At least one of the fifty some vets of Afghanistan and Iraq who tossed away their medals on Sunday, May 20, as part of the anti-NATO demonstrations in Chicago, wore a kufiya. Not one of those military-issue khaki ones, but a red one.
The photo above is a screen save from the following report on the event. Please note the vet who tosses his medal, starting at 0:37. That is Jacob George, from my hometown of Fayetteville, Arkansas, who has been riding around the country on his bicycle for two years, organizing against the war and playing banjo. Read about his project, called A Ride Till the End, here.
Forty one years prior to this event, on April 23, 1971, as part of an anti-war action organized by Vietnam Veterans Against the War, over 800 Nam vets tossed their medals, ribbons, discharge papers, and the like, at the US Capitol. The event was widely covered, and part of a major, ongoing mobilization against the Vietnam War. Alas, the anti-war actions in the US these days are, by contrast to those events, are a whimper.
Here's a video of that dramatic event:
2 comments:
In the same protest vein, the new Jay-Z amd Kanye West video features a riot with plenty of Kufiyas.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FJt7gNi3Nr4
thanks!
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