Jun 17

Jun 17 Peruvian Protest

Demonstrations, New York City, Public Declarations, Protest

I stopped into the International Center for Photography at noon today. The woman overseeing the bookstore struck up a conversation. She wa finishing up a degree in photography in New York City, expecting to return to her native country of Libya this fall. She, too, is interested in protest, but has trouble finding rallies and demonstrations. My retort, “I am not from New York. I just stumble onto them when I am in the city.”

After viewing the exhibit, I headed back out onto the streets of the Lower East Side. As I usually do, I eventually found myself in Washington Square Park. Not too much happening today. I then headed north to Union Square. As I had hoped, there was a demonstration, albeit a small one. This is the fourth or fifth time I have stumbled into a demonstration on Saturday afternoon in Union Square.

On my last trip to NYC, it was three anti-vaxxers who seemed to be fans of Robert Kennedy, Jr. Today, it was a group of Peruvians who presumably live in the United States. According to the handout I was given, “On December 7, 2022, the Peruvian Congress carried out a coup against the currently imprisoned constitutional president, Professor Pedro Castillo Terrones.” The pamphlet was clear, but the demonstrators were even clearer: The current government, led by Dina Boluarte, is a fascist regime, according to them Even though the protests in Peru apparently have been peaceful, thousand have nevertheless been arrested and wounded, while others have simply disappeared. Some 80 civilians have been killed according to those holding the microphones.

The protesters were calling for the Boluarte’s resignation, and freedom for all political prisoners. They want President Joseph Biden to suspend U.S. military aid to the current regime and condemn the human rights violations.

I spent about 45 minutes watching and listening to the demonstrators, and then the demonstration broke up. There were maybe 25 demonstrators present. I don’t have an opinion on the matter one way or another because—I am embarrassed to say—this was the first time I heard about the events in Peru. In that sense, the demonstrators met their objective. I now know not to skip over articles in the newspaper about Peru, as I suspect do others who were just out walking a dog, reading a book while seated on a park bench, or playing a game of speed chess. To be effective, a demonstration need not necessarily be large.

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