Jan. 27 Anti-War March in D.C. - photo from resistancemedia.orgOn Saturday, January 27, over 100,000 people marched against the U.S. war / occupation of Iraq. The march was called by United for Peace and Justice, the more liberal (i.e. not radical) of the national anti-war groupings. The largest national grouping to UFPJ's left, the ANSWER Coalition, has called for the next major national mobilization on March 17th, for which they're calling a March on the Pentagon. The March 17 protest is meant to mark the 40th anniversary of the historic 1967 march on the Pentagon, which signaled the general move from protest to resistance against the Vietnam war. This march also will march the 4th anniversary of the start of the U.S. war and occupation of Iraq.

I wasn't able to go to the D.C. anti-war march yesterday (I did attend the local rally of a few hundred people in below zero wind chill weather though), so I've been eagerly looking for reports about the D.C. march on the web.

The capitalist media of course systematically belittles the scope of the march, with most reports citing "tens of thousands" of protesters, with most of their focus on the celebrity speakers who were there - Jane Fonda (speaking at her first anti-war march in 34 years - welcome back!), Sean Penn, Susan Sarandon, etc. I think it is great that celebrities are willing to speak openly at an anti-war rally for an end to the war, and I read that Penn and Sarandon were essentially joining the call for Bush and/or Cheney's impeachment. This is excellent. There were also a few of the more progressive Democratic Party politicians speaking - John Conyers, Dennis Kucinich, Jesse Jackson. Perhaps most notable in this regard is the absence of any of the "serious" Democratic presidential contenders. While Kucinich is running again and he was there, most readers here are probably unsurprised that Hillary and Obama were nowhere to be found. That's simply because they aren't against the war and don't support U.S. withdrawl. This needs to and will become clearer if the anti-war movement continues to demand that Congress move beyond this non-binding resolution crap and actually cut the funding for the war and begin impeachment proceedings for Bush and Cheney. (sidenote: this disappointing story from the Minneapolis Star Tribune says that the newest real progressive member of Congress, Keith Ellison, 'is not in a hurry' to start impeachment proceedings, even though he got a seat on the House Judiciary Committee, and even though as recently as October 5, 2006 he supported the call for Bush's impeachment in his speech at a pro-impeachment / anti-war rally in Minneapolis. Looks like he might need some reminders about what he was campaigning on just a month before the election...)

Anyway, here are a few reports from people who participated in the march that share their insights. Feel free to post other commentaries (or links to other commentaries) in the comments.

Red Flags Blog: Antiwar and looking ahead: What's it going to take?

Brooklyngoil: D.C. report

Resistance Media: photos from Jan. 27 in D.C.

Bronx Bolshevik: Good video footage of the D.C. protest

DC Indymedia: Report on one of the student contingents (the apparently much smaller one, billed as the 'Radical Youth Contingent', that gathered at Dupont Circle)

DC Indymedia has shockingly little coverage (no 'front page' coverage at all as of Jan. 28 - whassup with that?!?) but some folks have posted their photos there...

Lefter, Warmer blog: Who's Listening to the Sounds of the American Street? DC March Coverage Round Up

Pre-march commentary: Dan Berger and Andy Cornell: Winning the (Anti) War and Rebuilding Political Imagination

I've heard that World Can't Wait probably had the most impressive presence and contingent in terms of size, signs, flyers, etc. I heard that the student contingent that included Students for a Democratic Society (SDS) and the Campus AntiWar Network (CAN) was large and had the most explicit anti-imperialist and anti-occupation chants and slogans. I'll post more reports here as I see 'em.