Counter-Inaugural Protest

[deutsey]

http://www.counter-inaugural.org/

Counter-Inaugural 2005

Bush Isn't Going Away and Neither Are We!
We cannot wait another 4 years to stand against the war and rampant social injustice of another Bush Administration. A coalition of social, political, and religious activists have come together to protest the coronation of George W. Bush. We invite you and all your friends and family to join hundreds of thousands in the streets of Washington, DC.

[blue neen]

1. Thanks for the info.

If you hear of anything else, please keep us posted! :hi:

[katmondoo]

3. Can we have an Inaugural Ball too?

And have our own President and our own Cabinet?

[deutsey]

6. And while we're at it...

our own country, too?

[Misskittycat]

2. I remember the 1972 counter-inauguration

at the Lincoln Memorial grounds. It was very large, but was not reported much in the news.

[deutsey]

4. The counter-inauguration in 2001 also received little media coverage

Except maybe for a five-second clip of someone from the Black Bloc tussling with police.

I was there in DC...anti-Bush demonstrators filled the streets.

[Maat]

7. Someone needs to film it, produce it, and distribute through..

Air America or DU.

Want to see the footage.

[Sacajawea]

13. January 20, 1973.....I was there, too!

Protesting Tricky Dick's second inaugural.

I like to look on the bright side. A little more than 18 months later, please remember what happened. Nixon had resigned in disgrace.

So, there's always hope.

Re: January 20,2005. Wearing a down parka would probably be a good idea!!!

[nadinbrzezinski]

5. Goody

Not taht the media will ever cover this, we are only a focus group

[burythehatchet]

8. schedule

This is the planning meeting schedule. Any DUers planning to attend. I will be traveling through DC on 12/2 and will plan to be there.

Date
Room
 

November 18 7:30 PM
L301
confirmed

November 25
L302
tentative

December 2
L302
tentative

[jsmacdonald]

9. Thanks for posting this

I'm a moderator on one of the listserves and the only one on the other.

Just so you know...

You can subscribe to one of two listserves:

For general announcements, send a blank email to [e-mail]

For open, free-for-all high volume discussion, send a blank email to [e-mail]

In the next few days http://www.counter-inaugural.org will have ride, housing, and events boards up. I've been talking to the web designer, and he's having a few issues with the software, but it should be up very shortly.

[ihaveaquestion]

10. A.N.S.W.E.R. planning their own?

Is A.N.S.W.E.R. planning their own counter-inaugural protest or is it all the same? They have a link for a counter-inaugural too - http://www.internationalanswer.org

[jsmacdonald]

11. ANSWER is planning their own...

Although I heard that ANSWER had a rep at the last spokescouncil meeting, they are planning separately. A lot of groups will be planning, but the difference with what ANSWER is doing and what the spokescouncil is doing, is that there will be information-sharing and inter-coordination between the groups in the spokescouncil whereas ANSWER, as we all know, uses a top-down decision-making style.

So, we are not discouraging anyone from going to ANSWER's protest. What we are encouraging is that people work on coalition-building in an open and transparent process and that we pay attention to the calls to action and input from other groups, starting locally and building out.

And, whatever events you choose to attend on January 20, we're doing our best to provide logistical support.

There may be a large protest, and it may be ANSWER's, may be UFPJ's, may be someone else's, there will be a large number of actions. Rather than building the action from the top down, we are building it from the ground up. It's going to take patience, hard work, and effort, but already there's been a great amount of progress on multiple fronts.

The website, which isn't even really up is getting nearly one hit a minute, and the announcement listserve is already (at least from info I've gotten) larger than the one for the noRNC.

So, this is our movement. You and your group come to DC, plug into events, have an event of your own. It's all possible.

My own group, the DC Anti-War Network, is likely to have a significant anti-war event on January 20 (or will be part of one), and we're likely to have a rally a couple days before, perhaps canvassing the city to get turnout high against Bush.

Hope this answers your question and then some,
Jim

[deutsey]

16. Thank you for providing an alternative to ANSWER

I've been to plenty of anti-war demonstrations coordinated by ANSWER and I'm glad they've put together actions when no one else would step up to the plate.

However, I don't really like ANSWER all that much and I've been hoping that other groups would sponsor other demonstrations on Coronation Day separate from ANSWER.

If you want to go to the ANSWER demonstration, fine. The important thing is that a large number of us turn out that day, and that there are plenty of groups that will appeal to a wide number of people.

[deutsey]

17. You're with DAWN?

I went to the Republican Convention protest with you all!

