Protests at the Republican Convention

[maha]

We've got exactly one year until the 2004 Republican National Convention in New York City. Plans for protests and counter conventions are in the works.

To anyone thinking of coming to New York City next year to protest:

If your idea of "protest" means acting out to draw attention to yourself, please stay home. If you ache to commit acts of vandalism, fuhgeddaboudit. New York has been through enough.

Further, us old veterans of anti-Vietnam protests remember the way a few out-of-control hotheads muddled the message and helped re-elect Richard Nixon. And, yes, a lot of those hotheads were on the payroll of CREEP -- Nixon's infamous Committee to Re-Elect the President. No doubt Karl Rove is lining up operatives and infiltrators now. This is all the more reason for serious protestors to keep themselves under control.

Madison Square Garden is directly over Pennsylvania Station, which has been patrolled by armed National Guard since September 11. I suspect there will be a lot more National Guard around Madison Square Garden during the convention. If you confront the Guard and behave in a manner they find alarming, they will probably shoot you.

Your motto should be: Protest smart, not violent.

If keeping yourself under control doesn't sound like much fun -- stay home.

Keep in mind that the borough of Manhattan is a 23-square-mile island. About 1.5 million people live there, and a great many more work and visit there. The NYPD takes crowd control very seriously. Also, don't even think of getting around Manhattan in your car.

Read remainder:

http://www.mahablog.com/2003.08.31_arch.html#1062543920779

[Cha]

1. I was there on Feb 15, 2003 and hope to be there for the repig

convention and on my Best Behavior as Always!

I live about 4 hours away so there's always planning to do! :-)

[Adenoid_Hynkel]

2. i shall be there

the left needs to get busy organizing this

it should be the biggest peaceful assemblage in american history

United for Peace, Code Pink, RainbowPUSH, NOW, NAACP, Sierra Club, Artists United, MoveOn all need to get to work IMMEDIATELY!

[Cha]

4. I betcha they already are!

:kick:

[Cha]

3. Good Blog!

I'll bookmark this baby!

[tedoll78]

5. A friend of mine proposed something controversial to me..

(I'm paraphrasing the plan here)

Lay-down in the middle of the streets and block Bush's path to the convention. Let thousands-upon-thousands show-up to assist with this.

The later he arrives, the later he gives his speech.
The later he gives his speech, the less of a bounce he gets.

Even delaying the speech to an hour later would hurt him in the east and central time zones. And if the National Guard wants to use force to clear a path, protesters are welcome to bring their children and video cameras, so that the world can see troops using tear gas and rubber bullets on babies.
-------

I have mixed feelings. :shrug:
EDIT: I really have bad feelings about the younguns being there.

[maha]

8. Depends on where he's staying.

If he stays in the Pennsylvania Hotel, he'll be just across the street from Madison Square Garden, and I suspect the street will be packed with armed National Guard.

If he stays elsewhere in Midtown, like the Waldorf, then blocking the streets might be possible, but you'd need so many people the NYPD is overwhelmed by sheer numbers. The NYPD is really, really good at keeping crowds under control.

[bluestateguy]

6. You'll need at least 1,000,000 people

Otherwise it will not be taken seriously. It's not fair, I know, but protests of any less size in magnitude will be written off by the corporate media whores as just routine convention protests (hell, the Democratic National Convention will probably be beseiged by many of the same protestors looking for a "warm-up" event, as well as anti-abortionists). The media will gush over * for four days, unless the protests are so large as to be impossible to ignore.

[maha]

7. No problem.

In Manhattan you can scare up a million people just by handing out free bagels.

:)

[Cha]

9. I know! So glad they chose there. they want to capitalize on 9/11...

but it going to bite them in the :kick:

[dmr]

10. Two cents to a donut -

- for the most part, if someone is out of control it is not a legitimate protestor.

I think NYC will have one excellent and massive 'focus group' - whistles and all!

[doubleplusgood]

11. I would love to see

...several groups of faux Bush "supporters" (Demo folks in costume), that would march from different directions & converge at some central location near the convention:

- Several hundred 1930's style Brown-shirts, with pro-Bush signs, GOP arm-bands, torches, etc.
- Equal number of folks in KKK attire, crosses, also with pro-Bush signs, etc.

This would be great street theater that the media would froth over.