Will there be a riot at GOP convention in 2004?

[jeter]

To match what happened in Chicago in 1968? New York is a Democratic town after all.

[phaseolus]

1. Hope not.

Just think of the spin they'd base on that. Even with increasing doubts about Bush's competence & veracity among the general population, lots of people could be swayed by a "we're not dirty hippies like that bunch" argument...

[bluestateguy]

3. If there is, they will have brought it on themselves

They wanted the convention in New York City. They wanted to overburden the NYPD and PAPD with the convention. With any convention comes protests. I would not be surprised if protestors used the Democratic convention in Boston as a warm-up dry run for the Gooper convention.

[lcordero]

12. I hope that Bloomberg will smarten up and ask them to hold

it somewhere else. This is really going to overburden mass transit and completely halt day to day operations in NYC.

[gristy]

2. I dunno

I'm wondering if there will be a return to a "ban" on threads started with less than 4 sentences. How about some background? What happened in 1968? How is the current situation different from the one then? How is it the same? How do these similarities/differences influence your view as to what might happen in NY during the Republican convention?

Inquiring minds want to know.

[Catch22Dem]

6. No ban

That's just dumb. The way I see it, if you remember what happened in '68 and you're interested in this thread, then you'll participate. If you don't remember (or are too young) but still interested, just ask. Many here will be willing to enlighten. If you're not interested, find a new thread.

I've been hearing a lot about the 4 (or 5) sentence rule, and I gotta say, it's the most ridiculous rule ever. Glad it's gone.

[gristy]

9. I would be interested

if jeter would

a) provide some background
b) give us his views
c) stick around to facilitate the discussion

As it is, he spends one minute of his time to start a thread that dies pretty quick. As it should.

[Catch22Dem]

29. Not sure what you're talking about

There are 30 replies to this post. Obviously people know what he's talking about. Obviously you're too young to remember. If you want to know, ask, but don't be a dick to Jeter just because YOU don't get it.

[janekat]

4. You'd better believe it.....

Not riots - but massive demonstrations.

Especially after the way the Bush administration lied about the air safety after 9/11 in NY. New Yawkers are majorly P.O'd about that. They're also P.O.'d about the way they've gotten screwed over with emergency funds and settlements after 9/11. They've really gotten the shaft from Bush.

Notice how Cheney cancelled out on going to NY for the 9/11 anniversary?

They're praying that everyone's forgotten about that whole mess by the time of the convention. How much do you want to make a bet that Bush & Co. will try to make nicey-nice with the city and/send some money right befor the convention.

They made a BIG mistake when they chose NY for their convention....

[calimary]

5. It wasn't just that Cheney canceled - Michael Bloomberg asked him

not to come! Said it was because it might "inconvenience" the families of the 9-11 victims." YEAH, SURE. You and I know the truth - Bloomberg can smell the "Chock-Full-o'-Nuts" - New Yorkers ARE pissed about being lied to about their air quality, and with that fresh in the news, Bloomberg was obviously WELL-aware of the prevailing sentiment. Cheney would not have had the grand welcome he might have expected. Not that he'd deserve one...

[PeakOil2008]

7. Cheney is a total Asshole

He would be as a storm cloud that sets in and ruins an otherwise acceptable setting, all things considered.

Cheney has time and again supressed all investigation into the causes of 9/11. Obviously, he has something to hide. The families and friends of the 9/11 survivors know this. They do not want him there, and understandably so. The man is a criminal and a traitor to America, if ever there was such an individual.

Still, if his heart holds out, Cheney will surely return to dance upon the graves of the 3,000 dead this time next year. I hope that the good people of New York City and people from all over the country, Democrats, Republicans and anyone disgusted with his and the Bush cabal's complicity in 9/11 will also be on hand to confront the Bush Republicans and Neo-Cons with their lies and demand answers!

[pansypoo53219]

8. hope not but there CERTAINLY

will be protests. The chimperor will finally see the people he has pissed off after 3+ years.

