For the past several months, a tremendous amount of local news coverage has been given to all of the fringe groups that are supposedly going to be descending on the city and engaging in civil disobedience. I have been listening to a lot of NPR during the day, and I have to say that, local program, "Colorado Matters" has been one of the worst culprits in propagating all of this nonsense. Giving a voice and a platform to these boneheads isn't doing anybody any favors. I have to say that, even after hearing so much of the coverage on these guys, I still don't even fully understand what they are trying to accomplish. Barrack Obama is the party's nominee. I don't think that the extreme left could ask for much more.
A few of these groups that I am talking about included:
1. Unconventional Colorado - Their official website on MySpace describes them as "
Unconventional Denver is an autonomous chapter of Unconventional Action, a network of anarchists and anti-authoritarians organizing against the political conventions happening this summer."
What the hell is this foolishness? Anarchism? I thought that went out with punk rock in the 80's. If people want real anarchy they should look at the situation in Iraq after the US Military removed the heavy handed authoritarian government. Is that what what they want? Or no, that's what they are protesting against. I'm confused.
2. Recreate 68 - "R68 agrees with the proposition, POTESTAS IN POPULO, “all power comes from the people.” What stands between the people and power are the party machines. The parties were devised as a means to represent the people. Today they represent nobody, not even party members, but only party bureaucracy. The people have been left without appropriate institutions for their representation. We intend to create those institutions!"
Recreate 68 has gotten probably more press than any of the other groups that plan to be protesting during the DNC but their message is only slightly more coherent than that of Unconventional Colorado. People have been talking about getting rid of parties forever, but nobody has ever come up with a real alternative, at least as far as I know. They can complain as long as they like, but unless they get a candidate who agrees with them elected president I doubt anything will happen with their agenda. Glenn Spagnuolo, this groups primary spokesperson and friend of Ward Churchill, has been on the news more than any of these other rabble rousers. It is because of threats made by Recreate 68 that the Denver City Council felt it necessary to pass a special ordinance making the throwing of feces illegal. In their defense, the group subsequently claimed that this was unnecessary because they had already decided against using this tactic. I have to wonder why this would have been on the table to begin with.
3. Tent State University - "
Tent State University is a model, not an organization. Young people across the country have used this model to take back their campuses and their communities. This August we are using this model during the Democratic National Convention in Denver to reclaim our future. Our future will not be cannon fodder for these parties' wars. We will reclaim and define what "Hope" and "Change" mean to us."Again, I'm not sure exactly what this is supposed to mean, but if you read further on their website they seem to be pretty focused on ending the "war" in Iraq. In their defense, at least they seem to be advocating non-violent tactics, unlike the previous two organizations I've mentioned. These guys plan to set up a bunch of tents in City Park and listen to music. I think they have Michelle Shocked coming to perform, which I have to say is another redeeming factor for them. I know she's a super left-wing radical type, but I admit that I like her music.
There are other groups as well, but my prediction is that they will all be disappointed in the results. They have been building this up as the event that will serve as their great national platform, but in the end, they will be a footnote at best. My sense is that, for all that is wrong with America right now, most folks just aren't that angry. Certainly most people don't want violence and vandalism either. Whether Glenn Spagnuolo and his ilk like it or not, people actually do care about their private property and don't want it damaged by a small band of idiot blow hards.
1 comment:
"Why, back in my day, kids didn't go about disrupting conventions. No, instead they wore hats -- but not indoors -- and voted Republican. We didn't have this unwashed free-love element and their hoover-groovy music, their marijuana cigarettes and unfocused civil disobedience..."
When did you become an angry old man? You used to listen to the Clash and Billy Bragg, didn't you? And didn't you once fairly effectively disrupt Wauwatosa's Fourth of July parade?
Maybe Strummer was right: "He who f**ks nuns will later join the church."
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