Anti-War Protest Set for Republican Convention

Anti-War Protest Set for Republican Convention
Tue December 16, 2003 03:25 PM ET

NEW YORK (Reuters) - A coalition of anti-war groups plan to greet delegates to next summer's Republican National Convention with a massive protest against U.S. foreign policy, hoping to keep the Iraqi war alive as an issue in the 2004 election, organizers said on Tuesday.

The march could be one of the largest demonstrations in U.S. history, organizers said.

The coalition called United for Peace and Justice wants to march through Manhattan to Central Park on Aug. 29, the day before the Republican Party meets to nominate President Bush in his reelection effort.

"United for Peace and Justice will be organizing what we believe will be one of the largest demonstrations in this country's history," said organizer Leslie Cagan at a news conference. "We believe it will be in the hundreds of thousands."

more................

http://www.reuters.com/newsArticle.jhtml?type=politicsNews&storyID=4003268

It's going to be a mess.

You may be right. I fear deadly force is probably not far off. However, I also think that it would be a disaster for the repugs if it happened in NYC at the convention.

Let's hope there's no police riot as there was in 1968 or recently in Miami.

I think I'm going to have to go to the library today and check out "Miami and the Siege of Chicago". I don't recall who wrote it, but the title has stuck with me.

"The Whole World Is Watching"

Freedom ain't free!

If you are worried, wear a helmet.

It's easy to make the analogy as Kainah did to 1968 in Chicago, but I don't see it that way. And yes, I am old enough to remember.

First off, 1968 was the Democratic convention. The Republicans of 2004 will be much better organized. Remember, the '68 Dem convention outcome was not yet assured. At the Repub 2004 confab, the only surprise will be which people of color get to be on stage, or perhaps which Lane Bryant pantsuit Pickles will wear.

All protesters will be united with the single purpose of pointing out their disgust with Bushco. There will be so many legal observers, cameras, and camcorders that every police atrocity will be recorded for posterity.

I think the biggest dangers are deception on the part of the convention organizers (in order to confuse activists); descent into a Free Mumia/ Legalize Marijuana/ Insert Your Cause Here festival; and, most of all, apathy.

But it would be hard to ignore 100,000 or more people clogging the streets on a national stage.

We'll see.

My reference to Chicago in '68 was a response to the posting above. My message was meant to convey that I do believe deadly force will be used -- and in the relatively near future -- but not at the convention.

I also think that, when it occurs, it will will create important martyrs who will become symbols that can carry this movement through the darkness that is coming.

I was very fearful before London because I expect bushco will try to see that the deadly force occurs outside the country. I believe that, just like Richard Nixon, they will make clear their desire that "someone shut those people up" & people will act on that understanding. Our task will be to remember the lesson of Kent State. The initial burst of protests following those murders was followed by fear and the intended cowing of the antiwar movement. I fear we have a long tunnel to walk down and it's going to get dark.

We haven't got to violence yet, but if Bush is reselected, it very well might. Kent State was definitely a wakeup event. I actually know a guy who was there. He thinks it can happen again.

Why dont you name some of the numerous fatalities at similar protests worldwide over the last 10 years? Now, in the US?

firemen and EMT's (all of whom are Union members) that the Bush misAdministration has reneged on all it's pledges of support and funds post 9/11. Those worthy folks have been left out to dry and should have no good reason to facilitate the Repub's agenda.

But elsewhere, it 's somewhat common for states to form special multi-jurisdictional task forces comprised of the really gung-ho officers that are sent out for 'special crowd control duty'. The strategy started during the drug war to ensure loyalty and enthusiasm when busting 80 yr old grannies for marijuana offenses.

In a way, it's sort of the same concept as when the Chinese brought in the troops from Mongolia to quell Tiananmen square -- they couldn't trust the local troops to act upon their neighbors. For example, I can't see my neighborhood cops hitting me with a club cause I'm holding a sign -- I've known them since they started in this neighborhood -- they saw my kids grow up (ain't community policing great!).

Make eye contact with each them and try not to lose your temper (and control). That's my advice.

I also am recommending for people to bear American Flags as they go. That split second of hesitation could make all the difference.

Too, we've got to remember that for the most part, the NYPD are New Yorkers too. They are our neighbors, and they are getting just as fecked over by the Repugs. We have to let them know who's side we're on.

And if that fails and it gets ugly? Well, blood has spilled for far lesser causes than this.

If you're in a situation that just "doesn't feel right" to you, get the hell out of there. Trust your instincts. Remember that they have a long record of planting agents provocateur in a peaceful demonstration. If something sounds crazy and suspicious, BE SUSPICIOUS!!!!

I suppose its not too early to start getting ready.

