Politically speaking, six years ago was very much the photonegative of the current environment. Then, as now, a single political party was just settling into control over the White House and both branches of Congress (2003 was the first year Republicans controlled all three levers since 1954). Then, as now, there was a palpable sense of international crisis. Then, as now, a protest movement was created in opposition to the policies the new Washington trifecta was enacting in response to the crisis. The major event for both movements even took place on the 15th day of a month.
The February 15, 2003 anti-war protest was a coordinated day of protests across the world against the imminent invasion of Iraq. Millions of people protested in approximately 800 cities around the world. According to BBC News, between six and ten million people took part in protests in up to sixty countries over the weekend of the 15th and 16th; other estimates range from eight million to thirty million. (...)
100,000 protesters (BBC estimate) took part in a rally near the UN building.... As people tried to reach the rally area they ended up constituting an unplanned march, stretching twenty blocks down First Avenue and overflowing onto Second and Third Avenue. In total estimates range from been 300,000 to 400,000 protesters (WSWS estimate) to over a million protesters (Berlin Heise estimate)
At a demonstration in Los Angeles, California 50,000 (WSWS estimate to 60,000 (GLW estimate) protesters...
a protest in San Francisco... 150,000 people, while protest organisers and police agreed that the crowd count was 200,000 people...
In Colorado Springs, 4,000 protesters were dispersed with pepper spray, tear gas, stun guns and batons...
In Seattle organisers aimed to have 20 to 30 thousand people join a march from Seattle Center following a giant blue planet, the emblem adopted by the march organisers. On the day 50,000 people (GLW estimate) turned out to protest...
Demonstrations also took place in Philadelphia, where thousands (CNN estimate) joined a march to the Liberty Bell, and in Chicago where 10,000 people demonstrated (GLW estimate)
About 200 people gathered at Center City's Love Park for a midday "tea party" to protest excessive government spending.
The Philadelphia report seems typical, as reports around the country seem to peg just about every tea party in the "hundreds" range. This places the tea parties about two or three decimal places behind the early 2003 anti-war rallies.
FAIR examined the 393 on-camera sources who appeared in nightly news stories about Iraq on ABC World News Tonight, CBS Evening News, NBC Nightly News and PBS's NewsHour with Jim Lehrer. The study began one week before and ended one week after Secretary of State Colin Powell's February 5 presentation at the U.N., a time that saw particularly intense debate about the idea of a war against Iraq on the national and international level.
More than two-thirds (267 out of 393) of the guests featured were from the United States. Of the U.S. guests, a striking 75 percent (199) were either current or former government or military officials. Only one of the official U.S. sources--Sen. Edward Kennedy (D.-Mass.)--expressed skepticism or opposition to the war.(...)
Half of the non-official U.S. skeptics were "persons in the street"; five of them were not even identified by name. Only one U.S. source, Catherine Thomason of Physicians for Social Responsibility, represented an anti-war organization. Of all 393 sources, only three (less than 1 percent) were identified with organized protests or anti-war groups.
The ratio of turnout at the anti-war and teaparty protests compared to the amount of pre-event coverage they received is certainly well-over 100-1 in favor of the anti-war protests. Hell, the overall turnout difference is close to 100-1 as it is, given that a minimum of six million people participated back on February 15th, 2003. Did 60,000 people attend tea party rallies? Unless you are counting media personnel, probably not.
If these protests are supposedly a sign of renewed activist vigor on the American right, then I am both unimpressed and unconcerned. MoveOn could have gotten more people to a rally on their own. The teaparty movement is simply not mobilizing an impressive number of people.
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