Salon: The whole world is watching (Repug Convention)

[kskiska]

If militants violently disrupt the GOP convention, it could be Chicago 1968 redux -- and Christmas in August for the Bush campaign.

(snip)

…Tens if not hundreds of thousands are expected to take to Manhattan's streets in protest, and plans are being hatched for widespread disruption, from shutting down city streets to throwing pies to assaults on the offices of "war profiteers." But Passacantando isn't happy about what's about to happen in New York. In fact, he's terrified. Like a host of intellectuals, '60s veterans and activists desperate for a John Kerry victory in November, Passacantando worries that the delicious, so-close prospect of defeating George Bush in November will be swept away in the citywide chaos that anarchists have promised to bring to New York.

"The potential for violence is worrisome, and the potential to have it boomerang against progressive policies is great," he says. "People watching this convention will be judging the Bush administration on its policies, but they will also be judging the people in the streets."

There's a grim precedent for left-wing protest that empowers the right: the 1968 Democratic Convention in Chicago. The parallels between the convention protests that year and those expected this year are striking. Then, as now, the antiwar movement was coursing with justified rage. Chicago Mayor Richard Daley took an even harder line against protesters than New York's Mayor Michael Bloomberg, refusing to grant any permits at all.

more…
http://salon.com/news/feature/2004/08/17/convention_protest/index.html

[bluestateguy]

1. I really haven't decided how I feel about this yet

Somehow, I doubt that these so called "anarchists" are actually serious about removing Bush from the White House. I don't know if they are adult enough to vote for Kerry. On the other hand, if there is no commotion, somehow I fear that the protests will simply be ignored by the corporate media as irrelevant, no matter how many people show up. I don't know. I'll make up my mind in a couple of weeks.

[checks-n-balances]

2. Even if NO true protestors show up, there's a RW group

planning to counter-protest. Don't remember their name or the exact plan, but some of them will be there dressed as "far out radical hippies" with loony signs to make us all look fringe freaks.

[OneBlueSky]

4. you can bet your ass that there will be countless instigators . . .

recruited and paid by the Republican Party (though not overtly, of course) . . . they'll do everything they can to create the kind of chaos that BushCo and the media crave . . . that may well be one of the reasons they picked NYC for their convention, in fact . . . they knew that it would attact protesters, and that they's have an easy time infiltrating . . .

[Jack Rabbit]

8. Protest Warror

That's their MO.

They can cause some trouble, too. They don't believe in the right of dissent and they will attempt to disrupt peaceful protests.

[drhilarius]

3. Frankly, I'm a little worried about the protests.

I get the feeling, and I've read this around DU, that maybe the republicans are looking forward to the protest. It affords them, through how the media will depict the protesters, exactly the kind of juxtaposition they want. The repubs will seem like sensible, honest, decent Americans, compared (again, in how they will be depicted) to the violent, belligerent, lefty disruptors.
Furthermore, the use of situationist like tactics, like blocking traffic, has always troubled. If you have a problem with the repubs, confront them, educate the people you meet. If, however, you block traffic and keep people from getting to work and picking up their kids or doing whatever, then you face the possibility of alienating them and losing their support for your cause.
This is not to say there shouldn't be protests. The protesters, I would say, should just be judicious in what they choose to do, and they should be conscious of the fact that the world, and the voters, will be watching them.

[colonel odis]

5. that's why i believe getting inside and disrupting will be more effective

not showing up for work at a hotel. delivering a tray to the wrong room. taking forever to open a room. not delivering a room service order. volunteering, then not appearing.

much, much more fun. and without all those nasty billy clubs to the head.

[piece sine]

6. ah...common sense!

I've been attempting to make the same point in other posts. Besides baiting flames, I'm not sure I've made my point. Now is the time for Kerry voters to act cool enough to win over the country to our side. Sure, the temporary satisfaction of going to NYC to vent and carry-on has some momentary gratification, but will we all be forced to endure FOUR MORE YEARS OF BUSH because a few of us lost our cool in front ot the TV cameras?! Remember this: the more action there outside, the more the media will cover the event as a whole, meaning the ratings for the GOP convention might be considerably larger than ours in Boston. Don't give the GOP free airtime, protest peacefully, please.

[thebigidea]

7. so if its 1968 redux, uh - wouldn't that mean Kerry would benefit?

People need to think about these comparisons to 1968 a little more.

[Jack Rabbit]

9. It can go either way

Let's play dueling spinmeisters:

1. The Left is out of control. There was chaos in the streets. We need law and order. Vote for the Right.

2. There was chaos in the streets. The Right is incapable of maintaining order. Vote them out.

[ixion]

10. unfortunately, the dominant spin would be option one...

and number two is a bit out of whack. I would say it more like this:

Law Enforcement is out of control, and violating our contitutional rights, and needs to be reigned in.


That seems much more appropriate and true, to me. ;-)

[Jack Rabbit]

11. Yes, that would be the dominant spin

Especially if there is willful violence and property damage.

I am not entirely unsympathetic to the idea that breaking a shop window in New York and looting it is less violent than bombing Baghdad or expropriating by force Iraq's resources for use by western commercial concerns. Nevertheless, it's violence and, if I were the shopkeeper, I would expect the local authorities to protect my property; the fact that I may agree with the vandals on an abstract level is beside the point.

I am quite aware that the Republicans are holding their little picnic in New York to celebrate a band of war criminals and tell the world why their crimes constitute worthy leadership. Fine. Direct protests at the Republicans. Picket their hotels. Block their entrance to the convention center. Refuse to serve them. Make their lives miserable while they are there.

But don't take it out on shopkeepers or whoever else is convenient. They are not the enemy. To direct violence at them plays into the hands of the fascists.