Power to the Peaceful Concert Photos

is it, could indymedia assemble a does and don't picture collage of this festival. It looked like there was a dump truck of hippie don'ts.
I would love to see this kind of coverage, er satire.

My first peace rally & I lost my digital pictures. Yours are better anyway. Many thanks.

First, grandma king, I am sorry to hear that you lost your photos, hopefully things will go better next time.

Some notes on experiences I had there:
early on I saw an event staffer and her kid walking past me. the adult said something to the effect of, "If you do that again, I will whack you." My guess is that the reason she hadn't bought into the whole peaceful thing was because she must have been paid staff. That is sad, that they couldn't get enough volunteers to run the event. And that they didn't have unity around the peaceful/nonviolent question. Saddest is that they didn't ask the staff to behave professionally. That display was disgusting. I do not want to hear that kind of shit anywhere, esp. not at a "peace" fest. If she was a paid staffer, it is not surprising to me, since there seem to be so few activists out there compared to the number of tasks that have to be done.

Up near the stage, the only vendors were the merchants who had trinkets and things like that (and there were the Stolen Lives walls). Then there were the expensive, mostly bad for you food vendors. And then after that, towards the back of that area of the park where the whole festival was, were most of the nonprofits and political organizations. Except for Socialist Action/Mobilization to Free Mumia and Not in Our Name- they were opposite the merchants, kind of near the side entrance. Weird. The food vendors had a lot of meat, considering all the concern about the environment and stuff (ever heard of vegetables? or ever driven down from the Bay Area to LA on I-5? Those cows are not very good for the air down there). A lot of smoke from the meat. Interesting. If you came in from the side of the park (as opposed to opposite the stage), you would have had no idea of the breadth and scope of the political organizations that were present.

It was like a Grateful Dead show. I guess cuz String Cheese Incident played. I had no idea it would be like that.

I am surprised that the photographer said there was nothing to complain about- you'd think he'd say something about bourgeois hippies, but I guess NION doesn't make strong statements like that in quite the same way as the RCP does.

Some don'ts:
burn sage - it gives people who have asthma a really hard time (worse than the pot smoke and almost worse than the cigarrettes)
bring dogs- dogs tend to get into fights with other dogs and it is really disturbing for everyone else
poop or pee on the toilet seats in the porta-potties (this should be common sense)

Some do's:
make eye contact with the people you pass
accept and read people's flyers
bring your own water
go early and find a spot where you can pee
bring a big, floppy hat and clothes for hot and cool weather- this is San Francisco, after all

Who woulda thought?

It was wonderfull.
The 9-11 truth contingent was the best.

So your solution to being more positive is to come here and complain? That festival was great, it was the best vibe I've felt all year and everyone seemed to be having a great time. Maybe if you focused on the positive a bit more and practiced what you preached you wouldn't have so many things to complain about.

Thank you to everyone who was there, best day all year!

Does anyone happen to know if a band by the name of Love Guns played at the Power to the Peaceful concert?

From a letter written to Guerilla Management
September 13, 2004

Dear Friends:

We have been supporting and participating in the Power to the Peaceful events for several years now, but this year was an incredible disappointment to us.

Past the outhouses and to the right

We arrived at the park expecting to set up our community, non-profit table, expecting to do outreach and to enjoy the concert. What we soon discovered is that all but a handful of community-based groups were nearly outside the park, behind all the commercial vendors, past the restrooms, out of sight, beyond hearing and, by our perception, merely an afterthought. We were not reluctant to contribute $50 to support the effort in the spirit of coming together to "Stand Up and Be Counted".

Instead we sat, frustrated by the marginalization, unable to see or hear anything from the stage, or feel the ‘vibe.’ All of our volunteers were disappointed, as these young people of color were originally excited about the potential of such a large-scale event only to feel let down by yet another institution.

Your staff was cordial and understanding, told us that your concerns were congestion “near the stage” and that we should write…no solace to the volunteers that we organized. Of course a few groups did manage that choice area nearer the event by some arrangement. And the business vendors did manage to set up within sight and earshot. Does money talk?

Sincerely,

The Freedom Archives staff and volunteers

You know how this works, DIY!