Protesters take new angle

Jenny Marder

What at first glance appeared to be an American flag whipped

feverishly back and forth in the wind across the street from Boeing

Co., Huntington Beach on Saturday. Underneath it, a dozen people

waved signs and banners at passing traffic.

The stars on the flag were missing, replaced by corporate emblems:

Coca-Cola, Pepsi, Warner Bros., General Electric, ABC and Playboy

Enterprises, among others.

The anti-corporate protest on Saturday at Boeing was intended to

be one of nearly 100 demonstrations across the country organized to

oppose war profiteering by big businesses. At the Huntington Beach

demonstration, the anti-corporate discourse quickly shifted to

antiwar dialogue among most of the demonstrators.

The rally was part of a nationwide event sponsored by Citizen

Works, a nonprofit organization founded by Ralph Nader in April 2001.

Huntington Beach resident Tom Lash, organizer of the local

protest, said corporations such as Boing were exploiting the

tragedies of the war with Iraq and he was fed up with it.

Boeing holds defense contracts with the U.S. military to design

and build aircraft such as the F-15 Eagle, V-22 Osprey and the T-45

Goshawk.

“We would rather they have a plant that makes toys for kids

instead of toys for generals,” Lash said. “They make the war toys

because they’re profiting off the war. If there was no money to be

made in this, they wouldn’t be making weapons.”

Boeing spokesman Robert Villanueva said that the company supports

protesters’ right to exercise free speech, but pointed out that

Boeing is a global company that works on much more than military

aircraft.

“It’s just business as usual for us, developing and producing

military products for our customers around the world,” he said.

“We’re proud of what we do.”

Most of the protesters gathered were more concentrated on opposing

the war rather than companies, although many said that the two were

connected.

“The country is being run by big business, said Maureen Shrubsole,

a Huntington Beach resident. “Corporations support the war.”

Tustin resident Kurt Mackie held a papier-mache head that was

supposed to resemble President Bush, but with oversized ears and

devil horns, looked more like a cross between Satan and the Star Trek

character Spock. A sign connected to the head read “Stop the emperor

-- your silence equals death.”

The sign, Mackie said, was meant to imply that President Bush is

acting as the emperor of the world by declaring a war in Iraq without

the support of the United Nations.

“The U.S. is founded on the idea that we don’t have a king,”

Mackie said. “But we are moving against historical norms and moving

into a phase of empire. What we have now is Bush running as if he is

the world’s emperor. “

Lash, who likened Bush to “a Hitler with nuclear weapons and a PR

campaign,” said that his dream was to see a change in consciousness

and a different, more peaceful world one day.

“This war isn’t about the love of Iraqi people,” Lash said. “Bush

doesn’t love the Iraqi people. Bush doesn’t love his own people.”

* JENNY MARDER covers City Hall. She can be reached at (714)

965-7173 or by e-mail at jenny.marder@latimes.com.