The purpose of  last Wednesday’s events, like the marches and rallies staged on Cinco de Mayo, was to pressure elected officials in Washington D.C. into repeating the same disastrous mistakes of the past. In this case, a wholesale amnesty which would cost upwards of six trillion dollars in the coming decades. While most of the people gathered in Union Square were open borders advocates of one sort or another, there was a spirited contingent of counter-protestors from New Yorkers for Immigration Control and Enforcement, a.k.a. NY ICE, whom I’ll get to in due time.

There were several journalists eager to cover the pro-legalization marchers, including a reporter-and I use that term advisedly-from the New York City affiliate of Noticias Mundo, a Spanish-language collaboration between Colombian channel RCN and cheap labor enthusiast Rupert Murdorch’s chief American asset, Newscorp.

And while there were many people agitated over the immigration-and the various proposals floating around Congress that purport to address the subject-as with any reasonably large demonstration spearheaded by the left, mission creep was evident from the beginning. The issue sprawl ranged all the way from global concerns, such as the controversial Trans-Pacific Partnership…

…to more localized grievances, such as the cascading effects of the U.S. Postal Service’s insolvency, as well as the recently resolved school bus strike in the City.

The parlous state of our city’s public education system was also addressed-in both English and Spanish.

And of course, plenty of protesters blamed the dreaded process of sequestration-whose impact verges on the apocalyptic according to some analysts-for the plight of specific ethnic groups and economic classes.

The Sequester Game was an attempt to inject some levity into an otherwise earnest day of political sloganeering and ideological indoctrination.

One that drew upon traditional May Day tropes, such as this Maypole inscribed with exhortations to pursue various political projects of concern to the left. Although traditionally viewed as a festival heralding the arrival of spring, it is now an occasion which has been colonized by  those with a Marxist interpretation of history.

The top of the pole was graced by a papier-mâché babushka bearing a placard with a statement just as  ambiguous as her facial expression. 

I saw a few familiar faces in the crowd, including the attractive young rollerblader who played the part of  a money bunny at an Occupy Wall Street rally held in Bryant Park last year. Rather than targeting her ire at Herr Bloomberg-whose last term is mercifully drawing to a close-she took aim at some of the investment banks which have balanced their ledger sheet by feeding at the public trough. One of the most conspicuous offenders in this regard, CEO of JP Morgan Chase Jamie Dimon, is depicted in the effigy seen above. A man who not only benefits from outright wealth transfers from American taxpayers, but also regulatory structures that inhibit competition. Pretty much the antithesis of capitalism, as it’s correctly understand.

One group that continues to loosely align itself with OWS is Anonymous.

If nothing else, the market for Guy Fawkes masks remains robust.

Although I’m not sure wearing them while manning literature tables is their intended usage.

Speaking of literature booths, there were a lot of them in Union Square Park, including those run by Marx’s bête noire, i.e. anarchists.

They had a variety of pamphlets, including one exploring the concept of jury nullification.

Socialism today, socialism tomorrow, socialism…well, you get the picture.

The alternative to what? Prosperity and freedom, perhaps. Unfortunately, socialism and/or corporatism is the default economic setting for much of the world today, with a few notable exceptions.

The apex of socialism, of course, can be found in the proposition that the state exercises final authority over  its subjects’ bodies. Notwithstanding the fact that the lawmakers who crafted Obamacare are already fleeing from its consequences, there are still millions of people willing to go further down the rabbit hole of wholly socialized medicine.

I’m sure among those can be counted the Trotskyists who were gathered in Union Square.

As well as the small coterie of Bolsheviks I found as I made my way through the police barricades erected in anticipation of this event.

The woman wearing the strange, black and green biohazard cap was apparently in charge of this group, although to what purpose its members were being put is beyond my ken.

What I did glean from my encounter with the useful idiots-who weren’t so useful in this case-was that they had a problem being photographed.  I discovered this after having a conversation with the Don Pedro fan seen in the picture above. The idea that anyone would express a natural curiosity in people wandering around Manhattan wearing t-shirts extolling an ideology that has murdered between 50 and 100 million people, and deprived tens of millions more of their liberty, never seemed to cross their minds, such as they are.

Patiently explaining my purpose merely seemed to heighten his anxiety, especially after I gave him my business card and told him the name of this website. This is a brief recapitulation of our exchange:

Communist: American Rattlesnake? I don’t know if I like that name.

Me: Why are you disturbed by the name?

Communist: Because most of the time…that rattlesnake thing is for reactionaries and fascists who wave the American flag!

Me: Like the Latino family standing next to the George Washington statue? 

Communist: That’s different! 

Me: How so? 

Communist: Mmm…

(Followed by a minute of so of silence and a stupefyingly dull facial expression.)

I can’t say that I expected a more welcome reaction from the dozen or so emissaries of Bob Avakian, the founder and head of a bizarre personality cult called the Revolutionary Communist Party.

If the Shepard Fairey-like silkscreened t-shirts bearing Avakian’s youthful visage aren’t enough to set off alarm bells, a brief excursion to the RCP’s website-which gives North Korean propaganda a run for its money in the weirdness department-should be enough to persuade you that these people are certifiably insane.

One of the recurring mantras of the Avakian supplicants is that the “real revolution” is imminent, and that you should get with it immediately.

Or entrale a la verdadera revolucion, if you prefer. In either case, it’s redolent more of a Marshall Applewhite-led Heaven’s Gate initiation than scientific socialism.

Nevertheless, the declamation of  revolutionary Communism must go on, even if mesh, pop-up hampers must take the place of wooden rostra and bullhorns. Evolution, my friends!

In addition to cyberspace, the proteges of Avakian also broadcast their incredibly delusional message through the cutting edge technology of dead trees, which bolsters the thriving industry of print journalism.

Alas, my preliminary investigation of these pioneering revolutionaries was abruptly curtailed when several of them demanded that I cease and desist taking pictures.  I can’t imagine what possible objections Communists could have to some harmless photography, but I took thge dispute in stride and calmly described-once again-the purpose of this website. After one Avakianik insisted that I give him copies of American Rattlesnake’s “newspaper,” I proceeded to explain the concept of a news website and why mass-producing a newspaper on pulp, a la Screw or The Nation, is an unnecessary and costly investment. He was not persuaded.

Therefore, I decided to make better use of my time by studying some of The Master’s doctrine, including what seems to be the handbook for all aspiring Revolutionary Communists, Basics.

A compendium of Avakian’s lectures and writings, Basics can also be used-it turns out-as a handy visual aid. In this case, as a giant mercator projection that focused on the depredations which global capitalism has inflicted upon various parts of the globe. One of the worst seems to be the manifestation of widespread famine in developing nations that have embraced the free market. Apparently, collectivism is the way to go in agriculture. Yes, a proven success.

The fact that there was widespread famine and civil strife in India during post-independence, socialist rule, and that that devastating hunger could be attributed in large measure to misguided agricultural policies, is an historical anomaly, I’m sure.

It’s impossible to attend any protest organized by the left and not be greeted by several dozen-or hundred, depending upon the turnout-t-shirts bearing the image of Ernesto “Che” Guevara Lynch, one of Ireland’s most embarrassing exports this side of Bono. Just multiply the image you see above twenty or so times and you’ll have an idea of what walking around Manhattan on May Day is like.

