Yesterday, I was up in Los Angeles attending my 50th high school reunion. In between events, I was driving down Wilshire Blvd killing time at about 4:30. Passing the Federal Building on Wilshire Blvd, there was a big anti-war (Syria) demonstration going on. Several hundred people were in front of the Federal Building with posters and banners against military action in Syria. Naturally, I found a parking place and wandered over to take a few pictures.
It was the usual crowd, Arabs, 60s type leftists, communists (really!), LA Jews for Peace, someone from the (Communist) National Lawyers Guild, and even Native Americans dressed in loincloths and war paint-protesting for peace!
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I would judge that there were a variety of opinions/reasons expressed for opposing the war. Note one poster that read, "Stop Wahhabism in Syria". There was one that accused Obama of supporting Al Qaeda.
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I would thus conclude that a fair amount of the Arabs present were supporters of the Assad regime.
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http://revcom.us/a/315/only-worse-suffering-and-horror-can-result-from-US-attack-on-Syria-en.html
At some point, several dozen of the protesters broke off and marched up Wilshire Blvd before turning into Westwood Village followed by LAPD, who blocked traffic for their procession.
Having seen enough, I soon became bored and decided it was time to find a friendly pub in the Village to while away the time before my reunion dinner.
6 comments:
That's why its so hard to know who to believe and what is the best policy... the various people who oppose strikes against Syria are so polyglot some of them could easily nuke each other, given the chance, and their rationales can't ALL be true. I mean, Gary Fouse and the Revolutionary Communist Party???
(Fear not, RCP is a remnant of a splinter of a faction of the long-imploded SDS, which probably is down to Bob Avakian and three college classmates, plus the occasional woiker and as many FBI agents -- if the FBI even thinks its worth the trouble to keep tabs on them. The sequester may have called them off to more important duties).
It is surprising, given the depth of commitment and passion on each side, that there was no rioting or more violent confrontations between the factions. There are over 100, 000 dead and millions of refugees so the pro Assad and the rebels must be at each others throats, even in West LA.
Siarlys,
The LA FBI office is in the same federal building. All they have to do is look out their window.
There must have been protesters up and down Wilshire because the picture you took with brown granite building on the right and the Road Work Ahead sign in the foreground wasn't in front of the Federal Building there... unless they built a new building between the Federal building and the freeway.
I've been to some protests there and I know it is not so easy to find a parking spot for blocks. Maybe there weren't that many total people there.
Come to think of it, how many people change their minds about issues because some people are waving signs around on the sidewalk? Maybe it is good to see that there are others that see things as you do as you are driving by. Unified large rallies of people all with the same cause is another thing.
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No, the brown building is one block adjacent to the federal building. That was a group that was marching back and forth across the crosswalk.
Your credibility has been re-established!
I guess it is a trait of the right in that they believe their eyes and not what is told ("Several hundred people were in front of the Federal Building") or a proclivity to automatically accept what their trusted people tell them.
The left has fine-tuned the art of placing opinions/convictions over reality. They have an emotional connection to their trusted spokesmen, like Obama who has clearly wrecked the economy and foreign policy.
This is an unintended case study in this difference. When you said, "in front of the Federal Building" I immediately thought, "Hey! That's not what the front of the Federal Building looks like." Your explanation was completely reasonable and my commitment to reality over mind has been reinforced.
I feel sorry for the sheep on the left who think as their leaders do, twisting one way or another, depending on the polls or circumstances, no matter how embarrassing it is when they change convictions.
Another example: The left to a man in this country were America First anti-war isolationists in WWII right up until Hitler attacked Russia. Then, except for a very few, they did a complete about face.
Now, all the anti-war doves on the left are the ones leading the charge to undertake military action in Syria.
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