Get Yer Protest On
I may be a bad American, but I can pass for a good anti-American.
I saw some of the Critical Mass bikers get hauled off Friday night near my apartment; good idea for a protest, though I can understand people's consternation if they're fucking up ambulances and shit. But, otherwise, to hell with NYC motorists and taxi cabs. Plus, can the police grab a few random people out of large, law-breaking mass and arrest them? Sure, but I'm not sure if that makes it right.
On Saturday, NARAL organized a pro-choice rally to begin in Brooklyn's Cadman Plaza and end in Manhattan's City Hall Park, crossing the Brooklyn Bridge in the process. I didn't wake up well on Saturday, so I didn't get to the Brookltn side, but I headed downtown to watch the sluts cross over. There was a little pen set up for the anti-choice people. When I first got there, there were 20 people in the pen, 12 of them older males. (That dynamic probably changed, but it's still pretty representative.) They probably only brought the ladeez so that there were people with thumbs to hold up the signs after their fingers got tired. "God Will Not Be Mocked," indeed. But you will, Cletus.
Protester of the Year was at the NARAL march; she had a sign that read "I ♥ My Cunt Blood." I'm not sure what that means, but I think I ♥ your cunt blood, too. Babe, you know I do. Anyway, a pro-choice rally is a good way to start because the group is very well-organized (at least in relative terms) and the crowd serious and well-behaved. Plus, they have port-o-potties!
I probably got a little less out of the United for Peace and Justice march yesterday, simply because there were so many people and so much to take in. It was an older, more serious crowd than the fearmongers would have you believe, and certainly more anti-Bush than pro-Kerry. I probably could've counted on one hand the number of Kerry '04 buttons/signs I saw. Seems to me that the majority of the people who got arrested were, once again, Critical Mass people. But I can't be sure. It took about 4 hours for me to get from 14th Street to 29th Street, if that gives you an idea of the attendance. One cop remarked to someone I was with that, before the march, they had estimated 250,000 and that it was certainly much more than that. "Turn on Fox News tonight and they'll tell you 20,000," another remarked. Unprofessional, perhaps, but indicative of the fact that there were few, if any, police-protester problems. They're on our side, for the same reasons or for their own. I got roped into carrying a cardboard coffin for about 20 blocks, but that's all I can complain about. I hit Union Square at about 5:15, after starting the march at 11ish. Then I went home and congratulated myself some more.
The city seems normal to me today, the first day of the convention. I don't expect to see any around my neighborhood (I live in Fagville), but I saw one guy in a bowtie in front of the Empire State Building (where I work). He must not have gotten the memo that Tucker Carlson will probably not be voting for Bush this year.
I'm not sure if I'll be doing anything meaningful the rest of the week. Maybe the Bush protest on Thursday. I fly out of LaGuardia on Friday afternoon... I hope it's not too busy, because I do have to go into work for an hour or two that morning. Please don't make me sit on a plane with Republicans and unwashed hippies. Please.
I saw some of the Critical Mass bikers get hauled off Friday night near my apartment; good idea for a protest, though I can understand people's consternation if they're fucking up ambulances and shit. But, otherwise, to hell with NYC motorists and taxi cabs. Plus, can the police grab a few random people out of large, law-breaking mass and arrest them? Sure, but I'm not sure if that makes it right.
On Saturday, NARAL organized a pro-choice rally to begin in Brooklyn's Cadman Plaza and end in Manhattan's City Hall Park, crossing the Brooklyn Bridge in the process. I didn't wake up well on Saturday, so I didn't get to the Brookltn side, but I headed downtown to watch the sluts cross over. There was a little pen set up for the anti-choice people. When I first got there, there were 20 people in the pen, 12 of them older males. (That dynamic probably changed, but it's still pretty representative.) They probably only brought the ladeez so that there were people with thumbs to hold up the signs after their fingers got tired. "God Will Not Be Mocked," indeed. But you will, Cletus.
Protester of the Year was at the NARAL march; she had a sign that read "I ♥ My Cunt Blood." I'm not sure what that means, but I think I ♥ your cunt blood, too. Babe, you know I do. Anyway, a pro-choice rally is a good way to start because the group is very well-organized (at least in relative terms) and the crowd serious and well-behaved. Plus, they have port-o-potties!
I probably got a little less out of the United for Peace and Justice march yesterday, simply because there were so many people and so much to take in. It was an older, more serious crowd than the fearmongers would have you believe, and certainly more anti-Bush than pro-Kerry. I probably could've counted on one hand the number of Kerry '04 buttons/signs I saw. Seems to me that the majority of the people who got arrested were, once again, Critical Mass people. But I can't be sure. It took about 4 hours for me to get from 14th Street to 29th Street, if that gives you an idea of the attendance. One cop remarked to someone I was with that, before the march, they had estimated 250,000 and that it was certainly much more than that. "Turn on Fox News tonight and they'll tell you 20,000," another remarked. Unprofessional, perhaps, but indicative of the fact that there were few, if any, police-protester problems. They're on our side, for the same reasons or for their own. I got roped into carrying a cardboard coffin for about 20 blocks, but that's all I can complain about. I hit Union Square at about 5:15, after starting the march at 11ish. Then I went home and congratulated myself some more.
The city seems normal to me today, the first day of the convention. I don't expect to see any around my neighborhood (I live in Fagville), but I saw one guy in a bowtie in front of the Empire State Building (where I work). He must not have gotten the memo that Tucker Carlson will probably not be voting for Bush this year.
I'm not sure if I'll be doing anything meaningful the rest of the week. Maybe the Bush protest on Thursday. I fly out of LaGuardia on Friday afternoon... I hope it's not too busy, because I do have to go into work for an hour or two that morning. Please don't make me sit on a plane with Republicans and unwashed hippies. Please.
posted by colin carlson at 3:06 PM
1 Comments:
I did watch Maher. Boy, does Chris Matthews drive me nuts. I don't know if hate to love him, or love hating him. He kept spitting out brilliant shit on Maher (I especially enjoyed the media-as-prostitute analogy); he ripped Thurlow and Malkin new assholes on one show, Bush's campaign manager the next; but then he'll harp on whether or not Hillary is rooting for Kerry to lose, so that she can run in 2008. Even if she were, who fucking cares? Anyway, I appreciate the spirit of Maher's rioting comments, as long as people stay away from the record and cigarette stores. Take it out on the fast food chains, they're the same level of murderer Bush is.
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