The second inauguratiom of Barrack Obama, unlike the first one, did not go unopposed by protesters ranging from anti-drone activists to environmentalists to anarchists. Barrack Obama ran on an antiwar platfrom, yet he has stepped up the murderous use of armed drones in country after country. He promised to close Guantanimo Bay in early 2009. Today, not only is Guantanimo Bay still open, but new legislation allows indefinate detention even of American "citizens."
Action against the hypocrisy of Barrack Obama's action began the night before the inauguration with a march through the streets by what a report in Anarchist News estimated at 75 anarchist protesters. During the march, unknown fighters smashed windows at a Hooters, notorious for gender discrimination and discrimination on the basis of personal appeareance in hiring. A branch of TD Bank had their glass doors destroyed. I guess they live in a glass house and must have thrown one too many stones! An ATM belonging to another financial institution was also destroyed.
Although the anarchist march took place in the middle of one of the most extreme security buildups you ever see inside the borders of the US, all the marchers and all of the fighters escaped.
On the morning of Jan 21, as Obama was being sworn in or preparing for it, antiwar protesters gathered in Malcolm X Park under a fleet of mock Reaper drones on stands holding them in the air. At least one of the drones had been rolled all the way from Baltimore in a multiday "drone walk" against Obama's drone murders in so many countries. When the protesters marched to K street, some wrangled the drones while others carried bundles symbolizing babies and small children killed by Obama's drone murders.
One speaker at the "Arc of Justice" rally before the march went so far as to denounce Obama's hypocrisy in calling for gun control while using drones as his personal firearms to kill whoever he wants:
(tape)
When the "Arc Of Justice" march reached K street, the drones were put on display next to all those old, worn-out uparmored HUMVEES the National Guard was using to block off streets.
Next up was a noon march from McPherson Square to the bag search and grope checkpoints near the Inaugural parade route. Marchers staged a short sit-in in front of a checkpoint at 7th street rather than let groping cops "touch their junk!"
You just heard protesters sarcastically chanting "four more wars" near the inauguration. From the checkpoint marchers proceeded to the seige walls around the parade route at 6th st before suddenly disengaging to join with the Idle No More solidarity drum circle at Dupont Circle. Idle No More is a rapidly growing First Nations/Native American movement to resist Canadian attempts to take away Native land on the "reserves" and sell it to tar sands miners and other industries for "budget" and development reasons.
On the evening of Jan 21, things weren't done by any means. One of the main Inaugural balls was the Commander in Chief's Ball at the Washington Convention Center. Obama was supposed to be the star of the show, but Code Pink and Vermin Supreme upstaged him, protesting drones and the US security state at the bag and grope checkpoints:
(Tape)
That in a nutshell, is why antiwar protesters descended on Obama's second inauguration after foolishly giving him a pass last time around. Environmentalists fear he will turn around and approve the Earth-despoiling Keystone XL tar sands pipeline now that he no longer has to worry about re-election. He's already approved construction of the Texas segment of it! Occupy activists, antiwar activists, and environmentalist activists alike have all learned the hard way that any "hope and change" will have come from the streets, because it sure as hell isn't coming from a White House built on stolen Indigenous land!
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