My own private protest - November 3rd

So last Wednesday morning, November 3rd, I woke up around 5AM turned on the TV and saw that the nets were lining up for Bush. Fine. That was pretty much expected given their parrotting of the bogus Gallop polls and exclusion of Zogby.

I get ready for work then grab my signs ("Bush Cheated Again" - made in advance) and head for the CNN fishbowl on Sixth Avenue. I walk up 50th come around the corner and there are cops all over the sidewalk. Their cars are parked on the sidewalk, they've got riot stuff handy - PR-34, masks, etc. They are ready to face hundreds of angry people who know the election is being stolen right out from under them. And here is the twist:

I was the only person there to protest. Me and 40 cops.

I wanted to chant, with irony, "Tell me what democracy looks like!"

this is what democracy looks like?

You should write an article about it for the Voice or NY Press. This is the first I've heard that they had riot cops out. That's kind of amazing.

this was at 8AM in the morning so they couldn't just grab cops from other duties and send them. Plus there was no one there to protest (almost no one) so it is not like they said 'something is starting, quick get some cops over there.'

It begs the question - what made them think, possibly days before, that there WOULD be protests.

They had french barricades around the fishbowl too btw.

that our democracy is a farce.

I salute you

I can't believe you were the only one there to protest. I think alot of people were still shock about the outcome. Damn. I wish I could've been there with you.

YOU ROCK!!!

Wanted to get that out of the way, before I copy in an email that I sent to Eloriel yesterday, who then tried to start it in its own thread, that quickly disappeared in the afternoon "rush hour" of threads... Anyway, please let me know if you all like this idea too... at anyrate I'm going to start wearing a black armband TODAY!

Thanks for considering this suggestion!

ANYWAY: Here's my original email (and thanks to you KurtNYC too!), with the moderator and then Eloriel's intro. words, first:

Posted in this thread:

VOTE FRAUD Links - a DU Compendium
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.ph...

I think it's a great idea, and I love the bumper sticker/t-shirt too. Whadya'll say? (Whatever it is, say hello and welcome to TruthOutDawg and all the other great new DUers -- we've got a ton of them the past few days and most of them are absolutely outstanding!!)


From TruthOutDawg:

I haven't been a member long enough to send you a private message, but I wanted to, first, THANK YOU, profusely for all the work that you've been doing, and, second, make a suggestion that if you think is a good idea, I'm hoping you will post as a new thread.

SO, first, THANK YOU. I cannot even begin to tell you how much this website and the work of its members - especially those like you and socaldemocrat and althecat and cacyclist and faun (?) who were crunching the numbers and putting together evidence from the very beginning to support what many of us in our guts knew to be the case but didn't begin to know how to quantify or act upon. In the week since the "election", you have been my only hope for the future of this country and you have given me a way to come back to the table and try to work for our democratic process again. THANK YOU eternally!

Second, I know this may sound kind of corny or maybe kind of ineffective or something, but it struck me that part of what's fighting against us all is that without the press on "our side", there is no way for us all to know how widespread our beliefs are or whether they are gaining ground or losing momentum. There are moments when I really feel like maybe we're just a small delusional group clinging to any hope that Bush wasn't really chosen by the people we love and to whom we have tied our futures. Then I see another flicker of evidence that the ball is rolling faster and faster and more and more people are taking notice and trying to be heard.

Anyway, it struck me that maybe it would be really helpful on a psychological basis if we found a way to display our unity. A way that we could identify those around us who are on the same page and are desperately hoping to be able to do something to right this enormous wrong. And, maybe, a way to also call the attention of others to our "cause"... SO, here it is, the big proposal I've been building up to... maybe it's silly, BUT, here it is: I propose that we all start wearing a black armband - black as symbolic of (a) the potential death knell to our democratic process sounded by this election and (b) the absence of color, i.e. neither red nor blue, i.e. non-partisan nature of this issue; and armband in the long tradition of populist, grass-roots, peoples movements.

My thought is that this would make it easier for us to organize locally and it would give us the opportunity to talk to people about these issues. I was thinking that maybe those of you who have been really on top of how this issue is progressing could recommend maybe 10-20 pages of articles, stat. analysis, etc. that are best standing up to anaylsis and are most persuasive, and the rest of us could keep a few packets with copies of those materials on us at all times and when we're out in the world at large (a place I've tried not to venture to since the election but will ultimately have to return to) and people ask about the armbands we can explain that they represent our participation in the growing movement to demand reform of the electoral process in light of the corruption of this election. Moreover, as this movement builds up steam, and I believe, truly believe it will, we will be able to see our numbers grow and will be reinvigorated to continue the fight.

I also saw a t-shirt and bumper sticker being offered today by Campaign for America's Future that reads "It's Not Over", which I think I'm going to pick up several of and wear often and post in many places. BUT, I think the less "commercial" our symbol the better - the more "homemade" the armband the better - and I think it should be truly a grassroots movement - not tied to any other organization (that can be attacked as partisan in its agenda, etc.).

