Today, 200,000 people marched in San Francisco. Laura and I were two of them. We marched behind the official start of the march, which I would assume is where Joan Baez and Danny Glover were, but after hitting several stalls (and limited chanting), we found the real march was in front of the United for Peace and International ANSWER banners – there was dancing, drumming and singing a block further. So much better.I stayed at the rally to hear Barbara Lee speak, but left. As I left, I noticed the police were suiting up, likely for the unofficial breakaway march planned later that day. I have mixed opinions about the black bloc – true, one shouldn’t need a permit to march in the city, but when any media organization gets whiff of the ritual glass-breaking of Starbucks, Old Navy and Gap windows and mass arrests, that seems to overshadow and undermine the effort of the official, mainstream march. I lean towards the idea that the black bloc is a bad thing for the protest movement, but I can’t and won’t take away their right to do what they do. I only know that I won’t have any part of it because I saw how it undermined the WTO protests in Seattle.
Fortunately, the media separated the mainstream protest from the breakaway protest. This seemed to be reflected on major outlets nationwide.