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Middle Earth various issues, 1967-1968
Page 9
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WAR GAMES IN WASHINGTON MARCH... CHARGE! Despite commentaries from the usual prejudiced sourcesm the march on the Pentagon was not especifically violente, and it has produced beneficial effects. Though the march will probably do nothing to bring the War to a haste end, it has demonstrated--and demonstrated quite convincingly--that more and more Americans are being driven leftwards in frantic response to their country's criminal barbarism in Viet Nam. The confrontation has served to point up the deepening disgust of many Americans with American foreign policy, and with America's demonical headmaster, Mr. Johnson. When we arrived, just before noon Saturday, at the rectangular pool extending form the Washington Monument to the Lincoln Memorial, we observed many thousands of protestors gathered about it. Some stood bearing placards some lolled on the grass. While sitting on the pavement of the Pentagon parking lot, we watched marches file briskly in, about 20 abreast, for more than 1 1/2 hours. And far from all of them looked like students, or hippies. The voices of several persons influential in anti-war circles blared at us in the parking lot. Negro commedia Dick Gregory and ex-Green Beret Major Donald Duncan spoke out decrying the War. Author Norman Mailer was called upon to speak but he, I suspect, had already been arrested. It was pointed out here that the time was over for mere support of resistance to the War, and the time had come to actively resist it. The march on the Pentagons was to mark the first stage of this resistance. And march we did. We marched past ten foot high fences topped with barbed wire which had been specially erected for our coming. We marched underneath a bridge on top of which a black arm held outstretched the slogan, 'No Vietnamese Ever Called Me a Nigger!' We marched on the foot of a hill, close to the Pentagon lawn, before which sawhorse barricades had been set. We scaled the hill by means of the ropes connecting two of these barricades. One end of the rope was held fast by a white fellow, the other end by a black. The remainder of the afternoon was glorious. Depressing, too. By means of ropes which persons on top held, numerous protestors scaled the parapet fronting the mall before the Pentagon, and then stood encouraging others to do so. Along a ramp where MP's were stationed, waves of persons repeatedly charged up in an effort to reach the Pentagon. More often than not, these persons made their way past club-swinging MP's occasionally, one fell and was unmercifully beaten. At one point a fair-sized group bearing a Cornell banner charged up the ramp, knocking the MPs aside; a group bearing a Harvard banner followed, it too was cheered by the onlooking crowd. Later, word reached us that a small group had succeeded in penetrating a door of the Pentagon; also that a window have been smashed. As those who made assaults up the ramp grew in number, the MPs retaliated harder. When a girl was hit by an MPs club, people looking on booed and hissed. The MPs, instead of calling for more assistance (between 6,000-10,000 troops were stationed around the Pentagon with 20,000 more standing by on reserve), put on gas masks. A tear gas cannister exploded not long after, sending a girl and her boy friend leaping over the ramp’s wall, choking. Who exploded the cannister we do not know; we do know that the only persons in the area outfitted with gas masks were the MPs. As evening drew near the lawn, as viewed from overhead, the scene must have looked like a sea of fire. Amid volleys of encouraging praise, hundreds of draft cards were set in flames. Placards were incinerated in small, controlled fires. After turning away for the last time from the Pentagon wall, which had scribbled on it the slogan, ‘Fuck You with Love, we headed for home. We walked out stepping over a portion of the barbed wire fence, which some of the more outraged among us must have ripped down and trampled. Bob Heymann [insert] The Paper Place Open Six Nights A Week Until Midnight The Case of The Disappearing Defectors (And How They Grew) LIBERATION NEWS SERVICE by Marshall Bloom The defections were part of what developed, ad hoc, into the major political thrust of the demonstrators at Mobilization’s October 21 Confrontation with the Warmakers. The lack of clarity involved in notions of charging the Pentagon was soon established. The rationale for many of those who remained to the end of the sit-in was of a ‘witness’ type, a testimonial of American opposition to the War, rather than a political act designed to hamper the war efforts. But, the effort of winning the troops is seen as a way of ending the war at its most vulnerable point, conscripted manpower. Last week’s national resistance activities, in which over 1,000 men returned their draft cards, and European and American programs designed to assist deserters work toward the same end. Perhaps the Pentagon agreed that the defections were more threatening to them than the ‘assault’ on the building. For it was two hours after the defections were announced that the well-organized ‘military riot’ began thrusting through the demonstrators with swinging clubs, gun butts and boots. At least two, and perhaps three, American military men in the line of troops at the Pentagon took off their helmets, laid down the guns, and joined the demonstrators sitting in on the Pentagon steps, Saturday, October 21. The fate of the demonstrators is unknown, since the Pentagon denies their existence. ‘There were no defectors. We have no AWOL’s; no one is missing’ stated a Defense Department press spokesman. One of the defectors, responding to the demonstrators’ appeal to ‘Join Us! Join Us! Join Us!’ was quickly apprehended by MPs and marshals, was passed through the military line and disappeared into the sea of helmets moments before the paddy wagon was seen to drive off. The Defense Department cannot create a non-event, however, even if every defector was apprehended. The recollection of witnesses is too vivid. A witness to one defection, Denise Oliver of Hollis, New York, stated: ‘Suddenly, one MP put down his gun and leaped into the crowd and was absorbed immediately. Cont. p. 8 col. 3