Less recognizable than Argentina’s Che Guevara, but still admired by Marxists of a certain age and disposition, is Africa’s Che Guevara, i.e. Thomas Sankara, the president of Burkina Faso for much of the 1980s. Another friend of Fidel, Sankara even had his version of the Young Pioneers.

In contrast to much of today’s brain-dead, multi-culti, post-modern left, Sankara was a strident opponent of such quaint cultural-religious practices as forced polygamy and female genital mutilation. However, he was in favor of armed Marxist revolution-having come to power in a coup d’état himself-and collective ownership of the means of production. Hence, his enduring popularity among a small segment of western-educated Marxists. Unlike another African ally of Che, whose successful revolution was effaced by subsequent events.

As obscure as the  former Communist president of Burkina Faso might seem, the Cuban Five-now the Cuban Four-are probably even less well known to those who aren’t aware of the extensive and capable intelligence network run by the Cuban government within the United States.

Although most Americans are oblivious to their existence, these spies serve as a potent rallying cry for the Castro regime, as well as a cause célèbre for the anti-American left. Some of you will remember the same type of literature and agitprop at previous demonstrations documented by this website.

Therefore, I was pleasantly surprised by the dedicated group of enthusiastic members of NY ICE I spotted from across the street.

Despite the balmy weather, these people are no sunshine patriots, but stalwart defenders of the Constitutional values upon which this country has thrived. They are in the streets, online, and on the phones pleading the case of ordinary Americans, year after year, regardless of the adverse political climate,  antipathy of the news media, or gamed lobbying structure of Capitol Hill.

Because they are aware of how much our government’s indulgence of illegal immigration has cost us in the past, and how much it will cost future generations of Americans if we don’t address this issue.

With real, substantive solutions, not the regurgitation of false rhetoric and the promise of deterrent measures which will never be implemented if and when the ultimate goal of immigration reform advocates, i.e. amnesty, is achieved.

If we’re going to look at adjusting our nation’s immigration policies, a good place to start would be with the words of our nation’s founding fathers, who remain a much better guidepost to wise decision-making than their dismal successors. If we really want to honor the labor of working Americans, we should start by rejecting plans that

Update: The Silent Majority No More has some great coverage of the May Day absurdity, which I urge you all to check out for yourselves!

One of the perennial problems faced by the left is the inclination to either devolve into myopic, sectarian bands, or to remain so diffuse and broad in its appeal that it doesn’t accomplish much of anything. The latter tendency can be seen in the evolution of movements like Occupy Wall Street, which never quite formulated a cogent agenda, despite rendering aid  to distressed victims of Hurricane Sandy this past year. Although, even this operation didn’t proceed quite as smoothly or as transparently as one would expect from an organization that ostensibly has no defined hierarchical structure. 

The message emblazoned upon the placard seen above-whether  born out of sincerity or a mischievous desire to troll Marxists-was probably the most succinct, coherent statement I encountered in Union Square this week, however ironic it must seem juxtaposed against a public celebration of the international labor movement. 

Nevertheless, supporters of OWS were plentiful during Wednesday’s festivities, even as open borders activists attempted to use May Day  to mobilize their supporters on behalf of millions of illegal aliens seeking amnesty. 

Aside from some conspicuous flag-waving, and manning a much smaller version of The People’s Library, there didn’t seem to be much activity among the occupiers, especially in comparison to last year, when the movement occupied the preeminent place among the day’s citywide rallies.  

To its credit, the illegal alien lobby  recognized the fleeting nature of this particular historical moment. Alas, it might be another two years before their benefactors in Congress attempt to foist an equally unpalatable deal upon a skeptical American public. That’s why they came out in force, albeit much reduced in number-in order to demand-their words, not mine-perpetual immunity from legal and political repercussions related to the laws they’ve violated. 

The focus, as always, was on the reunification of families-ones marked by severe genetic deformities, if these portraits are any guide-separated by the purportedly arbitrary, cruel immigration policies pursued by the American government. 

Although more focused than the generic leftists in attendance, the open borders enthusiasts did try to link to their opposition to immigration enforcement of any kind to a variety of other topical issues, including critiques of the military industrial complex. While some would opine that militarizing the border would be a far better use of American resources than some of the Defense Department’s current priorities, especially considering the empirical evidence validating this assertion, those gathered in Union Square beg to differ. Interestingly enough, they seem to share the views of the Cato Institute in this regard. 

The May 1st Coalition-a group created in the wake of  a uniformly ineffective 2006 boycott of American businesses and public schools by illegal aliens-was the chief organizer of this event, and was responsible for much of the publicity advertising the rally. 

Perhaps unsurprisingly, this group opposes the Gang of Eight giveaway in its current form because they view it as far too punitive to the poor, beleaguered migrants who simply want legislative immunity conferred upon them for trespassing our laws-both civil and criminal. I suppose a tax amnesty is too heavy a burden to ask them to bear in return for funding their  health care, welfare and unlimited access to legal counsel. 

As expected, organized labor-including our good friends from the SEIU-constituted a significant presence. After all, who else is going to replenish the declining ranks of union membership in this country’s private and public sectors? 

Having a portion of your paycheck confiscated and subsequently earmarked for the political ambitions of  union executives, is apparently a life-time affair. 

In addition to the open borders brigade-and its union auxiliaries-there were a host of Marxists; this being May Day, after all. No one has ever accused the reds of being reluctant to attach themselves to a more popular cause or party. In that vein, the  hoary Trotskyites of the Socialist Workers Party trundled out their pristine reading material-including copies of their flagship publication, The Militant-to generally disinterested passersby. 

They did manage to incorporate anti-enforcement buzz phrases into their otherwise predictable signage. It’s often said that politics make strange bedfellows, and immigration politics is perhaps the prime example of this cliche being grounded in truth. Very strange, in this case. Or perhaps not, when you view the proposed immigration law through the prism of a policy that guarantees a steady supply of cheap labor and cheap votes. Ostensibly, socialists oppose the former, but I suppose not when it imperils the latter.  

Nelson Mandela was chummy with one of the 20th century’s most ruthless, prolific totalitarian despots? You don’t say!? This sort of accusation might lead people to think he was a Communist! Well, I suppose the Trotskyists are good for something after all. 

Not to be outdone, the SWP’s arch-nemesis-the (Maoist) Workers World Party-was also there.  So coercive statists with an affection for genocidal Communists had a plethora of choices that day. 

Some of them were more enthusiastic in their appreciation for the Great Helmsman than others. Thankfully, the two sides didn’t come to blows. We all know how ugly these type of situations can get. 

The Spartacist League was on message. 

For the most part. 

Much like Kim Jong-Un himself, admirers of the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea couldn’t help but plead for public attention. 

Ah yes, those dastardly warmongers. The nerve of them! 

I wonder what this appreciator of Juche thinks of Kenneth Bae’s recent arrest and conviction. 

One of the more interesting aspects of these sort of events-whose hallmark is the repetition of cliched phrases-is learning more about some often overlooked groups in the world of political activism. The organization referenced above, the National Alliance For Filipino Concerns, is one such group. Founded in San Jose, California, it bills itself as an advocacy organization for the Filipino diaspora, a large segment of which can be found within the United States. 

Despite the fact that there are over three and half million people of Filipino descent in this country-and over one and a half million Filipino immigrants-they have figured less than prominently in our nation’s periodic debates over immigration. Several hundred thousand Filipinos are also here illegally, but they too haven’t become a significant debating point in our national discussion of various amnesty proposals such as the DREAM Act. Juan Antonio Vargas-media darling and illegal alien scofflaw-seems to be the exception to the rule.