The following is an excellent piece on how to safely and effectively operate in dynamic protest situations.

http://www.rantcollective.org/article.php?id=16

What to bring?

http://www.rantcollective.org/article.php?id=65

and should you end up in them nasty white cuffs through no fault of your own:

http://www.lawcollective.org



Be prepared, be smart, be effective, and take care of the person next to you.

I'm planning on being somewhere near that convention most of the week!!

Getting time away from Truthout is going to be tough though.

Was at the last one too.

I'll be at the DNC too.

Oh, I imagine there will be a "free speech" cage but elsewhere it's going to be cop-a-rama. Bring bail money.

I would say if there is one demo to go in 2004, that will be the one. I think everybody, Dems, Greens, black bloc, etc can line up together on this one.

to see how they manage it, with the Garden sitting right on top of Penn Station, where thousands of midtown commuters transit twice a day.

to effectively secure the Garden, I imagine you'd have to lock down a two-block radius. The number of businesses and corporate offices in that area, I can't see that going over real well.

I, for one, will not be caged in my own City. These thugs have done enough to fuck over me and my neighbors. I'll be damned if they come into my neighborhood and do it and expect to keep me quiet.

August 29th. It's going to be great!

Holding demonstrations in NYC during the GOP convention is as stupid and self destructive an idea as anyone could ever come up with.

Stay home.

If you want to protest the GOP convention, do something at home. Hold memorial services for the men and women who have died in Bush's War. Visit a VA hospital, organize a blood drive, do voter registration, hold a concert or ten, but under no circumstances be stupid enough to put yourself in harm's way and in the video cameras of the media and Rove. You will be doing the GOP's work for them. How dumb is that?

There will be little more than two months between the GOP convention and the election, and the images from that event will be all over the press, all over the world, and in every US television set that can pull in a signal.

What do you think the message will be?

Is it possible that anyone could be blind enough to ignore what has gone on with the media in this country over the last decade? Does anyone really think any newsreader is going to go out in the street to learn the truth and take a chance on getting hit? Does anyone really think any media type is going to try and raise a ruckus on the Convention floor? What is wrong with you people? Is it conviction or ego?

And what kind of moron looks forward to something like what happened in Chicago? Some protest leaders are bragging that people are going to die; that there'll be blood in the street. If someone looks forward to that, just how can they claim to be any different from the Bush League?

Does anyone think the world doesn't know there are lots of people who don't like King George? Watch BBC news if you have any doubts. So what are exactly you going to prove by confronting the NYPD and the Secret Service except your ability to get hit?

Spokespeople on the left are doing what the old style generals always do, fighting the last war.

2004 is not the 60's and 70's. This administration already knows a huge number of Americans are in opposition to them and their putsch. They don't care. All that will happen that week in September will be spun as proof that only terrorists and protestors are against Bush.

Pictures of protestors "desecrating" the 911 site will play round the clock across the nation, even if the Bush League has to use its 200 million to pay for the airtime. Mass arrests will follow and lots of those arrested will be charged with terrorism under the Patriot Act. Others around the US will be dealt with the same way and no one can count on some brave newsperson standing up for the victims.

You must know this is likely.

Avoid NYC like the plague next September. If there was someone or some group out there with the resources to do it, concerts could be set up to take place that whole period, stealing some of the attention from the GOP convention and focusing it on what would be much better for all concerned.

My vision is of empty streets, lined with GOP agitators without crowds of dupes surrounding them, facing rows of bored NYPD cops standing around drinking coffee and eating donuts.

On overtime.

Stay home and do something constructive where it will make a difference, where the people who are going to vote are.

to your position, Mike.

But I live here. This IS staying home.

While the justification for staying away might be sound in theory, at the end of the day all it will really amount to is cowed obediance. We've enough of that already. That's what got us here.

You might be right, this could backfire. But it could also work.

Also to consider is this. We must exercise our Constitional Rights. They are in grave danger as it is. If we neglect them, they might soon be gone.

Then we'll wish we had marched, when it could still make a difference.

forgive the melodramatic tone, its not intended. But this is not a matter of entertainment or idle speculation to me. This is where I personally draw a line. Right down 34th Street.

Do me a favor though. Wherever you are next fall, and whatever you do to make a statement, make it count.

You have a very vivid imagination.

A massive, peaceful demonstration will move a lot of people.

I will grant you that the media will have a field day if there is violence. I don't advocate it, but it could happen. On the other hand, every demonstration I have ever been to save one was peaceful and motivated a lot of people. I don't see people here advocating violence.

