There were hundreds (perhaps thousands) of children watching the parade. I'm aware of only one (perhaps two?) actual concrete "they scared my kid" complaints. This is what they call "a heckler's veto".

And this comes in the context of national obliviousness to a lethal U.S. occupation abroad in spite of repeated exposes and scandals. Even locally people are numbly reduced to powerlessness (compare the 3000 to 7000 that marched in Santa Cruz February 2003 against the war).

As a participant in the march and die-in, I noticed as much positive support and applause as it did criticism and boos--though the "Support Our Troops" (By Sending More of Them To Die) float behind us did seem to get more cheers.

My thanks to Art and Revolution for organizing this event, providing costumes and color, and publicizing it. We need more of this. It activates and educates far more than it alienates.

Remember that this small demonstration comes in the wake of official political censorship in prior Santa Cruz parades (at the Vet's Parade in June, and the two First Night parades in 2004 and 2003).

At that time, Art and Revolution and activists generally took no action to counter the official parade censorship. Ineffectual negotiations with First Night's Blake Smith were followed by submission or withdrawal.

The symbolic burka-ed mother keening and carrying a doll splattered with red paint was mild in the extreme compared to what goes on daily in Iraq. It pales next to the priests and activists of the Cantonville 9 who poured their own blood on selective service system files during the Vietnam.

In fact, the danger, it seems to me, is in not raising the cry of rage and anguish to a real level, so that it pierces the anesthetizing mist of media sedation and local complacency that surrounds us.

The anger of those who don't want to face the consequences of U.S. war crimes is actually a positive sign. It indicates we are hitting a nerve.

It'a also part of the cost of raising an issue that can only thrive in an atmosphere of ignorance, powerlessness, fear, and jingoism.