As many as a thousand people participated in the Million Mask March in Washington, DC on Tuesday, November 5. Wearing Guy Fawkes masks, they gathered at the Washington Monument in mid-morning to march to the White House. The majority then headed to the U.S. Capitol while smaller groups broke off and criss-crossed the city, visiting the Department of Justice and the offices of agricultural giant Monsanto, sometimes pausing to block intersections in downtown DC.
If any single issue was on the agenda, it was denouncing NSA spying. Protestors however sought attention for a broad range of grievances, including government repression, censorship, and “the economic challenges confronting the working classes,” according to the website of “Anonymous,” sponsor of the march.
Anonymous is a name that originally applied to a group of activist hackers. Now it has exploded as a political on social media as many people around the world identify with the Anonymous label. The Guy Fawkes mask is a trademark symbol. Fawkes was a revolutionary credited with exploding a bomb under British Parliament on November 5, 1605.
Steve, a march organizer from Virginia, says that Anonymous is a concept rather than a group. “We have come here [to Washington] armed with cameras and ideas.” He viewed the protest as an opportunity to dispel the notion that Anonymous was a terrorist organization, as it has sometimes been portrayed.
Interview with author Andrew Kreig inside the Anon Mobile at the Million Mask March:
