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Published: June 30th 2006
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The Falun Gong Protest
So this is the protest i was talking about. So on Wednesday night the 19th I left Boston on a greyhound bus headed for Washington DC. The bus left at 10.30pm and went via New York, which was a 45 min layover which was just wonderful, especially given that all seats by the gate I had to wait at where taken by sleeping homeless (I didn't mind, I mostly just felt bad). I arrived in DC at 8 in the morning. After leaving my stuff at the hostel, I walked to the Whitehouse.
By far the most interesting part of my trip was the first thing that I saw was a protest by Chinese Falun Gong supporters who were protesting against the torture and captive holding of those who practice the religion by the Chinese communist government in camps which are basically concentration camps. It was one of the most impressive protests I have ever witnessed. Instead of crazy sign wielding loud mouthed students running around, it was organised, quiet and respectful. They where performing traditional dances in traditional attire, they didn't pester you with information but rather simply offered you them if you wanted them. But it was massive; they weren't just in front of the white house but
The Protest
You can see how big it is all through the surrounding streets.
What did disgust me was the number of Americans I saw who completely ignored them and just walked past them, without a great deal of concern (sound familiar, ww2 anyone?).
Anyway, the Whitehouse is pretty cool, I only found out recently, and this is something a patriotic Canadian told (certainly no American told me) was that originally the white house was brick but during the war of 1812 Canadians burnt it down. The Americans rebuilt it but this time made it white. So that's why it's white which is pretty cool. As enthusiastic as I was to explore Washington I was exhausted after the bus ride (in spite of having two seats to myself, sleep was a rare luxury broken into brief spurt by a slamming toilet door and children who apparently, also don't sleep well on a bus), unable to actually check into a room at the hostel I retreated to a park where I fell asleep.
The hostel I was staying at (which, just for your information, if you're looking for a hostel that is mildly overpriced, but very clean, organised, reasonably safe for a hostel, but pretty much entirely antisocial then any
HI hostel is the way to go...but if ever you're looking for something a little more social and a lot more fun, then steer clear. The atmosphere consistently sucks. But they are consistently very clean and pleasant.) has information about tours etc so I went along to one through Georgetown. The group I went with was cool, we were all pretty young. The tour was a night one of Georgetown and it was beautiful, I saw three houses that JFK levied in before and through his time in politics before he moved into the Whitehouse. Georgetown is stunning. We saw Georgetown University which was established in 1789 (so it's like, you know, older than Australia, but anyway...) and it's a pretty cool university. And near by are the Hitchcock steps (otherwise known as the steps at the end of The Exorcist).
At the end we all went on for a drink at a nearby pub (sorry, bar) I don't remember the name of it nor the movie that was made about it (I’m writing this about two and a half months after this all happened, so don't expect me to remember everything. I had a journal with basic details but
You know it
I would have liked to go on a tour through it....but you have to contact your local government and get them to organise it for you a couple of month in advance...i don't know what you do if you're not a citizen. some dodgy bastard at the Canadiana in Toronto stole it. Who steals a journal? Seriously?) anyway I decided being under 21 was no real reason for me not to sneak in and drink, so I did and it was a pretty good night, the place was pretty quiet but the music was good and there was plenty of drunken fools (I mean that in the most pleasant manner) who got a silly amount of enjoyment out of the Australian accent and largely enlightened me to some people's outright ignorance to...well....the rest of the world. When I wasn't offended I was largely amused ("so like, if you Aussies want to go to New Zealand do you like, just jump on a ferry across?"). By the end of the night I’d had one political argument, convinced one American girl that in Australia Kangaroos deliver the mail, informed a concerning large number of people that, no, our prime minister is not called Andy, and punishment for breaking the law does not, in fact, include an oversized boot. Oh and given up on any mixed drink that has coke in it cos even if you ask them not to, they put it with LIME
and it's horrible.
So anyway, I spent the next day with this Australian girl (I don't recall her name, I’m terrible with names, Erica maybe?ali?), and we explored as much of Washington as you can in a day. We saw the Lincoln memorial, the National Mall (it's not a shopping complex) it's like a big area of grass that runs parallel with the pool of reflection and from it you can see the Washington monument (it's the big one. We decided its existence was pretty funny....a phallic symbol only appropriate for a country with an ego as large as Americas.) And the Whitehouse next to each other. We saw the Vietnam Veterans Memorial, and then onto the holocaust museum. Don't get me started on that place. It's a disgrace. Basically the place is less about the holocaust and more about Americas all round greatness and how in the Second World War and in terms of liberating concentration camps, America came in conquered, saved the day and everyone loves them. They had a few fairly watered down, and I’ll go as far as to say token, stories about peoples journeys from civilisation to concentration camps. They successfully managed to tip toe
see what i mean
They where demure but they weren't wrought or irate around the majority of the story and actual history, because really it's the only grandiose way they could display themselves. As you can tell, the place pissed me off. To call it a museum, I felt, was a little inaccurate.
I left Washington the next day, on a much dodgier but cheaper bus. The china town bus (so runs between New York’s and Washington’s china towns). Washington is a pretty amazing place and of the few places I got to see in the US I’m glad it was one of them. It was incredibly enlightening.
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