The Republican National Convention or the Protests. Which is Democracy?

There is more than just Bush's answer

The Answer Coalition called for a demonstration on 30st Street and 8th Avenue at 7 pm Thursday, September 2, 2004. This was the day that George W. Bush was to come to the Republican Convention to speak. This was the day that would culminate the Republican Convention events in New York City in Fall of 2004. The stage was set for a test for what the world calls "democracy". Those in power, and those who want to protest that power, all within the vicinity of a few blocks. What would be the result?

The streets of New York City were filled with police and check points and blocked off lanes of traffic. These were all part of the red carpet which the Mayor of the City, Michael Bloomberg rolled out for the visiting dignitaries and delegates of the Republican Party.

Large numbers of people arrested

On the bus ride down to the demonstration, I could observe the lane that had been cleared in the road, cutting off traffic lanes from both sides of the street, is visible. Buses and limousines for the delegates at the convention used the lane in the road the city created specially for them. In the area downtown from the demonstration were many city buses riding empty. These could be used to arrest demonstrators.

The week's event began with an impressive march of over 500,000 people on Sunday, August 29, 2004 (see "End the Occupation of Iraq and Manhattan"). People from all over the US came with their signs protesting the wars that the current US government has unleased first on Afghanistan and then on Iraq.

The week continued with multiple simultaneous demonstrations and activities planned by a range of groups and individuals. The media was challenged by a demonstration at the Fox studios, there was a labor march and rally, there was a poor people's march, and numerous other events. City officials began the week by refusing demonstrators the right to have a rally in Central Park on Sunday concluding their march. City officials continued with their abuse of a citizen's right to protest by arresting large numbers of people so that by Thursday almost 2,000 people had been arrested by the New York City police. Many of the protesters were then held by police, without being charged, for hours or days, despite the legal requirement that a person arrested be charged within 24 hours.

People came to the demonstration on 8th Avenue on Thursday night to protest that city officials in New York had so little regard for the rights of its citizens. The police acted accordingly. Protesters were required to stay within a metal pen constructed by police. There were police on the roofs of the surrounding buildings. Sidewalks were blocked off and kept relatively empty by police, unless you could produce an identification that you lived in the surrounding housing. Police told you an ambulance was coming through and you should move, and no ambulance ever appeared.

It was difficult to hear the speeches from the sound system the speakers had available. Movement of protesters was severely restricted. Movement was restricted in the area surrounding the demonstration. You had to show an id to get into several of the streets around the protest, and were only allowed entry if you lived in the houses on the street. Later on in the evening, 6th Avenue, a major traffic street was cleared from 23rd Street uptown to empty the road for the convention speakers to get to Madison Square Garden on 34th Street.

So the right to protest in New York City was reduced to being willing to risk being arrested to go and stand in a metal pen created by the police. Police not only used the sidewalks to surround those in the metal pen but also had police on the roofs of nearby buildings. Earlier in the week "this right to protest" was reduced to being caught with orange netting, being handcuffed by police, taken to a detention center and held without charges so they couldn't return to the protests.

Like a reigning monarch

Meanwhile the Mayor and city officials in New York spared no expense to open the city streets to the Republican delegates and to close them to the people of the city. The Republican National Convention was broadcast on all channels of the tv, showing swaggering government officials bragging about their origins or their loving families. Delegates were shown applauding no matter what was said. This is being touted by the US media and by US government officials as the essence of "democracy", of "freedom", of the "gift" being brought to the people around the world, especially people in the Middle East, as the goal to aspire to.

The US Constitution has provisions for citizens to have the right to protest. It doesn't have provisions providing for political parties.Yet the right to protest has been seriously abused by the government officials, while public funds and property have been provided to the Republican Party to help them make a private celebration for their members. Obviously the US Constitution, especially the first Amendment guaranteeing the right to free speech, the press and to assembly to present one's grievances to the government, has no meaning for city officials like NYC Mayor Bloomberg, nor to US government officials like President George Bush. In Bush's speech at the RNC, he spoke of his family and congradulated them and himself. He acted like a reigning monarch who had no idea that there could be any dissent in the lands. By 10 pm, when Bush spoke, the permit for the protest demonstration expired.

Yet, for one week many people came to New York City to say that there are grievances people have with the US government, and with the fact that they are denied the ability to assembly to present these grievances. The speakers at the Republican Convention gave no sign that they noticed.

But the fact that the US government can call a media display "democracy" is not something that people of the world will fail to notice. The U.S. government has disdain for protest and democracy in the US, just as it has disdain for these when they are expressed by people arond the world.

This helps to show the world that what the Bush administration calls "democracy" is the cheering of the delegates inside Madison Square Garden on Thursday evening, while he and the NYC officials have no understanding or concern for the protesters and their rights. But for the world the spectacle of the Convention presents a challenge. What is democracy and how can it be achieved? The week long protests outside the RNC showed that this is a critical question for many today. People in New York who were protesting or who were supporting the protesters wanted it to be clear that there is more than just Bush's answer.

(c) Ronda Hauben