A protest of around 40 people rallied at the LA Federal Building downtown on Sunday evening to protest the war, criticizing US imperialism, and calling for a stop to the bombings.

The event was kicked off with photo-ops and sound bites for the surprisingly large number of mainstream media present. (Though, I didn't see any footage later, on the 11 o clock news.) This was followed by an energetic, long performance by the Cuatehmoc Aztec dancers, who featured some killer drumming, and dancing, of course.

Chanting ensued, and for a little while, it sounded "weird" to me. After a little while, I figured out that there were seven beats to the chant. One drummer also figured this out, and contributed beats, and a little syncopation. Though it was a little odd, maybe uncomfortable, at first, people seemed to find a groove, and all was good. It was refreshing to get away from the 4/4 rhythm that dominates demonstrations; the People can handle changes in time signatures!

One person commented to me that this demo was less about the "peace" than anti-imperialism; this was probably due to the fact that most of the participants were anti-imperialist people of color.

The organizers called for another demo at 5pm on Monday.