Most of the interactions i've seen with delegates have been peaceful. Yes, we're protesting them, because they are invading our city to plot how to frther fuck our world over, and while they dine in fancy restaurants we're getting the shit beaten out of us by trigger happy cops acting like hired goons for capitalist plutocrats. I seriously doubt the account of a protestor attacking a cop at the poor people's march is true, because i was there and the march was completely peaceful until the riot cops went nuts and began pepper-spraying and fencing in the crowd and not letting folks leave. The attacks on the mouse bloc folks last night were unjustified and the press should be condemning these repressive acts of state violence against peaceful protestors rather than making absurd apologies for police violence. In the wake of the past two nights, i'm very worried about what the direct action planned for tomorrow (check out RNC Not Welcome for details) is going to look like. All of these actions are non-violent, but the police have already coded the a31 Coalition as terrorists and Nonviolent Direct Action as a pernicious fifth columnist terrorist act, and i doubt the police will be as scrupulous as the folks in the streets in eschewing violent acts, given that they seem to have adopted a "by any means necessary" approach to ensuring that the Republican party's corporate welfare-subsidized rental of midtown manhattan (an ambitious privatization project if ever there was one) continues with minimal disruption.
Aside from the police repression and the paper of record's fallacies, the protest itself has often been powerful and inspiring. Prior to the police attacks, the Poor People's march was a huge high point. Yesterday's march was massive, fun, and with the possible exception of 2/15/03, which was sort of a singular experience, and the anti-nuke demo in central park my parents brought me to as an infant, among the largest protests at which i've ever been present. This morning's Still We Rise march was energetic, loud, and beautiful. While i'm amused at how many old friends from high school i've bumped into in the course of the past two days i'm more struck by the sheer stregnth of the determination i'm seeing in the marchers, demonstrators, protestors, et alii, to build together the new world we are carrying in our hearts.
more later.
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