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Funk the War 3: A New Hope Takes Over

Wed, 03/05/2008 - 15:36 — DCSDS

DC’s Business District Converted to Humongous Street Dance Party

Downtown Washington on March 19 was peppered with actions throughout the morning. Small blockades and theatrical lockdowns seemed to be popping up every few minutes. But suddenly, around noon, something roared, echoing throughout the hollow spaces between the sinister fortresses of the K Street war profiteering corporations… Something massive…

DC SDS, having originally planned for the action to meet up in Franklin Park, decided instead to meet in the middle of the busy intersection at 14th and K streets. Over 600 protestors, mostly students, started gathering for the single largest action to take place on the 5th Anniversary of the Iraq War.

When police attempted to push the dancing crowd out of the intersection, Funk the War 3 simply started on its way towards 13th and L, where a blockade at the American Petroleum Institute had been holding most of the intersection for hours. The space was flooded with energy as students pushed through the police line around the blockade and helped their comrades to their feet.

This coordination was characteristic of the broader DC actions that day as well as Funk the War itself. Though it was led and organized by DC SDS, it brought together a broad range of student groups: Student Peace Action Network, Campus Anti-War Network, Young Democratic Socialists, and the Our Spring Break Coalition all came together in the streets. The Baltimore Algebra Project, a tutoring and educational activism group led entirely by students, also participated. DC SDS hopes to build a strong relationship with this group, breaking out of single-issue activism to draw connections between the pitiful public education funding and the heaps of money given to weapons and oil corporations in Iraq.

After dancing throughout the entire K Street corridor and visiting Lockheed Martin and Bechtel along the way, Funk the War reached the intersection at K Street and Connecticut. Twelve students had prepared for a lock-down using school desks in the middle of the intersection, and this was executed seamlessly. Over a hundred students joined them in a spontaneous soft blockade, linking arms and sitting in a circle around them, circled by hundreds more protesters dancing around them. The blockade/dance party held the intersection for over an hour.

During this time, a solid block of police approached, saying that they were going to forcibly push the demonstrators out of the street. The fringes of the dance party formed into a solid wall behind huge colorful banners, refusing to back down. These were largely students that were new to militant actions and unpermitted claiming of the streets. The police, already all too aware of SDS’s Superior Warrior Power, did not follow through with their threat and retreated back from where they came. About an hour later, Funk the War declared victory and moved on.

Funk the War made its last stop at an old friend: the Armed Forces Recruitment Center on 14th & L streets.

Days later, remnants of Funk the War could still be found in the K St corridor, in the form of red paint splattered on Bechtel’s office as well as the façade of the recruitment center.

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Download Quartersheet flyer used on the day of the protest
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