The maltreatment of domestic workers from The Philippines, especially those living and working in the Arabian Peninsula-but even for those who work in households on this continent-is notorious. The Saudi Arabian diplomatic compound that doubled as a modern-day slave pen is just one of the most startling examples of an epidemic that the Philippine Forum is attempting to highlight with that banner. Notwithstanding my disagreement with the political philosophy espoused by most of the protesters in Union Square-and opposition to their proposed solutions to our broken immigration system-I have to commend some of them for exposing a global moral blight that too few Americans are aware of. 

In addition to the individuals concerned about the flagrant abuse and exploitation of Filipino domestic workers, there was a large contingent of avowedly Communist political parties and Marxist organizations which are based in the Philippines itself. 

There were young Filipino Marxists. 

Older Filipino Marxists-standing next to a representative of the International Migrants Alliance.

The political coalition with which most of these organizations are affiliated. I’ll let you infer it’s ideological proclivities. 

For the life of me I couldn’t tell you what political current this woman’s philosophy represents, but chances are she’s Filipino. 

And finally, female Filipino Marxists. 

As most of you know, the vast majority of illegal immigrants come from Mexico-over sixty percent, according to the Department of Homeland Security. So it was not surprising that many of the participants in the May Day rally were Mexican nationals, including the woman seen above, who’s part of an international alliance of vendors. For those of you who aren’t fluent in Spanish, here’s a link to their English-language website.

There were also friends of Yo Soy 132, a Mexican political movement created in opposition to then PRI presidential candidate-now president-Enrique Pena Nieto and the perceived deficit in honest coverage of his presidential campaign, as well as its bitterly contested aftermath. Like its counterpart in the United States, the establishment press in Mexico is controlled by large media conglomerates, often indifferent to the concerns of ordinary citizens. As we’ve learned recently, what doesn’t get reported is often just as important as what is covered. 

There were also devout adherents to the philosophy of third-worldism-such as the International Women’s Alliance-at Union Square. Apparently, some people haven’t gotten the message. 

One curiosity was the apparent lack of any  Puerto Rican nationalists, which is a group that usually shows to events like these. I didn’t spot a single machetero or independista, and was despairing of finding any until I saw the man wearing the colorful t-shirt seen in the photo above. Bingo! 

In contrast to that lonely devotee of the Puerto Rican Nationalist Party, there were a multitude of Communists willing to trod across the Flatiron District and Gramercy Park  in order to broadcast their innovative, youthful message of perpetual global enslavement, mass starvation and genocide, and statist terror. 

Despite its promising name, most of the individuals I saw bearing these signs seemed to have some tread on the tires. 

A few were in the Fidel Castro ballpark. 

While one man seemed to be giving Lenin himself a run for his money in the youthful vigor department. 

Luckily,  a few non-geriatric Communists did show up, including our favorite ginger-headed Kim Jong-il fanboy. 

 Even a stopped clock is right once a day.

In the second part of my May Day coverage, expect more Communists-as well as a patriotic counterpoint!

To live in New York is to be surrounded by people suffering from various pathologies, many of whom you encounter on a daily basis if-like most of us-you use public transportation. Living here also means being surrounded by Marxists of varying hues, including Maoists, Trotskyites, and-as the photograph above illustrates, supporters of the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea.

Most of the time, international supporters of the only communist hereditary dictatorship fly under the radar. Outside of the faltering consortium of ethnic Koreans living in Japan-whose own stability has been imperiled for obvious reasons-there are not many people willing to support a regime which has killed enough of its subjects to rank comfortably between Pol Pot and Mengistu Haile Mariam in the annals of historical, third world despotism.

The event which occasioned these paeans to The Great Leader was the opening night of Red Dawn, a 1984 action-adventure thriller involving a Soviet invasion of the mainland United States that-much to the chagrin of the director of the original film-is being remade into a would-be blockbuster where the main antagonists are North Korean shock troops. Being a state-barely-where an economy  doesn’t exist and ICBMs are too poorly designed to reach the shores of the United States appears to have its advantages, at least from the perspective of a Hollywood film producer.

However, those going out of their way to avoid controversy usually have it thrust upon them, whether it be in the form of racially insensitive tweets, or a counter-protest staged by a bedraggled band of true believers led by an SDS spokesman who resembles a more unkempt version of Eric Stoltz, ca. The Butterfly Effect.

You thought SDS had disappeared with the departure of the last Americans from the U.S. embassy in Saigon, South Vietnam? Alas, it’s still extant, as is the Workers World, which peddles old ideas from the new left slightly repackaged-emphasis on slightly-for the Internet Age. The bilingual edition of the latter no doubt aimed to appeal to emigres from that vast swathe of Latin America which is infatuated with socialism, notwithstanding its rather obvious shortcomings.

Whether the proclivity of newcomers to favor government management of the economy will translate into increased support for The Great, Dear, Omniscient Leader is a matter for future generations to decide, but the spirited crowd of approximately half a dozen devoted communists seemed to be solidly in the corner of Kim Jong-Un and opposed to the shameless political dwarfs behind the cinematic reincarnation of this motion picture.

One of the scheduled speakers was the man wearing the jaunty keffiyeh seen above, who hails from the workers’ paradise that is post-Batista Cuba. Apparently, Raul Castro’s tropical paradise is, like the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea, another victim of malicious, patently false Western propaganda. You might be asking yourself why, if that’s the case, he is in New York City right now instead of Havana. Oh, you vile, imperialist cur.

There was also an unofficial spokesperson from Occupy Wall Street whose purpose I wasn’t able to readily discern, although perhaps it was intended to add ballast to a movement that has seen better days. Most recently, when the Soviet Union existed as more than a whimsical advertising campaign from Hershey’s.

In fact, one of the points emphasized by our Alexi Lalas look-alike was that North Korea had a thriving economy during the untainted, benevolent reign of the Soviet Empire. Aside from the fact that this is wholly inaccurate, this assertion is 100 percent true. Still, you wonder why a regime that prides itself on its rigid autarky would rely upon its two largest neighbors in order to survive.

One of my hopes for the anti-Red Dawn/pro-deranged, overtly racist, vaguely Confucian Communist junta demonstration was that its small number of participants would be dwarfed by a slightly larger group of trolls, a la Communists for Kerry or Bureaucrash during its heyday.

Alas, no such hilarity ensued. I did get the chance to capture an amusing confrontation between comrade Maupin and a friend of mine who was also there to record this historic event. I don’t recall what was said verbatim, but I’m sure it involved a denunciation of capitalist lickspittles and/or running dogs of imperialism. For those of you who are interested in watching this tete-a-tete for yourselves, you can view it in its entirety on Youtube, which I’m certain would have been created by North Korean engineers if their nation hadn’t been bombarded by Western disinformation campaigns.

Sarcasm aside, one of the most disturbing aspects of this rally was a brief speech delivered by an envoy from the America-Democratic Republic of Korea Friendship Committee, who parroted the same lies you find published regularly by North Korea’s official news service.

Like the useful idiots who traveled back from Moscow with nothing but praise for Joseph Stalin-even as he was in the process of liquidating class enemies within the Soviet state-this loathsome creature returned from Pyongyang in order to stand upon a soapbox-quite literally-and laud the achievements of  a state which is synonymous with indifference to human life and the ruthless suppression of anyone who dares to exercise his natural rights.

