First Look Support Denmark Rally NYC

Just off the street, here's a first look at the delicious Rally held in NYC in Support of Denmark - organized by Snark Smith -a lovelier group of freedom lovers you will never meet. So lovely in fact, someone was kind enough to serve Havarati cheese and crackers. So great.And so polite.

Large cross section of people that never protest, were not bussed in, came out on their own volition. In other words, these were not pros. As one woman pointed out to me, many of the attendees had never been to a protest or rally before. This was not staged. Grass Roots at the root.Bitter cold too.
More Video to follow........gotta get home

And while the rally started off slow, it was a good strong turnout, thats Judith of KesherTalk holding the sign.

Lisa Vincent, Iraq War blogger- StevenVincent's widow (see left sidebar  under True Heros) and make sure you catch her speech on the video when I post it later. She is an amazing woman carrying the torch for her husband, her country. 

Mary from the blog Exit Zero
(btw, I am cruising on the Grand Central Parkway as we speak)

Everyone spoke of their love of freedom, their unequivocal support of the Danes. There was a genuine concern that Denmark was taking an enormous amount of heat for a basic fundamental right. Very cool crowd.

At  one point the police (two fabi women) said we could not congregate in front of 2nd and 47th and we had to move (!) and so the roaming rally crossed the street to the promenade. I chatted on Alex who wrote this piece on the London bombings for Heyoka (an online mag). He was covering the event,  working on  a cartoon jihad piece for them as well.

There was no media. NONE. Imagine if it were a Muslim rally. No rent o'media here folks. NONE. But one sweet gentlemen showed up from The Statesman.

Across the street at the Dag Hammarskjöld (now there was a great UN Secretary General) plaza.

Great moment - when a ginormous 18 wheeler coming down Second Avenue starts blaring and toot toot tooting his horn in Solidarity with us.........crowd went wild.

Trying to ge tthat video up. I sent it over to Pajama Media, so maybe they can get their arms around it. I haven't videoed an event before so I am trying to upload the files to video egg. I am not tech girl.

Fellow LGFer Joseph sent me this happy pic of us ..........good to know you Joseph. He's a newbie to the blogosphere and loving it. Thanks for the shot.

I tried ordering a Danish flag off a Danish site and got this large flag streamer which, while unintended is very chic............up on my flagpole it will go.

Blogmeister has great coverage  here as does The Resplendent Mango,

Erudite  Jason, of the brilliant blog Liberty and Culture,  caught cool images for  The Infidels Bloggers Alliance, love the one of moi..........
The Invisible Hand was not, he was quite visible here.

Comments

[foreign devil]

Cool pics Pamela and good turnout too! My heart was with you but I'm in Toronto. NOTHING on FOX so far. I'll check CNN next.

[Jason Pappas]

Here are so more http://ibloga.blogspot.com/2006/03/solidarity-with-denmark.html>photos.

[Stan LS]

Hey, I was there :)

[wxjames]

Who dat smilin' behind windblown hair ?
It's our grrrlll reporter on the scene.

[Dinah Lord]

Mange tak, Atlas.

(Danish for thank you very much)

Skal - Dinah
(cheers)

[lilrepubgirl]

ahh i wish i could have been there - you look adorable, atlas :)

[Pete Bogs]

like I really need an excuse to buy butter cookies, cheese, beer or Legos! this is a great idea... we are all Danish now!

[illum]

Heartwarming pictures! Glad to see you guys supporting what our dhimmi-politicians in Sweden don't want to admit, that Sweden is behind Denmark all the way!

And oh ... islamist monoculture isn't multiculture, in case any dhimmis are reading ... ;)

[Vanessa]

Why are you featuring a rally that defends freedom of speech while you have a image on your website that snubs the American Civil Liberties Union. Isn't that a contridiction?

Also, in response to another reader's comment, most protests (left-leaning as well as right-leaning) are not featured on the news. No surprise there.

[Johnathan]

This a wonderful cause and I commend everyone who got out there in the cold to defend their freedom of speech. It is too bad the news did not cover this important event.

"Historically, at times of national stress -- real or imagined -- First Amendment rights come under enormous pressure. During the "Red Scare" of the early 1920s, thousands were deported for their political views. During the McCarthy period, the infamous blacklist ruined lives and careers.

