I am at my office right now. It's proximity to the White House causes every protest in DC to proceed below my window. The Protest of the day appears to be Shiite Muslims. They are carrying black banners, but it is hard to understand their message because all of the writing is in Arabic (makes one wonder who their audience is). The stangest thing of, however, is the symbolic beating of the breast by the men in the group (it was a highly segregated group incidentally with the woman, all clad in black, walking as a group behind the men). This beating of the breast is a form of self flagelation meant to demonstrate a solidarity with Hussein who was murdered at Karbala sometime in the 8th century causing the schism between Shia and Sunni muslims. You all may have seen more extreme versions of this ritual in the news recently with men in Iraq cutting themselves with swords about the head and face. Well, here it is on 17th Street in downtown Washington a half block from the White House.


- posted by Anonymous @ 2:49 PM