BALTIMORE, MD -- December 21 a march of 60 protesters organized by Baltimore Residents against War traveled from the west side of Mount Vernon Square to the Lexington Market, the Inner Harbor, and the War Memorial Plaza in front of City Hall. According to "Ma," one of the organizers, Residents against War is an ad hoc group who came together to protest the Bush administration's drive toward war against Iraq.

The group raised questions about this war when in Baltimore one in six adults are addicted to drugs, over 40,000 housing units remain abandoned while homeless people sleep in the streets, industry and decent employment leaves the city, and budget cuts take away needed social services. Yet, Residents against War pointed out, there is money for war making. Marchers handed out leaflets making these points to the people they passed.

The Baltimore Police Department's Quick Response Team followed along the march in three unmarked Ford sedans--one purple-black and two burgundy in color--keeping the marchers on the sidewalks. When the marchers arrived at the Inner Harbor, they were stopped by more than 20 police officers and barking K-9 dogs in the McKeldin Fountain area (Light and Calvert Streets), a public park. Police prevented entrance into the privately-owned Inner Harbor pavilion area which borders the waters of Baltimore's harbor and is home of restaurants and retail shops.

After a brief stand-off and communication between police and protesters, the march continued to the War Memorial Plaza for a brief rally. Groups in attendance included members of the All Peoples Congress, Coalition against Global Exploitation, Roundhouse Collective, and others.

Erik Easton, a community activist from Reservoir Hill who earlier recited a poem in tribute to peace activist the late Philip Berrigan, said that people were out protesting this war today to "make sure America stands for what is written--freedom, liberty, equality, and justice--words which should not be abstract, but concrete. And another word 'peace' with the hope that there be peace in our time."

The protesters were diverse in age and color. Most were in their twenties like Kelly Ragland.

This was Ragland's first protest in Baltimore, though she had participated in the 150,000 plus protest against war in Iraq on October 26th in Washington, DC. Ragland said that this is the first issue that she's "old enough as an adult to contend." After the 2000 elections, Ragland concluded that "voting doesn't count. Bush stole the election. What we have is Prince G.W." Like many others, Kelly Ragland sees protest in the streets as the means for democratic voice.

78 year-old Anthony Age, who read a leaflet about the protest on a utility pole, also marched.

As a college student in the 1940s and 1950s, Age had protested the segregation of restaurants in Baltimore City. In the 1960s, he protested the Vietnam War at the Pentagon. Anthony Age, while born in Baltimore, spent most of his life in New York City working in the arts. There he met the great African American actor and activist Paul Robeson and worked with him on projects such as The Committee for the Negro in the Arts which met in Harlem. Why were few Africans Americans actively protesting the war today? According to Age, "99% of African Americans are against the war, but it's hard to get people to participate." He related two factors. One, many African Americans don't see the war as their doing. Second, the Republican Party has some success with co-optation through appointments to high government office of highly skilled African Americans like Colin Powell and Condoleezza Rice.

At the rally, an activist pointed out to Indymedia that an individual with a camera was systematically videotaping the protesters. This activist felt uncomfortable about it. We approached this individual asking him if he was a police officer. He responded that he was working for the Afro American Newspaper and gave a name. December 23rd we were able to contact by phone editorial staff of the Afro American in Baltimore. The staff person said that they have no individual with the name given doing photography.

THE NEXT DAY

December 22 at the Towson Town Center mall six protesters, supporters of the Baltimore Iraq-Pledge of Resistance, made their voices heard for about 30 minutes bringing this very public issue of war to citizens shopping in a privately-owned space.
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Standing in front of the Christmas Tree outside of the Food Court, these peace activists wore signs attached to color photographs of Iraqi children saying "Peace on Earth" and "Iraqis Are Not Our Enemies" (photos such as that to the right). They handed out about 100 leaflets listing "Top Ten Reasons Why the U.S. Should Not Invade Iraq" before the mall's marketing manager Cheryl Sparks arrived with two Baltimore County police officers who directed them to leave the premises.

Indymedia spoke to shoppers asking their opinion of the protest and the Bush administration's drive toward war. Interestingly, most chose to not give their name.

Anonymous shopper one, a state worker who voted for the Libertarian Party candidate for president in 2000, "wasn't sure Bush was taking the country in the right direction." Our Libertarian shopper thought there were worst problems than Iraq for the U.S., for example, Saudi Arabia, pointing out that 16 of the 19 World Trade Center hijackers were from that country.

Anonymous shopper two, a secretary for a private firm, said that "other countries also have weapons of mass destruction but Bush is only after Iraq." Why did she think Bush had this priority? Not thinking it was really about the oil, rather "perhaps to settle some score for Bush's father."

Anonymous shopper three didn't want to talk, but did say she was opposed to the war.

Finally, we talked to a shopper willing to give her name. Janina Hirai, a staffperson at the Maryland Institute College of Art, thought the current situation "terrifying" arguing that "Bush has not made a good case for war against Iraq." Given this, Hirai didn't know what motivated the Bush administration "other than money and oil." Hirai believes that Bush has "laid down conditions in such a way that Saddam Hussein can't really meet the demands. Bush is pushing us into war." Linking the current crisis to the terrorist attacks in New York City and Washington DC, Hirai said "this is not the answer to September 11." When Baltimore County police arrived to confront the protesters, Hirai told Indymedia that "given the gravity of the situation" the mall management "should allow the leafleting."

The protesters agreed. Donny Gann pointed out to the police that their signs with Iraqi children calling for "Peace on Earth" were like the signs wore by mall shoppers wearing a sweat shirt with a Gap logo. The police did not agree restating that signs and leaflets were not allowed in the mall. The peace activists decided not to risk arrest, exiting to the parking lot escorted by the police.

Was this brief leafleting action worth it's 30 minutes plus? According to peace activist Barbara Larcom it was. "We'll be back again after evaluating our tactics."

The ratio of protesters to police in these two actions was three to one--60 to 20, 6 to 2. On October 26th in Washington DC with 150,000 plus protesters in the streets, the police did not constrain the protest as they would likely have needed 50,000 officers. Democracy, it seems, is dependent on the numbers of citizens out in the streets, or the numbers tearing down the fences, as in Quebec City in April 2001, surrounding that which the State defines as privately-owned space, space where political discourse is illegal, or so say State agents as they defend the interests of Capital (money, oil, property), even if those interests are behind the deaths of Iraqi children.