RNC Part II

I met Big Dave in front of the George Washington statue in Union Square Park today at about 1. There was already a fairly large crowd gathered in the park. Dave was holding a sign that said:



We saw a nutty Christian with a megaphone and a big sign surrounded by booing protesters, so we stopped by to see what was going on. He seemed to be anti-Bush, as he kept shouting, "Bush is not pro-life," yet he continued to preach about God and the evils of abortion. He asked the crowd if anyone could argue against the existence of God, so Dave took up the challenge:



The sign says "Bush is not pro-life" and there's a cute little blown up photo of an aborted fetus. Dave looks like he's preaching the will of Jehovah

The man respected Dave's opinion, but politely disagreed.

Soon after the march, sponsored by Still We Rise was underway. We marched up toward mid-town Manhattan, but we were hardly in sight of the convention before the police put up barracades at an intersection, cutting the march into two. The organizers decided to stop the march right there and set up the podium for the speakers. Everyone was in high spirits and several organizers walked around giving out free water. One nun walked up and gave us some suntan lotion. After being so isolated in Taiwan with what seemed to be such radical views (that no one cared to hear anyway), it felt so good to be around people who shared the same beliefs as mine. Well, many of them did anyway. A few counter protesters walked by with signs that said "In God We Trust, In Bush We Trust," and many people started booing and screaming. I thought it was kind of funny.

A) Because 10,000 protesters were feeling threatened by a couple religious nuts comparing Bush to God

B) um...they were comparing Bush to God

Then suddenly I caught a glimpse of a girl who looked exactly like my ex-girlfriend, holding hands with another girl under the banner "Dykes Against Bush." Then quickly the crowd got stirred up again and I lost her in the turmoil. I spent the next half hour wandering around trying to locate her and solve this bizarre puzzle. But I never did. Maybe I'll see her and her little friend tomorrow.

There were a lot of goofy chants which I care not repeat, but one particularly popular one was a rewrite of a song by the legendary hip hop activist, Ludicris:

"MOVE BUSH! Get out da way! Get out da way, Bush! Get out da way!

I guess this is better than the one people started shouting at the anti-Iraq War protests in Taipei:

"Who let the bombs out? BUSH BUSH and BLAIR!"

As the marchers were separated into two parts, the organizers decided to let certain groups of people up front, but insisted they had to be from "low income, minority organizations." There were several speakers who spoke in English and Spanish about poverty, health care, affordable housing and jobs. Suddenly a scuffle broke out in the back of the march as the police arrested a guy. A number of demonstrators ran back to see what was happening, but were blocked by a march organizer who pleaded with the crowd,

Please people, go back and listen to the speakers. The organizers of this march are low-income, minority organizations who want to be heard today. That man who was just arrested was a white a man and...

Immediately several of the protesters were enraged and shot back at her, "just a white man?!"

Look, I'm saying what the organizers passed down to me.

Dave shouted back, "I've never made more than $10,000 a year in my life! I'm a white man so I'm not allowed to be poor?!"

We left shortly after that. By this time my bag was crammed with dozens of flyers and newspapers such as "The Revolutionary Worker," "The Socialist Worker," "Workers World," and "The Catholic Worker." I have never been around so many commies in my life. These were REAL Commies who define themselves as either Leninist, Stalinist, or Maoist. It is a complete fucking mystery to me why anyone would ever want to identify themselves with such notorious, murderous dictators, especially in this day and age.



Raise the Red Flag on High! Weirdos.

We had some lunch and headed uptown to a demostration next to the UN building sponsored by Kensington Welfare Rights Union. Along the way a man with an "Elect Nader" pin walked up and started chatting with us. Suddenly Dave whispered "85 85!," in my ear. Later I asked him what he meant and he replied, "I bet you 3 to 5 that guy was an undercover cop. Not that we were planning on doing anything illegal or anything, but..."

