This is a preliminary report from Broward County, FL on the events of Oct.5.
Some 50 people lined the busy street in Lauderhill in front of the military recruitment center between 3 and 5 pm. We had one WCW banner and everyone else had a sign, either the latest WCW placard, an older WCW poster, one made on the spot or a homemade (and usually more elaborate) one. Good spirit and good mix of people. Rush hour drivers were overwhelming supportive in this black/immigrant/working class neighborhood.
About 15 cars decorated with streamers, signs and window paint drove for an hour through rush hour Fort Lauderdale traffic. We ended at Welcome park (at the entrance to the heavily guarded Port Everglades where all the local oil comes in). 120 people held a spirited curbside rally on traffic heavy US 1. Very good mix of people and not the “usual suspects” at local political events. At least two tourists joined us; a couple of young women came up from the Keys. Many signs, good loud bullhorn lots of chants. The response of the downtown commuters was OK but not as good as in Lauderhill.
We stayed longer than planned because spirits were so high and people kept on joining in. Then at dusk about 30 of us, mostly youth, went to the downtown entertainment district with our signs and fliers, bullhorn and two drums. Response from the sidewalk diners was way less positive, but a good number of people took leaflets, especially waitresses and waiters. Two people joined us on the spot including one who took to the bullhorn ferociously. The numbers add up to 200 but some of them were at two or even three of the legs of our actions. I would say 150 people total took part. That’s
twice as many as the last WCW event here (during State of Emergency speech). A number of them said they learned about it from our one-week-old myspace site.
A number of people correctly commented on our low numbers, asking where is everyone else who should be here, where are all those people who hate what’s going on? They’re right to ask that but I’ll up the ante: of the 150 people who showed up, did they do everything they could to reach and bring more people, to go to meetings and plan and outreach? If we want more people on board we all need to be drivers.