A Sunday with Anarchists

Last week two different people mailed me the same notice about a march to protest a march. I was immediately intrigued, because the more I heard about the event, the more improbable and bizarre it sounded.

Did you know that people march for Capitalism here in the United States? They do! There's something called worldwide capitalism day, where people take to the streets to support the idea behind the system of McDonalds', Starbucks, The Gap, and all that jazz. I was fascinated by the idea of a march for capitalism because 1) I've never seen a march for anything status quo before 2) It's not like capitalism is endangered or anything and 3) I just had to know who the "march for capitalism" people would turn out to be.

Two of my friends e-mailed me the notice for the counter-protest against the march for capitalism, which was sent out by the Boston Anarchists Against Militarism. I had been hearing a lot about anarchist activity in New England over the last 6 months, and I was curious about them as well. We have anarchists in Tennessee, but they never really seem to do much, and the ones I met always sort of struck me like kids who wanted to be like rappers even though they lived in white Tennessee suburbs. They claimed to follow anarchist philosophy, but never seemed to do anything about it.

And the idea of the anarchists and the capitalists meeting up in the Boston Common sounded sort of thrilling and exciting. At least, I reasoned, I could get a few good pictures, and a better idea of who these people were. So on Sunday, at 11am, I rode the B line to the Park Street T stop where all the marchers were supposed to meet. The whole way I was sort of tired and out of it, convinced that the place would be swarming with young Republicans in blue blazers - who else would schedule a protest before noon on a weekend?

I saw my friend Josh there, but no one else. The Park street T stop was pretty empty. No young Republicans, no scruffy anarchists. Just me with the digital camera I had checked out from Simmons and Josh with a nice 35mm. We thought there was going to be this huge event or maybe even a riot, but we weren't prepared for a no-show. We saw Jack from Countway walking home from his gym, and he stopped and laughed with us, and eventually we spotted what looked like 2 Capitalists and 2 Anarchists. What I had thought to be a fairly amusing turnout for the event just got funnier as the anarchists tipped us off that the "capitalists" were actually just more anarchists who had decided to sort of 'cross dress' in order to infiltrate the other side.

After an hour, only a few more anarchists showed up and I was on the verge of just saying "this is busted" and going home. But then Josh started talking to the anarchists and we found out that the capitalists were actually converging about a block down, in front of the Boston tourist welcome center. So off we went to look at the capitalist marchers, who turned out to be 2 more people. The covert anarchists doubled their numbers by going undercover as capitalists.

Things just got more and more absurd.

Josh and I sat down and chatted while everyone milled around talking. The anarchists and the capitalists seemed to be getting along fairly well, talking and mixing. The two capitalists turned out to be the guy who runs a pro-capitalism website and a girl who had co-ordinated the march. 6 or 7 more anarchists showed up, and 3 or 4 more actual capitalists. The capitalists had printed - up tee shirts and American flags. The anarchists had signs they made on old cardboard, and some of the anarchists had on suits that didn't quite fit just right - they were tying to be dressed up as corrupt corporate people. I started taking pictures, and a young anarchist sat down by Josh and we chatted a bit. He was just 18 or 19 and had a knit cap and scruffy hair and blue eyes and I could tell he just loved the fact that the anarchists outnumbered the capitalists. If I were 17 I would have totally been all over the guy - he was so young and so cute and so full of conviction. The anarchist plan was to jump the capitalists' march - to march along with them sort of making fun of them. The capitalists could tell all ready that the afternoon was not going to go their way, and were just sort of resigned to it. The capitalists' co-ordinator, a blonde with an Express bag and a cigarette and an American flag - was nice enough to talk to me a bit and I took a good picture of her. It was all ready clear that the anarchists were going to outnumber them, and win the day, but she was still going to march for capitalism. I was impressed by that. More Anarchists showed up, some with snazzier signs, and a couple more capitalists.

The march started in the Common and I got some great shots of the parade with the Capitol building in the background. The anarchists had signs that said things like "EAT THE POOR" and "LAYOFFS ARE GOOD" that sort of mocked the "SUPPORT CAPITALISM" signs that the real marchers had. Josh and I ran around everywhere, behind the march, to the side of them, in front of them, getting different angles on the spectacle of 25 people rallying down the freedom trail and through Downtown Crossing in such a weird way. The marchers chanted "BUY MORE COPS" when the police cars started to follow them around, and things like that - it was really funny.

The whole parade ended up in front of Fanueil Hall, and they sang the National Anthem in front of the statue of Sam Adams there. I couldn't stop grinning. The poor capitalists were just besieged, but all of them, in front of Sam Adams singing - man, that's America to me. There were the normal guys and the capitalists and then all these college students and anarchists and a guy who put signs on his dog and some skateboarder kids who joined in just for fun. And the sun was shining, and it was Sunday, and I knew there was no where else on the planet where I would ever see such a thing. The cops stayed in their cars, looking a little nervous, but I smiled and waved at one and he smiled back. No one behaved badly in front of Sam Adams, and they all stood there and disagreed with each other and sang loudly and badly.

With all the bad stuff that's been happening in our country lately, I needed that. I needed to see the anarchists and the capitalists walk side by side even thought they were against each other. I needed to see them sing in front of Sam Adams: revolutionary, patriot, and beer maker. I know it probably only happens so nicely in Boston, but that's why I love this town.