[Terwilliger]

10. you never seem to acknowledge

that the rioters in 68 were DEMOCRATS or ON THE LEFT

It's not a similar situation.

having said that, I'll be there making trouble. But I'll probably be at the Dem convention too. After all, I'm supposed to participate, right?

[seventhson]

14. No, the rioters were the police and Cointelpro agents

The activists were infiltrated by the fascists who started the riots.

HISTORY IS IMPORTANT!!!

[dmr]

18. Yes, history is important, and thanks for posting this seventhson

things are not always as they seem - outside agitators will be there, I am certain.

[Terwilliger]

19. OK

so, Abbie Hoffman and the Chicago seven were willing to be peacable while they were ignored?

Just checking.

Yes, history is important. I t should have saved 20,000 Iraqis from death in MY name :grr:

[Clete]

11. If there is a god, yes and it will be by unemployed freepers.

[sal]

13. yes

If they step on sacred ground for photo ops I will be there to stop them with those who feel the same

[madrchsod]

15. whoa..wait a minute

remember it was a police riot. although the leaders of the protesters were looking for a "fight"..the cops supplied them with one. also daley used the "cops" on the floor of the convention.

[Unknown Known]

16. I predict the GOPers will change cities

The stuff coming out about the air quality after 9/11 is going to grow into critical mass.

Like chickenshit Cheney bowing out of tomorrow's ceremony, the GOP will make the same excuse about security and change cities - hopefully to Havana, Cuba where they can party with their old mafia friends.

[Nevernose]

20. Are the GOPhers really that smart?

Or that concerned with the opinions of common citizens (or should that just be "commoners"?)?

[ClintonTyree]

21. It's too late.....................

there have been so many contracts inked at this point that it would be impossible to pull off without further infuriation of New Yorkers and the rest of the nation. They have chosen their bed, now they'll have to lie (and I DO mean LIE) in it.

[maggrwaggr]

17. I hope there are a million people sitting in the street shutting down

the entire city.

Two million would be even better.

We should all be there, just plugging up the entire building. It should be a Siege of Peace.

And we don't leave until they give up

[lazarus]

24. I think

It would be the perfect time for our first International DU Gathering. I know I'll be there.

[starroute]

22. It depends on how pissed people are at that point

Riots don't just come out of nowhere, and for anyone who remembers the 60s, it should be clear that people aren't pissed enough to start rioting. Angry, yes. Frustrated, yes. But not yet deep down, mad enough to spit nails, don't-give-a-damn pissed.

In the 60s, it took about ten years of mostly peaceful demonstrations before things got to the boiling point. If the direction of events continues to go as it has, that'll happen again at some point. It could happen as soon as a year from now -- but I wouldn't be sure of it.

There will certainly be mass demonstrations at the convention, but for there to be riots would take a perfect-storm set of circumstances: say a combination of unending war, growing poverty, and a general decline in the quality of life, accompanied by obvious indifference on the part of the administration.

Even then, there would have to be some spark to set it off -- a deliberate police provocation or a demonstrator killed or seriously injured. I frankly hope it doesn't happen -- destabilization tends to play into the hands of thugs. But it can't be ruled out.

[DisgustipatedinCA]

23. Interesting

You seem to be saying that Bush's burn rate is about 10-to-1 compared to the 60's/70's. In other words, you said it took 10 years or so for people to get "don't care" angry.

This makes Bush sound like an extract, a potently-concentrated asshole who can piss off the world in a tenth of the time it took Johnson, Nixon, et al to piss off the world. We live in strange times.

[Terwilliger]

25. starroute

now would be a good time to start

lets get a plan together and simply inform everybody else what we do

they can't shut down 1 million or 2 million people! :dem:

[Minstrel Boy]

31. something else about '68

Just months before the convention, the two most prominent progressive voices, representing tangible hope that the system could be reformed through non-violent means, Robert Kennedy and Martin Luther King, had been shot down. For a good many people, those deaths were the breaking point.

It's not terribly wild-eyed to assert that assassination has been used as a tool of state. I tell you, I'm truly dreading 2004.

