If the fact that an anti-war protest is set to take place this weekend in Chicago is any indication, President Barack Obama seems to have let down some of the very people he once counted among his most-ardent supporters: the anti-war set. But that’s not the most important aspect of this post.
This is: Only miles from the president’s Hyde Park home, an anti-war and immigrants rights march is set to take place Saturday at “Noon Sharp” in Pilsen, the heart of the Windy City’s Latino community. According to a report by Examiner.com’s Sergio Barreto (a.k.a., “Chicago Progressive Examiner”), the Chicago rally is taking place after a month-long court battle between organizers and city officials who tried to prevent the group from obtaining a permit. Below is a snippet of that report:
The record shows that the city was tenacious and occasionally mendacious in its efforts to suppress anti-war protest in the past six years (yes, it’s been that long), and history is repeating itself in 2009.
The first time Senior Counsel Tom Doran argued for the city’s effort to overturn a ruling (pdf) requiring that it grant a permit for the March 14 anti-war and immigrant rights march, he was practically humiliated; both the judge and the attorney for the activists poked fun at his “creative argument,” and the city’s motion was denied.
Interestingly, neither the Chicago Sun-Times nor the Chicago Tribune appear to have published any news about the aforementioned court battle. But I digress.
ALSO NOTEWORTHY: Three-thousand miles from the White House, Bay Area progressives are planning an anti-war protest March 21, according to a report by San Francisco’s KCBS radio. An activist contacted for the report described organizers of the event as “disenchanted with President Barack Obama” and hopeful that the demonstration downtown will pressure the new president to bring the troops home from Iraq sooner than he plans. In addition, he said they’re not happy with the president’s new timetable or his plan to send more troops to Afghanistan.
Note: Please know that I do not support the anti-war movement and published this post as a means to highlight yet another failure on the part of our 44th president.
2 responses so far ↓
1 Clay // Mar 11, 2009 at 11:47 am
Do you think the hateful signs that ranged from &*(& Bush to Kill Bush will transfer to the Obama administraton with these peace loving people? Do you think wanted signs with Obama’s mug shot will be seen? There are moments I wish I still lived in Chicago to observe what the press won’t tell me.
2 hotoffthepress2 // Mar 11, 2009 at 11:49 am
Clay,
I think it will take a while until the signs show up — unless, that is, you count these protests and the signs they’ll display.
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