marchers were confronted with a small group of Pro War belligerents, who, in an obvious attempt to provoke a confrontation, almost completely blocked the sidewalk directly in the path of the March. Portland Police were quick to move onto the scene, but did not attempt to clear the sidewalk. One officer, Rawlings, made a feeble attempt to inform them that they were breaking the law, but more vehement were his vocal assertions that the Pro War group were merely voicing their opinions, as were the protesters. My statements to the effect that the protesters were not atempting to incite a riot were repeatedly ignored by this "Officer of the Peace." Another blatant example of PPD bias and selective law enforcement.
This video is about 8 1/2 minutes long, and features a portion of the track, "Oh America," by Jenn Rawlings, from the locally produced CD,
911 After Words. portlandafterwords@yahoo.com
DSL/CABLE Stream
D56K Stream
The link provided takes you to a page where this and other video files are located.
|
e-mail: 
homepage:
With more people (our biggest demo was just 2 weeks ago) we could have taken the streets. To get up to those numbers again, we must have more demos with the tone of this march and reign in the individuals who say "Fuck Peace" and "Fuck Democracy" and "Fuck Liberals" and "Fuck the Media" and fuck this and fuck that.
These individuals are extremists but, by no means, radicals. REAL RADICALS USE THE METHODS THAT WORK to bring about real change. If you look up the definition of radicalism, you'll find radicals are those who seek to get to the roots of things, not merely to use extreme or outrageous methods. Army of None's methods were right on.
For my full rant on this, search for article 53610 which indymedia suppressed. Sure it's hard hitting but did indymedia suppress it because it hurt their anarchist sensibilities? Wahhhhh! Get over it and lets rebuild the movement that can stop this war and the sickos who benefit from it!