WP: Inaugural Bash (Protests & Counter Inaugurals)

[kskiska]

On J-20, Assorted Protesters Will Be Rising Up -- and Then Partying Down

They call it J-20, sort of like a military code name. They also call it a coronation. A charade. The Inaugural Charade.

They're very angry at the PIC (the Presidential Inaugural Committee), they're very angry at President Bush ("Kerry Won" says a bumper sticker handed out at a protest) and most of all, they're very exhilarated. It's not just a protest, it's the Counter-Inaugural! This is going to be huge! A paradox of protest is that it tends to put some folks in an excellent mood.

Like the other day at the National Press Club, some liberals and radicals and ultra-leftists held a news conference about their Counter-Inaugural plans, and though there was a fair bit of ideological cant and leftist dogma coming from the podium, it was all quite orderly and calm and mature. The Revolution will be polite. Imagine a do-over of the '60s, this time without the acid and the poor hygiene and the bad craziness.

The moderator wore a suit and tie, as did the spokesman for one of the big antiwar groups, and although the reporters asked a couple of snippety questions ("Are you being sore losers here?"), no one got riled. A woman from the Black Panthers said the president will see angry faces and hear angry voices along the parade route, but as she described the scene, she smiled.

more…
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A10824-2005Jan14.html