Activists Protest Five Years of War

Was everyone arrested early in the day- there were maybe 1,000, 1,500 people at Civic Center. Where was everyone?

I participated in events earlier in the day as well as the 5pm rally, hosted by ANSWER. Many were involved with both, but I also know quite a few folks who prioritized the morning events over the 5pm rally because they looked more effective and/or empowering to some.

May be they all realize they only now have to dismantle the war machine to get free of it.

Week nights are not good for peace walks and it was freezing cold as well. The Bay Area has 7 million people yet only perhaps 500 to 1000 participated in the daytime activities, with another 500 or so at noon as observers. The workers in the Financial District who normally fill the sidewalks at noon on Market Street cowered in their offices. When this wrriter did chants on the way to work, all I got was blank faces, not support or joining in the chants. We are dealing with a very backward society that apparently only wakes up when they are homeless or some other such catastrophe hits. The housing crisis has just begun so there will be lots of wake up calls.

Um, there were a heck of a lot more than 500 people at the daytime events. Just look at some of the images of the crowd on the sidewalks at the die-in. If you just take the arrest count, who were a small portion of the group (requiring many police officers to keep the crowd on the sidewalk), that already was busloads of people, totalling nearly 200. If you go to a downtown street and count the pedestrians on a block at one time, it will be many dozens of people. This snake march used up several blocks in the middle of the street, and kept traffic immobilized. A few hundred couldn't do that. Besides which, people were scattered around downtown.

Not sticking up for them, and I wasn't there and I'm sure it was less than previous parades they've held, but this photos seems to show a larger crowd filling at least center of civic center.

More people than ever now oppose the war. Sure a few idiots may have been taken in by the '' MIssion (sort of ) Accomplished '' rhetoric that the ''surge '' ie esclation, is 'succeeding '' but i doubt if any of those were ever really opposed to the war.
Another good sign is that more and more people see that Iraq and Afghanistan are interlinked , that the latter isn't a ''good war'' and '' a war worth fighting '' (Obama )
But despite that the rallies, and demos aren't growing in size , they're shrinking . There is something wrong here . Is it because of the regular Curse of the illusions in the Democrats , that despite the fact that neither one promises to withdraw even by 2013 that they will end the war ?
Is it, as Liberal and social democratic critics of groups like A.N.S..W.E.R. , maintain that it's because the rallies should be strictly ''single issue '' and not bring ''divisive '' issues like Palestine, Afghanistan , and speakers talking about Imperialism into it .
Is it because most people , even urban working class, don't really feel that impacted by the war because most of the troops are from rural small town areas and/or very conservative knee jerk pro-military families ?
I don't know . But i do think there needs to be some intensive brain storming, discussion , debate about how to go forward.
I would suggest a Antiwar Congress of some sort , structured in a way to minimize the danger of it be dominated by any one tendency or organization .
What do others think ?

What's not clear from that photo is that the people were only between the tree area, and only about halfway to the back. It's very carefully cropped to make it seem like there's a lot of people extending out in all directions, but that's about it. I doubt there were even 1,000 people at the rally.

Mario's comments are very well put . I second his motion for a '' Antiwar Congress'' being convened . I was handed a flyer at the rally about a National Conference in Cleveland , Ohio . But i'm not sure how broad it will be.