RNC in NYC the next Chigao '68? The New Yorker thinks its possible

[Adenoid_Hynkel]

DEPT. OF RABBLE-ROUSING
THE CHICAGO PRECEDENT
Issue of 2004-07-12 and 19
Posted 2004-07-05
A case can be made that no political assembly in history has inspired more elaborate and widespread opposition planning than the impending Republican National Convention. At the web site CounterConvention.org, more than a hundred and thirty organizations, with such names as the Campaign to Demilitarize the Police, the Mad Anarchist Bakers League, and the Vomitorium, have registered in solidarity against the President’s renomination gala. High Times is publishing a special “Activists’ Guide” to protesting the Republicans’ arrival. And, according to The Nation, “the city itself may become a giant art installation,” featuring a variety of as yet unspecified “visual interventions” directed at airplane passengers.

“It’s going to be a little bit like the Battle of Seattle,” Pat Buchanan, the former Presidential candidate, predicted the other day, alluding to the large-scale demonstrations against the World Trade Organization conference in 1999, during which police fired rubber bullets at overzealous protesters. Buchanan himself was there among the hordes, he said, marching peacefully in support of labor unions, when the anarchists stole the show. “I had some things in common—but not a great deal—with the folks dressed up as sea turtles,” he said.



more:
http://www.newyorker.com/talk/content/?040712ta_talk_mcgrath

[MikeG]

1. I'm going dressed as a Giant Sea Turtle.

[AntiCoup2K4]

2. And just as the government operatives hijacked WTO in Seattle....

...they'll do even worse in New York, enabling the Bush Criminal Empire to brand legitimate protests as "terrorism".

Bet on it.

[bigbillhaywood]

14. Black Bloc government operatives, huh? No sell.

[G_j]

16. can you think of a reason why not?

BTW, its already happened. Not the actual 'black bloc' of course, but
all it takes is one "masked" troublemaker to provoke a police response and get media attention. Agent provocateurs dressed as 'black bloc' have been documented in the US and Italy.

All is not what it appears.

[bigbillhaywood]

19. Oh I know that such agent provocateurs are there, I just think saying that

they "hijacked" the WTO protests is inaccurate. Union members were fighting along side the anarchists. After Seattle, the union bureaucrats were very careful to separate their marchers from the direct-action anti-capitalist types in subsequent anti-globalization protests (although in some events like Quebec 2001, small labor contingents broke off to participate in the direct action). The pussy union bosses will likely pursue the same "voluntarily divide and be conquered" strategy at the RNC.

[G_j]

22. you are right it was not "hijacked"

I think the operable term in Seattle (just as in Chicago '68) was "police riot".

But it has become far too easy since Seattle for agents to don black.

[Mr.Green93]

3. The Whole World's Watching

[realisticphish]

4. unfortunately

Most of them will be watching whats sent to them by our networks

[Sweetpea]

5. Yeh I am definitely going to monitor what i post in the next month

or so........................not!!!

[eyesroll]

6. My dad got gassed in '68

Someone pitched a teargas bomb down an elevator shaft, and guess who was in the elevator?

He's interviewing with a documentarian who's going to be comparing Chicago '68 to New York '04. (I'll let everyone know, if the documentary enters wide release or is available on DVD or TV!)

[Ugnmoose]

7. Worst place for RNC to hold convention

New York is a hotbed for liberal activists who are jump chomping at the bit to light it up. I remember the 1968 convention very well. I think this one has the potential to be much worse.

[bushwakker]

8. We have to make it happen

If a million people flood NYC - no amount of security will be able to control it.

[Senior citizen]

10. Even without people coming from elsewhere

NYC will be uncontrollable. This is where 9/11 happened, and most people there knew almost everything in F 9/11 before seeing the film. They knew (published in New Yorker) almost immediately after 9/11 that Bush had, just a few months earlier, given $43 million to the Taliban when it was known they were harboring Osama, so New Yorkers didn't have to look very far to see who was financing terrorism. They know that the Bush administration didn't let authorities warn the ground zero workers about the toxic air quality. And New Yorkers are some of the most sophisticated people in the world. They certainly know what the world thinks of Bush. Only pukes would have been stupid enough to pick NY for their convention.

[QC]

9. Chicago '68 was the best thing that ever happened to Richard Nixon.

I hope we won't be that stupid again.

[TriMetFan]

21. Yes it help Nixon cause

the protester at Democratic National Convention were against the Democrats and against the war. Also Nixon said he would end the war.

[QC]

24. It also played into Nixon's "law 'n order" schtick. n/t

[salonghorn70]

11. Just A Question

Is there anyway this could backfire and have a bad effect on Kerry?

[Zen]

12. Peaceful protest is the way to go. Try and move a half-million peaceful

people who are doing nothing wrong. I'll be there if organized by the right person/group.

[faithnotgreed]

13. i pray that its peaceful too. get out there but keep the peace

i hope that is included in the high times guide

protests are borne out of unease or anger etc and of course in combination with the site of 9/11 and all that goes with that, along with massive police and security forces, i truly hope its not a lethal combination.

[bigbillhaywood]

20. Let's hold hands and sing kumbyah. Where's Malcolm X when you need

him? Oh yeah, he was asassinated by FBI informants.

[bigbillhaywood]

15. Days of Rage...

"Bring the War Home. All Power to the People." A kewpie doll to anyone who can identify the source of that quote.

[makhno]

17. The Weather Underground

Getting tired of that kumbaya bullshit on here - "please, a peaceful protest!", "oh, no, the evil unions are going to picket our peaceful convention!"

Wake the hell up, folks, if you don't picket and march today, you'll have to get your hands dirty in a much more serious way in the very near future.

Now, where's my doll?

[bigbillhaywood]

18. It's in the mail, Nestor. n/t

[faithnotgreed]

25. peaceful does not = passive or mild or naive or status quo

when i say peaceful i mean nothing dirty or trying to hurt anyone physically to get your point across. this is way way too important and we have to do everything we can to get people to speak up and to speak out but we cannot hurt our important cause

people should be out there
they should make their voices heard and get creative to express their righteous anger because yes - there is so very much to be angry about with this administration and co BUT we are only hurting ourselves if things get ugly because of OUR behavior. and by ugly i mean people can be really hurt or even killed and you know that. esp with as many people as plan on being there

for all the different groups and issues that will be there its all for one reason: to express anger towards bush and more importantly i think to let our politicians and our corporations and our country and the world know that this president is not ours and we WILL be voting his self right out of washington

thats what i mean by peaceful.

[deacon]

23. all those protesters? but but but i thought bush was in the mainstream?

:))