Wednesday August 6: the annniversary of the Hiroshima nuclear bombing was marked by protests against a US war on Iran.
San Francisco: 150 people at Powell & Market went inside the Bloomingdale mall, and had four stories of shoppers looking on as they “froze”. Later, dozens of people “froze” in the intersection of Market Street.
New York City: 70 people froze in the Staten Island Ferry Terminal
Video: NYC Freeze – Anti war demonstrators freeze for five minutes during the evening commute at the Whitehall Ferry Terminal.
Video: SF Freeze – Freeze actions that took place in San Francisco, coverage by KTVU.com.
A Code Pink report on another Aug 6 action, the America’s Army thing. Check it out.
“IRAN (is not the problem)”:
Navy Pier, Chicago —
We looked more or less like the stream of tourists headed for an evening of fun on Navy Pier in Chicago. About 15 of us had gathered at the pier entrance on Hiroshima Day, but with something else in mind. As one woman whose friend had forwarded her the WCW event announcement email said, “I just had to memorialize Hiroshima Day and this seemed like the right way to do it.” Several other people joined us who had also never participated in WCW actions before.
Marking the anniversary of past U.S. actions, as the only country that has ever to use nuclear weapons against other human beings, we all were feeling the looming reality of US threats to do the same again in Iran, a third world country. Threatening an attack on Iran for merely exercising its legal right to pursue a program to generate nuclear powered electricity, is just plain wrong and had to be called out for the crime it is!
So we pinned bright orange signs with the WCW national Freeze logo on us and took our positions in the green lawn area feeding into the entrance of the pier. Despite the gathering swarm of security guards and Chicago police, we proceeded with our Freeze action, attracting both positive and negative responses. A Muslim family from the Middle East was moved to stop, watching us in appreciation for some time. Though we were initially told not to carry out our protest on the pier’s private property, where only commercial and meaningless speech is allowed, one security guard intervened with the police to give us “special one-day permission”.
So, we broke through the silence on Hiroshima Day! We reviewed some ways to do it better next time, in planning our poses for a more dramatic affect, and we focused on the need continue growing in numbers. All who came enjoyed the event, as we challenged people of conscious to speak out, awaking people from their “Good Germans” mode of complacency and complicity!
LA – Freeze Attack on Iran – Union Station
Fifty-three years after the U.S. dropped the first atomic
bomb on a civilian population, a group of twenty from the LA area
converged on Union Station, a major transit hub, to “freeze” against an
attack on Iran. Leading up to the planned meeting time, orange began
to emerge through the station, with activists wearing ribbons and
t-shirts getting out flagging-tape orange ribbons to bystanders eager
to take up the color of resistance.
featured Mickey Mouse, but he turned it inside out and it worked just
fine. As people joined the group, preparing to initiate the “freeze,”
we learned that a number of the people came to the action from outlying
areas, taking public transportation to get to Union Station.
plans–and determination–that she had placed flyers advertising the
“freeze” at the opening night of her show in an art gallery where she
was exhibiting. Her artwork included an Abu Ghraib figure draped in an
American flag, standing on a crate that held mortar shells used in
Iraq…the figure being a mannequin that had been remade as a working
electric guitar, which gave off the sound of distorted, muffled screams
when played. She wanted other people to get involved, and she made the
hour-long trip to the station out of excitement and a sense of
responsibility that she should be part of the larger “us” that can
bring this to a halt.
travelers, spread flyers and orange, and pinned on signs with “No
Attack On Iran! worldcantwait.org.” One protester gave an interview
to the local Spanish language Telemundo affiliate. Soon, the crowd
spread through the station, and at the sound of a train whistle just
after 5 o’clock, we froze. A camera from KCAL9 a local news station,
aired the scene live on their 6 p.m. news program, with commuters
streaming past the frozen protesters, taking flyers from their hand,
speaking their agreement and appreciation. At the sound of the whistle
five minutes later, the crowd unfroze, and started to chant,
“Hiroshima, Never Again! Don’t Bomb Iran! Don’t Bomb Iran!” Although
not many bystanders took up the chant, some nodded or clapped in
agreement. While the shouting was going on, we handed our flyers on
the freeze, inviting people to a Saturday morning screening of Iran (is
not the problem).
marched down Alameda St. towards the 101 freeway overpass. Under heavy
police “escort,” demonstrators carried banners against an attack on
Iran across the overpass and past the Metro Detention Center, where
those rounded up in area ICE raids are held. We heard shouts coming
from the detention center as the people locked inside caught sight of
our orange group marching across the street.
news, a local organizer was an invited guest commentator for a segment
on the significance of Hiroshima and the current situation facing Iran
today. The station had reached out to World Can’t Wait as the producer
had heard of the planned August 6th actions on Saturday’s August 2nd
Stop the War Action, visited the website and had seen the ever popular
Grand Central Freeze video on youtube.
photos thanks to: -Bud Korotzer-
I cannot join you physically, but I support you with all my heart and soul — and I send you blessings from the rural coast of Maine. You are so amazing; I’m really proud of all of you! Many, many thanks for all your demonstrations, all your work.