Today, the creators, producers and distributers of popular culture are often blamed for the nation’s deep social problems. Calls for censorship threaten to erode free speech.

The First Amendment exists precisely to protect the most offensive and controversial speech from government suppression. The best way to counter obnoxious speech is with more speech. Persuasion, not coercion, is the solution."

- from the ACLU website
http://www.aclu.org/freespeech/index.html

God Bless Us All.

[Alex]

Haha welcome back Vanessa! I see you have recovered well from your coma and are cruising the blogosphere again. You've got a lot of catching up to do on the ACLU!

~ Alex

P.S. if you were in a cave the last 20 years, forgive my assumptions.

[Vanessa]

Alex,
That isn't really an answer. Can you elaborate?

~Vanessa

.....AHA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA.....

[JohnAnnArbor]

Pamela, that might be a masthead pennant you have there. It's flown from the mast of commissioned warships. The US Navy has something similar.

....AHA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA . . . . ..

[Ruble]

Zogby has accused Israel of abusing human rights and acting like a colonizer, similar to the "genocidal treatment of the Native Americans and enslavement of African-Americans."'

He is a known Anti-Semite and hater of Israel.

[Thomas Carney]

Vanessa must either be stirring the pot or she lives in a dream world. The ACLU is NOT for free speech at all.

Pamela, I'm glad you and the others got a chance to go and support Denmark. They need the support.

[Alex]

"Why are you featuring a rally that defends freedom of speech while you have a image on your website that snubs the American Civil Liberties Union. Isn't that a contridiction?"

Are you trolling Vanessa? The ACLU couldn't be farther away from free speech advocacy then, say, CAIR.

I thought you were joking, so I joked back.

[RedStateWarrior]

Pamela-

I'm a long time reader but not a big poster but I wanted to say something.

I just read the Zogby post where you got the two Zogbys mixed up. It really doesn't help our cause when we make a mistake and don't correct it or even own up to it.

It just makes us look like we are making stuff up or want to win at any cost-- not matter if that's not true. We are the party of honor and truth and this hurts our credibility.

Trust is in short supply these days. If you had just said that you got the two guys mixed up it would have been an honest mistake. I've lost a lot of respect for you over this and may not come back to your blog.

We need to be better than the liberals.

[Yahuda Cohn]

While we all appreciate free speech, I think it only fair to point out that in several European countries it is a crime to deny the Holocaust, which is a curtailment of free speech that no one complains about that. And, we would never see a similarly insulting cartoon about Jews or Judaism from those same papers.

I think it is universally understood that insulting someone's religion is not good and should probably be avoided -- freedom speech notwithstanding.

"...you got the two Zogbys mixed up..."

That's a charitable characterization -- I prefer the clearer: "simply didn't know they were two different people."

Of course, such a startling admission would call into serious question the depth and breadth of the knowledge base of the writer.

Hmmm.

[The Cynic]

This entire website discredits Ayn Rand and the Objectivism movement so thoroughly I think it is safe to consider the philosophy completely molested and perverted into something even Ayn Rand wouldn't recognize and might even be shocked to see. I suggest you find a new hobby or start a new blog under another moniker. After this Zogby ordeal I find it very hard to believe anyone can take you seriously.

For you to pretend to defend free speech when you have shut off comments for an article, forcing comments on that article to appear in off topic threads, is not only hypocritical, it is hysterically so. You are a disgrace to your kind and I hope your fellow travelers on the neocon right see you for the idiot you are.

[DeWayne]

Pamela take picture!

"Oh god. Ayn Rand. Fourteen year olds of the world unite! The car keys shall be yours by sheer force of will! Objectivism requires it!"
Kieran Healy

[lowandslow]

Good grief, the minute you shut off TypeKey the nuts come in.
Anyways, nice job with the pictures Pamela.

[neil]

Are the Zogby brothers Denmarkish? Or Whatever? Do you have the catalog number to that watch? And do you prefer ribbed or regular?

[John Zogby]

I am a known anti-semite? In your view isn't everyone?

