University of Virginia Library

By Rod MacDonald

Washington: No Silence Here

(WASHINGTON) - It seems
fitting for Washington D.C., where
crime in the streets is just a fact of
life, to be the place for a national
march against the war in Vietnam.
But with up to 500,000 people
expected here this weekend for the
peace march, even this city has to
stand up and take notice.

The overall preparations for
such an extravaganza are tremendous.
The New Mobe, or Mobilization
Committee, has set itself up
in an eight floor building which
used to be a professional center but
is now sated for removal. Meanwhile
the Mobe is guarding it with
extreme care, as all-night watch
teams stand just inside the doors at
the main desk. The organization is
intensely afraid of hostile groups;
Wed. night, several Georgetown
students and nearby residents (the
center is in a Negro area) stood
guard when they heard the group of
"Nazis" had threatened to raid the
place. The raid failed to materialize,
but the Mobe took the precaution
of blocking of the entire fourth
floor where the phone banks are
located.

While most students are very
sympathetic, only Georgetown has
offered sleeping quarters to visiting
students, setting up 650 beds for
those arriving from fellow Jesuit
schools. It also celebrated the
events with a bust Tuesday night in
the dormitories. George Washington's
dorms have proclaimed themselves
open, but reportedly do not
have the approval of their administration.
Most private student
houses are full with visiting friends.

And, of course, there are police
precautions. Now that the Justice
Dept. will allow the marchers onto
Pennsylvania Avenue (to everyone's
great relief), the Mobe had decided
to leave the avenue and turn south
onto Fifteenth St., ignoring the
White House. Nonetheless, it is
rumored that the police will place
buses in the marchers' path to keep
them away from the president's
home, and will be armed with tear
gas if necessary. There are also
9000 troops on standby at nearby
military posts, and the Mobe itself
has 2500 "pacifiers" who are
supposed to keep the violent
elements quiet.

Most major newspapers have
staff members here, but the really
effective stories will probably be
developed by the news magazines.
Newsweek, for which this writer is
working, has brought about 20
reporters in from its various
bureaus, who will be stationed at
different vantage points and with
the marchers themselves. The staff
has drawn up elaborate coordination
plans to cover virtually every
possible crew between now and
Sunday morning when the activity
stops. The magazine's direction -
to report the actual feelings of the
peaceniks - is an indicator of the
respect this march has generated.

'Side-shows Too'

Covering all events includes the
side-shows, too, which could be the
most dangerous event of the weekend.
At 5 p.m. Saturday a group of
radicals will picket the Justice
Department on behalf of the
"Chicago Conspiracy," and will
hear a speech from Abbie Hoffman.
Meanwhile, the progressive labor
faction of SDS will picket the
Labor Department while a third
group, composed of the Weathermen,
SDS'ers, Yippies and others,
will follow Jerry Rubin in a march
on the Saigon embassy. The Weathermen
are widely considered the
most violent element of the antiwar
marchers, and the general fear
of violence (not helped any by Mr.
Rubin's claim that he will christen
the embassy the "Provisional
Government of South Vietnam"
after he liberates it) is at its
strongest here. And Sunday, in a
local dispute, marchers will rally at
the controversial Three Sisters
Bridge, to protest its construction.

Spectre Of Violence

The spectre of violence is the
biggest item on everyone's mind
here. Newsweek has provided most
of its "street" staff with helmets
and gas masks; the area National
Guard Units are on alert; the Mobe
itself is working frantically to
subdue elements such as Mark
Rudd's Weathermen; and former
Attorney General Ramsey Clark has
set up a staff of 200 attorneys to
march and compile evidence for
any investigation that would result
from another Chicago-type battle.

Despite all the precautions, the
possibility of violence is strong,
depending largely on the attitude of
the police and the heat generated
by the special rallies. The real
radicals, such as those at the Saigon
embassy rally, have the greatest
propensity toward such activity, but
lack the numbers to carry it off.
The masses, the main stream of the
peace marchers, will not join in
violent activities, and so far the
radical groups have recognized this
fact and have laid off. Since the
greatest numbers of marchers will
not arrive until tomorrow, however,
that status is still shaky; but if there
is no provocation, their "March
Against Death" should not erupt.

Organized Well

The Mobe has organized this
protest well, and if the forty-hour
candlelight march, in which 45,000
single-file marchers will deposit the
names of war dead into coffins,
goes well, the respect for such
peace organizations in the eyes of
the public should increase.
The media will show when this
weekend is over, that this was a
respectable expression of concern
against continuing the war; and the
peace movement will have made
another significant dent in the great
silence of President Nixon's "majority."