The A.N.S.W.E.R.

Last night I attened an ANSWER meeting to see what they were up to...ANSWER is one of the principal organizers of the anti-war protests and defines itself as a coalition of different organizations who do marches, etc. I originally landed on the list because I was doing a little research for a documentary and they wanted the heads up on marches and stuff, so I signed up.

In any case, I never go to political events, despite having an interest in politics and thought I'd give them a go, knowing full well I probably didn't agree much with their politics.

I arrived and was surprised to see a lot of older people at the meeting (it actually was more like an office party welcoming to their new office). They were a scraggily bunch, dejected, unhappy, weird. Basically if you gathered the old non-homeless folks from hollywood blvd, you'd get the idea. There were some younger folks - 30ish, lawyers, who were the most organized and the leaders of this particular chapter. Very nice folks. We talked movies.

I sat next to this odd older guy, obviously gay - the I've-turned-gay because I couldn't get chicks or because I suffered some sort of emotional/physical/sexual abuse gay and NOT my parents knew it when I was five years old gay. (Disclaimer: there are variations on these two groups).

Around 40 people showed up, not bad. There was this yuppie guy, around 35 who I spoke with, he acted as though he knew exactly what I was all about since I was from Marin County. He was a "retired" M&A attorney and he pointed out to me he used to work for Goldman Sachs. Like I cared.

Mostly white folks, but a surprising lack of diversity. One cute, younger 20s, blonde girl was there, but I didn't get a chance to talk with her.

After the cheese and sodas, we sat around a podium while one of younger organizer lawyers spoke. Her basic position: bring US troops home from everywhere around the world. They seem to think the US role in the world is that of a capitalist imperialist nation and that our entire system is fundamentally flawed and unjust. Basically, they're communists.

She was nervous and not well spoken. A few nods of agreement, and some others of dozing off (like I said, these guys were old).

A bald guy from SF that looked like the bad-guy (clarence) from Robocop came up and spoke about the issues going on around the world and a few things about organizing the June 5th March. He was well spoken and pointed out to cheers that some pundit in the press lately has been saying in re: Iraq "We don't have an exit strategy and shouldn't have one." The bald guy's point: We don't plan on ever exiting. Therefore, we're imperialists. He also talked about McGovern's 1972 campaign for President talking about Vietnam and how we should have been in the Middle East and not in Vietnam at that time because of our oil interest - because at the time we basically had subcontracted stability to Israel and Iran. He was well-spoken and articulate.

Some hippy band started playing and I had to excuse myself. Pepple told me that meetings usually have more discussions, but that this meeting was more of an office party.

Not a single word on the war on terror. Not a single word on the way people around the world live, unless it had something to do with how the US was mistreating them. They constantly used "THEY" in reference to the United States, when it seems to me, they should have been using "WE."

If I ever go again, I'm going to ask how they feel about how North Korea treats their own citizens or how Saddam did. Is that better simply because the US wasn't involved? Just a question.

On a final note, the weird old gay guy was telling me about a movie he saw the prior weekend. He remarked how it was "eye-opening" about how we treat people around the world, the terror we subject folks to. I said, wow, sounds interesting. Where, what countries, details? He said - ummmmm, I kind of forget, it was late, I was sleepy. I'll bring a copy of it sometime.

Yeah, sure buddy.