A Connoisseur Reviews and Critiques White House Protests
by Jo Freeman
Pennsylvania Avenue in front of the White House was the place to go last Saturday to see the flags of some of the Middle East countries, or at least those whose people are protesting their rulers. Demonstrators from Yeman, Syria, Bahrain, and Libya were all waving flags and signs while trying not to get in each other’s space. The "usual suspects" who come all the time were almost lost in the crowd.
As a connoisseur of street demonstrations with fifty years of experience, instead of a report, I’m going to write a review and critique. Think of these demonstrations as the term papers for "Protest 101."
Keep in mind that the primary purpose of protest is to get your message out. Expressing yourself is all well and good, but it’s secondary. Far too many demonstrators let "expression" obscure "message." The message is conveyed with signs, flyers, and photogenic props. Chants can reach a listening audience, but speeches are rarely heard by anyone not part of the demonstration.
Yemeni protestors were the most numerous, about 200, most of whom, I was told, came from Detroit, Chicago and New York. They were standing in a circle chanting to each other. A very large circle to be sure, but if you wanted to read the signs, let alone photograph them, you had to get inside. How many passers-by do that? Reporters do that, as do aggressive amateurs, but not the general public. From the outside you could see the flags, but if you didn’t recognize the Yemeni flag you would have no idea who these people were.
From the inside, however, the message was clear: "No More Dictatorship. Power to the People of Yemen." There were plenty of signs and they were varied. "People Want to Overthrow the Regime." Some showed graphic photographs with the heading "Crimes of this morning."
Many of the signs looked homemade. "Saleh ... Please just leave." Most had good thick letters that were easy to read but some were done with a single-stroke of a magic marker, which isn’t thick enough. The slogans were direct and to the point, in both English and Arabic, presumably the two publics the protestors were trying to reach. "Obama: Stop Saleh from Killing Innocent People"
In addition to the Yemeni flags, the Yemeni protest displayed half a dozen American flags. This is good if you are appealing to the American people, though the one upside down flag was a little confusing.
The chant leader had a large megaphone, but he walked in front of the photographers far too often. Too often chant leaders forget that it’s the signs that carry the message. Some of the participants were also taking each other’s photos, which is fine except that they were always walking in front of every one else trying to take photographs.
A reporter kept asking for someone to interview who spoke good English. The Yemenis weren’t organized enough to have such a person readily available. The biggest Yemeni omission was that no one was passing out explanatory flyers. I finally got one but it took several requests from different people. I also asked who had organized this demonstration, but no one could or would tell me. The flyer said "Rally presented by the Yemeni-American Community."
The Syrians were back, but in fewer numbers than last week. They stood in an ever-changing half circle, which made their signs much easier to see than the Yemeni ones. They didn’t have any flyers, but the message on their signs was loud and clear: "Bashar is Criminal," "Democracy for Syria," "ASSAD YOU MUST GO."
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