John

[Forward-CPH]

Thank you for the support

Forward-CPH

PS: Your "flag" appears to be pennant or what is called a "vimpel" in Danish. People often fly it from their flagstaff to shown that they are home.

http://aalborgflagfabrik.dk/dk/mappe2/danske_flag/vimpel.htm

[Seldona]

LOL

Why waste your time with such nonsense? Though from reading the hilarious Zogby post, I guess I can understand why.

Now go ahead and delete this post so you can show everyone just how much you support free speech, except when it points out that you are an idiot.

LOL

Let’s apply Randian logic:

-- If someone insults Judaism, they're anti-Semitic.

-- If they insult Islam, they're exercising free speech.

Hmmm, a paragon of fairness?

It seems to be hypocritical for someone who talks so much about anti-Semitism to support cartoons that insult someone else's religion.

[GaijinBiker]

When Jews threaten to kill people for publishing anti-Semitic cartoons, that's when publishing anti-Semitic cartoons will become a statement of support for free speech.

[generationThen]

Pow!

Anonymous drive-by ignorance crushed by Gaijin.

[John C. Randolph]

Mr Cynic:

In what way has your freedom of speech been impeded by Pamela's choices as to what she will and will not display on HER web site? Get a blog of your own. Takes all of a minute if you can type.

Ayn Rand didn't print every bit of hate mail she got in the Ayn Rand Letter, did she?

Now, go snivel somewhere else.

-jcr

[derek]

did you guys pitch it to anyone? alert the media at all? Get it on the AP daybook? It's hard to know how many ppl. there were from your photos, and this isn't nearly as newsworthy as it would have been three weeks ago, but it's a shame you didn't get any coverage at all.

(Incidentally, about 300-400 Muslims rallied against the cartoons Feb. 5 at the U.N., and that hardly got any coverage either -- I think in part because very news organizations knew about it.)

[Indigo Red]

Thank you so very much, Pamela.

The Denmark Rally NYC was an important event and if it wwasn't for bloggers like you no one would have known it ever happened. The photos are proof positive that Americans and Danes love freedom and support that right without which we have no other right.

This past Tuesday, I attended The Great Cartoon Debate at UC Irvine. Feel free to read my observations and the most generous comments. Sorry - no photos.

[Raymond B]

Nice to see all the support for free speech. I hope Muslims don't look at this as a slap in the face, rather they need to see it as an expression of freedom.
Raymond B
www.voteswagon.com

[lowandslow]

That has got to be a personal best for you Pamela on trackbacks, nice work.

[Isaac Babel]

Wow! I just read the Zogby post and I must say ... I'm convinced. That Zogby guy is so biased! The mainstream media are a bunch of liberal pussies! I think Bush should just go ahead and declare martial law. And Michael Powell should come back and take over PBS. First things first: take that Zogby guy out and shoot him. On PBS. Or better yet. Stone him! You know, like his muslim brothers like to do to. You know, what's that called? Poetic Justice! And then I think we should go ahead and drop a daisy cutter on the ACLU headquarters. On PBS. In primetime. Cause once those America-hating ACLU liberal pussies are out of the way, we can finally roll all that footage of schools opening and fingers being dipped in ink and powerplants and sewage treatment plants and soldiers healing little babies blown up by the islamocrazyfashomasosadists! On PBS! In primetime! Cause we're winning in Iraq We're winning in Iraq We're winning in Iraq Sing it with me now! We're winning in Iraq We're winning in ... Hold on. What's this? One of my liberal pussy friends just IM'd me. You got the wrong Zogby? What? WHAT?! There are ... two Zogbys? How can that ... OH MY GOD! I can't believe this! Wait! I have an idea, Pamela! Maybe, just maybe, if you are that willfully misinformed. That ready to push a square peg of zealotry into a round hole of fact ... Maybe Bush will give you one of those recess appointments he's famous for! He could really use the help and with the Abramoff affair just getting started, I have a feeling there's going to be a lot of vacancies. So, quick! Fax your CV over to Karl soon. And make sure you put that Zogby post front and center. He'll love it.
Keep it up, Pamela! You're doing great!

[lowandslow]

Isaac Babel
Your off topic, pointless, incoherent rant disguised as satire fails to amuse me.
No soup for you, NEXT!

