Berkeley Mardi Gras March Has Political Beat

The blare of boom boxes and the sounds of djembe drums, tambourines and saxophones filled Downtown Berkeley yesterday afternoon in a Mardi Gras parade with a Berkeley spin—its theme was “commuting the death sentence of global warming.”

About 75 residents and students posing as bohemians, Buddhist lamas, U.S. Army soldiers and clowns paraded around the city, from Claremont to North Berkeley, accompanying a frog cart, a cockroach wheelchair, a puppet theater and a zero-emission “hype- bred” purple car.

“They are basically political cartoons,” said UC Berkeley graduate student Jason Meggs of the floats, adding that the more than 15-year-old parade is a serious political statement.

The celebration was influenced by New Orleans not only because the city hosts the best-known Mardi Gras parade but also because of the devastation of Hurricane Katrina that hit that city in August 2005. Parade participants said the growing frequency of hurricanes is linked to global warming.

“The hurricanes are getting worse because oceans are getting warmer,” parade participant Terry O’Brien said.

The parade was also in honor of “the beautiful nature around us,” said participant Rachel Aronowitz, who pointed to area creeks that were paved over for development.

The parade went off largely without problems, though Berkeley police officers refused to allow one float, a mock nuclear power plant, on public display, because the vehicle was suspected of containing alcohol. Participant Terri Compost said the vehicle only contained lemonade.

A number of Berkeley Police Department officers followed the parade, but there were “no major problems,” said Lt. Andrew Greenwood.

Greenwood did not comment on past incidents with the parade. Some parade participants preferred not to give their names because of the sometimes-controversial nature of the messages the parade conveyed.

The symbol of yesterday’s parade, for example, was “the church of the great frog,” which is meant to convey the hypocrisy of certain belief systems and cultural icons, Meggs said.

“(It is a way) to break out of cultural oppression,” he said.

Children and bystanders were invited to participate in the festivities. A puppet show on global warming at People’s Park attracted a large audience, Meggs said.

The celebration continued into the night, with local band performances and other events, O’Brien said.

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