Proud To Be An American?

The march against Bush is going on, right outside. It's been going on for over hour now, 150,000 people marching by peacefully, holding placards and waving flags. Flags of Palestine, of Wales, of gay rainbows. Carrying signs from 'U.S. Students Against War' and 'Vietnam Vets Against War.' I liked the pink tank with little kids sitting on top, and the signs that said 'Stop Bu$h,' 'Hail to the Thief,' 'BuSHIT,' and my favourite, 'Axis of Oil.'

But I didn't like the upside-down American flag with 'FUCK' spraypainted on it. For all of my posturing last night when I proclaimed to my flatmates (bothered at scenes of American flags being burned) that 'it's only a piece of cloth,' seeing the flag upside-down and defaced with profanity struck a deep nerve.

It was invigorating to watch the marchers file past, but all the same, when a group of about 60 Asian men (that is, Indians/Pakistanis/Afganis) marched by dressed in black hoodies and some with Muslim caps on, all of us staring out the fourth-storey window felt uneasy. 'They're the type to throw bricks,' someone said. And we all know that it's going to turn ugly later. You can't have hundreds of thousands of people march to Parliament and then not do anything, disperse quietly. Nope. Bricks will get thrown, people will get arrested.

And I'll go quietly home to South Kensington on the Tube, and not say a word. I don't feel endangered being here, but I don't exactly feel welcome, let's put it that way. It's not that Americans are being specifically targeted--at least, it's supposed to be just about Bush. But people everywhere can be single-minded, and anti-Bush can mean anti-American. And usually is. Not on an individual level, mind, but it's very PC to hate Americans right now. Witness my being booed in the comedy club for announcing I was from the States.

The interesting thing is that when I studied abroad we'd get warnings passed on from the Department of Defence about not going to London when there were marches (there was a peace march after we started bombing Afghanistan). I tried avoiding the area when I visited London that weekend, and did feel a bit nervous. Since I'm actually living in London, though, it hasn't been that much of an issue being a Yank. There are so many foreigners that one is just as likely to run into a Frenchman or a Somali on the Tube as an American, and think nothing of it.

But tonight--even though I want to be part of something 'historical'--I'm going to go do my washing and avoid Parliament. No point in getting into trouble, or even just witnessing it.

And it was just as good watching the march. Never thought it'd go right under the window (we're near Waterloo Station on the official Stop the War Coalition map). Never thought I could spend an hour gazing down on marcher after marcher, wishing for all the world I had a camera. No matter--I'll carry with me this memory, along with whatever good and bad associations it may contain.

Theresa