REPORT FROM THE ANTI-ISRAEL/GLOBALIZATION RALLY: Shamed, Sara and I refused to schlep out to the rally before noon. We missed the worst excesses of the crowd, like the flag-burnings and the little girl in a coffin. You should read Radley Balko’s more comprehensive report here, which captures both the ridiculous and the disgusting sides of the event. We saw much more of the pro-Palestinian rally than the anti-globalization one, but they mingled together, borrowing one another’s symbols. There were a lot of swastikas–as in, an Israeli flag with the Star of David replaced by a swastika; or a swastika with “IMF” and “WTO” written on the arms. One poster called Ariel Sharon a vampire (but did not tell us whether he uses the blood of Muslims for matzoh or for hamentaschen). Many posters simply read “SHARON = HITLER.” You can read Brink Lindsey’s gut reaction to get some sense of what’s so messed up about these posters. (Note: I support a Palestinian state; it sounds like Lindsey doesn’t.)

A guerrilla theater performance included “Rice,” a black drag queen portraying the National Security Advisor, smashing a Palestinian baby doll with a missile, then grabbing the doll’s clothes in her teeth and shaking the doll back and forth like a dog worrying a sock.

There were some pretty college girls, a surprising number of ragtag hippies, and the usual DC rally contingents of “Gray Panthers” and women chanting “Hey hey, ho ho, Patriarchy has got to go” and waving their middle fingers at the Washington Monument. A lot of Communists, from the People’s Front of Judea and the Judean People’s Front and so forth (though given the context, I doubt they’d relish that particular comparison). Apparently there was also a counterprotest organized by Free Republic, which we missed.

We were fairly ragtag ourselves: We had markers and tape and paper, but had to rely on signboards and poles abandoned by the real protesters. We found some junked signs, covered the anti-Israel slogans with blank paper, and wrote our own slogans instead: “Arafat is Palestine’s worst enemy,” “End the war by winning,” “Peace through superior firepower,” “Free Iraq/Depose Saddam!”, “All suicide bombers are terrorists” (this was in response to some signs held by the pro-Palestinian groups, which tried to fudge the definition of “terrorism”), “Support the War on Terrorism,” and “Will a Palestinian state have a bill of rights?” One lefty guy praised that last sign. A protester with a camcorder tried to interview us (he ran out of videotape before he got far), but all of his questions were variants on, “But don’t you care about the Afghan widows and orphans?”

Most of the people we spoke to didn’t really seem to have thought about what would happen if they got their way. They had the irresponsibility–and inchoate anger–of people who believe they’ll never hold power. (I’d give you the George Orwell lines I’m paraphrasing, but I don’t have it handy.)

All in all, it was a deeply depressing event, and I was glad to get out of there. That night, the three of us drank mint juleps and margaritas and watched “Blacula.” Que viva America…