There was an extra police presence outside Grand Central yesterday evening. Not quite on par with what one sees when world leaders are in town, but a handful of hands-on-hips cops at the main entrance on Pershing Square, some squad cars parked near by, the wail of sirens along 42nd.
When I got inside I saw why: a parade of protestors, numbering about 60, circling the main information kiosk to protest the war in Afghanistan, which turned eight yesterday.
I give them credit for showing up and voicing their concerns, but boy, did the group look half-hearted. So sparse was the circle of humankind orbiting the kiosk that I was able to sneak through it and take my usual route to Track 28. And the protestors looked, well, precisely how you think they looked: aging baby boomers with curious beards–the Vietnam protestors three decades later, chanting anti-war agitprop before retiring to the Village for a cold one at Cafe Figaro, only to find Figaro has closed and the music at the Red Lion across the way is a little too loud.
Where is the recruiting effort? I’m fearful that, once this group dies off, there’s no one left to take their place.
Because Generation Xbox surely can’t be bothered to take up the effort.
I was one of the main organizers of the Grand Central action, and I wasn’t born until the late 1970s! It sounds like you were there early, when Vets for Peace and the Granny Peace Brigade made up much of the marching crowd. Eventually there were at least 150 people and I think the median age probably trended downward a bit. Also we were actually quite loud and boisterous eventually, and as such I don’t think half-hearted is at all an accurate description. We were there for two hours and voiced the anti-war view to thousands of commuters, so I think it was a success (though admittedly I’m a bit biased!).
There were also banner drops and a couple of protesters were arrested, which you can see at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_PO4wOSwUcU