Solidarity, that's how. The weekend began on the 12th, when the CIW contingent joined an estimated 30,000 people in a Saturday March for Peace through DC's downtown streets. As do most labor organizations in this country, including the AFL-CIO, the CIW opposes the war in Iraq as unnecessary, unwise, and unjustified -- and we were far from alone in that opinion on Saturday in DC!

The march was part of a day of activities organized by the Latin American Solidarity Coalition, a conference examining issues affecting Latin America and the Latino community here in the US, with a particular focus on the possible consequences of the proposed Free Trade Area of the Americas for poor rural and working communities.

In the evening of the 12th, Lucas Benitez of the CIW addressed the conference, describing in a moving speech a "chain of solidarity" that ties together small farmers from Mexico, Guatemala and Haiti, farmworkers here in the US, and US family farmers, all of whom are forced to struggle just to survive by the giants of corporate farming that have come to dominate agricultural production in the hemisphere.

The evening ended with a little warm-up performance by JG & HavikenHayes for the conference crowd...

... and then it was time for the march. Sunday greeted the marchers with beautiful weather -- there are few cities on the face of this earth more beautiful than Washington, DC, in the Spring, by the way...

The march was organized as a "March of Shame," pausing from time to time along a lengthy route at landmarks symbolic of exploitation of Latin America, including on its route the Taco Bell restaurant on 14th & U in recognition of the Taco Bell boycott.

The CIW, of course, traveled to DC with a van load of banners...

protest art...

... and spirit to make the Taco Bell stop a raucous, joyful experience!

Once we arrived at Taco Bell, the CIW contingent went quickly into action...

Banners took up their positions in front of the restaurant...

... a restaurant that, of course, had a hearty contingent of DC police standing guard, once again unnecessarily (when will they learn that the Taco Bell boycott isn't about violence or vandalism -- the message, "End Sweatshops in the Fields," is powerful enough on its own).

Once the banners were in place and the press team was busy with radio, tv, and newspaper interviews,...

... it was time for some music to move the marchers minds and bodies to the boycott message so tightly captured in the track "Hunger Days" (download it here)...

In his inimitable style, JG of Over the Counter Intelligence got the crowd to sing the hook, "Yo no quiero Taco Bell"...

... and an incredible crowd it was, in case we hadn't mentioned that fact recently...

And of course, HavikenHayes had to add his own style to the mix, here helping JG wrap up the song with the support of his own senior posse of loyal fans... All in all, an unforgettable day, one made possible by the Latin American Solidarity Coalition and by people from across the country who truly believe, in the words of the sign above, "A better world is possible!"