"Genocide Float": January 2008 Archives

Andrew Koenig responds to Thursday's post:

Hi Todd,

I wanted to take this opportunity to explain what I
protested and why I chose the Rose Parade.

I have been actively involved with helping bring
awareness to the plight of the Burmese people since
July. I went to Thailand to document refugees of the
brutal military dictatorship in Burma (Myanmar). Many
of these people were imprisoned and tortured for
wanting the same freedom we enjoy here.

China sits on the UN Security council and has refused
to condemn the acts of the Burmese military. That's
probably because they buy gas from Burma and sell them
weapons. China is currently trying to show the world a
good face in anticipation of the Beijing Olympics. My
intention was to bring attention to China's
hypocritical situation.

I chose the Rose Parade because of the Beijing Olympic
float's presence and the presence of the TV cameras.
Unfortunately, to keep important issues like this in
the news, sometimes people have to pull stunts to get
attention.

Will be forthcoming. A lot of excitement and tremendous security along the route, from inter-agency law enforcement to Secret Service. Attempt to disrupt the Beijing Olympic float either failed or didn't happen.

But first I have to write my story.

I lied. Here are the pictures from earlier tonight. Those who frequented my old travel blog (offline at the moment D:<) will recognize my photo-essay style: I take a decent picture once in awhile, but was very pleased with how most of these came out.

First off we ran into this off-boulevard, young teen party only a block and a half from the Molino House. They were dancing at El Molino and Green to the boombox beats of that one homeless guy who always has that boombox going.

As soon as we hit Colorado Boulevard, presence of law enforcement was evident.

Read more for more ... to read.