[Athos]

Pamela - Kudos on the report and photos.

Made me miss my days working in Manhattan, where my office was a short distance from the Cuban mission - and joining a number of protests there during lunch hour.

[Thomas]

I find the comments here so funny. The cheer leading for Jewish people makes me sick because I myself am a Jew. To all the non-Jews reading this, if you honestly think that Jews are a whole group are a non-violent group then you are nuts. There are hundreds, if not thousands of examples, over the last few THOUSAND years when Jews have taken up arms against people for criticizing their way of life and their religion. USA Today, for example, had an article called Vigilantes Take Up Arms to Expel 'Muslim Filth' by By Jack Kelly published on September 4, 2001. Amnesty International wrote a report entitled Israel/Occupied Territories: Israeli settlers wage campaign of intimidation on Palestinians and internationals alike which chronicled efforts by settlers to take up arms against anyone reporting the abuses at their hands. So are we Jews completely innocent? No way. Search for how Jews treat holocaust deniers. For example, Michael Hoy went to speak at Ohio State many years ago and received 13 death threats and a bomb scare. So don't think for one second that Jews don't do the same thing. Those of us who are moderates condemn these sorts of acts but we have our share of extremists as well. Until we as Jews can admit that we act no similarly in circumstances when we are attacked, no one will take us seriously. Think about it Pamela.

[sarah]

Another all blather and lather piece of self-aggrandizement. Do you really think you have accomplished anything by attending a rally?

If you weren't so chickenshit you'd post the cartoons themselves. They are easily available through a simple net search.

Gutless wonder!

[pst314]

Er, this blog DID post the cartoons.

sarah, some cretinous troll is using your name to post stuff. You ought to look into it before you develop a world-wide reputation for arrogant stupidity.

[ExposingIslam]

What a great turn out you guys had.If we would of know we would of joined you.We just had rallies in 21 states against Islamofascim.At Ground Zero 2 Muslims even showed up to protest us.Talk abou tno respect!!
http://www.unitedamericancommittee.org/photo_gal/raid11.htm

http://www.unitedamericancommittee.org

[isaac babel]

lowandslow: only reason i posted in this section was cause pamela CLOSED comments for the zogby section.

but, i must say, your soup NAZI reference was particularly apt. i am glad that you at least saw it as satire. though i think the guy who talked about "strangling zogby with his own intestines" in the comments section (before it was CLOSED) might not have caught that. by and large, i think most of you folks really would drop a daisy cutter on the aclu if you had the chance. and you would like to see zogby (any zogby!) stoned or shot. but the american chickenhawk obsession with bloodletting is no laughing matter. hard to forget the cheerleading on faux-news when our boys were staging the saddam statue pull down. bottom line: whichever "poll" you choose to believe, between 30,000 and 100,000 human souls have perished in iraq since george w's god-inspired misadventure began. take that number and double or triple it for the amount maimed. and triple it again for those just psychologically maimed. is that the culture of life we keep hearing about? but hey, don't stop, lowandslow. you guys are really on to something. if they won't behave and instantly adopt jeffersonian democracy, why, we'll just kill it into them! the new pax americana! instead of "create a desert and call it peace" - GO TO the desert, bomb the hell out of it, and call it peace. (or at least "mission accomplished.") so, let's hear it, lowandslow: we're winning in iraq we're winning in iraq we're winning in iraq we're winning in (keep saying it and keep those fingers in your ears!)iraq we're winning in iraq ...

[derek]

Thomas - re that USA Today article, "Vigilantes Take Up Arms to Expel 'Muslim Filth'" ... try googling its author, Jack Kelley. or read this

[the dane]

hmmm... nice to see that alot of people support my country. but many of the danish words are spelled wrong... hehe ;) btw. did any of you know denmark at all before the drawings came out?

[mary]

nice to see that alot of people support my country. but many of the danish words are spelled wrong... hehe ;) btw. did any of you know denmark at all before the drawings came out?

My Dad works for Danfoss, so some of us knew something about Denmark before the drawings came out.

I know that many Danes speak very good English, which is why my Dad never had to learn any Danish, despite traveling to the country many times. We probably could use some help with the language.