It’s sickening to think that such a creature walks among us, but like ignorance, disease, and hatred, he is a pestilence which has yet to be eradicated in a world where knowledge is at the fingertips of most of humanity. A sad yet ineluctable truth that we’ll have confront as plunge ahead into an era just as turbulent as the one which occasioned a cinematic classic of the Cold War.

Update: Breitbart coverage here.  Also, a write-up from North Korea News. Watch Adrian Hong’s speech Escape from North Korea. A much longer speech by a survivor of a North Korean concentration camp can be viewed here. Hat Tip: Todd Seavey.

One image taken from the pro-Hamas rally held by Al-Awda NY, among other anti-Israel organizations, in Times Square this weekend. I wish I could say that it was anomalous in some way, but the inexorable truth is that the physically and intellectually etiolated creature you see above was probably as representative of the spirit of this demonstration as any of the participants. That a decrepit red diaper baby extolled the Marxist, Latin American despot Hugo Chavez  is not surprising, although neither should be his admiration for Chavez’s staunch ally Mahmoud Ahmadinejad. A man who shares with his equally anti-Semitic friend a history of manipulating election results.

The domestic alliance between socialist and communist true believers and obscurantist, apocalyptic Islam is mirrored to a large degree in the Gaza Strip itself, where rejectionist strands of the PLO, such as the Marxist-Leninist PFLP, join forces with the Al-Qassam Brigades in shelling Israeli civilians. I’m not sure what end game the Trotskyites in the Spartacist League have in mind, but I have the nagging suspicion it doesn’t quite sync with the ultimate goals of Hamas, Palestinian Islamic Jihad, or the Al Qaeda-inspired salafists currently vying for control of the Gaza Strip and West Bank.

While useful idiots are pivotal to the success of any totalitarian revolution, once the despised tyrant is dethroned, they are more often than not treated to a dose of revolutionary justice. Perhaps some of these reactionary leftists should have a conversation with MEK exiles in order to learn about the pitfalls of yoking your cause to an ideology which relentlessly persecutes atheists, at its best.

Granted, it’s possible that militant Stalinists and those who want to eradicate any remnant of Judaism from the Jewish State might be able to co-exist, but it seems like those who would want to kill for the Al Aqsa Mosque might be of a different hue than those who would kill for dialectical materialism.

Although I doubt such discussions would prove fruitful, as the inclination for affinity groups and Marxist ideologues to view Arab-Muslims, particularly those living on the outskirts of Israel, as perpetually downtrodden and oppressed-the eternal underdog-is impenetrable to reason and empirical evidence. A sign of this enduring myth is the Puerto Rican flag seen above, probably held aloft by an independentista, who’ll no doubt have more time to demonize Israel in a few years, once that island’s ambiguous political status is permanently resolved.

One of the incongruities of this particular anti-Israel demonstration-although it must be said, leftists and their allies have never been known for their philosophical integrity or ideological coherency-was the strange, ritualistic incantations against “hate” followed immediately thereafter by the most noxious expressions of hatred and contempt.  For example, the repeated chant “Stop the violence, stop the hate,” which was quickly followed on the down beat by “Israel is a terrorist state!”

Pardon my impertinence, but isn’t categorizing a nation of nearly eight million distinct individuals as racist a bit hateful, not to mention insinuating that this country is perpetrating genocide? The latter charge is especially curious, considering the fact that casualties from Israeli weaponry-including the deaths of confirmed terrorists-during this conflict number fewer than the toll of Palestinians Hamas murdered during the 2007 putsch which resulted in its seizure of power from Fatah.

What’s more, the Palestinians killed during this conflict number less than a tenth of those “collaborators” murdered without trial during the first intifada.

Unfortunately, as you can see, this unique interpretation of justice is still avidly practiced by those in charge of the Gaza Strip.

If the concern trolls who detest Israel so much really want to see a state that perpetrates genocide, perhaps they should cast their eyes north.

It’s reassuring to imagine that a certain cognitive dissonance is at play when the most demagogic critics of Israel regurgitate their talking points and deploy some of their more eye-catching imagery-such as that seen on the placard above. Unfortunately, I don’t think they recognize the inherent disconnect between accusing Israel of slaughtering children while simultaneously standing behind a group which indoctrinates Palestinian children from the time they can walk into a culture of jihadist, exterminatory violence. To say nothing of the cynical exploitation of Palestinian women and children as human shields for terrorist leaders.

The sincerity of their denunciations of Israeli “hate” were called into question again when the mixed Palestinian fanatic/desiccated Marxist crowd began to shout “Yassin, Yassin, do not cry; Palestine will never die!” While it’s possible that they were referring to a controversial military engagement that occurred during the 1948 Arab-Israeli War, the fact that this was a pro-Hamas rally leads one to the ineluctable conclusion that they were celebrating the life of a man responsible for the deaths of hundreds of Israelis and Palestinians, including those who have died as a result of the current bloodshed.

As odd as it might seem, the most ideologically coherent contingent, aside from the keffiyeh and hijab-clad Palestinians echoing the historical demand that Israelis be pushed into the sea, was the cultish faction of Neturei Karta seen in the photograph above. Whether meeting with Holocaust enthusiast Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, or breaking bread with Yasser Arafat, a protege of Adolf Hitler’s Middle Eastern Reichsführer, NK has made it abundantly clear that it despises the state of Israel as it currently exists.

Of course, this is a free country. You’re entitled to express your opinion, however loathsome, so long as it doesn’t trespass against the life and safety of another individual or group of citizens. That said, I have to say the pretense that most of the people gathered in Times Square care about the lives of ordinary Muslim women and children living in the Gaza Strip is hard to digest.

It’s especially difficult to conceive of a scenario where they would bemoan the fate of these particular Muslims if their suffering bore no relation to Israel. You need look no further than a perpetrator of actual genocide, the Baathist Assad dynasty, in order to apprehend this concept. More than three times as many Palestinians have been killed in Syria during its civil war than have perished in the current conflict, yet you see no comparable sense of outrage among these indignant, alleged supporters of the Palestinian cause.

Apparently, their lives are not worth as much as the ones inserted into a meta-narrative designed by Hamas to manipulate international news media. In our next post, we’ll look at the other side of the coin.

That is a photograph of the very demonstrative State Senator Mike Doherty, whose address to the Paul faithful was interrupted by the man everyone had come to Philadelphia to see, accompanied-as always-by his charming wife, Carol. Senator Doherty was the penultimate speaker in a stable of high profile Paul supporters who took the stage across from Independence Hall in order to exhort the crowd to action.

Although the scheduled speakers comprised the main portion of Philadelphia Phreedom, there was also entertainment, food, canvassing, and-as should be expected at any libertarian event-commerce. Perhaps the most fascinating aspect of yesterday’s festivities was the surprising number of vendors selling freedom-oriented apparel and music. Ironically, libertarianism and free market economics are not normally associated with mass market fashion and popular culture. An observation that anyone who’s spotted a t-shirt idolizing dreary socialist demagogue and mass executioner Che Guevara will keenly appreciate. However, there were a host of booths shopping their wares on the lawn of Independence Hall, above and beyond the usual selection of Gadsden flags and buttons from the now defunct Bureaucrash.

There was a merch table for Tatiana Moroz-who is seen below performing below with Jordan Page-a musician who’s performed at numerous Ron Paul campaign events over the past year. The two belted out a rendition of Message of Freedom, a song that has one of the best refrains of any explicitly political folk-rock anthem I’ve heard this year.

