THE ART OF NONVIOLENT PROTEST AND PATRIOTISM

I remember protesting against the Iraq war before it started. A group of us were in Lafayette Square in D.C., we were blocked from the White House side by the Park police so we were along H Street NW with our signs and flags. Some people honked, cheered and waved in support, and some yelled obscenities and flipped us off. To those who flipped us off and or yelled "F@*K YOU" I would always respond "No thank you!" Some of my fellow protesters asked why I said that and I told them it is a very disarming response, the people who yell f@*k you aren't expecting that and it throws them. Proof came when the traffic light on H St stopped traffic and a car full of guys were yelling f@*k you at us and several of us yelled back no thank you! The guys in the car just sat there and then started laughing and when they went by a couple even flashed the peace sign at us. Soon "no thank you" was the response most of the protesters were using to that obscenity, and even the cops that were standing nearby were laughing at the exchanges. Rather than get into a meaningless verbal conflict with those who opposed us the situation dissolved into a comic exchange. 
On another day when I was at Lafayette Square early to help set up for the days protest a group of military guys based at Ft Myer approached me. The cops watching from across the street must have been concerned because they actually crossed the street to the park side and were watching. These guys aggressively verbally attacked those of us protesting the coming war as being unpatriotic. I asked them if their units were going to be deployed to Iraq, they were not. I asked them if any of them had asked for transfer to a unit that was going to be deployed to Iraq, they had not and were not considering that (to a man, and there were about 10 of them). I asked them if one of the main responsibilities of our military was to protect our freedom and civil liberties why did they have a problem with us exercising our rights and our freedom of expression? About half of them told me I was talking shit and walked away, but the rest actually stayed, and while I stood along H ST with my flag and anti-war sign (yelling no thank you when necessary, and when I explained that to them they thought it was hysterical and we shared a good laugh) we discussed our views of the coming war in Iraq and the military and American freedom and civil liberty and all sorts of things. When they finally wandered off after a good hour or so, we didn't part as friends, but we weren't enemies either. I sometimes wonder what became of those young men, and hope, if they did end up in Iraq or Afghanistan, that they survived, came home whole and are living good lives. This from Thomas Merton...

"The important thing about protest is not so much the short-range possibility of changing the direction of policies, but the longer range aim of helping everyone gain an entirely new attitude toward war. Far from doing this, much current protest simply reinforces the old positions by driving the adversary back into the familiar and secure mythology of force. Hence the strong 'patriotic' reaction against protests in the United States. How can one protest against war without implicitly and indirectly contributing to the war mentality?"
- Thomas Merton, from New Seeds of Contemplation