Where Have All the Flowers Gone?
Yan Shen Drabek
March 27, 2024
I was about 10 years old when I was lucky enough to get picked to participate a National Day parade in Beijing. For many weeks leading to the day, we practiced walking, marching, holding flowers and shouting. On October 1, we were given real flowers, and we marched through Tiananmen Square where Chairman Mao was standing on the tower looking down at us.
Very few people had televisions in China those days. No one could see the great grandeur that’s happening at the Tiananmen Square in real time, unless you had the privilege to attend it yourself.
I was among the thousands lucky ones who could march through. We waved flowers at Mao and we yelled “Long live Chairman Mao!” in a rhythm as loud as we could. We were the collective borgs made of the Chinese communist machine. We were simulated.
Thirty six years later on a crisp autumn night in 2000, I was pushing my husband’s wheelchair in Washington D.C. to attend the “Light the Night Walk” at the National Mall. Several friends joined us for the walk and we raised nearly $2000 for the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society.
My husband and I moved from sunny Arizona to a Washington D.C. suburb in 1994 for two reasons. One, a job opportunity. Two, I wanted to experience life in the capital of my second home country. We were soaking in all the culture and history the area could offer, enjoying the cherry blossoms in spring and world class performances that the Kennedy Center brings in every year.
In his 1791 plan for the future city of Washington, D.C., Pierre (Peter) Charles L’Enfant envisioned a garden-lined "grand avenue" approximately 1 mile in length and 400 feet wide, in an area that would lie between the Congress House (now the United States Capitol) and an equestrian statue of George Washington. Since then, the area had gone through several versions of redesign and reconstruction, and the “grand avenue” became the National Mall. It is approximately 2 miles long starting from the U.S. Capital on the east side to the Washington Monument to the west, finally connecting to the reflecting pool in front of the Lincoln Memorial at the west end. Surrounded by beautiful museums and monuments, the National Mall is the place to hold important gatherings with massive people attending. The famous “I Have a Dream” speech by Martin Luther King Jr. was delivered at the mall in 1963. Histories were made here.
In October 2013, a two-week federal government shutdown closed the National Mall and its museums and monuments. However, when a group of elderly veterans tried to enter the National World War II Memorial during the shutdown's first day, the memorial's barricades were removed. The NPS subsequently announced that the veterans had a legal right to be in the memorial and would not be barred in the future.
On October 26, 2002, Sunday I marched on the mall for the first time, as a protester, in front of the White House, with my husband Robert and millions of ordinary citizens of the United States. The protest against the upcoming Iraq war was called by ANSWER Collation, but we were there totally voluntarily. Robert was in a wheel chair - the treatment for his chronic myelogenous leukemia made him very weak. We saw all kinds of people. People of all colors. Young couples had their little kids on their shoulders, and some were in baby strollers. Old couples holding hands walking slowly. Families with grandparents and grandchildren. Pushing Robert’s wheelchair for the long march I was not tired. I was so excited and moved. It was a quiet march. Though I felt that it was the first time I really saw America! It was only at that time, I understood the meaning of “freedom” and “democracy”. This is America. Its people. The real people. No practices. No rehearsals. Just people walking peacefully. Demonstrating people’s wills.
On the same day, protests also took place in San Francisco and Chicago. Jesse Jackson gave a speech, and the then Illinois State Senator Barack Obama made a statement: “I am not opposed to all wars. I'm opposed to dumb wars.”
At night, the evening news on televisions never mentioned the protests. On events that millions of people attended.
On January 18, 2003, Saturday Robert and I went to D.C. for the second protest against the upcoming Iraq war. Despite the 4-6 inches of snow the night before, there were more people than the last one in October. Temperature was about 20 degrees. But here, you felt the heat from so many people. From the Lincoln Memorial to the State Capital building, people filled up the mall. Holding signs that said “No Blood for Oil!” and “No War for Oil!”
On the same day, protests were held worldwide in opposition to a war with Iraq, including Turkey, Egypt, Pakistan, Japan, Belgium, the Netherlands, and Argentina.
We were not alone.
In the evening, I telephoned my brothers who lived in other states. No they did not see any news on their TV about our demonstrations in Washington D.C. But they did know that in their own cities, there were anti-war demonstrations.
March 15, 2003, Saturday
It was a sunny day. Robert and I were to attend our third protest against the upcoming war. When we arrived at the mall, the big parade was coming toward us. Wow! We joined in. This is the biggest and most organized of the three protests I attended.
The National Mall had become a sea of people.
“What is the Democracy look like?” - one person with his loud speaker would ask.
“This is what Democracy look like!” - people would answer.
A moment later, the big parade of A.N.S.W.E.R arrived. They stopped at each street corner. The leaders on the trucks would lead people to shout slogans. Loud. Impressive.
“What do you want?” - “Peace!”
“When do we want it?” - “Now!”
In front of a store we found some card boards. We each wrote a poster. Mine was “No War!” and “Peace!” His was “Fuck Bush!” and “Veterans for Peace!” He received much more attention. Many people toke pictures with him and his sign. Later we run into some other people who were also holding “Fuck Bush” signs. Robert asked me to go show them his sign. They said that they saw a person who had the same sign and it’s even bigger.
“Impeach Bush!”
“What would Jesus bomb!”
At one street corner, there was a small group of Pro-War people making noise standing behind a barricade protected by police. I went over there and shouted at them: “You go die!” Coming back, Robert said “your face was so red and you were so brave!”
“War is not the answer!”
“Imagine peace!”
“He’s tan, healthy and relaxed. Carter for 04”
When we were leaving the mall, a plain clothed secret agent followed us. He asked Robert where he had served, where he was stationed and what his unit was. He tried to figure out Robert.
On the same day, large protests were held in Spain, Italy, UK, Canada, France, Germany, Greece, Japan, Thailand, South Korea, Hong Kong, Australia, New Zealand, Denmark, Sweden, Monaco, Chile, Cuba, Argentina, Russia, Yemen, Israel, and Palestinian territories.
On our TV news, it reported nothing of the kind.
March 17, 2003 Monday
At evening news hour, Bush delivered a speech. He said, if Saddam Hussein was not out of Iraq within 48 hours, he’d start the invasion.
March 18, 2003 Tuesday
Bush announced that he had given order to “Attack”. Fires and bombings, “shock and awe” in Iraq showed up on TV. The leaders of France, Germany, Russia, and other countries objected to this buildup toward war.
On March 19, across the United Kingdom and Germany, tens of thousands of school students staged walkouts.
Lying on his bed, Robert was still recuperating the exhaustion from the last demonstration. He didn’t want to talk. He only listened to music.
…...
Where have all the flowers gone?
Long time passing
Where have all the flowers gone?
Long time ago
Where have all the flowers gone?
Young girls have picked them, every one
Oh, when will they ever learn?
Oh, when will they ever learn?
* * * * * * *
In 2004, the then-U.N. Secretary General Kofi Annan declared that the war, which never gained a legitimate stamp of approval from the U.N., was “illegal.”
As of July 19, 2021, the U.S. armed forces reported 4,431 total deaths (including both killed in action and non-hostile) and 31,994 wounded in action (WIA) as a result of the Iraq War.
For the Iraq people, the United Nations reported that 34,452 violent deaths occurred in 2006 alone. By Lancet survey, 601,027 violent deaths were reported from March 2003 to June 2006.
Q.M Chang (Kim) MemoryWorks Workshop
Writing in Proximity to History
Writing Provocation #3: Between Memory and History