DC protest '05, brought to you by Starbucks
Several not-totally-dissimilar events swept over DC today:
* Droves turned out on the Mall to hear Tom Wolfe, Jonathan Safran Foer, and (my priority), Jon Feinstein at the long-scheduled National Book Festival...
* While just over the ridge by the Washington Monument, the hastily-organized Operation Ceasefire put on a free, live, (and mostly mediocre) show...
* Which was mostly in support of the thousands of marchers calling for an end to the Iraq war and the Bush administration (as hundreds of counter-marchers called for an end to the marchers)
While this made for some serious congestion and amazing people-watching downtown, I was walking away from the White House and had just passed the IMF (which, still ringed by police and security barriers, had to deal with its own set of demonstrators this morning), when I saw something truly amazing:
Now, Elaine, I'll grant you that demonstrating can be a tiring business. But you're a bit older than me (and have always been more socially-conscious), so I bet you can remember the World Trade Organization protests in Seattle in 1999. If memory serves, the anti-WTO demonstrators got so violent that riot police resorted to rubber bullets and tear gas; along the way, a Starbucks or two was smashed up. Subsequently, the company became more and more a symbol to these anti-corporate forces; an easier target than, say, a McDonalds, because the product being gentrified was as simple as a 10-cent cup of coffee. Yuppies might not be buying a Big Mac every week but they sure can treat themselves to a latte.
What's amazing to me is, despite the fervor against the Iraq war, against this administration, the level of civil disobedience is nothing compared to the anti-globalization movement that seemed poised to overtake America just six years ago. That movement's still around and played a small role today, but the vast majority of protesters could care less about destroying Starbucks--where else would they get their coffee?
* Droves turned out on the Mall to hear Tom Wolfe, Jonathan Safran Foer, and (my priority), Jon Feinstein at the long-scheduled National Book Festival...
* While just over the ridge by the Washington Monument, the hastily-organized Operation Ceasefire put on a free, live, (and mostly mediocre) show...
* Which was mostly in support of the thousands of marchers calling for an end to the Iraq war and the Bush administration (as hundreds of counter-marchers called for an end to the marchers)
While this made for some serious congestion and amazing people-watching downtown, I was walking away from the White House and had just passed the IMF (which, still ringed by police and security barriers, had to deal with its own set of demonstrators this morning), when I saw something truly amazing:
Now, Elaine, I'll grant you that demonstrating can be a tiring business. But you're a bit older than me (and have always been more socially-conscious), so I bet you can remember the World Trade Organization protests in Seattle in 1999. If memory serves, the anti-WTO demonstrators got so violent that riot police resorted to rubber bullets and tear gas; along the way, a Starbucks or two was smashed up. Subsequently, the company became more and more a symbol to these anti-corporate forces; an easier target than, say, a McDonalds, because the product being gentrified was as simple as a 10-cent cup of coffee. Yuppies might not be buying a Big Mac every week but they sure can treat themselves to a latte.
What's amazing to me is, despite the fervor against the Iraq war, against this administration, the level of civil disobedience is nothing compared to the anti-globalization movement that seemed poised to overtake America just six years ago. That movement's still around and played a small role today, but the vast majority of protesters could care less about destroying Starbucks--where else would they get their coffee?
posted by DD at 6:42 PM
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