…’cause freedom’s the answer; what is the question? Resist the advances of force and aggression.

There were also people who, in the spirit of agorism, sold rain ponchos in exchange for silver. Or, as our historical antecedents called it, money.

Aside from the makeshift Ron Paul threads, there were freedom-loving merchants with well-designed summer clothing for sale, which will probably be useful in a couple of weeks.

As well as a local, artisanal bakery that provided free danishes and muffins to the wet, weary troops of the Ron Paul revolution. Although I didn’t partake, I was told they were delicious.

And since Ron Paul supports the decriminalization of many things, some in the crowd took the opportunity to bring their own gigantic, inflatable hempzels. Although those, as far as I know, were not for sale.

One of my favorite booths though was manned by a family that stood up to the government’s War on Lemonade.

The opening volley in their counterattack for freedom was launched by this adorable little girl, who was selling ice-cold glasses of the forbidden drink for two dollars a pop.

No doubt directed to do so by Robert Fernandes, the man who’s resisted the state’s attempt to squelch young entrepreneurism by shutting down lemonade stands that defy government edicts.

The past is never dead. It’s not even past. Mr. Fernandes reminded me of this maxim by his own choice of apparel. Lysander Spooner was an anarchist philosopher, abolitionist, and someone who confronted  state monopolies in his day, anachronistic government agencies which, unfortunately, still plague us.

In addition to military veterans who traveled to Philadelphia, there were others who chose to highlight a specific issue that drew them to this rally. The lemonade scofflaw, for example, turns out to have parents who educated her themselves, as impossible as that task might be for some people to believe. Considering the strong support Ron Paul enjoys among home schoolers, it didn’t surprise me that there were parents of home schooled children in the crowd.

Neither did the number of young people I saw at the event.

Resistance to tyranny was a recurring theme throughout the day, in keeping with the backdrop for Philadelphia Phreedom.

The Oathkeepers are an organization created by members of the Armed Forces and law enforcement officials who vow not to enforce laws that are unconstitutional .

Such as the National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2012

Some Paul supporters chose to highlight Dr. Paul’s work as an obstetrician-gynecologist, which preceded his political career.

Still others used the incredibly inhospitable weather to tout Rep. Paul’s sunshine remedy. Later on, Paul would play upon the revolutionary theme of this gathering by congratulating his supporters on their persistence in spite of the storm, paraphrasing Thomas Paine’s words from The American Crisis about sunshine patriots and winter soldiers.

Even Bruce Springsteen, of all people, reinforced the overriding message of the day:

Campaign for Liberty had one of the largest contingents at the rally, which seems appropriate, given that it is an organization founded by Ron Paul.

The need to continue the mission of the Paul presidential campaign after this election, regardless of the results, was a theme echoed by James Padilioni, a Campus Coordinator and executive board member of Students for Liberty pursuing a degree in history at West Chester University of Pennsylvania. The imperative for the Ron Paul movement to transition into a sustained political machine rolling back the state’s abuses-and here he citied specific repudiations of Constitutional law such as the NDAA and undeclared wars-was the central theme of his address.

Even so, the importance of direct political involvement was not downplayed, as the outpost established by Marc Scaringi, a candidate running for the right to challenge Senator Bob Casey Jr., proved.

Pennsylvania state senator Mike Folmer made an impassioned plea to support his candidate at the beginning of the speaking portion of the event. He used his own improbable political victory as an example of the extreme frustration and discontent felt by the electorate. And it is true that there is an entire slate of candidates running for national, statewide, and municipal office who espouse the same ideals of Ron Paul, collectively labeled liberty candidates.

The emcee of the event, Mike Salvi, was somehow able to entertain the crowd for the duration of the event, even as the rain cascaded over every part of their bodies while they waited for the keynote speaker to arrive.

One of the failures was, unfortunately, the foreign policy/national security portion of the speaker’s roster. What should have been a simple exposition of Ron Paul’s main foreign policy planks, which can be boiled down to a handful of clearly delineated bullet points:

-We can’t afford to police the world; it’s ultimately unsustainable and counterproductive to our security interests, not least because we’re functionally bankrupt.

-We should trade with other nations, not subsidize their governments.

-War should be a last resort, and only used as a defensive response to foreign aggression against America itself.

was somehow turned into a plodding, leaden speech which consisted chiefly of attacking Michael Scheuer’s perceived enemies, evangelical Christians and Commentary Magazine, among others, and an extensive digression about the conflict between newly independent South Sudan and Sudan which included a lengthy accusation that the former was trying to “paganize” devout Muslims.

Leaving aside its bizarre religious elements, the main problem I had with Scheuer’s speech was that it ascribed complete responsibility for our government’s foreign and defense shortcomings to Capitol Hill lobbyists for foreign nations-which are abundant in Washington D.C.-but almost none to the voters who elected the people who are ostensibly in thrall to these foreign interests. If President Obama is stupid-to paraphrase a quote from Senator Charles Grassley Scheuer repeated during his speech-then what does that make the people who elected him to the presidency of the United States? Even though lobbyists exercise an inordinate influence over policy-making decisions in Washington D.C., to  minimize the involvement of the electorate in the decisions undertaken by the people they elect to office is missing the point.

Someone who was on point-even if a bit tired after months of cross-country campaigning-was the featured speaker of Philly Phreedom, Republican presidential candidate Ron Paul.

Even though there weren’t many parts of his speech that hadn’t been incorporated into past talks-either during presidential debates or on the stump-the fact that he was able to keep the rapt attention of hundreds of supporters for the better part of hour enunciating points that they were all aware of-and had probably heard repeated many times in the past-is itself a testament to the resonance of his ideas among a large part of this country’s politically engaged citizens. Whether the appeal of Paul’s message can be translated into a permanent oppositional party, or effect change in the subordinate relationship the individual currently enjoys with the state, remains to be seen. However, if we do go the way of Greece, this might simply become an academic discussion.

Bartering, anyone?

Update: Thank you 9/11 Families for a Secure America for highlighting this entry on your Facebook page. Peter Gadiel-who lost his son James in the September 11th massacre at the World Trade Center-serves as an inspiration to us all for continuing to hold politicians’ feet to the fire on border and national security issues. Thank you, Peter. 

Sunday, as most of you who’ve followed the past few updates probably know by now, was the day when Occupy Wall Street demonstrators decided to link up with open borders advocates a few blocks from City Hall. Of course, a number of  speakers invited to the event were themselves illegal aliens, including the young girl sporting a disfigured American flag fashioned into a graduation gown. She was entreated to deliver a ten minute-long speech which-if the consequences were not so grave-would have been jaw-droppingly hilarious.

In addition to lamenting the misfortune that has befallen her family merely for consciously and premeditatedly breaking the law, she decried the injustice that made her at times ingest dirt. Yes, that’s right. In order to elicit sympathy from her audience-which was unnecessary, considering the crowd-she recounted an anecdote about being forced to eat cakes made of dirt. However, unlike the Haitians forced to eat dirt cookies in Cite Soleil, I doubt the veracity of her tale, not least because it would mean she didn’t avail herself of the free school lunch program in this city, that her parents somehow missed the lavishly funded network of Catholic services intended specifically for the benefit of illegals, and that everyone in her immediate family-including those proficient in the English language-ignored the dozens of open borders advocacy groups-at least half a dozen of which participated in this event-located in the Tri-State Area. 

