Last year at this time, March 2006, I wrote about the demonstration & march I participated in – in downtown Portland (OR) – an event that marked the third anniversary of the beginning of the war in Iraq. It was both well-intentioned and well-attended, with a crowd of at least 10,000 pouring into the streets to express group discontent with the U.S.’s aggressive conduct around the globe. However, as you recall, I lamented that this gathering of like-minded folks was not really as much a protest as it was a rally, or even a mere social gathering. I expressed my utter dismay that there was no pervasive sense of outrage, an emotion that, undeniably, permeated the anti-war movement during the Vietnam era. Here’s part of my message from last year:

OK: bottom line, here’s what I miss. The outrage. I want us, the American people, collectively, to be incredibly angry about the meaningless large-scale loss of life in a part of the world where we really have no legitimate business. I want us to be incensed about the erosion of our civil liberties. I want to hear of our insistence on being told the truth. I want a gathering of this magnitude to mean something: to be acknowledged as part of a nationwide effort to change the direction of the morally-bankrupt regime in, and agenda that we now have coming from, Washington, D. C.

The reason I’m reporting on this year-old history is that I’m still, here in the Spring of 2007, thinking these same thoughts! And I’m apparently not the only one. David Crary, an Associated Press writer, observes, in a recent article:

America’s current anti-war movement is resourceful and persistent, but often seems to lack the vibrancy of its counterpart in the Vietnam era when protesters burned draft cards, occupied buildings and even tried to levitate the Pentagon.

The primary argument for the differences, of then vs. now, is the lack of a draft. This is a hypothesis that, of course, strikes a chord with me. During Vietnam, the war was entirely personal. Every decision was made in the context of what the consequences would be for my draft classification. When I was a college freshman, for example, the mere dropping of a calculus class during my first semester put me at risk for being cannon fodder in a remote jungle. College students today have an entirely different reality and, for the most part, campuses are extremely tranquil places. Activism, and especially anti-war activism, is not really a part of the current student experience. (Getting a job is the primary deal, I guess.)

But, it’s 2007 and I still show up at protests: as I did last Sunday, this time in downtown San Francisco. The turnout was a huge disappointment for me, however. For, here we are, now four years into this war, and the best crowd that San Francisco could muster was estimated at about 3,000. The San Francisco Chronicle article reporting on the event began:

Calling for an immediate end to the American presence in Iraq, about 3,000 boisterous protesters marched from the Embarcadero through downtown San Francisco to Civic Center on Sunday afternoon.

What the march may have lacked in numbers, it made up for in intensity.

I was there. The numbers seem about right, but I’m not too sure about the “intensity” observation. Yes, some of the speakers from the platform had obvious passion, and spoke from their hearts about the unjustness and ridiculousness of this war, expressing genuine anger about the thousands and thousands of wasted lives. For the most part, though, these folks were ignored. There were no big-name speakers (as I had rather anticipated, given the locale), and during the talks (and subsequent march) most of the “boisterous protesters” were not, really.

What I observed this time reminded me of last year. There were lots of people with cameras (yes, including me, of course), operating in a party-picture mode. Many individuals were popping into the nearby Starbucks and Subway shops (at Justin Herman Plaza, the march’s starting point), soaking up the sunshine while enjoying their favorite latte or sandwich. There were tons of bumper stickers and buttons for sale. And there were a variety of street vendors hawking commercially-made protest signs. In fact, one particularly ambitious young entrepreneur, laden with pre-made signs, was walking among the gathering crowd yelling, “Signs. Placards. Get your signs and placards here.” (What was this? Was I at a ballpark? “Peanuts. Popcorn. Get your hotdogs here.”)

If you can believe it: I saw Girl Scout cookies for sale. And ice cream bars. Sigh…

I guess I missed the really “good stuff” in San Fran this time around, though. During a smaller demonstration, the next day (Monday, March 19), a (truly) more “boisterous” group of activists engaged in some acts of civil disobedience and got themselves arrested. The Chronicle reported:

San Francisco police arrested 57 anti-war activists in the city Monday as demonstrations were held throughout the Bay Area to mark the fourth anniversary of the U.S. war in Iraq .

The bulk of the arrests -- 45 -- were made shortly before 1 p.m. at the intersection of Montgomery and Market Streets, when protesters moved their sidewalk “die-in” to the middle of Market Street.

Blocking noontime traffic, activists sprawled out like war casualties. Some shrouded themselves under sheets with fake blood, and others chose a pose more befitting of a coffin, on their backs with closed eyes and clasping flowers to their chests. None resisted arrest.

Among those escorted to three police vans was a woman in a wheelchair, a woman in a nun’s habit and former Department of Defense official Daniel Ellsberg.