[Ed]

It doesn't matter which of the brothers Zogby you were referring to. Both are anti-semitic and anti-Israel. Keep up the good work.

[red river]

Man, New Yooooooork has ALL the fun!!!

[Akira Ohiso]

Great photos, I was also at the rally and it was great. I got some great coverage as well.

SUPPORT DENMARK!

sushikiddush.blogspot.com

[Synova]

I liked the sign that said freedom of speech isn't the freedom not to be offended. I wish people would figure that out.

I wonder how many people who think we should be sensative to the Islamists are presently flapping their arms and screeching about having A-rabs managing US ports.

And hey, I *did* know where Denmark was... and I think there was something about inviting all the Swedes with any political power to a banquet, locking the doors and starting the place on fire... but that was a long time ago. Oh, and Danegeld, and um... Hamlet?

The township where I voted for the very first time ever was Dane Prarie, Minnesota. I don't think any Danes lived there though... only Norwegians. :-)

[Henrik Skov]

Great support for free speach and the Mohammed-drawings in Denmark. That warms danish hearts on a cold winter day. Unfortunately "60' minutes" had another agenda when they sent Bob Simon to report from Denmark.
Bob Simon could hardly hide his arrogancy in his report about the Mohammed drawings in the danish newspaper as well as the country. Apart from the prime minister he only interviewed left wing editors, politicians and a islamic imam, who had spread lies - and false drawings that had never been published i the danish newspaper. His 'advisor' for the program was a danish writer, Carsten Jensen' who is known as one
of the worst members of the hatespeeching left.
Bob Simon was okay and critical to the islamistic imam but all in all the report was unfair and therefore bad journalism. Afterwards a danish journalist interviewed Simon about his private opinions about danes and badly integrated muslims and - surprise - Simon was very very critical towards Denmark. So he got what he wanted: Made a critical television report for the american viewers and his own opinion through the danish media. To hit these danes over the mouth who did'nt agree with him.

Sincerely
Henrik Skov, journalist
Denmark

[Lemon Danish]

Does anybody in Denmark know about these solidarity rallys, first in Washington and then in NY? How's the Danish media covering them - if they are covering them? Thanks!

[Crass Børsting]

Thanks a lot to American friends taking their support to the street in our hour of need, and also to "Atlas Shrugs" for covering the march.

Crass Børsting, Denmark

[Bjarne]

Thanks to ALL of You who support us here in Denmark. We really need that.
So, far I have seen og heard nothing in the Danish media of about these support events in the US. Henrik Skov is absolutely right in his review of "60 min". Misleading!
The figth against terror and fascism is universal- lets stand together!
By the way: Was there any violence and threats after the the publication of cartoons of the newly elected Pope Benedict? Cartoons that might be expected to offend 2.000.000.000 catholics in this world.

[KURU]

GLOBAL ISLAM IS GLOBAL THREAT TO HUMAN FREEDOM FROM MORONS AND BULLIES.
GLOBAL ISLAM IS GLOBAL THREAT TO WOMEN'S DIGNITY.
EACH DEGRADED SCHIZOPHRENIC MUSLIM MORON IS FOR ALLAH, NOT FOR MANKIND OR FOR HIS LAND OF BIRTH.
WHILE THERE CAN BE NO CHURCH IN SAUDI ARABIA, THE TWO LEGGED MOHAMMEDAN BEASTS TAKE GREAT PLEASURE AND SATISFACTION IN CAPTURING THE PLACES OF WORSHIP OF THE OTHERS.
IN INDIA: THE SITE OF LORD RAMA'S BIRTH.
IN PAKISTAN, THE PLACE WHERE THE SIKH GURU WAS BORN IN 1469 AD.
IN AFGHANISTAN THE TWO STATUES OF BUDDHA.
IN PAKISTAN THE CHURCHES BLOWN UP.
CONFRONT ISLAM DIRECTLY AND FRONTALLY.
AS THE FREE WORLD FACED NAZIS COLLECTIVELY, THE FREE WORLD TODAY OUGHT TO FACE THE MOHAMMEDAN MENACE COLLECTIVELY.

