RNC stuff

[rm]

http://www.salon.com/news/feature/2004/08/11/rnc_protest/index.html

That's about the upcoming protest situation in NYC for the RNC.

I've been pretty blase about the RNC coming -- I mean, I'm appalled and unhappy, but unlike many of my peers I've been convinced that at least in terms of protests/safety/riots it won't be that bad.

I'm increasingly less convinced, in part because of the above article and in part because when I wear shirts like "Republicans for Voldemort" I'm no longer getting discrete smiles on the subway, but sometimes as many as a half-dozen people a day coming up to me to inquire where I got it.

I'm not going to speculate on what NYC will be like at the end of the month, because frankly, this situation is so unprecedented, I couldn't come up with a good guess.

But speaking of the above article and my and my satircal t-shirts -- the following has occurred to me:

From the beginning, as protest permits were denied and denied and denied, I've said one of the only ways we have to protest wherever we are is clothing. I still think this is a true and powerful thing. But I also think that anyone wearing protest garb/satircal t-shirts/anti-bush/anti-republican t-shirts should consider the possibility they will be considered a protestor in a non-approved protest zone and face possible arrest. It's completely insane, I realize, but I think it's a real possibility.

I think the rage New Yorkers feel about the convention _using_ our city is being vastly underestimated, and that the protestors coming in from other places are potentially the least of it.

Comments

[rufus.livejournal.com]

I read that article too, earlier today, and I frankly found that man a little bit disturbing. He seems to me to be all hot and bothered for some serious violence to go down, and, as was suggested in the article, I think that *would* in fact be used against the protestors (and the Democrats as a whole) to prop up the already out of control "law and order" aspect of the GOP.

As well as, you know, disrupting (and perhaps, in a worst case scenario, ending) the lives of NYC residents who would like to have their city back, please, when all of the protestors and Republicans get to go home.

[00goddess.livejournal.com]

It's insane, but it's happened already, so yeah, it will happen again.

[luckypineapple.livejournal.com]

areyoucute

[roadnotes.livejournal.com]

My boss told me that 1) the parody group Billionaires For Bush is the only one that's gotten a permit for Central Park -- they are having a croquet game there, and that's what they asked for a permit for; 2) Billionaires For Bush will be staying at his parents' home in the midwest in September.

The universe is very strange, and at the retreat last night, when one coworker came to dinner wearing an anti-Bush shirt, she got a round of cheers -- from people not at our retreat, as well as us. This is heartening.

[heron61.livejournal.com]

It sounds like it will be completely insane. I wish the protesters well, and hope that they transform the RNC into a huge fiasco that is all over the US media. That sort of mess in 1968 DNC partially caused the Democrats to lose that election, we can only hope this will be similar. OTOH, I very much hope, you and Kat and everyone else I know in NYC will stay far away from the protests, since I think that there is a good chance that some of the protesters will be killed and that many will be injured. I'm expecting things to get really ugly in places and for police and Secret Service brutality to be even worse thant has been typical recently. However, I doubt that widespread rioting will occur. In any case, I very much hope that you stay safe.