I dunno Dave, I saw that guy on several different corners holding up his Nader sign and it seems like if he was undercover he would try to be a little less conspicuous, given Nader's current popularity.

We saw some powerful speakers at the UN building and we got interviewed by Newsday and the International Herald Tribune. I had read an article about a reporter from Newsday getting arrested at the big march yesterday and the reporter we met today told us that the police split the man's lip pretty good before they took him away. This is the same Newsday reporter who had been detained in during the war Iraq by Saddam Hussein for eight days. He reportedly said Iraq police were nothing compared to New York's Finest. After a while I got bored and pulled out a copy of The New York Sun, which someone had handed me as I walked over to UN Building. As I was reading a column by my favorite right wing idealogue, William F. Buckley, I noticed I was getting some strange looks. Finally I looked up and saw two nappy looking activists staring at me,

Dude, what are you doing?

Just reading this newspaper...

Dave intervened, He's just reading this rag someone gave him on the street.

Well, why don't you try reading our hometown newspaper, the Ashville Global Report they asked. It's the best progressive newspaper in the country!

Do you have any copies?

Ah...no we left all of them at St. Mark's Church last night.

Well, then I guess it's the New York Sun for me today!

Although KWRU had no permit, the march soon began assembling and headed toward Madison Square Garden. There was a lot of tension in the air and you could see several "legal adviors" hanging around the police with their unmistakable flourescent green hats. One of the Communist leaders confided to us that he had gotten arrested the day before but "those guys with the green hats saved my ass." The Canadians were risking getting deported for their presence at the rally, but we all appreciated our Northern canuckleheaded neighbors showing up:



The Anarchist Cheerleaders were lovely:



There was another group of commies that we spoke too. These guys were freaks.



Dave asked the flamboyantly gay man in the American flag speedos if he felt there was any irony in his pin which said, "Kill All Facists"

He replied, "Oh no, honey! I'm dead serious about killing facists!"

We also passed the big pro-Taiwan Independence banner:



So the procession made its way down the street for quite sometime, passing the vicinity of Madison Square Garden which was about five blocks away. Occasionally there would be commotion on the sidewalk and a circle of police would gather. Everyone would hold up the parade and try to figure out what was going on:

What happened?!

Someone got arrested!

What for?

I dunno.

BOOOOO!!! Fucking cops!!!

Some dirtbag could have raped a nun on the sidewalk and they would still have booed the cops.

That's not to say there weren't any dillhole cops on hand. As the parade began to wind down, we were trying to get down a side street so we could take the PATH train to New Jersey, but every street was blocked by police baracades. Frustrated, Dave said, "Can't we just get out of here!"

A big jock-looking cop responded, "Don't blame us, blame them!" and cast a destainful eye on the procession.

Well, if you weren't all standing on the fucking corner....!

WHAT did you say?! the cop responded, puffing his chest and taking a step forward.

Alright let's go! We quickened our pace down the street.

Many demonstrators came prepared with bandanas soaked in vinegar, in case the NYPD resorted to tear gas. Some were also even better prepared:



Towards the end of the parade there were some disputes over what we were marching for. Many of the people were chanting things like "End the occupation" and other anti-war slogans, while Dave and I fell back on the old standby:

THREE WORD CHANT!!! THREE WORD CHANT!!! THREE WORD CHANT!!!

Dave was frustrated. "Goddammit! The occupation isn't the issue!! What about globalization?! What about HEALTH CARE?!" Finally Dave and Sean got fed up and started their own chant, hoping it would catch on:

WHAT DO WE WANT?! HEALTH CARE! WHEN DO WE WANT IT?! NOW!!!

Unfortunately, it didn't.

Dave spent the rest of the time brooding about some snot nosed punk who told him anarchy is the answer when everyone knows you can't have anarchy without socialism.

Left wingers are ten times more entertaining than Republicans. Tomorrow is "Civil Disobedience Day!"

CHEEAHZ!