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02/20/2003 Archived Entry: "The March"

I've been on hundreds of marches/demos/rallies in my lifetime. Most weren't as cold as Saturday's, but they also weren't as awe inspiring. I've been mostly demoralized about marches in particular and political activism in general. I don't know about the rest of the world, but the left in Canada seems totally caught up in internal struggles, general navel gazing and a complete divorce from the minds and hearts of "regular" people with seemingly no desire for reconciliation. So I go on marches only when I feel very strongly about an issue, and I haven't been inspired to do much more than that.

Anyway, back to Saturday...
There were tons of people out on the street in Toronto (whatever the official estimates are), but that wasn't the half of it. We all knew that there were people around the world doing as we were. Voicing their opinion. By the time I was on my way to the march, I had heard news reports that there were over 100,000 marching in Sydney. So I knew it was going to be big. But even still... when I got home and watched the news I was overwhelmed. Somehow it made me feel very very small, but also part of something that was very very big.

Usually, the news reports on marches and then seems to dismiss them as entirely irrelevant. This time they couldn't. Reporter after reporter gawked and hemmed and hawed and sounded amazed that so many people the world over - and "it wasn't the regular protesters, it was normal people" - felt so strongly about this issue. They started talking about what effect it would have on world leaders. Finally someone on the news saying that a march would have an effect. I never thought I'd see the day...

Let's keep it up. I'm going to the next march (if I'm over the cold I picked up on Saturday's march) and I'm dragging all my friends with me. I'm officially inspired.

Take a look at some of the photos from marches around the world:

• John Handelaar's photos of the London march;
• "170 Pictures from over 110 Protests around the World" at http://www.punchdown.org/rvb/F15/;
• Kevin Stevens put up photos of the march (London again);
• Eric Mattheis' photos of the march in Minneapolis;
• Judah McAulay's photos of the march in Eugene, OR;
• Oh yeah, and my photos of Toronto's march;