Land of Lime

Hey hey ho ho, the occupation has got to go
Hey hey ho ho, George Bush has got to go

On a cold Chicago evening, seven thousand people people march, holding witty placards and banners. Walking with them, too slowly to keep oneself warm on a winter evening, we sight infants and some spirited kids, obviously receiving some early training in radical politics and shouting slogans. A dog too. Slogans, drumroll and even the enthusiasm of a boisterous crowd reverberate through the fancy streets, shops and high rises of downtown Chicago. Self loving digital cameras flash allover. Menacing looking CPD troopers, attired in their roit gear, line up along the streets. Demonstrations here and everywhere mark the third anniversary of Iraq invasion. I was too lazy to take photographs but Sepoy and Rajeev did. So when they are up on CM, you will get to see them.

[OK, photos are up here and see Sepoy's comments here]

We march with those we agree with. Curious guests of Drake hotel look down from their fancy windows. On the magnificent mile, some marchers invite shoppers to walk with them, a little. You can consume later, one guy shouts, walk with us for a few minutes. The invitees laugh and continue their consumption.

The irony isn’t lost on us. Protesting on Michigan avenue, which is built for consuming. To be idealistic in a consumption culture. Preaching tolerance and peace in a stridently Bush hating voice. Okay, protesters didn’t advertise themselves to be embodiments of Christian love. Even the best placards have irony as their dominant motif: No soldier left behind. Then there are those five characters dressed as Bush, Cheney and company, with placards and pins, which reveal the true intentions of US foreign policy: waging war for oil, for empire and such. Irony is the dominant political rasa these days and that’s the best we can do right now.

Is there a robust conversation in America, when we seem to talk to people like ourselves? The passion among marchers is striking and sure, participation is a virtue. But what is the nature of our engagement and of political action? Can we conceive of political action in a way that captures the imagination of one and all? In a way Gandhi did at Dandi, King at Selma or Russell at Trafalgar Square. Something that could redefine the political agenda, and force the Hopeful One to retreat from his fantasyland.

No such hope, if you look at Rumsfeld’s Oped today in the Washington Post. Rumsfeld is a smart guy, master of English language and not delusional as it seems.

Some have described the situation in Iraq as a tightening noose, noting that “time is not on our side”and that “morale is down.” Others have described a “very dangerous” turn of events and are “extremely concerned.”

Who are they that have expressed these concerns? In fact, these are the exact words of terrorists discussing Iraq — Abu Musab al-Zarqawi and his associates — who are describing their own situation and must be watching with fear the progress that Iraq has made over the past three years.

Look at the undefined agents ’some’, with which he systematically equates dissenters in America with terrorists. Dissenters, Rumsfeld suggests, use the same words as terrorists. But then he is also merciless in identifying not just the losers of history but also in including daily headline writers, bloggers and bomb throwers in the same sentence and putting them on the same side.

The terrorists seem to recognize that they are losing in Iraq. I believe that history will show that to be the case.

Fortunately, history is not made up of daily headlines, blogs on Web sites or the latest sensational attack. History is a bigger picture, and it takes some time and perspective to measure accurately.

History is on everybody’s side and so is god, if you listen closely. Historian Rumsfeld chronicles the remarkable progress made in Iraq and claims:

Though there are those who will never be convinced that the cause in Iraq is worth the costs, anyone looking realistically at the world today — at the terrorist threat we face — can come to only one conclusion: Now is the time for resolve, not retreat. …. Turning our backs on postwar Iraq today would be the modern equivalent of handing postwar Germany back to the Nazis.

In the meanwhile, protest continues. At Daley Plaza last night, a policeman menacingly informed Rajeev: there will be no more audio (speeches) and this is simply disbanding area. Our participation and entertainment was to end. If only Iraqis would learn to protest in a peaceful and orderly fashion!

A bit more than irony would be good, but I got nothing on a cold, sunny Sunday morning.