September 25, 2006 Mr. Galloway Came to WashingtonTodd Chretien“Our two nations are the biggest rogue states on the planet. We have a responsibility to bring the anti-war movements of our respective people’s together. We in Britain want to have a special relationship with the United States. We just want it to be based on peace instead of the colonial policies of Bush and Blair.” That’s how George Galloway ended his speech to over 200,000 people in Washington, D.C. on Saturday, September 24. He spoke at 12:30 p.m. and his remarks were widely reported. Just before he went on stage, he met Cindy Sheehan and the Rev. Jesse Jackson, Jr. backstage. The three joined arms and photographers snapped into action (if any of you reading this are one of those photographers, please contact me!)Once again, getting there was a wild ride. Friday night, after meeting with some folks you would recognize from the tinsel town, we rushed (that is probably not the right word) through LA traffic for a couple hours to get to the HBO Real Time with Bill Maher studio. Apparently, Hitchens enjoyed his drubbing in New York so much that he begged for a repeat on live TV. He got it. Mr. Galloway really didn’t have to do much, in fact. He calmly stated his case for getting the U.S. out of Iraq and ending the American blank check policies of support for Israel against the Palestinian people. Hitchens stammered for a while and then made an amazing argument: Islam is not only the most dangerous opponent facing America today, but it has been for more than two hundred years, from the days when the Founding Fathers launched the U.S. Navy’s first overseas assault on the barbary pirates from Tripoli. A generous interpretation of Hitchens historical revisionism is that he was simply trying to plug his new book on Thomas Jefferson. I’d advise taking Abbie Hoffman’s advice when it comes to getting a copy of this one.Straight from the studio we raced to the airport to catch an 11:25 p.m. United red-eye, and along the way we realized that The New Press traveling media guru Ina Howard didn’t have a ticket for the flight. Somehow we squeezed her into the last seat on the plane and we were off. After a couple hours of sleep, we caught a cab to the protest. Along the way, Elias Rashmawi from the National Council of Arab Americans called me a few times begging us to hurry up as they were saving a prime time spot for George. “You must be here by 12:10. Promise me!” I said that was no problem as we were only a few minutes away, which was a little lie I told so that brother Rashmawi would not have to worry about how far away we actually were. My actual estimate was that we’d be at least 30 minutes late. Out of the cab, and then a 20 minute run through a sea of protesters. To paraphrase the song, “McKay to the left of him, Shawki to the right, here I am, stuck in the middle with you.” We formed a kind of wedge and parted the waters shouting, “Excuse us! Speaker needs to get to the stage!” Everyone was very accommodating, and by some miracle we arrived at the backstage hive at 12:10 on the dot.After Mr. Galloway spoke, he went straight to a 10 minute live broadcast on Pacifica Radio, which reached hundreds of thousands more. Then he was mobbed by the media for the next hour or so. Eric Ruder from the ISR editorial board snapped a picture I can’t wait to see: Mr. Galloway posing with the White House just over his shoulder. I think that will be one for the history books. We were starting to relax a bit, shaking hands and chatting with Amy Goodman, Medea Benjamin, Michel Shehadeh, Jim Hightower, Rev. Hagler, and many other folks who make up the heart of the anti-war movement. Then the word came that we had to get Mr. Galloway to the head of the march to stand with the lead banner. Off we went. Another 20 minute run through the crowd searching for the front. But it was simply so big that we could never find it. Many people couldn’t hear the sound stage, so they just started marching, and others followed along. Soon, there were tens of thousands of people making their own routes and crisscrossing all over DC. What a day!The final tour event took place that night at the First Congregational Church at 945 G Street. The church officer said, “oh you’ll never fill it up, no one does.” By the time Mr. Galloway went on stage, there was standing room only. We did manage to lean on some comrades to give up there seats for a few unexpected guests. Ralph Nader arrived wearing a baseball hat and sat unassumingly in the back row with Kevin Zeese, Nader’s 2004 campaign spokesman and current Green Party candidate for Senate in Maryland. I said hello to them and brought them backstage to meet Mr. Galloway. In the meantime, Dennis Brutus, the great South African poet who spent time in jail with Nelson Mandela arrived and joined the rest backstage.After a long, hot day, the panel speakers all more or less kept to their time and delivered wonderful opening remarks. Rose Gentle came from Scotland to say that the next time she sees Tony Blair she wants it to be in court for the death of her son in Iraq. Mounzer Sleiman and Elias Rashmawi spoke about the importance of integrating the Arab and Muslim community into the anti-war movement as equal partners. Camilo Mejia, an American soldier with the heart of a poet who refused to go to Iraq and went to jail instead, argued that it was the duty of the anti-war movement to stand up for the rights of the Iraqis to resist the occupation. Ahmed Shawki introduced Galloway saying, “If it took a lot to get the U.S. out of Vietnam, imagine how much it will take to get them out of Iraq which sits a lake of oil.” Mr. Galloway took the stage to, of course, a standing ovation. By the end of the book signing that night, we sold more than 1,000 copies of the book while on tour, which was attended by more than 7,000 people, not to mention the hundreds of thousands more who read, heard or saw him in the media maelstrom.A short paragraph of thanks in no particular order: Ron McKay, a real international soldier in the fight for justice; Ina Howard, who knows every single person in the United States; Ellen and Colin, the heart and soul of The New Press; the local tour organizers Jen Roesch, Alpana Mehta, Chris Dols, Adam Turl, Vicky Jambor, Sue Sandlin, Danielle Heck, Mike Stark and Ben Dalby; Anthony Arnove, our connection to the stars; Eric Ruder and Josh On for graphics and more graphics; Sharon Smith, for inspiration as always, and Ahmed Shawki, for his NASCAR skills and calm in the storm—or was it storm in the calm? Charlie Jenks, the mastermind of New England; Lara Kiswani, Mounzer Sleiman and Elias Rashmawi who never rest; and to Sherry Wolf and Ashley Smith, who never let anyone else rest. Apologies to the hundreds of other friends and comrades for which there is not enough space here to name. Each of your efforts made the show possible.So, Mr. Galloway came to Washington. And as he became fond of saying in his best Governator accent, “I’ll be back”Todd Chretien was the Galloway National Tour Coordinator and is a frequent contributor to the International Socialist Review.Listen to the Washington, D.C. program and see photos at http://www.traprockpeace.org/george_galloway_dc_92405.html or you may download the audio here (48 kbps mono broadband – 1:35:00 minutes; 37.2 mb). Go to webpage to download low bandwidth version for dialups and 96 kbps version for radio airplay.Copyright Notice: Non-commercial use only; all rights reserved. Radio stations may play audio with notification (not permission) to Charles Jenks – charlesjenks@gmail.com. Any use requires this attribution and notice: “Copyright 2005 Charles Jenks; all rights reserved.” Any request for permission to use commercially must be made to George Galloway.