Aside from getting stalledfor a long time in Baltimore for some reason, I was really impressed with your group and its organization of the bus ride to NYC.

I'm with a peace group in Easton, MD, and will try to mobilize support here to attend your demonstration on the 20th.

[jsmacdonald]

18. Yeah, I'm with DAWN

Thanks...and the more of us who band together the better...

DAWN's big problem is lack of resources...we don't have loads (or any)money to fly in speakers from all across the country.

If we put this call to action out, we'll need help. We're a member of UFPJ, but it's not clear whether they are going to come in or not, and we're very interested in keeping some local and diverse control over the events.

Anyhow, I'm glad you had a good trip on our buses. I worked 60 hours a week volunteering for a very long time putting the logistics together for that trip.

[jsmacdonald]

14. http://www.counter-inaugural.org updated

There have been updates made to the website. Andy, the webmaster, says this is still a shell of the ultimate look, but he is working very hard with his team on configuring the software.

I also wanted to say that my own particular group (only one of many in this coalition), the DC Anti-War Network is seriously talking about bottomlining, or working with other groups, on a big anti-war rally that day, which will be followed by two things. This has not been proposed, and it's all tentative. I'm simply sending out a feeler to a group like this to see what you all think of this.

Those who want safety and think they can make a difference by viewing the motorcade (last time we had 80,000 and barely a word from the press), should try to get down to it.

Those who want to participate in a mass die in (hopefully, really mass, if we get buy in), will go to a location and have a die in in the streets to remember all the dead at the hands of Bush. If this were big enough, it would be quite provocative. And, if it were big enough, their would be greater safety since it is only possible to arrest a couple thousand at most during a day.

I reiterate, these are not official , but they will be proposed in some fashion or other at our next DAWN meeting. I want to see what people thought of a more provocative protest. At the same time, we want to allow for a diversity of expression and wouldn't be like, "If you come to this rally, you have to do the die in."

But, think of this...500,000 marched in New York on A29. About 1,100 of us were arrested on A31. What if even 50,000 had laid down in the streets of Manhattan and stayed lying down? What on earth could they have done? They could have beaten us, used spray to disperse us, or caused chaos, but then they would have done it to a large group of people mourning the dead, and people would have been forced to consider the sheer scope of the suffering. Or, they could have let us stay, and the same result.

Anyhow, some thoughts on this. There is strength in numbers; what are we willing to do to stand up to Bush?

Come to Washington or do something in your town. There's a lot at stake here.

[The Flaming Red Head]

12. kick

[ihaveaquestion]

15. Is "Turn Your Back" a part of the coordination effort?

http://www.turnyourbackonbush.org

I think if this were coordinated in a big way it could make a powerful statement.

[jsmacdonald]

19. turnyourbackonbush

We are talking with them, yes. In fact, I am in regular correspondence with them.

I think we need a diversity of events. I'll admit I'm skeptical of what they have in mind, and the first response of most people to it, at least locally is, "I bet they've never protested in DC before, or they wouldn't suggest this." The reason for that is that you can have all the people in the world down on the parade route, and they can be shouting or not shouting, turning their backs or whatever, and it doesn't guarantee coverage or effect. Besides, too many people are mad as hell, and it will be an extremely hard crowd to discipline.

I do think that it's possible that if we suggest a die in, though, that perhaps, we'll coordinate with this group for those who want to do a safer action. I'm for them going for it; the more groups, the more ideas, the better.

Anyhow, I'm off to write one of their organizers a letter right now.

[jsmacdonald]

21. report back

They, turnyourbackonbush, are having great success in organizing. They report over 5,000 on their mailing lists and some national support. Their media outreach seems to be pretty extensive.

I am hopeful that they proceed and turn out numbers and that they prove me wrong about how provocative their action is. Their big challenge, besides the logistics of trying to get down on the parade route, is turning out numbers.

As for us, if you live in DC, please consider coming to the next spokes meeting. Since the meeting will be dealing a lot with process, it could be contentious, but it is important all the same. Basically, what's being hammered out is an agreement where the spokescouncil is not itself a supergroup, but is rather a coordinating body for autonomous groups to share information and pool resources.

It's very exciting for me, as a DC activist. I haven't seen this kind of energy in awhile. Please become part of the process. This is what we'll need to overcome the provincialism that has dominated much of the local (and let's face it, national) activism.

Jim
http://www.counter-inaugural.org
[e-mail]

[deutsey]

20. kick