Anway, just wondered what you thought of this idea and if you like it if you'd considered starting a thread for it (I think that's what the process is called, yes? I'm really new at this... AND, thank you again and again. AND, if I can help somehow with your research or in any other way, please let me know!

THANK YOU!

Not so in your face as armbands, simple to do, individualized. Not many people can get away with a black armband in their work environments.

though actually it started simultaneously in a few places.

I've got a flyer to print out at http://www.americanresistance.info

FWIW, I think anything black and band-like will do (black ribbon, wristband, etc.). I think people would have no problem making the connection between all of them.

I am self-employed, editing transcripts for court reporters. I decided not to accept work from anyone who voted for Bush. Fortunately, most of my long-term people were Kerry supporters, so it shouldn't hurt me too badly. But, oddly enough, just today I got a call from a reporter who I hadn't heard from for over a year asking me to do a job for her. I told her I wouldn't if she voted for Bush. She was in shock. Really.

I asked her to tell me why she voted for Bush and she said it's because she's conservative. I said, "That's just a label. Give me reasons you voted for him." She said abortion, gay marriage and the war in Iraq, which she supports. I took the opportunity to give her the benefit of the opposite view of all three issues.

On abortion I pointed out that if the Republicans were really serious about abortion, they have had enough time and enough political power in the last three years to overturn Roe v. Wade. The fact that they haven't tried to means, to me, that it's too useful as a political device (wedge issue) for them to give it up. Also, she didn't know that abortions had been in an over 20 year decline in the US until Bush became President, after which time they began to go up, primarily because of economic issues.

On homosexual marriage, I asked her if she hated gays or found them to be immoral. She said no, that she was more concerned about children growing up in households where they had two moms or two dads. I guess it doesn't occur to her that that is preferable to growing up in households with only one parent or in traditional marriages where mom and dad hate each other's guts and only their "values" keep them married.

On the war in Iraq, I pointed out that we liberals find it to be an immoral and criminal war because the nation of Iraq had done nothing to provoke the invasion. She said we had to take Saddam down because he's been "after us" for 20 years.

I thanked her for talking to me, that it was my first attempt to dialog with someone from the other side of the Great Divide, but I reaffirmed that I would not work for anybody who voted for Bush and that she would just have to look around and find a conservative scopist. She said, very tight-lipped, "Thank you," and that was the end of that.:spank:

I wish all of us could do this! I have to work with these idiots every day.

If you'd like to advertise your services in our Progressive Pages, let me know. I can add your info.

FSC

I'm new here... so some of the lingo is not clear to me.

Sapphocrat and I in particular, ran with an idea of DancingBear's a few days ago, and decided we wanted to come up with a directory for liberals that guides us in our buying decisions.

We're noting Bush and other (R) supporters by personal experiences in our local areas and through their donations on sites like Fundrace, Open Secrets, etc.

And we're also listing GOOD businesses to support by their progressive stands. (You would qualify!)

Let us know. Since you've already made this decision on your own, it couldn't hurt to increase your traffic from the good guys!

Here's the original thread....
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=104&topic_id=2587076&mesg_id=2587076&page=

and I've also posted threads in each state's forum ("Progressive Pages, Need Your Feedback!" if you have any other businesses to add, good or bad.

FSC

but I have to confess that I'll already busier than a cheating Republican Secretary of State on election night :eyes:

Congrats!

FSC

2004 confirmed the 2000 election. We are now known as the Banana Republic of America.

Welcome to DU!! :toast:

http://www.la.indymedia.org/
MARINE APCs APPEAR AT ANTI-WAR PROTEST IN WESTWOOD

LOS ANGELES, November 9, 2004 - At 7:50 PM, What were first reported to be tanks and now identified as Marine APCs showed up at an anti-war protest in front of the federal building in Westwood.
The APCs circled the block twice, the second time parking themselves in the street and directly in front of the area where most of the protesters were gathered.

Enraged, some of the people attempted to block the APCs, but police quickly cleared the street.

The people continued to protest the presence of the Marines, but after about ten minutes they drove off. It is still unclear as to why they were deployed to this location.

QuickTime movie at 6.8 mebibytes http://la.indymedia.org/uploads/tanks-on-la-streets.mov
From Democracynow.org
Military Tanks Patrol Anti-War Protest in Los Angeles
And in Los Angeles, anti-war protesters there have expressed shock after two military tanks appeared at a small anti-war demonstration Tuesday night. The tanks drove by the protesters, went around the block and then stopped directly next to the scene of the protest in front of the Westwood Federal Building. The Los Angles Police Department claimed the tanks belonged to the National Guard and just happened to be driving by the scene of the protest. The National Guard denied the tanks were theirs but said they might have been Marine tanks. Earlier this week, the Washington Post reported that as many as 4,000 combat troops may be deployed to the streets of Washington during the inauguration of President Bush in January.

Thank you for standing up!.

there was silence from all organizations.

That must have looked like the situation they talked about during the RNC. There was supposed to be a protest at the Hummer dealership and so all the press headed out and the riot crew, but only one protester showed up. To the press's shock, they arrested her for blocking traffic.

Did you hear or see anything about that?

You guys were great during RNC. I watched it all week on Free Speech TV.