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WAR GAMES IN WASHINGTON MARCH... CHARGE! Despite commentaries from the usual prejudiced sourcesm the march on the Pentagon was not especifically violente, and it has produced beneficial effects. Though the march will probably do nothing to bring the War to a haste end, it has demonstrated--and demonstrated quite convincingly--that more and more Americans are being driven leftwards in frantic response to their country's criminal barbarism in Viet Nam. The confrontation has served to point up the deepening disgust of many Americans with American foreign policy, and with America's demonical headmaster, Mr. Johnson. When we arrived, just before noon Saturday, at the rectangular pool extending form the Washington Monument to the Lincoln Memorial, we observed many thousands of protestors gathered about it. Some stood bearing placards some lolled on the grass. While sitting on the pavement of the Pentagon parking lot, we watched marches file briskly in, about 20 abreast, for more than 1 1/2 hours. And far from all of them looked like students, or hippies. The voices of several persons influential in anti-war circles blared at us in the parking lot. Negro commedia Dick Gregory and ex-Green Beret Major Donald Duncan spoke out decrying the War. Author Norman Mailer was called upon to speak but he, I suspect, had already been arrested. It was pointed out here that the time was over for mere support of resistance to the War, and the time had come to actively resist it. The march on the Pentagons was to mark the first stage of this resistance. And march we did. We marched past ten foot high fences topped with barbed wire which had been specially erected for our coming. We marched underneath a bridge on top of which a black arm held outstretched the slogan, 'No Vietnamese Ever Called Me a Nigger!' We marched on the foot of a hill, close to the Pentagon lawn, before which sawhorse barricades had been set. We scaled the hill by means of the ropes connecting two of these barricades. One end of the rope was held fast by a white fellow, the other end by a black. The remainder of the afternoon was glorious. Depressing, too. By means of ropes which persons on top held, numerous protestors scaled the parapet fronting the mall before the Pentagon, and then stood encouraging others to do so. Along a ramp where MP's were stationed, waves of persons repeatedly charged up in an effort to reach the Pentagon. More often than not, these persons made their way past club-swinging MP's occasionally, one fell and was unmercifully beaten. At one point a fair-sized group bearing a Cornell banner charged up the ramp, knocking the MPs aside; a group bearing a Harvard banner followed, it too was cheered by the onlooking crowd. Later, word reached us that a small group had succeeded in penetrating a door of the Pentagon; also that a window have been smashed. As those who made assaults up the ramp grew in number, the MPs retaliated harder. When a girl was hit by an MPs club, people looking on booed and hissed. The MPs, instead of calling for more assistance (between 6,000-10,000 troops were stationed around the Pentagon with 20,000 more standing by on reserve), put on gas masks. A tear gas cannister exploded not long after, sending a girl and her boy friend leaping over the ramp’s wall, choking. Who exploded the cannister we do not know; we do know that the only persons in the area outfitted with gas masks were the MPs. As evening drew near the lawn, as viewed from overhead, the scene must have looked like a sea of fire. Amid volleys of encouraging praise, hundreds of draft cards were set in flames. Placards were incinerated in small, controlled fires. After turning away for the last time from the Pentagon wall, which had scribbled on it the slogan, ‘Fuck You with Love, we headed for home. We walked out stepping over a portion of the barbed wire fence, which some of the more outraged among us must have ripped down and trampled. Bob Heymann [insert] The Paper Place Open Six Nights A Week Until Midnight The Case of The Disappearing Defectors (And How They Grew) LIBERATION NEWS SERVICE by Marshall Bloom The defections were part of what developed, ad hoc, into the major political thrust of the demonstrators at Mobilization’s October 21 Confrontation with the Warmakers. The lack of clarity involved in notions of charging the Pentagon was soon established. The rationale for many of those who remained to the end of the sit-in was of a ‘witness’ type, a testimonial of American opposition to the War, rather than a political act designed to hamper the war efforts. But, the effort of winning the troops is seen as a way of ending the war at its most vulnerable point, conscripted manpower. Last week’s national resistance activities, in which over 1,000 men returned their draft cards, and European and American programs designed to assist deserters work toward the same end. Perhaps the Pentagon agreed that the defections were more threatening to them than the ‘assault’ on the building. For it was two hours after the defections were announced that the well-organized ‘military riot’ began thrusting through the demonstrators with swinging clubs, gun butts and boots. At least two, and perhaps three, American military men in the line of troops at the Pentagon took off their helmets, laid down the guns, and joined the demonstrators sitting in on the Pentagon steps, Saturday, October 21. The fate of the demonstrators is unknown, since the Pentagon denies their existence. ‘There were no defectors. We have no AWOL’s; no one is missing’ stated a Defense Department press spokesman. One of the defectors, responding to the demonstrators’ appeal to ‘Join Us! Join Us! Join Us!’ was quickly apprehended by MPs and marshals, was passed through the military line and disappeared into the sea of helmets moments before the paddy wagon was seen to drive off. The Defense Department cannot create a non-event, however, even if every defector was apprehended. The recollection of witnesses is too vivid. A witness to one defection, Denise Oliver of Hollis, New York, stated: ‘Suddenly, one MP put down his gun and leaped into the crowd and was absorbed immediately. Cont. p. 8 col. 3
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