The political exploitation of children was a recurring theme, as was the deliberate obfuscation of the issues, which shouldn’t surprise anyone who followed last year’s debate over Congress’s possible approval of the DREAM Act. There was even a “family” that dragged itself to Foley Square, although the integrity of parents willing to subject their kids to sub-freezing temperatures in order to be propagandized is questionable.

Left unasked was the question, “why should families be separated?” Apparently, these adults graduated from the Elvira Arellano School of Parenting.

I’m not quite sure what the pink, artificial flowers signified, but they were ubiquitous at the demonstration, as plentiful as the palm fronds at a previous, equally absurd demonstration opposing the concept of enforcing immigration laws.

It took a while for the crowd to fill out-perhaps some would-be participants were scared off by La Migra-but eventually 70-80 illegals, their supporters, as well as Occupy Wall Street stragglers, made their way into the area the NYPD had cordoned off beforehand.

The folks in the red arm bands-one of the speakers described them as “orange,” so perhaps I’m color blind-were ostensibly there in order to provide security and protect their “community.” Evidently, the 100+ uniformed police officers did not constitute a sufficient force to deter a few dozen aging Communists and inept soccer players.

It wouldn’t be an unfocused, left wing demonstration without a number of platitudinous, seemingly incoherent placards, and this day was no exception. The one below would seem to imply that diversity is a necessary prerequisite for a functioning society, although as Adam Carolla has pointed out, true diversity seems to be the last thing on the minds of people agitating for unfettered immigration.

The artistic dimensions of this protest were manifold, although aside from the more ardent defenders of Roman Polanski, who’ve been taken to task elsewhere, I don’t know of many people who would consider obeying the law an esthetic choice.

There was also, perhaps unsurprisingly in a post-OWS world, a marching band.

We will not be silent. A call to arms, or-considering the talent level of the musicians in question-an implied threat?

Some of the demonstrators even brought their pets along, including this daschund. I don’t think I’m being presumptuous by taking it as a given that she was one of the few present with legal papers.

The only possible response to this sign? Too late, pal.

There was at least one activist who made a passing reference to the May 1st Coalition, a militantly open borders organization that stages anti-American protests each May Day. This website, as well as NY ICE, has tangled with them in the past.

Again, the signs on display expressed sentiments that ranged all the way from utterly vacuous, to incoherent, to utterly inaccurate and ahistorical. The one below is just one such example. Apparently, dignity isn’t a state that you earn through deeds your fellow man deems worthy of esteem, it’s something that you demand of the people you’re imposing youself upon-in this case, illegally. One wonders whether this person thinks about the dignity and self-worth of the millions of Americans rendered unemployable by our government’s deliberate actions, or the people who have to bear the costs associated with its inability to pursue a rational immigration policy that revolves around America’s interests. Somehow, I doubt he has.

Another trusty standby, immigrants pay taxes. There are only two problems with this one.

1. Illegal aliens are not immigrants.

2. The taxes paid by the cohort of immigrants this country currently absorbs are vastly outweighed by the amount of taxpayer funds they consume in the form of costly social welfare benefits.

Other than those two minor quibbles, she presents an irrefutable, logically airtight argument.

Ironically, many of the signs on display simply reinforced the arguments that this website and its supporters have been making for years. The ones decrying workplace exploitation of illegal alien workers, for example, did not convey any concept that Roy Beck hasn’t articulated quite vociferously and eloquently over the past two decades.

The generic nature of some of the signage began to get tiresome after a while. The banner below serving perhaps as the apotheosis of vapidity. Immigrants represent a better future for whom? The utterly superfluous nonprofits and advocacy organizations that suck up taxpayer subsidies in order to justify their existence? The political elite  that cultivates them in order to remain ensconced in office and wielding power over the rest of us indefinitely? The media gatekeepers who intentionally squelch an honest debate about this issue? The beneficiaries of our current open borders policies were never specified.

The most obnoxious-to say nothing of historically inaccurate-sentiment expressed at this rally was the notion that “we,” the collective noun in this case referring to nonwhite Hispanics or Amerindians, were here first. The incandescent stupidity of this assertion was illustrated by a brief conversation conducted with the woman holding the sign seen below.

When I asked her who the referent was in the statement “we were here first,” after stammering for a few seconds she replied that it was the North Americans who were here before the Europeans. She averred that she was a Puerto Rican and that they had been there forever. Not quite satisfied by her answer, I pressed and was told that we referred to “brown people.” When I brought up the counterexample of Kennewick Man, who most assuredly wasn’t brown-unless the Ainu are now conidered members of La Raza- she demurred.

Unfortunately, her mistaken belief was echoed by many others in the crowd, including this woman, who seems to be operating under the misconception that there really is a North American Union.

This startingly incoherent banner expressed similar sentiments:

After glancing at the back of his oak tag, I realized that he was referring to the realignment of political cartography that resulted from this nation’s military victory in the Mexican-American War. Although the origin of the war between Mexico and the United States is an extraordinarily complex topic, and the political boundary between the two nations has been questioned by many since Abraham Lincoln served as a Whig congressman from Illinois, I don’t remember the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo including any mention of New York, current demographic trends notwithstanding.

The demonstrators attempt to play on the heartstrings of the overly emotional and credulous was consistent, as evinced by the banner below. Not surprisingly, the families torn apart by illegal aliens did not merit any sympathy among those in attendance.

Of course, the legality of enforcing any immigration law was brought into question by the protestors. Although it’s possible that she was referring to something else, “double jeopardy” in the context below means trying and/or deporting an alien because he or she was charged with a crime for which the defendent has already been acquitted. What puzzles me is why she went through the trouble of devising such a specific sign when in all likelihood she doesn’t believe any illegal alien-even those who have been subjected to fair legal proceedings-should be deported.

Note for the unitiated: La Migra, not to be confused with the Mexican grupera artists of the same name, refers to any immigration enforcement agency within the federal government, including ICE, the  U.S. Border Patrol, and Customs and Border Protection. A popular staple of pro-immigration art, including a somewhat clever gloss on a Ramones’ classic, the anti-migra spirit was pretty abundant this weekend, although how much illegals have to fear from la migra is open to debate, especially in light of this administration’s rather lenient record with regard to these matters and this city’s lackluster record of cooperation with federal immigration agents.

This was one of the more unintentionally amusing signs I spotted:

Although the analogy between explicitly discriminatory and unconstitutional ordinances targeting African-Americans and laws intended to punish people who’ve disobeyed the law-and usually have no constitutional right to remain in this country-has been made many times  in the past, this fellow must be commended for actually going to the trouble of drawing and inking two menacing looking crows, as well as a jubilant Rich “Uncle” Pennybags. Why a wealthy oligarch would be in favor of immigration enforcement is not delineated; Mr. Monopoly would certainly be an anomaly in that regard. There is a relationship between the corporate world and federal immigration enforcement agencies, although not in the way implied by this wholly misleading sign.

The Occupy Wall Street movement operated as the hinge of this protest, and there were a number of attempts to tie it to the open borders advocacy which was the ostensible reason for this event. The linkage between the two was made explicit by several demonstrators.

Although sectarian leftists and assorted Marxists attempted to monopolize the conversation, as they are wont to do. There were the Wobblies-yes, they still exist.

As well as Trotskyists hoping for a Fourth International.

