Yesterday was a LONG day.

I guess it started Wednesday night, when I got drunk to celebrate the war. Got home at about 1:00 AM and called into work. "I can't make it in today," I slurred into my boss's email, "and I'm not gonna bullshit you on the reason. I have two protests to go to, I have to show up for Council meeting at City Hall...I'm not gonna be in today, I'm sorry."
Woke up Thursday morning. I wasn't going to have time to make the rally outside the Federal Building at 6th and Market (that started at 7:00 AM), but instead went straight to City Hall to the Council Meeting.
After waiting in line and going through a metal detector, I got into the packed council chamber, where there was a large number of anti-war people of all ages shapes and forms. At the end of the room, facing council, 4 young people held a banner saying "Defend the
Constitution. Protect Our Rights." After some resolutions and bills dealing with wage taxes, road repairs, etc, Councilman David Cohen (88 years old and a ww2 veteran) presented his resolution putting Philadelphia against media consolidation. He spoke about how it was more important now than ever to have a diversity of voices, and that the Bush belief (I use that term loosely, the man has no beliefs) that "Bigger is Better" has been proven wrong, and brought up the poor quality of the newspapers here since Knight Ridder bought up both the Philadelphia Inquirer and the Daily News. He then spoke in support of the troops,of his own experiences in WW2, and in support of the protestors (by this time the aforementioned federal building at 6th and Market was blockaded by protestors and effectivly shut down. Around 70 people were arrested for civil disobedience by federal police. I was not there, but heard that they were dragged into the federal building in chokeholds. Some I have heard were punched in the face).
Councilman O'Neill objected to the resolution, saying "Philadelphia shouldn't be telling Congress what to do." He was countered by Councilman Ortiz, who said that that was EXACTLY what we should be doing: as our representatives, they need to hear from citizens and city councils. Ortiz and Cohen's comments were supported by Councilwoman Jeannie Blackwell.

After Cohen's resolution was passed (13-3), Councilman Ortiz postponed his resolution banning the PATRIOT act in Philadelphia. "Under the current circumstances, I am postponing the resolution until a later date. I will be reintroducing it." At this point, he left council chambers and we followed out, chanting "Defend Our Freedoms. Protect Our Rights." I would say the room emptied by more than 80%, (about 50-60 people) at this point. Council President Anna Verna was whacking her gavel and saying "this behavior will not be tolerated," but the chants drowned her out. Richie O'Neill scowled at us. I thanked Councilman Cohen for his words as I passed by him.
We met with Councilman Ortiz in the hallway. He's still on our side.
Later that day I went to another rally outside the Federal Building, to be followed by a 7:00 PM silent torchlight vigil at City Hall, to be followed by a funeral march to the Police Roundhouse where the civil dissers were being held.
This was not to be. The 4:30 march went fine, but what followed did not. Instead of rewriting, I will simply paste my letter to A.N.S.W.E.R., the Philadelphia chapter of which organized the march.

Dear ANSWER protest organizers,

Brendan Skwire here, with a question and a story for
you.
#1: what is going on today? I work until 5:00 PM, but
afterwards hope to do some demonstrating. There was
word last night that there would be a march at 4:30
today, but I have yet to hear details. Please email
ASAP.
#2: After you left at 6:00 PM, a few of us stuck
around for what was billed as a march to the
roundhouse/ torchlight vigil set to begin at 7:00 PM.
Interestingly, none of the ANSWER people I talked to
knew anything about it although fliers were abundant
earlier in the day. As I have said before, I urge that
you organize better and work with other groups. UNITY
is what we need, and we MUST NETWORK AND COMMUNICATE
ASSIDUOUSLY. It is extremely frustrating to discover
that the ANSWER person handing out fliers is not
informed about other related actions going on. It
decreases any effectiveness we may have.
But where was I? Oh yes...
As it was 6:00 and there was an hour to go before the
7:00 PM march, my friend and I opted out of standing
around in the pouring rain and walked down to Nodding
Head for a quick beer. When we came back at 7:00,
there were about 20 protestors left, and what looked
like more than 60 uniformed police with their batons
out, as well as a wall of detectives. This was more
police than I have ever seen before at a demonstration
other than the cadres that were herding people around
during the Republican National Convention, and
certainly the largest cop/protestor ratio I've seen
for a rally as small as last night's.

The protestors were singing and dancing on the
sidewalk in front of city hall, when the police began
to advance and surround everyone, swinging their
nightsticks and pushing in closer and closer. As the
police closed in, I slowly moved away (I may someday
decide to be arrested, but last night was not the
time), but kept tabs on what was going on. The
protestors slowly moved north up Broad Street trying
to keep just ahead of the police, chanting "This is
what a police state looks like, this is what a police
state looks like."
Indeed.
After sitting on a bench as incognito as possible, I
wandered over to a wastebasket to deposit an empty and
sopping bag of chips that was festering in my jacket
pocket. "Hey Buddy, how you doing?" said middle-aged
fellow standing next to a similarly aged woman. "I saw
you looking at me, and I like to say hi to people who
look at me."
I could tell immediately that they were two
plainclothes officers, but pretended not to notice
anything, I said "I wasn't looking at you, but hi,
how're you this evening?" Then feigning ignorance, I
pointed down the street saying "What's going on here,
are those protestors?"
"Yup."
"And there's THAT MANY police to deal with them?
They're just a bunch of kids! Why's it take 60 odd
cops and detectives to deal with that many kids?"
Still pretending I didn't know they were police, I
said "You know, I support those kids over there. And
even though I think it's bad for the cops to put them
down like that, you know, I understand the police have
a job to do."
"You should be glad you live in a country where the
government lets people protest," piped up the woman.
"Oh, sure sure, I am," I said. "But you know what gets
me really ticked off? It's that these cops here have
to go out and as part of their job put down civil
disturbances against an administration that is cutting
the police's budget to deal with terror! I read just
this morning that there's no money for the police to
deal with chemical attacks, bio attacks... nothing!
And these poor dupes have to go out and put down these
protestors who are against that kind of thing. It's
upside down, isn't it?"
The man didn't look too happy. "yeah, I know," he
muttered. "I know..."
"And you know what's gonna happen? Eventually, we're
gonna have another terrorist attack, right? And these
poor cops are gonna have to go in and risk their lives
again, and the administration won't give them the
tools they need to do their job. But here they are,
in the rain, clamping down on these kids. It's
bullshit how these cops are being duped. I mean, my
cousin's a cop in New York, and he's in the same
boat!"
Now the woman was scowling too.
"Listen, it's wet out here," I said. "I gotta get
home."
"Well, you have a nice night buddy," said the fellow.
And as I turned to leave I said, "You have a nice
night too, Officer..."

So please let me know what's going on tonight, and
please please for Pete's sake, network with the MoveOn
people, the True Majority people, etc etc. These
marches will be stronger and more effective when we
are all on the same page.
Thank you.
Brendan Skwire