March on Washington

One People, One Struggle:
100,000 Americans march to the Capitol Building to demand Congress stop funding Iraq War

Getting off of the plane and stepping into Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport, I felt a strange sense of irony; for it would seem that our late, ultra-conservative president would be the last to invite me to D.C in order to partake in a massive anti-war demonstration. Arriving in that historic and impressive city, I was not sure what to expect but my excitement was overwhelming.
I had been to numerous protests before, but never in our nation’s capital and not on this grand a scale. I was expecting numbers in the thousands; what we got was nearly100,000 sign-bearing, impassioned Americans from all across the nation marching together to demand an immediate end to the occupation of Iraq.
At noon on Sept. 15, we all gathered in Lafayette Park, right outside the White House, where we listened to numerous inspirational speakers including Cindy Sheehan (an avid anti-war advocate whose son died serving in Iraq), Ralph Nader (a political activist and three-time presidential candidate for the Green Party), and Ramsey Clark (former US Attorney Generaland recipient of the Gandhi Peace Award).
But perhaps the most inspiring speakers of all were the Iraq Veterans Against The War who, after delivering a rousing speech, led the immense march from the White House to the Capitol Building. It is for this reason that the few hundred “anti-protestors” angered me so much. How dare they call us “unpatriotic,” “cowardly,” and “un-American,” when among us were the very people who fought in this unholy crusade in order to serve their country!
We marched shoulder-to-shoulder down the eight-lane-wide Pennsylvania Avenue shouting chants such as, “The people, united, can never be defeated!” I knew, as I stood among the vast numbers, that I was part of a historic event. I knew that taking a stand for what I believe connected me, and all those with me, to Martin Luther King Jr. And remembering the legacy of his March on Washington in 1963, I felt empowered.
The Iraq veterans calling for an end to the war was simply heart wrenching: marching in formation as if marching off to war but to do just the opposite. They exclaimed, “We don’t support the troops. We are the troops. And we say that the best way you can support us is to BRING US HOME!”
The march concluded with a dramatic “Die In” of over 5,000 people led by Iraq veterans in front of the Capitol. The rest of us surrounded the building and lay on the wet grass in order to help represent all the millions of total casualties of this war. It was one of the largest acts of civil disobedience in recent years. Nearly 200 people were arrested for breaking through the police barriers, declaring “This is our House…the people’s house!”
One hundred thousand of us marching side-by-side, taking over the Capitol was nothing short of uplifting. We were a massive movement whose steps and minds were as one; we were the city’s pulse and our hearts beat for those who have died in Iraq, both soldiers and civilians.

Meyer: "Speak truth to power and have the power shown to you."

Q & A with Andrew Meyer
This is only one of two interviews Meyer agreed to. You can see this interview how it appeared in the December issue of The Circuit by clicking on this link: http://cypressbaycircuit.com/pdfs/december%20issue/page12.pdf
What was your main goal going into the John Kerry Conference?
My goal was to ask the questions that I asked. Serious political questions that you never see in the media. The disenfranchisement of voters, people not being allowed to vote, not having their votes counted…that’s a travesty and it doesn’t fit into the tabloid journalism program, it’s not saucy somehow, so they don’t talk about it.

What were your actual questions?
In a roundabout way, I asked: Why John Kerry conceded the 2004 election on the day when there are multiple reports of voter disenfranchisement. I mean, I knew on the day that he was the president and yet he decided to not use his vast legal team and he stood down and proceeded. The second question is why haven’t they impeached Bush when the international community thinks he’s committed war crimes, and millions of Americans think so too. They’re violating the Geneva Conventions. We have secret prisons, we’ve legalized torture. Dennis Kucinich brought impeachment proceedings against Dick Cheney and you never saw that on the American media until it was tabled, and that’s for a reason. The media is owned by the corporations, the corporations work for the billionaires. Very, very simple. The third question was about Skull & Bones. It just speaks to the fact that there are backdoor networks. They discuss things we don’t see on television, they talk behind the scenes, and whatever you see on TV is just a public front.

Why did they actually pull your mic?
They said the cut my mic because of the word blowjob, but you can watch the video and on Skull and Bones, [he] starts waving his hand under his chin. I’ve watched another Youtube video that they’re all looking in the back corner at directions from someone. I found out recently that in the back corner there was John Kerry’s lawyer. Maybe they were taking directions from him. I don’t know that.

Was there a difference between what really happened and what the media made it out to be?
Of course! The media portrayed me as a “prankster.” I’m a prankster because I posted a video on my website called “Harry Dies” where some friends of mine hold a sign on a busy street corners that says “Harry Dies” on the day the seventh book was released. I’m not even in the video, I didn’t do the video. I just put in on my website, and yet this is all the proof they needed to say I’m a prankster. And by the way, Theandrewmeyer.com is my website because plain Andrewmeyer.com is a jewelry store.

How did you come out of that conference feeling?
I was amazed that everything happened the way it did. Unbelievable overreactions and under reactions. I was amazed seeing all of the students just sitting there. The way Steven Colbert put it was the best, “God I wish they’d stop tasing this guy so I can go home and watch the you tube video of this guy getting tased.”

Does what happened in that university auditorium in any way reflect America as whole today?
It was a microcosm of politics in America. Speak truth to power, and have the power shown to you. They don’t like truth.

What do you hope to do once you graduate?
Take over the world! (laughs)
And by what means do you wish to take over the world?
(pause) The power of truth.
What would you like to tell the youth of America who will be voting in 2008?
Oh God, please educate yourselves. Don’t listen to the media. Find out who Ron Paul is because he’s the only non-corporate candidate that can win. He’s really great. But you’ll never hear the media talking about great candidates like him and Kucinich or even Mike Gravel because they don’t have money or the big corporations backing them.

Any last sentiments?
Evil is allowed to exist when good men do nothing. Apathy is the way of the weak, the way of the sheep. There is no reason to be apathetic. We have more power in this time in history than ever before. Don’t be distracted by MTV and garbage.