[Isome]

26. I plan on being there...

I'll be making my first ever visit (as an adult, I was born upstate) to NYC on the 25th of this month, and I've already started planning for next year's planned protests.

RNC Not Welcome

I think it'll be a blast! ... and of course I'll be making my voice heard. *snicker*

[tlcandie]

27. My husband and I plan on being there as well in D.C. October 25th

for the HUGE protests! I think we need to EXPAND rapidly and when we aren't D.C. or whatever, then we need to sit on the steps of our capitols! I agree.. it is time to get serious and down and dirty!

[Lexingtonian]

28. check out MWO

Our "humble" President, in reporting by one David Sanger-

"I think next year will look a lot like this year," a close Bush aide said today. While the last Sept. 11 was a moment for the president to lead the nation in grief, "from here on out, the president believes this is not a day about him, but a day about those who lost their lives."

While I don't read this statement as as deeply arrogant as MWO does (I see it as political shorthand for "Bush realizes there's no demand for him to show up as 'comforting leader' figure for the deluded, so obviously New Yorkers are going to go back to treating him as an unwelcome moron and redistributor of their wealth to Texas") it is all indifference about the victims.

I think the Pubbies are quietly trying to bail out of the Incredibly Good Idea of their '04 Convention there next year. If not, I'm all for a silent march past the Convention building by 3 million people with signs all saying "Thou shalt not exploit 9/11 for partisan gain" or "Where is the $20 billion you promised?"

[Atlant]

30. Or Michael Moore's quote: "Dude! Where's my Country?"

I would hope we turn out daily crowds of a million or more.
I firmly believe that it can be done, just based on people's
anger today; by then it should be almost easy.

No riots, just nice demonstrations that fill all the streets
around MSG every day the convention is on-going.

Atlant

[maha]

32. That's about the worst thing that could happen.

A riot would discredit the message that real patriots are against Bush.

What I'd like to see are massive numbers of people protesting PEACEFULLY.

New Yorkers themselves are not likely to riot, although they may flip lots of birds at the Pubs.

[Patriot_Spear]

33. Count on it...

If they have lick of sense, the GOP will decide to avoid NYC like the plague.

Bush* failed to stop the terror attacks.

Bush* hid the EPA report the basically said Manhattan's air was poison.

And finally Bush* renigged on promised money for NY, then turns around and wants to give Iraq 87 Billion.

To paraphrase Strom Thurmond, 'Bush better not come wandering around down here'.

[maha]

35. No, don't count on it.

Karl Rove may be counting on riots at this point. Anti-Bush riots would be great fodder for the RW propaganda machine.

And riots in a place as densely populated as Manhattan could be deadly.

Further, Madison Square Garden will no doubt be surrounded by National Guard (there have been some NG below in Penn Station since 9/11/01). Rioters would be shot and killed.

PEACEFUL demonstrations -- vast, boundless, overwhelming numbers of PEACEFUL protesters. That's what we need.

[DrFunkenstein]

34. I Almost Got Trampled By Horses In February

And the vibe there was totally cool. I wonder what will happen if people are actually pissed off.

Bloomberg totally mishandled the anti-war protests by splitting them up and causing confusion. I hope this time around there are less structural problems.

And I beg all of you - Don't Do Something Stupid!!! No smashing things, antagonizing the cops, etc.

[bitchkitty]

36. I'm still appalled that they have

the nerve to hold their convention there. I wonder if they won't change their minds when they see the kind of welcome they are bound to get.

[DrFunkenstein]

37. Bring It On!

The city is going to be a zoo, because the protests are going to be massive. People are going to come from everywhere, not just New York area, like the anti-war protests.

[Snellius]

38. Salon: Ground zero, 2004

Next year's Republican Convention will convene blocks from the WTC site, just days before the anniversary of 9/11. The reception from New Yorkers, though, might not be what the White House has in mind.

http://www.salon.com/news/feature/2003/09/11/bush/index.html