The unofficial 9/11 rally

Yesterday I attended—along with Bjorn Larsen and Dick Field, a Canadian World War II veteran and anti-jihad activist—the 9/11 anniversary and anti-Ground Zero mosque rally in downtown Manhattan that was hosted by Pamela Geller and Robert Spencer.

I was glad for this rally, as it represented a stirring countervoice to the official rallies which were about accommodation and surrender to Islam. At the same time I have to say that even the patriotic and anti-jihad voices, as welcome as they were, seemed to me like voices lost in the wilderness. A viable and coherent pro-Western civilization and anti-Islamization movement does not yet exist; it remains to be created. I’ll have more to say about the rally later.

At Atlas Shrugs, there is a photo of the crowd taken from the stage. In the foreground on the right, you can see me, in a fedora and light shirt. Bjorn Larsen is to my left, wearing a black shirt and facing away from the camera. Dick Field is a little behind me and to the right, with a red jacket. How did we get into the speaker’s area, you may wonder. As we were approaching the rally, we ran into Aryeh Eldad, the Israeli general and politician who was one of the speakers, and tagged along with him, and thus were admitted into the speakers’ pen. Eldad is directly to my left and behind me, with balding head and glasses.

UPDATE, 10 p.m.: Here’s another photo a reader sent. You can see me way over at the right, standing behind Robert Spencer who is speaking to someone. I avoided any eye contact or personal interaction with Spencer, who probably doesn’t know what I look like anyway. I’m a peaceful sort, and didn’t want to create any unpleasantness by my presence there.

Comments

Stogie writes:

Subject: Love the fedora

Good to see you out and about.

LA replies:

Thanks.

Robert B. writes:

I like the hat.

Posted by Lawrence Auster at September 12, 2011 02:04 PM | Send