UnCONVENTIONal Protest

The Conventions

At the end of July the Democrats held their war party (lite) in Boston and were met by several thousand protesters- including many veterans who stayed to protest following the Veterans for Peace convention. A majority of delegates, as well as rank and file democrats, favor withdrawal from Iraq. Nothing coming out of the convention reflected any of this. No candidate, including Kucinich, brought this anti-war sentiment to the floor nor was there the least mention in the platform. A delegate who voted for Kucinich in protest (along with other delegates, in spite of Kucinich yielding) explained that the Party prematurely adopted Kerry's policy, as he was the clear primary winner. The imperialists running the Party proclaimed Kerry the best qualified to lead the war on terror and follow through on the occupation of Iraq.

In one revealing moment at the convention, Medea Benjamin, from Global Exchange and Code Pink, raised a sign that said, "End the Occupation of Iraq." She was dragged off the convention floor and thrown out of the convention center. She heard Democratic Party officials actually discussing with police whether to have her formally arrested and jailed, as if expressing anti-war views at the convention might now be considered a criminal act! The police state apparatus was in full force, trying to confine the protesters to a barbwire enclosed "free speech pen."

The Republican convention was a parade of extremism in spite of keeping some of the most rabid warmongers off the podium. The keynote speaker, Democratic Sen. Zell Miller of Georgia, basically denounced dissent against the war, and even serious Democratic electoral opposition to the "Commander in Chief," to be treasonous. VP and former Halliburton CEO Dick Cheney predicted a major terrorist attack on the U.S. in the event of a Kerry victory. The Bush agenda of endless war, domestic repression and Christian fascist ideology- all wrapped in the U.S. flag- was there for everyone to see.

RNC Protest- A Great Beginning!

On August 29 (A29) over half a million people- a river of humanity- gave a big resounding "NO" to the Bush agenda. They voted with their feet in the street. This sent a message to the world that millions in this country oppose the horrors being done by the U.S. government and are looking for ways to resist all this. This is a moment of great danger as well as opportunity for the people of the world. On the danger side- there is the official political struggle between psycho-global-war-and-tyranny vs. psycho-global-war-and-tyranny lite- in which no matter who wins, the people of the world lose. The real opportunity for humanity is represented by the protests against the RNC, the resistance shown in Iraq by the troops, and here at home by their families-and all the battles being waged around the world against this imperialist juggernaut.

Soon after the events of 9/11, Bob Avakian, Chairman of the Revolutionary Communist Party wrote,

'We must bring forward the vision of a movement against the war acts and repression of "our own" U.S. government that is so powerful that it cannot be hidden from the masses of people all over the world- including in the countries and areas that are targets of U.S. imperialist aggression and are, justifiably, "hotbeds of hatred against America. Imagine, what it would (and will) mean to those millions and millions of people when they see hundreds of thousands and ultimately millions of people in America itself, taking on the aggression (and repression) of their own government and standing with the people of the world against all this government stands for and is doing and is enforcing in the world... imagine the realignment it will contribute to- with ordinary people worldwide finding common cause against the oppressors and bullies of the world, first and foremost the rulers of America- who, it will be more and more clear, do not speak and act in the interests, or in the name of large, and growing, numbers of American people themselves...' (From 'WANTED: A powerful Anti-War Movement')

The protests at the RNC were a significant expression of and contribution to such realignment. Many of those taking to the streets were Democrats whose party has turned its back them and on their opposition to the juggernaut of war and repression which is the heart of the Bush agenda (for the Bush agenda lite see www.johnkerry.com). Opponents and resisters of every conceivable stripe were out there throughout the convention and in the period leading up to it. "...community ant-war groups, unions, youth, immigrants rights groups, civil rights organizations and military veterans- including recent Iraq War veterans." -Jeff Paterson-indybay.org.

Routy Snippets from the Protests

The newest generation of vets organized in Iraq Veterans Against the War (IVAW)[see page 5.] marched along side Veterans for Peace and other veterans anti-war groups. Most of the 400-plus participants were Vietnam Vets, though there were smaller contingents of veterans of World War II, the Korean War, and the first Gulf War.

