Boston Globe: Antiviolence Bl(A)ck Tea activists draw attention

[physioex]

Last summer, long before the Democratic National Convention had triggered even a single road closure, a small group of left-leaning activists gathered in Cambridge and came to a unanimous decision: The convention needed to be opposed, and its opponents would need all the support they could get.

The meeting included some anarchists, a handful of Green Party members, even a high school student. Some of them had never been to a political protest in their lives. But in the year since then, the organization they hatched, the Bl(A)ck Tea Society, has grown into a high-profile nerve center for the thousands of protesters expected to descend on Boston in the next five days

<snip>

http://www.boston.com/news/local/massachusetts/articles/2004/07/24/antiviolence_black_tea_activists_draw_attention_of_authorities/

Who are these people and what is their objective??

[Zidane]

1. I saw them on Cspan

earlier today.

They are all young. I did NOT sense any malicious intentions from them. Seems like they are peaceful activists.

Just basically members in another activist group going to the DNC protest then to the RNC protest.

[physioex]

2. Ok....That's fine...

If they are going to protest the DNC Convention then they should protest the RNC as well...Fair is Fair

[IndianaGreen]

4. Antiwar activists have targeted the Democratic and the GOP conventions

As you are well aware, the 2004 Democratic platform has sugar coated the criminal war in Iraq by saying that we have "honest" differences of opinion and endorsing a "stay the course" policy. The GOP is, well, they are the Nazis that supported the invasion of Poland.

The bottom line is that the GOP wants to continue the war with the same Commander-in-Chief while the Democrats want to continue the war with a different, and more efficient, Commander-in-Chief. This is what you get when the 2-major parties have chosen to marginalize opposition to the war in Iraq. The same thing happened in 1968 with the Vietnam War.

[creeksneakers2]

12. The Democrats

Don't want to continue the war. They have to.

[jonnyblitz]

3. I am going to their convergence center and boston common

bizarre on tuesday if possible prior to the DU happy hour. I agreed with everything they said on CSPAN pretty much EXCEPT I am voting for Kerry no matter what.

[bluestateguy]

5. They could protest the governing party, but no

This is a Republican government at all levels. They run the show. It's their government. Hence, they should be protested more.

[cornermouse]

9. I agree.

I am a little confused about why they think that its the democrats fault that the FBI is investigating them; given the Republican inspired Patriot Act and rampant paranoia exhibited by the republicans.

[IndianaGreen]

13. The war and the PATRIOT Act have bipartisan fingerprints all over them

John Edwards brags that he helped write PATRIOT Act.

In this photo you can see Democratic Senators Leahy, Reid, and Graham witnessing the death of the Bill of Rights as our Glorious Fuehrer signs the PATRIOT Act:



President, House Leadership Agree on Iraq Resolution



President George W. Bush along with bipartisan leaders from the House and Senate announced the Joint Resolution to authorize the use of the United States Armed Forces against Iraq. "The statement of support from the Congress will show to friend and enemy alike the resolve of the United States," President Bush said during the announcement in the Rose Garden, Wednesday, October 2, 2002. White House photo by Paul Morse.

http://www.whitehouse.gov/news/releases/2002/10/20021002-7.html

[Bombtrack]

6. They don't have an objective. They're mostly either disturbed or misguided

Go their website and read their forum. These people are of the, somewhat common on DU, variety of the horde-thinking fringe. If there was a word for the polar opposite of affable pragmatists, they would be it.

These kind of people annoy me to no end. Anybody who supports them is an utter douchebag.

[Laughing Mirror]

7. "utter douchebag" checking in

and Yes I do support a coalition of activists opposed to corporate and government authority. And Yes I will march in the streets and engage in civil disobedience to show my opposition to that maligned authority. I have been doing so since I was 15 and now at 51 it seems I will have to keep on opposing and disobeying until changes are made.

If you call this not having an objective, I wonder who is disturbed or misguided?

[0007]

10. Another "utter douche bag" checking in -

I'm in complete agreement with you downstairsparts.

Bill Maher pictured with superstars is like handing a douche bag to a prick.

[GeronimoSkull]

8. They're working hard to facilitate free speech

:thumbsup:

[graywarrior]

11. Douchbag #3 here

I'm grateful for young kids who are willing to step outside the norm and remind us what we are losing day by day, inch by inch...freedom of speech.
Isn't this how The Weathermen got started?