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Once More Into The Breach....

By Willie Hager

VVAW came to Washington DC to participate, with a broad coalition, in protest under the banner: STOP THESE WARS — EXPOSE THE LIES — FREE BRADLEY MANNING. There were VVAW groups from Baltimore, Philadelphia, Baton Rouge, Ohio, the Southeast, the Northeast region, and I came from Jacksonville FL. VVAW came, as always, with a strong spirit and good organizational skills.

Willie Hager in DC. Photo by Bill Perry.

Prior to the march, on 19 March 2011, there were a couple of hours of speeches by various organizational representatives. Most notably on message, to me, were those of Michael Kern of Vets For Peace (VFP) and Amber Stone of IVAW. The troops were getting restless, you could bottle the emotion. Finally, we marched forth from Lafayette Park.

I was privileged to be on the lead banner for the parade, along with Jason Hurd. It was a strong image of Veterans' unity around the march's demands, the VFP banner demanding STOP THESE WARS — EXPOSE THE LIES — FREE BRADLEY MANNING, flanked by Veterans in IVAW and VVAW colors. As I looked back down the line during traffic pauses it appeared that the march stretched out for blocks, and was rich with marchers, signs, and color. Solemn Veterans shuffling along silently, in lead of a colorful and chanting contingent of pissed off protestors, a rewarding visual. Our cadence was a Korean Drum group that marched right behind the Veterans.

As we approached the White House, the area immediately in front of it had been cordoned off. There were cops everywhere; walking, flying, and riding horses. They had a little booking tent, and two awaiting Metro buses already in place, right out in the middle, blocking the view from the street on the other side of their cordon, which was filled with protestors. On the business side of the booking tent, veterans had begun lining the White House fence. There were other folks there as well. Daniel Ellsberg and Col. Ann Wright came too take a stand with us, and be arrested with us. The effervescent Code Pink ladies entertained with political cheer-leading routines as the rest of us tensely awaited the order to disperse.

It didn't come for a long time. When it did, it was low key as Ward negotiated the arrest of Daniel Ellsberg, and Ann Wright. Shortly after that they arrested Ward and began to arrest the remaining individuals, one at a time, including the Code Pink ladies in their regalia, a very surrealistic scene. It was a long process that was intended, I am sure, to dampen our spirits. But, it didn't work. During the whole process, I saw no Cable or Network news groups, but plenty of alternative media. It was all so unspectacular. Obviously, the powers-that-be realized that low-key was the way to go. They were well organized for the task, were courteous enough, and were well schooled in managing dissent. The cops probably made lots of overtime and certainly raked in lots of bail money. There were ultimately 113 arrested, at $100.00 a pop. They finally took us to a county holding facility, where they were all set up for a quick 'n' easy processing-out.

IVAW members in DC, March 19, 2011. Photo by Bill Perry.

Later, as we were released, we gathered just off jail property where pre-arranged shuttles were picking folks up and carrying them back to their hotels, it was down time. My new friend, Marcia Westbrook of Ohio was our benefactor, and allowed us to share her room with her. It sort of became the Harrington Hotel VVAW hospitality room. We had a cooler of beer and plenty to smoke. Watermelon Slim played tunes throughout the evening. There were VVAW types that went back together, forty years. What a great PTSD therapy session that evening. Then, all too soon, it was time to turn in, as we were all headed to Quantico MCB, to protest in support of Bradley Manning, the next morning, the 20th of March.

Would I do it all again? For the right objectives; not just YES, but HELL YES. But I do think that we should all rethink our long term position in light of the economy, and the new age of instant communications and electronic networking, and perhaps begin to design some winning strategies out in the grass-roots, and bring our message to America's door steps, rather than to just Obama's. I sadly believe now that "they" have figured out how to deal with the tactics that we have carried over from back in the day. We must build an effective and modern grass-roots anti-war movement for the 21st century...all the rest is history.

Willie Hager is currently the Administrative Coordinator of VetSpeak.org.