pakProtest,
uploaded by brownistan.

By the time I got there, the protest wasn’t much more than a sparse gathering on the corner of Grove and Van Ness. A child in pink hid behind her mother as a passer-by took a few snapshots. Two women in burkas shied from the cameras — the handful of young men happy to fill the camera’s field of vision.

Khurram, draped in a Pakistani flag and sunglasses, shuffled through at least 10 double-sided signs with a different messages condemning the emergency rule imposed by Gen. Musharraf. As he moved between his cohorts, discussing the undiscussed — “what will this emergency do to stop terrorism” — several messages spilled onto the sidewalk. He waited until the end of his conversations to pick them back up.

In San Francisco, Khurram and his peers are trying to stay connected to the violence occurring back at home in Pakistan. Lawyers and intellectuals and shopkeepers together are being beaten by the sticks of a Machiavellian government. But, with the advent of globalization, these San Franciscans know their government can do just as much to stop the tumult as the broken ranks of protesters.

The UN is taking a stronger stance. The Netherlands immediately rescinded its aide, hoping others would follow. So far, no one has.

And the Bush Administration… they’ve started with words:

Musharraf, “you can’t be President and head of the military at the same time.”

Wise words…