[gringoman]

Terrific coverage, Pam. Dammit, I missed this rally! Can we have another?

[Frank O'Brien]

Knowing that this will never be read by anyone, the temptation is to stop typing and remove you from my bookmarks but i cannot do that.

The comment about George 11 "the stupid" was the last straw. Without Dickless Cheney's hand up George's ass moving his lips he wouldn't have anything to say except "Mission Accomplished".
If he had spent as much time in uniform during his National Guard enlistment as he has spent making photo op's as president he might have a better understanding of warfair.

Having to placate the jesus nazies and further enriching the super wealthy takes up most of his time and what passes for brain power.

Being the owner of the Texas Rangers is no more quilifaction for president than being a a executive in an equistrian orginazition a baromiter of competance to be the director of FEMA .

[bent jansen]

The Official Apology
From Denmark to the Muslim World,simply called "We´re Sorry!
We´re sorry we gave you shelter when war drove you from your home country....
We´re sorry we took you in when others rejected you.....
We´re sorry we gave you the opportunity to get a good education.....
We´re sorry we gave you food and a home when you had non.....
We´re sorry we let you re-unite with your family when your homeland was no longer safe...
We´re sorry we never forced you to work while WE paid all your bills.....
We´re sorry we gave you almost FREE rent,phone,internet,car and school for your 10 kids...
We´re sorry we build you Moskes so you could worship your religion in our Christian land...
We´re sorry we never forced you to learn our language after staying 30 years!....
And so....from all Danes to the entire Muslim world,we just wanna say;
->FUCK YOU 2!!<-
more: http://www.danishmuhammedcartoons.com

[MIMI]

Shrug on Atlas!

Wake up to the rest of the world out here!

The effects are more than psychological for much of the business community. The Denmark-based dairy group Arla Foods says a boycott of its goods in some Islamic countries is costing it $1.8 million a day.

Overall, Danish industry could lose more than $1.8 billion a year if the boycotts in place or threatened in 20 Muslim countries hold firm, said Steen Bocian, a chief analyst with Danske Bank.

"However, seen in a macroeconomic perspective, that amount is rather small," Bocian said.

In 2004, Denmark's exports worldwide amounted to $84 billion, with 25 per cent of that from dairy products, he said.

Arla spokeswoman Astrid Gade Nielsen wondered whether the company can even win back consumers. "That will be a huge task," she said.

Denmark is also examining its own attitudes.

The country is proud of its freedom of speech laws. The last slander conviction was in 1938, when a group of Danes was found guilty of agitating against Jews.

Danes also tend to regard their nation as a paragon of reason and liberalism, pointing to the many immigrants it has accepted in recent decades, its willingness to take part in peacekeeping but not combat, and the presence of Danish aid workers in some of the world's most wretched places.

But Muslims in Denmark - some 200,000 of the country's 5.4 million people - often see a much different image. They complain of being discriminated against and being denied jobs because of their religion. Many were distressed by statements by Queen Magrethe II in an official biography last year.

There is "something scary about such totalitarianism that is also part of Islam," the queen said. "Resistance must sometimes be shown, although one risks getting a not-so-flattering label."

The remarks were widely interpreted as the queen's expressing outright opposition to Islam, although in Danish the statement implies argument rather than full opposition. Nonetheless, the comments added to tensions for Muslims in a country where the prevailing secularity, liberal sexual mores and affection for beer are deeply at odds with Islam.

Muslims began to feel further oppressed when immigration laws were tightened in 2002, followed by restrictions on bringing in foreign-born spouses. Prime Minister Anders Fogh Rasmussen's government won support for the measure in parliament with votes from an anti-immigration party.

About 15,000 Muslims - less than 10 per cent of the Danish Islamic population - are loyal to a group of outspoken Copenhagen imams who were key in spreading complaints about the Muhammad drawings to Muslims in the Middle East.

The rising tensions of the last month have made some Danes question the extent to which xenophobia may lurk under the country's cheerful surface.

"I don't want to live in a country that in order to love itself must look down on others," writer Carsten Jensen

Dinosaur Project 1993 complete. Remember Irian Jaya 1963.

Peace now!
Lady Jane