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Flying The ‘Red Flag’ Memorial Weekend
by Comrade Pishta
June 2, 2006

Revolutionary Greetings!

On Sunday, May 21st, ‘Joe’ a WWII veteran was standing at a regular vigil at 15th and High Street on the Ohio State University Campus in Columbus, Ohio. Joe also attends a Saturday vigil that I attend. Joe’s sign says,”Jail Bush.” Joe told me he was walking up the sidewalk arguing about the war in Iraq with an ROTC student in uniform.Hewas attacked from behind by a male in civilian clothes who is thought to be a friend of one of the ROTC Gestapo and is reported to be an OSU Pre-Med student. A witness to this cowardly act told me that the male ran up behind Joe and jumped into the air to hit Joe around the shoulders which knocked him to the ground. The attacker continued to run but was arrested. Although Joe sustained both a injuredwrist and rib in the assault, he was at the Saturday vigil the following week.

On Sunday May 28th, Memorial Weekend, I attended the vigil Joe was injured at with ‘Che’ t-shirt; Red Flag, to honor Joe and all the proletariat who have sacrificed for the struggle. I intentionally stood so that I could be seen from the ROTC ‘house’ across the street. I also had a sign that had Out of Iraq,StopThe War in Spanish and the Arabic symbol for peace on it. Being Memorial weekend, there was no school. This last point is important.

After about 30 minutes and a steady flow of Columbus pig vehicles going by frequently, this SS wannabe in his Air Force ROTC uniform appears across the street. He marches across the street directly to me. I notice that he has some kind of security guard-like belt on. Since school was out for the holiday weekend that meant there were no official school events including ROTC training. So this guy, who was black, had to have put his uniform on for the specific purpose of engaging the anti-war protesters.

He points at my sign and asks”What is this about?”I told him it was about the illegal war on the Iraqi people. He replies,”What about ‘911’?”I said, what about it? He says,”Well, all those people who flew those planes were from Iraq.” I advised him that none of them were from Iraq; were from countries in the Middle East. He says,”Well, military intelligence says they all came from Iraq.” I continued that ‘911’ did not give us permission to be the ‘Cops of the World” like Phil Ochs said. Furthermore, our occupation of the Middle East is about rich-man’s oil money.

At that point, I had enough of this fucking asshole. I told him that I couldn’t believe how stupid he was. He then takes out his cell phone and tells me that ,”I ’m going to have to call some of my boys to come up here and kick your ass.” I yelled out to this chicken shit punk that I would be right here. The weasel mother fucker then walks right over to two oinkers who were watching us nearby. About ten minutes later, three, yes, three pig cars come flying up on me! One cop says‘someone’ filed a complaint(AKA: false police report)that I had threatened him.

The first cop id’s me and runs me through the computer(I kept thinking about that line in Arlo Guthrie’s Alice’s Restaurant when he talks about how the cops got to use their cop equipment they hadn’t used in a while). After not getting a ‘hit’ on me, the fucking oinker then says,”Well, the war is a touchy subject for some people.” Huh? And kinda tough on all the innocent dead Iraqi civilians I’m thinking to myself. I look him directly in the eyes and tell him that I am a decorated Vietnam Veteran and that Joe over there is a WWII vet who was brutally attacked here last week. The pig was speechless.

Unknown to the cop was the fact that another protester standing next to me had overheard the ROTC Nazi-in-training threaten me. We didn’t have to use his witness statement as the cops said,”They would make a report.” Sure, like they want to write another fucking report!

The fanatics still supporting the Christian Fascist regime in state power are becoming smaller in number. However, those remaining are becoming increasingly more aggressive towards demonstrators.

This underscores the importance of keeping heat in the fucking street!

“WE MUST OURSELVES DECIDE OUR DUTY,
WE MUST DECIDE AND DO IT WELL.” ~INTERNATIONALE

In Solidarity,
Comrade Pishta