Actions Afoot to Counter Democrats in Boston

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Actions Afoot to Counter Democrats in Boston
By KATIE ZEZIMA

Published: February 23, 2004
BOSTON, Feb. 22 - An outdoor bazaar featuring music, dance lessons and children's entertainment, a gathering on Boston Common and a weekend-long social forum are among the events local and national groups plan in protest of the Democratic National Convention this summer.The Black Tea Society, a local activist group, said it was planning open-ended, low-key educational events, including an open-air market. Some of the issues that will be addressed are media consolidation, corporate interests, the war in Iraq and affordable housing, said an organizer, Tania Vamont.
"A lot of these very national and international issues aren't going to magically disappear with the Democrats," said Ms. Vamont, 24, a graphic designer from Cambridge, Mass. "We're still going to be in Iraq, we're still going to have a huge deficit, and I don't know what a Democrat is going to do to make these go away. Clinton started a lot of the bad stuff Bush continued."

The Democrats are scheduled to hold their convention at the FleetCenter in Boston from July 26 through July 29.
The Boston Social Forum, a regional arm of the World Social Forum, plans a series of workshops and events at the University of Massachusetts Boston the weekend before the convention. Common Cause Massachusetts has applied for a permit to hold an event on Boston Common, and the American Friends Service Committee is considering alternative events, including meetings and teach-ins.
A significant number of the protesters could be city employees. Thirty-two public employee unions, including those representing police officers and teachers, are working without contracts, and negotiations with the city have stalled. Thomas J. Nee, president of the Boston Police Patrolmen's Association, said mass demonstrations by members of police and public employee unions from around the country would take place if all 32 contracts were not settled by the time of the convention."This is a national event, and we're going to utilize our resources," Mr. Nee said. "There will be picket lines. There will be protests."


Local chapters of the American Civil Liberties Union and the National Lawyers Guild, which have been meeting with the police about protesters, said they would consider litigation if a protest area were not in legal boundaries. A federal judge ruled in 2000 that it was unconstitutional to place protesters in a fenced-in area away from the site of the Democratic National Convention in Los Angeles.
http://www.nytimes.com/2004/02/23/nyregion/23boston.html

No shit the American Friends Service Committee World Social Forum offshoot and unions (Sounds like fun, my kinda protest :evilgrin: ) top that with the fact that they hired the fascist John Timoney of miami model (newspeak for police state) the dems really have some serious splainin' to do!!!!!

[corporatewhore]

1. kick!!!