The unconsciously ironic hipsters of the Party of Socialism and Liberation were also there.

And it wouldn’t be a full-throated, left wing NYC demonstration without a contingent from the brutally Communist, hard-line Leninist Workers World Party.

Some of the participants seemed eager to relive the halcyon days of the Contra wars of the 1980s, which-given their age-probably shouldn’t have been that surprising. However, unlike in past May Day rallies, I didn’t spot anyone holding aloft FMLN banners.

Our good friend, who henceforth shall be known as Button Man,  seemed to combine the two predominant themes of the afternoon, espousing support for unrestricted immigration and an adherence to doctinaire Marxism.

His vest expressing support for the left’s favorite executioner, Ernesto Guevara Lynch…

In addition to Fidel Castro’s quintet of bumbling spies, whom El Jefe’s American fan club view as political prisoners.

The fervor seen earlier in the day seemed to die down as the crowd marched towards Zuccotti Park, but I did manage to snap a few interesting pictures before calling it a day. This banner proclaims that we will die on our feet before we will kneel. Those of you more proficient in Espanol, feel free to correct any errors in translation.

One of the last shots is a photograph of a duo representing the Ecuadorian Socialist Party of New Jersey. Yes, there is an Ecuadorian Socialist Party of New Jersey. Why there isn’t one in New York City is beyond my ken.

No more capitalism! We are constructing socialism. Isn’t that a sentiment that all Americans can get behind? No? Really?

Although the demonstration gradually dissipated, law enforcement remained.

Perhaps to keep an eye on Santa?

This will be my fourth photo essay documenting the encampment at Zuccotti Park. After embedding themselves within this section of lower Manhattan for well over a month, the protest movement known as Occupy Wall Street has developed into a small, albeit extremely controversial, community. While I was walking around the park I did notice that it had developed the appearance of a shanty town, albeit one with certain amenities available to its participants. 

There was a medical tent, along with some volunteers rendering first aid:

There were also locations intended for vague, syncretic expressions of religious worship and devotional meditation.

And protest chaplains whose religious denomination went undefined.

The only identifiable religions on display were  Islam:

And, interestingly enough, Jews for Jesus, although I hasten to add that some people might describe the latter as a cult.

There were also activities to occupy the more secular segments of the OWS crowd, including singing:

Dancing:

Group workshops:

Reading:

Sleeping:

And what has become the hallmark of Occupy Wall Street. Yes, ubiquitous, unrelenting drumming.

There are a number of different component parts of OWS. Such as a kitchen:

As well as a  makeshift recycling center and compost heap:

A crude irrigation system:

And yet more recycling receptacles:

For the waste that can’t be composted or recycled, there’s always the trusty standby, long trash bags. There were lots of those.

There were also less malodorous, significantly quieter leisure activities, such as face painting:

Political attitudes ran the gamut the day I visited Zuccotti Park. One sentiment most of the individuals there shared was an antipathy towards corporations and the influence they exercise over our government’s policies.

I can only infer that this fellow is a Keynesian:

There was even someone carrying the derisory flag that  has come to embody Adbusters, which served as the original impetus for the Occupy Wall Street movement.

One of the chief targets for criticism at Zuccotti Park was the Citizens United decision by the United States Supreme Court. For those of you who are unfamiliar with the ruling, it nullified many of the unconstitutional restrictions upon 1st Amendment protected speech enacted under McCain-Feingold. During my time spent with WNYC reporter/host Mike Pesca, who recorded an interview which you’ll hopefully hear later this week, I debated the finer points of protected 1st Amendment activities with an OWS supporter who believed that campaign finance restrictions should take precedence over an individual or organization’s right to engage in freedom of speech and association, and even suggested a new Constitutional amendment to that effect. That view, unfortunately, was commonly held throughout the park.

Others took aim at the legal concept of corporate personhood:

While the encampment at Zuccotti Park has tried to coordinate with other organizations throughout the nation and world, most of the individuals I saw were Americans. There was, however, a very interesting table that appeared to be supporting the Marxist-Leninist opponents of the despotic, Iranian clerical regime led by Ayatollah Ali Khameini. In addition to the somewhat problematic use of Che Guevara as an iconic revolutionary image, I found some interesting paraphernalia, including an original flag from the People’s Mojahedin Organization of Iran and photographs highlighting the oppression Iranian dissidents suffer at the hands of the mullahs.

However, there were many people at Zuccotti Park who took a distinctly different point of view, and I feel compelled to present their side of the story as well. The Federal Reserve came in for particular abuse:

And corporatism was derided by some occupiers who felt that the solution to government-inspired failures could not be found in yet more government intervention.

Some political expressions took a more blunt form:

There was even a light-hearted tweak of the chief preoccupation of OWS activists.

Perhaps the most interesting signage I spotted this weekend belonged to a man supporting an unconventional presidential ticket.

The most quotable sign I identified is one that, alas, I wasn’t able to capture on camera. It simply read, “Regulate Government.”

Food for thought.

 That is a photo of myself and Andrew Wilkow, host of the Wilkow Majority on the Sirius XM Patriot channel, standing outside of Zuccotti Park. He was there this weekend co-hosting a live remote with David Webb, seen below, at the scene of Occupy Wall Street. 

The media spotlight continues to shine on those demonstrating at OWS, although whether it’s due to the spectacle of the event itself or the message it is attempting to disseminate remains an open question. There certainly was a carnivalesque atmosphere Saturday, which included a brass orchestra:

As well as theatrical agitprop supporting government movement on climate change:

 There was also a full complement of clowns:

As well as those costumed in other garb, including Captain America: 

Guy Fawkes:

 And the odd penguin:

As well as a self-professed journalist wearing a barrel: 

However, there were individuals at the park with more serious messages. Their causes ranged from the reinstitution of an FDR Era separation between investment and commercial banks:

To personal grievances:

There were also Japanese occupiers who highlighted their opposition to the development of nuclear energy, a hot button issue in the wake of the meltdown of the Fukushima nuclear plant. 

A common theme was distress over high student loan payments.

 There were also Americans who shared their fellow demonstrators’ antipathy towards nuclear power:

Hydraulic fracturing, which is slated to occur in some upstate New York counties,  was also the subject of intense opposition:

There were those decrying instances of police brutality:

As well as a significant contingent of anti-war activists:

Including critics of President Obama’s muscular-some would say reckless-foreign policy: 

Some more clever than others:

Although the President did have his defenders, so perhaps the attempt by national Democrats to mobilize the disenchanted in Zuccotti Park isn’t entirely hopeless. 

There were also protestors who wanted to focus on their own pet causes, many of which had little if anything to do with the relationship between corporate America and the government. There were anti-Israel radicals:

As well as those agitating for the release of convicted cop killer Mumia Abu-Jamal, a mainstay of leftist conclaves.  

There were those seeking to emulate EU nations which hope to ban the introduction of genetically modified foods.  

I also saw several signs demanding wholesale amnesty for illegal aliens, which came as no surprise. 

 Perhaps the person who designed that sign is unaware of the fact that President Obama has, in fact, stopped both the raids and the deportations. Nevertheless, there seemed to be a grab bag of perceived problems that occupiers could voice their displeasure with, as this catch-all sign seems to illustrate:

 The hard core Marxists made a pitch for their own pet issues, including releasing Cuban spies from the Wasp Network who had been convicted of espionage in the United States. That happens to be a favorite activity of the Castro regime. 

