Organizers say Democratic convention could draw 30,000 protesters
Dr Fuji Kamikase
the protestors at the Democrat quadrennial Bash will have
to clean dog poop off their shoes. Of course, dog poop is nothing
like the poop that will show up at the four-day convention.
Organizers say Democratic convention could draw 30,000
protesters
By ANTHONY BREZNICAN, Associated Press
LOS ANGELES (June 17, 2000 11:18 a.m. EDT
http://www.nandotimes.com) - The protesters who swarmed recent
world trade and banking summits in Seattle and Washington are
promising a huge demonstration outside the Democratic National
Convention.
Some demonstration planners, hoping to rally 30,000
protesters, say they'll draw a carnival-like convergence of
activists for the Aug. 14-17 convention.
"There will be people with giant puppets, there'll be street
theater, folks in funny costumes and carrying giant banners,"
said organizer Shawn McDougal.
But there could be more disruptive actions as well. For
example, groups such as the Berkeley-based Ruckus Society plan
July training camps to teach elaborate protest tactics
including creating virtually impenetrable human blockades by
having protesters link arms through plastic pipes.
Los Angeles police Lt. Horace Frank said officers have met
with some activist groups to discuss ways to keep the protests
peaceful. The department expects some, however, to seek
attention by breaking windows or provoking confrontations.
"If people decide to break the law, we will have to take
appropriate action," Frank said.
Some police officials will travel to Philadelphia to monitor
expected protests during the Republican convention two weeks
before the Democrats gather in Los Angeles.
Law enforcement officials have designated an area for
protesters in a vacant lot two blocks north of the convention
site, the downtown Staples Center.
Protest organizers say that won't do, and they plan legal
action in an effort to gain access to the streets surrounding
the convention center.
Ben Austin, spokesman for the city's convention host
committee, said the protest zone will still give demonstrators
access to the delegates and media.
"We didn't stick them in Siberia," he said.
But protest organizer McDougal said, "The protest pit is just
a way to quell the public voice. They're telling us, 'You
protest when we say, where we say."'
Some of the protest groups accuse the Democratic Party of
failing to fight exploitation of workers in an era of
corporate globalization.
"We expect many different means of calling attention to the
corporate domination of our political system," McDougal said.
Convention organizers note that several labor unions and
environmental groups that were influential in the
demonstrations at economic meetings in Seattle last fall and
Washington this spring have allied with Vice President Al
Gore, the all-but-sure Democratic presidential nominee.
"For that reason, many members of those communities will be
with us at both the convention and general election," said
Peter Ragone, a spokesman for the Democratic National
Convention Committee.
Plenty of other groups, however, plan to use the event to
promote their message.
Nearly 200 activist groups have united under an umbrella
coalition known as the Mobilization to Protest the Democratic
National Convention 2000 - or D2K Network for short.
Scores of "affinity groups" represented by the coalition
oppose matters as diverse as sexism, racism, homophobia,
environmental destruction, the death penalty, U.S. immigration
policies and police corruption.
Many of the groups say the Internet has become an invaluable,
low-cost recruitment tool, enabling them to update activists
through Web sites, e-mail newsletters and digital sign-up
sheets.
Protesters are asked not to injure anyone, D2K organizers
said. That message does not, however, extend to property.
"Equating property on the same level as people is part of the
problem," said McDougal, who also is a program coordinator for
the American Friends Service Committee, the U.S. social
service arm of the Quaker religious movement.
"We don't want anyone to get hurt, but 'nonviolence' doesn't
mean you sit there and don't confront what you think is
wrong."
http://www.nandotimes.com/politics/story/0,1068,500217316-5003
08692-501718460-0,00.html
God Bless America
Fuji -- Life Member of the VRWC.
"There is still the illusion that achievements are the echo of words."
--Eric Hoffer
(T- 227 days until eviction and delousing the White House!)
MSLU123
>the protestors at the Democrat quadrennial Bash will have
>to clean dog poop off their shoes. Of course, dog poop is nothing
>like the poop that will show up at the four-day convention.
Of course we expect you to be there. The protesters will not be allowed close
to the convention hall....remember? They stopped all that foolishness. I
suppose you willl be there with some British soccer fan hoodlums...right Fuji?
Probably the Republican party is gong to pay for all this.
Dr Fuji Kamikase
You do have an overactive imagination, don't
you Mz Luz. I won't be there. I detest LA
almost as much as I detest Democrats.
I do wonder if PETA will be there to protest
LA's cruelty to dogs. I mean, after all, dogs
are people too. Certainly just as much as rats
are.
la...@rightwingers.net
>You do have an overactive imagination, don't
>you Mz Luz. I won't be there.
Guess what Fuji, you aint anywhere
Vesota2
>From: la...@rightwingers.net
>Date: Sun, Jun 18, 2000 22:21 EDT
>Message-id: <394d81b2....@169.132.11.12>
This coming from a man in Rapid City.
King Pineapple
news:20000619084102...@ng-bd1.aol.com...
Actually, before I killfiled him rosell claimed he lived in the middle of
some "National Forest" out there.