TAKING THE WAR TO BUSH: EUGENE ACTIVISTS INVADE INAUGURATION CEREMONY
 

Three activists from Eugene traveled to Washington, D.C. last week to take part  in protests around the inauguration of George W. Bush.  Carol Melia, Willow  Rose and Peter Chabarek ad tickets for the swearing-in ceremony on the west lawn of the US Capitol Building on January 20th and we planned a little surprise for Mr. Bush and his guests.  We felt an absolute imperative to speak  truth to power in the strongest possible way that ordinary folks like us were able. We also had scheduled music performances in DC of our political folk  music as the "Enemy Combatants" which I'll discuss later.

Carol had had the foresight to request tickets for the inauguration last August, after our return from the protests at the Republican National Convention in NYC.  She was determined to go and protest the war regardless of who won the election.  I was unsure until a month before the trip if I was up for another fairly grueling journey of protests, unpaid time off work, and risk
of being attacked or arrested.  But the three of us decided we could not sit on the sidelines for the coronation of mad King George so off we went, packed with heavy winter gear, guitar, amplifier and the prayers and well wishes of our friends and family.  Everyone knew we had successfully disrupted Bush and Cheney campaign rallies in Oregon with dramatic anti-war messages, and this was a chance to shame and embarrass the Administration in their moment of supposed triumph.  We were under no illusions about our chances to make an impact, nor
the risks involved: would we be close enough to the podium and the press to be noticed?  Would they let us in after having a record of our disruption of the Cheney rally in Eugene?  Would we again be attacked by partisans in the crowd, as had happened before, and how bad would it be?  How would we be treated by law enforcement, considering that the Secret Service would be in charge and the "Patriot Act" in full effect?

We couldn't know the answers to these questions but we were banking on the presence of the international media to act as a restraint on the behavior of police and partisans.  And if there was to be violent repression of peaceful protest, we wanted the world to see that this is what democracy looks like in America.

Two days before the big event, we went to Congressman Defazio's and Senator Wyden's office in DC to pick up our tickets.  We were absolutely delighted to find out we were in Section 12 of the seated area, about 60 yards from the podium if we could get to the front of that section, rather than the standing area which would get us no closer than 200 yards or more.

The swearing-in of Mr. Bush was to happen precisely at noon, as specified in the Constitution.  We awoke at 5am to get ready and be at the gates before they opened at 9am.  We got through security without incident and got directed to our seats by the military ushers and then we started engaging in conversations with people around us.  We got into an extensive conversation, which became an interview, with Deon Lamprecht, the Washington bureau chief for the Johannesburg (South Africa) Star newspaper, who was pleased to find dissenters
in the crowd.  We discretely gave him our opinions of the Bush Administration without letting on to others around us.  We talked to other folks about family,Oregon and small talk, and tried to stay warm (it was 20 degrees and the wind blowing at 15 mph, with 3 inches of snow on the ground).  At 10 am, the music began with military bands and college choirs, and the announcements of various dignitaries arriving.  Predictably, the biggest cheers went out for people like Bush Sr. and Newt Gingrich, while John Kerry was roundly booed and jeered, and
the Clintons were also booed.  Finally the feature presentation began.  We restrained ourselves through Cheney's swearing-in and noticed there was a silent pause between the introduction of the Speaker of the House, Dennis Hastert, and Cheney's taking of the oath, so we figured the same would hold true after Chief Justice Rehnquist would be introduced at the beginning of
Bush's oath. That would be our opening.  We were right.

Carol had the video camera rolling.  We stepped out into the aisle next to our seats and started shouting "Stop the War! Bring home the troops!" as loud as we possibly could over and over again.  The military ushers next to us were stunned and didn't seem to know what to do.  There were no police in the immediate vicinity.  People around us started booing.  We could hear our voices echoing off the Capitol Building, and we were maybe 30 yards from the media tower, so we were sure we were being heard.  After about 20 seconds we were attacked by a tall man in a long black coat who doused each of us with water and then pushed each of us to the ground.  Undeterred, each of us in turn popped right back up and continued shouting.  A woman in the crowd jumped on Carol and tried to wrestle the camera away from her, but Carol fought her off. After about 60 seconds, the Capitol Police showed up.  The officer said "You can't be doing that here.  I'll have to ask you to leave for your own protection."  We felt we had completed the mission successfully and didn't wish to be arrested, so we complied with police and were escorted out.  They did not charge us with anything and seemed to go out of their way to be courteous to us.  As we were led out through the crowd, we got a range of responses from people: Carol was saying to people "let's bring home all our troops alive" and got many thumbs-up.  I was saying "Defend the Constitution! Defend the First
Amendment!" and people booed and threw snowballs at me.  Willow said "Democaracy means we have the right to dissent;"  "Don't be afraid to speak out the truth," and elicited some positive responses.

We received quite a bit of press for our actions.  We called in our report to Amy Pincus-Merwin for her report on KWVA Eugene, who contacted Democracy Now, an independent news show that broadcasts on over 300 stations nationwide.  They called us and arranged to interview us and used Carol's footage of the action as well in their show the next day, with the headline "Protesters Disrupt Inauguration ceremony."  MSNBC questioned Homeland Security Chief Tom Ridge about the "protesters that interrupted the inaguration."  We heard there were reports of us on NPR, and Amy Goodman of Democracy Now told us our voices wereclearly heard on the raw footage of Reuters News Service which provides film/audio to news outlets around the world.  All of the major American media seemed to have edited out our intrusion, however. We did interviews with NBC affiliate KMTR in Eugene (including one in the Washington DC Studios of NBC), the Oregonian and the Register Guard.  There's so much more to tell about: the other protests we took part in and those we didn't, the gaudy inauguration balls with people in tuxedos and full length furs, the clash of protesters and Bush supporters along the parade route and lots more.  But time is limited.
The Resistance is strong and growing.