| On March 31, 2009, Michael Meo wrote: |
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2009
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Demonstration Against AIPACOn Sunday, March 29, about 70 protesters gathered outside Mittleman Jesih Community Center on Southwest Capitol Highway in Portland to denounce Israeli aggressive wars and the support for them by the United States.
The peaceful demonstrators gathered outside the annual dinner at which the powerful Jewish lobby, the American Israeli Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC) salutes its political friends in Oregon; in recent years this has included the sitting governor, Ted Kulongoski, and the heads of the Oregon House and Senate, all of them Democrats. The Republicans are no foes of AIPAC, however, Governor Kulongoski said at this very dinner, three years ago, "Support for AIPAC is an article of faith for both political parties."
The group which organized the demonstration, and which brought most of the protesters, was Americans United for Palestinian Human Rights. Its spokesman Peter Miller told the writer of these lines that AUPHR had canvassed who appeared at last year's dinner, and found every single one of them to be Democrats. How interesting, in view of the speech by the new Democratic President of the United States, Barack Obama, which this last month declared that Iran's rightful place in the community of nations . . . cannot be reached through terror or arms, but rather through peaceful actions that demonstrate the true greatness of [its] people and civilization. And the measure of that greatness is not the capacity to destroy, [but] ability to build and create.
If only the Democrats now running this country repudiated rather than continued the policy of endless warfare!
Anti-war activists from Vietnam Vets against the War, the Pacific Green Party, and Portland Peaceful Response Coalition, and Individuals for Justice joined AUPHR on the line; your correspondent held the Pacific Green banner for an hour and a half.
Portland police were present in increasing force during the demonstration; it seemed that the folks in charge of the Mittleman Jewish Community Center grew increasingly agitated as the protest continued; that is, if the actions of the hirelings of the rich are any guide to the mentality of their superiors. First, the few police officers on duty strolled over and told us demonstrators to stand clear of cars and to stay on the sidewalks. It was low key. Three or four protesters walked across the parking lot after that, up to the front door of the Jewish Community Center, and back; as if in response, a police car parked in front of the door.
More police cars arrived, and more officers collected together. The people responsible for the Community Center, or perhaps for AIPAC, spoke with them, and then a half-dozen officers returned to the picket line and physically forced us back, yards behind the line indicated earlier, threatening those who objected with arrest. I was pushed; Joe Walsh, a well-known anti-war activist, co-founder of Veterans Against Torture and the co-ordinator of Individuals for Justice, was arrested, for the crime of walking across the driveway after the police cordon was put in place. The video is here.
As Joe wrote yesterday, "What they were trying to do was split up the demonstration, keeping us boxed up -- [I've] seen this s**t before." He wrote that "The charges seem to be 162.247, interfering with a police officer, 166.025, disorderly conduct, and 811.535, failure to obey a police officer." He was booked and released, and he will lodge his plea (it will be "not guilty") on April 21, at 1 pm at Community Court, the third floor of the Justice Center, 1120 S.W. 3rd in downtown Portland.
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