San Francisco North Bay held a lively ‘drown
out’ protest in Santa Rosa’s Old Courthouse Square. The event was
co-sponsored by the Sonoma State University Campus Greens and the Peace
and Justice Center of Sonoma County. Turnout was good with 120 or so
attending. Ten new contacts signed up, including some very enthusiastic
students and a young musician who wants to help with our upcoming
fundraiser.
Walking a fine line to maintain a non-permit (un-amplified) free speech
event, we brought boom boxes and a rented megaphone for our sound
system. Our materials table was set up next to the square’s permanent
stage where we hung our banner. Our advertised program was simply
gather an hour before the State of the Union address, then bring on the
noise for an hour to drown out Bush’s lies.
During the gathering part, we began the program with six of our core
chapter organizers (3 students and 3 oldsters) passing the megaphone to
read the Call. We also read statements written by one of the student
organizers, and ended with a North Bay version of Debra Sweet’s Jan
31st statement. A participant also asked to read a short statement.
Many of the people who came stopped by the table to ‘check us out’
picking up copies of the Call, along with our half sheet with
contact/meeting info and some chants. A number of November 2nd T-shirts
were also snapped up, and numerous small donations made. A local
personal injury attorney stopped by, coming from work in his
suit and breaking away from a cell phone conversation, to give us a thumbs-up and donation.
The tradition at this town square is to line up along the adjacent main
street and hold up signs for passing vehicles to see, so that ended up
being a main feature of the protest. In fact, many were so restless to
get their message out, they abandoned the stage area and missed our
presentations in favor of lining the street with signs. People remained
very determined and persistent with the Noise, and many brought drums,
pan lids, whistles, shakers and other noise-makers. Our chants were
reinforced by the rhythms of the night.
While many attending seemed drawn to the protest simply by a desire to
express resistance to Bush’s address, others were also looking to hook
up with World Can’t Wait. One young woman student told us she had been
looking for something like this movement, and was “really into it” and
would come to our next meeting.