Another powerful part of the A29 demonstration was hundreds of people carrying flag draped coffins representing U.S. soldiers killed in the unjust war in Iraq.

Not in Our Name had a kick-off in Union Square. Poet Saul Williams led the crowd in the NION pledge of resistance.

Code Pink was bold and everywhere all week, including TWICE interrupting Bush's acceptance speech INSIDE the convention.

The Mouse Bloc organized fun, confrontational, and creative actions. They called out RNC delegates in all kinds of ways when they went to Disney sponsored Broadway shows starting A29.

"As the Republican elephant tramples into our city, thousands of mischievous mice will confront them in the streets! On August 29 at 5pm, over 13,000 Republican fat cat delegates will be attending eight Disney-fied Broadway shows in Midtown Manhattan. Every good little mouse in NYC knows the Republicans are only here to steal our cheese. This is our city! These are our theaters! Thousands of mice will swarm the streets to remind the forgetful old elephants that they are not welcome in this town. They will not be able to have fun at our expense without facing thousands of pissed off mice in the streets."

Critical Mass had hundreds arrested on A27 during their biggest ride ever in NYC.

The War Resisters League organized a die-in and had mass arrests across the street from 9/11 "Ground Zero" A31 followed by a march and civil disobedience on Broadway.

Thousands made it to Central Park, where a rally permit had been denied by the court to "protect the grass" and had a "militant mill about." The park was "transformed into a people's park" with all sorts of political struggle, debate and activity happening. (Note: as of this writing a few weeks later the grass in the park is OK.)

Thursday S2 was a day of youth protest and a group of 10,000-15,000 rallied outside Madison Square Garden during Bush's acceptance speech that night.

That same day an all day commemoration of the fallen, with an Iraq memorial wall, pairs of boots veterans, military families, 9/11 families and others represented the fallen in opposition to the war.

NYPD, FBI, Homeland Security et al did everything in their power to restrict, limit and even shut down the protests. The FBI had intimidated activists all over the country in the week before the convention. NYPD did swarm arrests using plastic netting to get hold of masses of people at a time. Police repeatedly offered to cooperate with marches and then turned on them to make arrests. Undercovers on scooters went after people all over. Arrestees were taken to Pier 57- "Guantanamo on the Hudson"- and held under terrible conditions even after a judge ordered their release."

Proud to be an Internationalist!

Going into the week of the RNC there were huge questions and anxious anticipation of how things would look. Many wondered if people would rise to the occasion. Many compared the stakes and the need for resistance to the 1968 Democratic convention. There was still a wrong negative summation of the anti-war movement going into the invasion of Iraq- in that they invaded anyway. The corporate media in the U.S. only showed the barest outlines of what was going on nationally, and in every respect tried to downplay and marginalize the protests. Proudly and boldly the people busted through all their threats, censorship, repression and intimidation and demonstrated their knowledge of how high the stakes are!

"On 'Democracy Now' a correspondent from Al Jazeera, the Arab TV news network, talked about how many people are interested to learn about the protests and resistance in the U.S.- remembering how massive protests helped to end the Vietnam War. He said "There is a lot of hope that goes with a lot of anti-American sentiment in the region at the moment. There is a lot of hope that these demonstrations, in addition to poking the Bush administration in the eye, that they may bring a positive outcome from their point of view to the Iraq case." People all over the world followed these protests as best they could, in spite of corporate media white-out and distortion, and can see hope in people's opposition to the Bush Agenda.

There is every prospect of a major escalation by the U.S. military in Iraq after the election, whoever wins. There is the real possibility of Bush stealing the Presidency again, as his crew really does not believe anyone else can legitimately govern this society. We need to heighten our resistance and opposition to this whole agenda in a spirit of internationalism. In the U.S. we need to show the people of the world that we stand with them and not our imperialist government!

[Anton Black, Navy 1977-84, initiator Vets Call to Conscience, member VVAWAI, supporter of the Revolutionary Communist Party U.S.A.       Read More-www.rwor.org, nyc.indymedia.org]