The One.org press conference / rally was held behind the Musuem on the back steps right by the Fairmount Waterworks. Brian and I made it there about 8.45a, fifteen minutes before it was set to start. I might note that on our way up the Parkway, the jumbo screens were not broadcasting the live feed from Europe as orignally planned, I have no idea what happened or went wrong. As expected, things got started a little behind schedule at the rally.
Making up the meat of the rally were One.org delegates from all over the U.S. as well as a few from abroad. I heard two people talking to each other, one from India the other from England. The delegates were there for a meet and greet with each other and to discuss their gameplan for the day. Wearing black t-shirts [in the middle of the summer?] with white lettering, they huddled in little groups on the steps of the famous museum. They were told to stay on message throughout the day. I think that this tactic, while effective with its repetitive mass message, is troubling on the net/grassroots side. I'd prefer to have a couple of the delegates come up and share their experiences in their individual precincts to tell others what they found to be effective instead of practicing a re-hashed "message" albeit more time consuming.
Signers of the One.org petition were given white t-shirts [a better choice on this cloudless day] and a One.org bracelet, add that one to the collection were my first thoughts. I'd say around 100 people were at this rally, not including the pair of two-week-old baby goats in attendance. I did not get a chance to find out their story, but needless to say, I'm sure that man with the goats was able to speak to many many people out on the Parkway with attention grabbing baby goats at hand.
What would a press conference on the day of Live8 be without celebrities? Chris Tucker, Jars of Clay, Melissa Fitzgerald, Maria Bello [I loved her in The Cooler] spoke out for the cause.
A Ugandan exile named Derek Kayongo who works with CARE took the podium to talk of his experience and relaying the message that this kind of action works. He is living proof he said. He told us to look at his beautiful African face and to help him bring attention to Africa to help more people live above poverty, to be able to smile, to have a beautiful face like his. He was extremely energetic at this early hour and helped wake me up and start thinking about the bigger picture.
After Derek came three men of the cloth one more preachy than the previous one. Rev. David Beckman spoke first, then Rev. Rick Warren who's sermon-like speech reached me the best out of the three.
Rev. Beckman spoke of the situation in Africa. He asked the people present to think about the African woman who was just then getting up at dawn, thousands of miles away. Waking up hungry that morning, like the morning before, and the morning before that. How she had to go out to the fields to start hacking away at the earth with her short hoe. A short hoe that required her to stay hunched over all day. Hunched over to hack the parched earth for the yams that would feed her family that day. That image stayed in my mind, well after the super-decibel seven-hour concert, up through now, more than twenty-four hours later. That is the only thing that I recall from his speech and what a powerful image he painted. It'll stay in my head for quite some time.
Rev. Warren spoke about how a single snowflake is fragile, but together, many of them can stop traffic. He said how a single raindrop is almost insignificant, but a million, together, can turn a desert into a garden. He went on to say how he was brought up in a Christian household being taught that there was one Earth and one God and now there was an organization called One to unite us all. He reminded us that through organization of groups like this one comes influence and power. He reminded us of how in Germany in the early 1940s, 100,000 German youth took to a field and spelled out a message along the lines of "Hitler, we are yours in service" — I'm not familiar with this scene, but it does recall just how close he came to his ultimate goal. There is considerable power in numbers, enough to overpower other messages, which one will come out on top? History will tell that tale.
After Rev. Warren another man of the cloth took the podium, a man from Philadelphia whose name I did not catch. This man gave more of a sermon than a speech. He preached how we must help the people of Africa because God loves them. We must show God's love to the people there. God, God, God. One attendant let out some Booooos to this line of thinking. Brian interviewed him and his friend afterwards, hopefully he'll put up a podcast for all of us to enjoy soon. This final speaker ended his sermon with a prayer, hand raised in the air towards the Almighty and after the recalling of Hitler just a few minutes prior, eerily similar to the Zeit Heil of the same era.
I may sound anti-religion here, but I'm not. What I am against is how many groups, Christian and non-Christian adopt a cause and use it to achieve an underlying goal of conversion. Convert and we'll help you seems to be the message instead of We'll help you no matter what which is closer to my beliefs.
The rally / press conference adjourned afterwards and headed to the Parkway to disseminate the message. Did anyone come across any of the black-shirted One.org delegates? How did they approach you? What did they say?
