September 02, 2004
RNC vs NYC
Some notes from the Republican National Convention and the streets of New York. If all goes as planned a more essayish thing to follow...
- New York is just to big for these things to impact for real. Neither the RNC nor the protesters have the numbers to make more than a half skip in the patterns of the city that never sleeps. It now seems laughable that people actually bothered to leave town over this. None of this however is relevant to the unlucky few who happened to be at the precisely wrong spot as the NYP broke out the orange security fences trapping and arresting like deep sea fishermen.
- the police have fine tuned the art of using the physical form of the city against protesters. 1 city block + 100 cops on scooters and motorcycles = a mobile holding pen. The protests are divided and dispersed before they can even truly form. It takes active hard work to find an active protest. At the moment it seems the action is at 100 Center Street.
- the sms channels are marvelous sources of tactical news. Let us hope they refine further. The fact that police can listen in and in some cases post makes for a fascinating experiment in open systems. As a historical note, I first noticed these tactics in action during the post 9-11 Davos Economic Summit, held here in NY.
- many of the police seem to be without gasmasks of any kind. A clear indication they have dropped tear gas as a tactic. One wonders if the cops will soon be the ones getting tear gassed? Or perhaps the no tear gas rule is temporary, a gift to the poor Republican eyes, they clearly have enough trouble viewing reality already.
- on Tuesday the undercovers wore green bands around their arms or on their heads. Wednesday yellow. Today orange and red.
- has anyone ever seen a protester with a gun? if there was such a thing as a "violent protester" don't you think they would arm themselves?
- the standard tactic in anarchist channels now seems to be to blame any and all calls (and acts) to violence on undercover police provocateurs. One wonders if they get a different color armband. Maybe black?
Posted by Abe at September 2, 2004 07:39 PM
Comments
500,000 protestors. In a city that has 10 million people in it and is dominantly liberal. And most of these protestors were from out-of-state. 500,000 is nothing. And what a crowd, too... Dykie-looking pro-abortion killers, radical gays who want to pervert the definition of marriage, ultra leftwing gun-grabbers, leftover hippies who seldom shower, PETA wackos, cop-haters, treehuggers, anti-semites, Christian-bashers, people who drool when they talk, and several other degenerates of special interest...
Makes me proud to be a republican. I wear their scorn with pride.
Looks like it's going to be another 4 good years for America.
If it's anti-bush, it's gospel to J. Ellis and his ill-informed klan.
Posted by: Billy Kess | September 3, 2004 11:58 AM
getting better, but still start getting on top of your facts my friend. Lets see, New York actually has a population of 8 million and we live in a country where barely half the population even bothers to vote. Plus its August, prime vacation time. How does that add up to half a million being unimpressive again?
In any case its clear you've never actually took the time to attend a large protest. Sure your favorite targets are all there, thanks for listing them all out. And yes I'd agree they present a domestic PR problem, have a piece coming that covers exactly that. But if you had bothered to actually go to a major protest rather then just talk shit, well I can assure you you'd see a different picture. Yes the wacko left is out, but they make up maybe 10% of the crowd, probably less. The rest? Doctors, lawyers, grandmas, college students, stock brokers, coffee shop clerks, construction workers, car salesmen, off duty firemen, teachers, priests, factory workers... A cross section of America in other words. But you'll never know if you don't show up.
And yeah, you're still borderline troll, stay calm or I'll be deleting your crap again...
Posted by: Abe | September 3, 2004 05:00 PM
I am calm - i'm just calling it as i see it. I have nothing wrong with protesters. But when they start kicking police officers, blocking traffic, and doing other illegal activities, it crosses the line.
Posted by: Billy Kess | September 3, 2004 05:13 PM
Well, I guess it doesn't matter who the protestors were, anyway... I don't even think the protests themselves mattered... Or - perhaps there's a chance that when the common American saw the display of these protests, it might have, in some way, even been helpful to Bush?
500,000 protestors can't be wrong?
Well According to Time and Newsweek, Bush is now in a double-digit lead over Kerry.
I know, I know, the only poll that matters is the one in November, but still. I love it. :)
Posted by: Billy Kess | September 4, 2004 08:26 PM