War Against War
Special Anti-war Coverage from Annoy.com

Shock and Awe

While the Pentagon chose this cute phrase to characterize the second assault on Baghdad, it seems to better reflect the reaction of most of the civilized war to America’s flagrant disregard for international law, and its audacity to wage a war while its citizens are unemployed, starving and homeless.

CNN, the bastion of fair and independent journalism, took time out from promoting the sexiness of their anchors to report that the cost of the first 25 Tomahawk missiles launched in the first hour of the first day in the war with Iraq was more than fifty times the annual HUD budget to End Homelessness in America.

On the streets of San Francisco, home to Annoy.com, we have witnessed an outrage that appears to show no signs of letting up. People are determined to make their voices heard, and while large political rallies and anti-war demonstrations in pre-determined zones are helpful by virtue of their sheer numbers, it’s the renegade spin-offs that are blocking streets, causing traffic delays and giving the police a run for their money (and yours).

With massive arrests and grit-iron determination, it is they who are on the front lines of a growing movement in the United States. A war against war.

A diverse group of talented, caring, dangerous, flawed and agenda-driven coalitions are hard to peg and hard to stop. This feature covers the good, the bad and the ugly of where we find ourselves today on the streets of San Francisco, the epicenter of America's anti-war movement.
In one foul swoop, Annoy.com's Clinton Fein reminds you why it's so important to vote this November. See what happens when you match the correct cliche with the appropriate image!
 

For thousands of Iraqis, liberation has been nothing short of laser guided destruction and horror. The recent furor that arose following the release of images of dead servicemembers returning to Dover Air Base in flag-draped coffins, did more than hit home the cost of American lives. It demonstrated that, for all it many flaws, the U.S. military treats its dead with dignity and respect. For one thing, they count them. America’s policy of not counting the dead is not likely to win any points in the battle for hearts and minds. Nor is the treatment of those injured, let alone those killed. Clinton Fein’s Sweet Dreams is simply a compilation of photographs from all over the globe that doesn’t answer any questions, but suggests that the American Dream, for those in Iraq, is not so sweet.

 

A slide video presentation made possible by a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request by First Amendment advocate, Russ Kick, and made available on his web site www.thememoryhole.org. A Pentagon ban, supported by the Bush Administration forbids the taking of pictures of dead soldiers -- the practice of which many believe changed America's course in Vietnam. To date, over 700 Americans have been killed in Iraq since George W. Bush declared war, but the practice of only counting Americans is perhaps the most troubling of all.

 

Clinton Fein's audio-visual slide show, One Summer, captures a moment in time in San Francisco when the city said no to war. The apathy that followed the anti-war movement's inability to stop the war was preceeded by the passion evident of those appearing in this production.

Click to view the slide show

 

We explore the actions and tactics of a brave and concerted group of people who are not prepared to take the kind of abuse being heaped on them, and others, lying down. The added influx of trouble makers from other cities, and the sometimes confusing messages from varying alternate groups with differing agendas, all the vying for attention, makes the documentation as complex as the reality.

Click to view The People image series

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While many of the police are doing their jobs whilst trying to weigh the balance of what side they want to be on in this war, the bottom line is that they are being forced to arrest people whose elected -- and unelected -- representatives have failed them. Some are not behaving at all.

Click to view The Police image series

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