Our trade policy, or lack thereof, with Raul Castro’s regime was also targeted:

The detention camp for apprehended Al Qaeda terrorists, which is located in Cuba, was also derided:

Much of the organizational muscle behind Occupy Wall Street, such as it is, comes from organized labor, and union members-both in the public and private sector-were amply represented at Zuccotti Park.

 Although there were many national and local labor unions represented, there were also many fringe figures and organizations pamphleteering, including individuals from the ridiculous, discredited 9/11 Truth movement. However, perhaps the most disturbing element that had embedded itself within Zuccotti Park was a cadre of hard-line Marxists, socialists and Communists. 

The World Socialist Website had an informational booth inside of the park which offered a wide array of Marxist propaganda for sale. 

Including a variety of Trotskyist tracts.

 As well as the ever in demand Arabic-language works of  El Jefe :

The words of Malcolm X were also available, albeit in Spanish. 

As well as those of Marxist-feminist Evelyn Reed: 

Not to be outdone, the Socialist Workers Party had copies of its official newspaper for sale-rather ironically, I might add. 

One of the other newspapers on display was Dorothy Day’s old employer, The Catholic Worker:

There were a variety of other Marxist-inspired organizations proselytizing, including Socialist Action:

Despite protestations to the contrary by some participants in the Occupy Wall Street movement, there did seem to be some activists who were more than happy to embrace class warfare pretty explicitly. 

Even so, there were occupiers who held a distinctly more cooperative point of view, some of whom even advocated policy changes that would push the United States in a more libertarian-oriented direction. Tomorrow, we examine some of those dissenting voices. 

My apologies for beginning this entry with such a startlingly vulgar image, but I thought it appropriate to visually demonstrate the level of debate I encountered from open borders anarchists during the May Day rally held at Foley Square. These two characters-who obviously eschew fasting as a form of political protest-are from the very violent, yet strangely ineffectual, organization known as Antifa. They oppose what they describe as “fascism” by replicating the methods and tactics of brownshirts. More on them later.

I will begin our journey into the depths of Marxist inadequacy, however, chronologically. I, Joanna Marzullo, in addition to several members of her organization, New York Ice-as well as the inestimable Marinka Peschmann-began our counter-protest by situating ourselves across from Union Square, an historic gathering place for political demonstrations of all stripes from the time of the Civil War to our own confused political era.

As you might also notice, the message the organizers of this rally intended to send to the general public was incoherent, to say the least. In addition to those hailing the recent legal victory of notorious cop-killer Wesley Cook, as well as the rich political legacy of Fidel Castro’s favorite executioner, there were anti-war critics of President Obama-a consistent theme of this year’s events:

The union representing CUNY teachers: 

Clinically obese supporters of one of Mexico’s most resonant fashion icons:

A curiously anachronistic, but nonetheless enthusiastic, group commemorating the service of America’s finest Stalinist mercenaries-probably veterans of the Spanish Civil War, now that I think of it. 

And one man who held aloft a sign that I would have immediately classified as racist, had he not assured me he was no longer a member of the Tea Party. 

There were also those generic Marxist-Leninists and anarcho-Communists whom we’ve all come to love and admire. Or at the very least, smirk at knowingly as they enter Starbucks to buy their Triple Mocha Latte. 

Although by this point in my photo-essay you could be forgiven for assuming that the May Day rally in support of “immigration reform” and “labor” was actually an incoherent grab-bag of left wing fetishes, there were actually some indications-however nebulous-that at least a handful of people were actually aware of the purpose of the May 1st rally. This photograph, for instance, tries to evoke compassion for those poor anchor babies whose families are the victims of deportation raids. What makes the tableaux all the more unsettling is the fact that this young girl is obviously going to contribute greatly to American society through her peace activism, which hopefully will be more focused than that of the people who conceived of this event.  

I also met perhaps the two most polite and civil protesters of the day, who also happen to be an inter-ethnic couple: 

I don’t know whether that man’s Mexican husband is undocumented, but there is no denying that he has a distinctive fashion sense that Americans, at least those Americans at this particular May Day rally,  are sorely lacking. Interestingly enough, I met another man by the name of Scott Sanchez who is also married to an immigrant. In his case, a Scottish woman, which would explain the royal Scottish flag he was holding when I spoke with him for this website. 

He was also extraordinarily civil. Unfortunately, he was the singular exception at the main protest rally held in Foley Square, which I shall explore in greater depth in tomorrow’s post. Keep watching for my thoughts on the Antifa theater of the absurd, as well as some pictures of respectable American citizens who want everyone to be equal under the law.

•  Colorado State Representative Randy Baumgardner (R–Hot Sulphur Springs) is working on Arizona-style legislation to fight against illegal immigration in the Mile-High state. Mr. Baumgarden says that illegal immigration costs Colorado over $1 billion dollars a year in added costs for health care, education and other social services.

•  Rahm Emanuel, current White House Chief of Staff and future Chicago Mayoral candidate, has been a drag on the Obama administration’s prioritizing of amnesty and open-borders for illegal aliens, says Chicago Congressman Luis Gutierrez. Should Mr. Gutierrez decide to run for Mayor of Chicago against Mr. Emanuel, Congress could lose one of its strongest advocates for legitimizing illegal immigration.

•  The Christian Science Monitor reports that Arizona’s fund to defend SB 1070 has raised over $3.6 million from contributors throughout the country. While the legal costs so far have only been $440,000, experts estimate that the costs will eventually reach over $10 million.

•  Los Angeles Police Chief Charlie Black blames anti-immigration sentiments for stirring up violent protests against the shooting of a day laborer by Los Angeles police officers. The day laborer had been threatening passers-by with a knife, refused police commands in Spanish and English, and was shot as he advanced towards the officers with his knife raised above his head.

•  The Immigration and Customs Enforcement agency (ICE) is seeking public comment on proposed changes to their detention policies. Citing limited resources, ICE wants to severely cut back its detention policy, detaining only the most dangerous individuals and letting the rest free. ICE is seeking comments from the public by email at ICEDetainerComments@dhs.gov .

•  Fidel Castro called continued deportation of Gypsies as “another kind of racial holocaust“. The French were less than amused, calling the Cuban dictator’s words “unacceptable”. Scotland’s Herald newspaper reports that the Gypsies are retaliating against French leaders with a “blood curse“, apparently the most potent kind.

•  Dutch politician Geert Wilders was in New York City on Saturday to speak against the proposed Park51 Mosque. “…[W]e must draw the line,” said Mr. Wilder, “So that New York, rooted in Dutch tolerance, will never become New Mecca.” Mr. Wilder’s party, which is against the continued influx of non-assimilating Muslim immigrants into the Netherlands, is currently in talks to take part in a coalition government to lead the country after its most recent elections.

•  India, China, and the Philippines are Canada’s biggest sources of immigration.  Canadian Immigration Minister Jason Kenney is asking foreign governments to cooperate in stopping immigration fraud.   Thriving industries of document forgers and human traffickers in all three countries undermine the fair and efficient working of Canada’s immigration process.

•  In Wichita, Kansas, ICE agents are cooperating with local law enforcement to crack down on massage parlors acting as fronts for prostitution. Seven Chinese women, in the United States as refugees seeking asylum, were arrested for prostitution, but will not be deported since prostitution is only a misdemeanor.

•  In captivity, rattlesnake breeding pairs are often encouraged to successfully mate by the introduction of a second male into the mating habitat.