Yep. Today I spent most of my day with a Republican crowd. Protesting against Ariel Sharon's disengagement plan in Gaza.
(background: Ariel Sharon has proposed a plan that requires that Jews, who are very outnumbered in the Gaza strip, pull out in August to help peace. Many right-wing Jews are opposed to this.)
Not that I oppose the plan. I just thought it would be interesting :)
On Saturday, at synogogue, a friend came up to me telling me he is going to protest outside of AIPAC, and do I want to come. I decided I would, as it would be interesting, and would be a day off of school, if my parents let(this is the last week of 10th grade for the year). They did. So I went. This was the AIPAC convention at Washington Center- a major convention that really shapes much of American policy towards Israel. Today, Sharon spoke inside- we were outside.
Through two hours of at times pretty heavy rain we stayed there, with some chanting slogans and holding signs. AIPAC people came out and watched, and a few joined.
It felt kind of awkward as I was with people I did not agree with, at a rally I did not agree with, looking crazy to onlookers. Some of the chants were things like "SHARON IS A TERRORIST" or 'EXPEL SHARON' or 'STOP ETHNIC CLEANSING". To further this, members of the Neturei Karta, a group of super-religious Jews who feel that Israel belongs not to the Jews were there holding signs saying "ZIONISM=WRONG" AND "ZIONISM=RACISM". The people at the rally I went to hated them, and got into constant argument with them.
By the end, we had one famous guy (Rabbi Shmuel something, who was very famous in Israel) come. He was kicked out of the Sharon speech for standing up and screaming in the middle of it. He led chants, and brought media attention (such as the AP, and... FAUX NEWS!) There were maybe 150 of us total, spread out. We got some press coverage at the end (god, I hope I dont end up in that!) On the bus home petitions were passed out adressed to Bush that he withdraw his support of the plan. I said "Do you really think Bush will change his policies because of petitions sent by us?" They seem to now like Bush because of his conservative views, and did not really respond.
Okay. So you all are reading this thinking.. "uhhhh... okay? Why the hell did you go to this"? The good thing was it was a day in Washington D.C. The bad: I was supporting a rally I certainly did not agree with. I went anyway because this was something that seemed fun and interesting. I really got to experience the other side. And it was not what some of us expect.
There were no Republican rednecks.
There werent any insane people at OUR rally (just their views). They were not all stern and mean, like a stereotypical 'Hello-My-Views-Are-Fascisty' person would be like. They were all nice and friendly.
They are the one-issue voters who care only about Israel. Israel takes a providence over their own homeland. Still, they are so committed-- activists that go to every rally, regardless of rain or weather or the drive. They care so much about a single issue- on the way home some were upset that we could not stop at the Israeli embassy to ask them to free Jonathan Pollard. If our party- IF ONLY A SMALL PERCENT of our party could be like them on the issues we care about- our party would be so much better off. We must find a way to appeal to these committed voters. Thru Dean and thru KOS are the only times I have ever seen our party activists even come close to the level of enthusiasm they have. Lets keep it up!