There's nothing wrong with people who want to exercise their First Amendment rights, however. Sorry.

but I believe the only place we can possibly win this now is in the streets. Before the war began, we were doing small street corner demonstrations in Laramie, Wyoming. When the war started, we suspended them. A few weeks ago, we went back out on the street corner for 1/2 an hour, twice a week. And it's been quite remarkable. We've been tabling all year, passing out information, organizing events, etc. Yet, this simple act of standing on the street corner with signs declaring "honk for peace" and "dissent is patriotic" is what causes the most response. People stop their cars, get out, and walk over to thank us for doing them. This is in several inches of snow, 10 degree temps, in December, in Laramie, Wyoming! There is enormous power in nonviolent civil expression of dissent.

And I trust you weren't meaning to imply that I was "looking forward" to something like what happened in Chicago. If so, you certainly didn't read my posts. You are right. This isn't the 60s or the 70s. Things are much more perilous now. Many, many more people are afraid to be out in the street. Someone has to show them that it is possible to stand up and say NO!!!!

And, even if I didn't believe all of that, I totally believe that the energy you gain from attending a large demonstration is the life blood that will give this movement the strength to succeed.

I don't fear being hit to use my right to free assembly, my right to free speach, and my right to face down the goon squad that will be invading my city.

Only morons are willing to give up their rights because they're afriad of getting a bruise.

I hope this is peaceful, I know the my fellow protesters will be peaceful, I went to NYC for the March Against the War and it was so civil I had WWII vets in wheel chairs next to me. It's the cops, being told that their fellow citizens are the enemy that I fear.

If the police do something horrible (which I pray they won't) you must remember that their was no Romanian revolution without Timisora.

and East coast digs lined up. :hi:

haven't posted in a while but had to jump in on this thread. The worst thing that could happen is for anti-war protestors to lose their tempers. Nothing worse than seeing peace activists throwing Molotov cocktails.

I realize people are angry but the NYPD is going to maintain order. Free speech is not absolute. We don't get to say whatever we want, whenever we want, to whomever we want. And we can't force people to listen to us. The delegates have a right to assemble, and the NYPD will ensure that. Protestors have a right to redress the government. and everyone will get to express their views.

Just remain peaceful. If a cop tells you you have to move, do it. Move on and regroup somewhere else.

Razor

Springsteen, Dixie Chicks, (those are the only groups I actually know) and about twenty others.

aybe a two day event - outside the city but clearly standing for freedom, jobs, and human dignity.

Very sensible advice.

I've been to many demonstrations, and they were always peaceful except one, and that is because a small minority of demonstrators got out of hand and started throwing stuff. In my opinion, the police overreacted, but I also understand that they had to act, nonetheless.

Your job is a thankless one. Damned if you do, damned if you don't.

Best wishes to you.

If you have to suit up with more body-armor than the troops in Iraq, ask yourself who are you protecting yourself again. Ask yourself who you are defending.

if they try to cover the protests.

I would hope that the recent events of Miami would not be the new game plan for handing protests.

Assume that the one percenters are enough of a threat to gas and rubber bullet the grandmas and labor guys and everyone else.

If that continues, I will have to re-assume my old stance from the '70s. The police are not are friend. They are hired thugs in the service of this government.

Are probably better at handling things like this than any Police force in the world.

Now there a bunch a folks who know how to handle a rowdy crowd in a very hands off way, unless they cross the line. And the guy(s) who cross the line find themselves very quickly spending the weekend at Parish Prison, cause they're too full to process anybody out.

But they know how to keep their cool in the face of all sort of wierdness, drunkeness, etc.

It think they would know how to handle a large, possibly unruly protest without getting out of control.

DONT infiltrate and betray. We dont need your colleagues bringing activists into dead end traps so they (parents with children as well)can be more easily pepper sprayed and beaten for no reason.
Thanks for YOUR cooperation here. There will be no violence incurred by demonstrators. Unless provoked by brutality, I suppose.

But it's been a long time since protestors threw Molotov cocktails. At Seatle and Miami it was the police causing the violence - which in press shorthand is "violent demonstrations".

However, NYC police are NOT Miami police. As long as the demonstration is well-managed (likely) and as long as Bloomberg doesn't kow-tow to his GOP masters (less likely) problems should be minimal.

Razor's post brings up another worry of mine - misinformation about the protestors given to police. A guy I know in the Marines received an official email from a superior warning about anti-war protestors targeting cars with DoD tags. It was based on an event that never happened, but it was successful in getting some military personnel to fear and hate anti-war protestors. I think a misinformation campaign designed to instill fear and contempt among the police is a very likely GOP tactic. It's vital that the organizers of the demonstration establish and maintain good communications with the police department.

I can't even manage to make local ones. I will go to NY next year to protest these thugs.

Hmmmm ... make reservations now.

Cheers
Drifter

Even if the turn out is a record, the media will say, thousands showed up to protest, they fell short of their expected mark.