One of the silliest chants of protesters has been ‘Whose streets? Our streets!’ It is so stupid because it is empty bravado and not much else.
Another favorite but utterly idiotic slogan in context has been the ever present one of, ‘The people united will never be defeated!’ which is about as empty as can be when you consider the tiny, tiny numbers actually mobilized by the different organizing groups at the DNC.
It was possible to intermingle with the crowds of largely passive Democratic Party troopers and curious onlookers who had come to downtown Denver, and to promote the message that this was a big circus and charade. Unfortunately, many of the protesters were there not in real protest but as a sort of lobbying group upon the Democratic Party. Another group were there out of a counter cultural desire to reject what they were seeing, but not necessarily in any mature way. All in all there were few surprises, and the protesters took little advantage of the fact that most of America really doesn’t find the Democratic Party impressive in the least. The protesters simply did not have their act together and it was largely a lost opportunity to register a positive impact at the convention.
Tony- don’t you be a dismissive asshole too. The UNCONVENTIONAL ACTION kids who were chanting “Whose Streets? OUR Streets!” got arrested for it. They defied being told to get off the streets. And they were there protesting capitalism and imperialism dead on.
My joke about WHOSE GRASS had to do with being told to get off the grass. WHY DID WE HAVE TO LEAVE THE GRASS, WHEN WE WEREN”T ALLOWED THE STREET EITHER? And we weren’t being commanded by the cops, but by the ARD trained monkeys who were trying to avoid any “misbehavior.” You are right in your assessment of the crowd, but the OUR STREETS chant was the spirit that got UA activists confronted on several occasions, and gassed on two.
My account of the march mentioned the ironic use of “OUR STREETS” by ARD. When they led the chant, we were in the permitted Free Speech fenced alleys.
Well, I am sorry if I come off as a dismissive asshole here but this was not exactly where the people were this week. If I am dismissive of others in my comments it is not so much the ‘UNCONVENTIONAL ACTION kids’ that I would aim at but the CONVENTIONAL LACK OF ACTION adults. They were simply nowhere to be found neither on the grass nor on the streets (except as a few Carnival spectators). That was what THE WHOLE WORLD WAS WATCHING.
The short of this is that the people in the US continue to allow themselves to be led to slaughter by the Democratic Party. No amount of shouting ‘Whose grass? Our grass!’ helped ameliorate this reality or change it. It was not effective communication at all.
Neither was the ARD’s or Progressive Democrats of America’s strategies either, and even less so in their cases. They come off as beggars.
You know who communicated best with the American people this past week? It was the police. They communicated quite well that they would do anything to stop real protest from coming together and forming. The protesters were unable to show that that would not be true, which was a big failure on our part.
Let’s just say nicely that we were outgunned and reinforcements never appeared to back the few of us up. The American people are disgusted with their bipartisan leaders but not fed up enough to do anything other than sigh. The anger is just not quite there yet and it was this lack of citizen anger that paralyzed the protest from the start.
‘Whose grass? Our grass!’ Yeah, right. …lol…
One of the silliest chants of protesters has been ‘Whose streets? Our streets!’ It is so stupid because it is empty bravado and not much else.
Another favorite but utterly idiotic slogan in context has been the ever present one of, ‘The people united will never be defeated!’ which is about as empty as can be when you consider the tiny, tiny numbers actually mobilized by the different organizing groups at the DNC.
It was possible to intermingle with the crowds of largely passive Democratic Party troopers and curious onlookers who had come to downtown Denver, and to promote the message that this was a big circus and charade. Unfortunately, many of the protesters were there not in real protest but as a sort of lobbying group upon the Democratic Party. Another group were there out of a counter cultural desire to reject what they were seeing, but not necessarily in any mature way. All in all there were few surprises, and the protesters took little advantage of the fact that most of America really doesn’t find the Democratic Party impressive in the least. The protesters simply did not have their act together and it was largely a lost opportunity to register a positive impact at the convention.
Tony- don’t you be a dismissive asshole too. The UNCONVENTIONAL ACTION kids who were chanting “Whose Streets? OUR Streets!” got arrested for it. They defied being told to get off the streets. And they were there protesting capitalism and imperialism dead on.
My joke about WHOSE GRASS had to do with being told to get off the grass. WHY DID WE HAVE TO LEAVE THE GRASS, WHEN WE WEREN”T ALLOWED THE STREET EITHER? And we weren’t being commanded by the cops, but by the ARD trained monkeys who were trying to avoid any “misbehavior.” You are right in your assessment of the crowd, but the OUR STREETS chant was the spirit that got UA activists confronted on several occasions, and gassed on two.
My account of the march mentioned the ironic use of “OUR STREETS” by ARD. When they led the chant, we were in the permitted Free Speech fenced alleys.
Well, I am sorry if I come off as a dismissive asshole here but this was not exactly where the people were this week. If I am dismissive of others in my comments it is not so much the ‘UNCONVENTIONAL ACTION kids’ that I would aim at but the CONVENTIONAL LACK OF ACTION adults. They were simply nowhere to be found neither on the grass nor on the streets (except as a few Carnival spectators). That was what THE WHOLE WORLD WAS WATCHING.
The short of this is that the people in the US continue to allow themselves to be led to slaughter by the Democratic Party. No amount of shouting ‘Whose grass? Our grass!’ helped ameliorate this reality or change it. It was not effective communication at all.
Neither was the ARD’s or Progressive Democrats of America’s strategies either, and even less so in their cases. They come off as beggars.
You know who communicated best with the American people this past week? It was the police. They communicated quite well that they would do anything to stop real protest from coming together and forming. The protesters were unable to show that that would not be true, which was a big failure on our part.
Let’s just say nicely that we were outgunned and reinforcements never appeared to back the few of us up. The American people are disgusted with their bipartisan leaders but not fed up enough to do anything other than sigh. The anger is just not quite there yet and it was this lack of citizen anger that paralyzed the protest from the start.