On March 16, I thought I was going to a run-of-the-mill protest downtown after work. As it turned out, I became part of a crowd occupying the lobby of an office building, and it was an attempt at push-back against corporate interests in politics, so it was a “corporate takeover” of sorts.
It all started when word got out on the internet that Haley Barbour’s lobbying firm on 13th Street was going to play host to Republican legislators from Wisconsin—the folks carrying water for Gov. Scott Walker in his drive to smash public-employee unions in that state. It was assumed money would be changing hands, and a lot of people thought it would be appropriate to make a bit of noise about it.
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VqVXzZpcRX8[/youtube]
Some bloggers called it “Madison on the Potomac.” As noted at Daily Kos, after a rousing rally inside the building, we all walked out into a street that had been blocked off. Then people walked off down G Street—in the street, an impromptu parade—and ended up in front of the White House. After a while, some people went home, but others decided to pay a visit to the US Chamber of Commerce, right across Lafayette Square. A friend almost got locked inside that building by an unamused guard (I had been wandering around the square, trying to locate him visually or by phone).
I wish I could say my presence had any effect (all my marching certainly didn’t prevent the Iraq war, or any other war). But it’s just too maddening to just sit and watch the stuff that goes on out there. Sometimes you have to speak with your body.
