A Sign of Things to Come?

For the last two weeks there have political hububs, heated discussions, and protests both peaceful and violent surrounding the Democratic and Republic Conventions. While I have been paying close attention to both conventions, as an activist I have focused, for the meantime, on the protests and activities outside of the conventions. There seems to be a pattern emerging, at least to me, that the protests, actions of activists, and actions of police are telling the tell of what's to come in the next four years.

Let's compare and contrast, shall we?

Democratic National Convention

At the Democratic National Convention protesters came, people marched, Anarchists were arrested. From the news reports out right now, the numbers were relatively small about three thousand from what I understand, the marches relatively peaceful, and the police relatively unaggressive. There is a report from Rocky Mountain News that two young men were arrested for giving false information. You can see a list of protest related articles here. There is news that about ten other arrests were made.

I do know that more arrests were made during an anti-capitalism march, but the numbers are unknown to me. Socialistworker.org released an article explaining why the Alliance for Real Democracy was there, protesting:

My reasons for protesting the Democratic National Convention, which are also the generally shared reasons why most in ARD are protesting, are to call this party to account for its record and to make sure that progressive, and specifically antiwar politics, are heard loud and clear.

To paraphrase the rest of the article, essentially the protesters weren't marching against the Democrats in favor of the Republicans, but rather in an effort to let the Democrats know that they simply are not doing what their constituents want them to do. Interesting to me, is the fact that there were few, if I can recall any, who were there to lambaste Obama. I'm sure there were a few, but it didn't make the news.

There were, of course, reports of pepper spray being used on protesters in the anti-capitalism march, but generally the reports did not come back that bad. Protesters can be seen in photos yelling, or singing, linked arm in arm, marching, and observing.

The police in the photos seem fairly passive.

It bears mentioning that when Obama spoke, the convention was open to the public. I think this openness and willingness of a presidential candidate who has been under serious scrutiny and personal attacks from politicians and citizens alike is something important to think about. Yes, security was present at the convention (and, he's had secret service protection for some time). Yes, you needed to have a ticket to get in. But allowing normal citizens in like a sports event is dangerous, according to some people. Allowing ordinary people near conventions of this magnitude is an invitation for whackos and nutters, according to some.

Obama took a chance, some might say, but judging by the night, and the end results of the protests, I think he made the right decision. Remember this point, however.

Republican National Convention

In stark contrast to the activities outside of the DNC were the activities outside of the RNC, both from protesters and police. Large groups, up into the ten thousands it's reported, showed up to march this time, not to bring points to light for the Republican Party, but to march against what the Republican Party, and McCain stands for.

Most activists who were there were peaceful. But before they could even march, the police took the preemptive strike against the "RNC Welcoming Committee" and arrested eight people, searched the premises for weapons. You can see a press release here and here.

From Sanfransisco Bay Indy Media:

Twin Cities authorities have moved hard against the activists by pre-emptively raiding a convergence space and numerous houses, confiscating equipment, and making arrests. Despite that, actions have been going off all over in the streets of St. Paul. [...] Saturday, 8/30/08: Following the convergence center raid the night before, Ramsey County Sheriffs began raiding a half dozen houses across the Twin Cities in the morning and confiscated more items. Several Welcoming Committee members have been arrested and are being held without bail on various "conspiracy" charges. Undeterred, activists continued to hold meetings on August 30th in public parks and later at the convergence center again to plan actions for September 1st .

For more on the preemptive strikes against protesters, go here.

Now, I have previously reported about the protests, and acts of violence that took place during the convention, the main convention on Thursday, prior to and during McCain's speech here and here.

Violence had erupted, as was reported, early in the week by Anarchists, but on Thursday no such groups were in attendance. As reports come out, and the media is slowly covering what happened, people are beginning to understand just how violent it did get, against peaceful protesters and journalists who were, in fact, trying to comply with law enforcement.

Tear gas, smoke bombs, and flash bombs were hurled at first near protesters, then directly at them to get them to disperse from a bridge on which they were blockaded, and couldn't leave. Hundreds of people were arrested that night alone, never mind the arrests made earlier in the week. The tally coming in from varying sources is up to over eight hundred arrests. That works out to about ten percent of protesters who were arrested at the RNC, versus approximately .3 percent at the DNC. That is a rather large gap.

It also bears mentioning that McCain and company maintained a closed convention, and the convention center was actually barricaded up fortress style with metal barricades on the street, and around the building, complete with riot police working the borders, as well as the surrounding areas, effectively closing down streets, and bridges from pedestrian access.

Yeah so, what's your point?

Let's take a very good look at, and analyze the various tactics and tones set by each convention. Now, some may argue that the protests near the Democratic convention were milder because of size, participation, etc.. and the protests at the Republican Convention were simply larger, more aggressive, and more violent over all. This is certainly partially true.

But in no way is it the only reason for the disparities.

Some may argue that Democrats who oppose McCain are dangerous, stupid, or violent by nature, and it is some sort of telling characteristic of the party itself. Some may blame the Anarchists, and others, perhaps, have a multitude of reasons to go on. However;

• Anarchists were present, and disruptive at both conventions.
• Democrats and various ad hoc groups were present, and equally peaceful, at both conventions
• Permits were used at both conventions
• Marching and protesting commenced similarly at both conventions
• Numbers may be vastly different, however percentage wise the arrests and incidents should be fairly equal, but were not.

What differed however, was;

• Obama's convention did not engage in preemptive arrests, McCain's did, and sought to prevent protesters with legal permits from rightfully protesting.
• Obama kept his convention open to the public, while McCain did his best to keep the public out.
• Police reactions at Obama's convention were far milder and opted not to treat peaceful protesters the same way they did aggressive protesters, where as police reactions at McCain's convention were swift, harsh, and blanketed to treat all protesters as if they were dangerous, violent, or terrorists.

If anyone isn't seeing the problem, I'll outline it in a simpler, McCain support style format. The dangerously pervasive ideology among the camp supporters of McCain and Republican and socially conservative views after 9/11 have come out against protesters as being dangerous, violent, and deserving of whatever harsh treatment they got. Regardless of warrant or merit.

Some have gone so far as to compare them to terrorists.

If anyone is under the impression that the candidates and their security teams have had no hand in organizing security measures with the local police, they would be sadly mistaken. I see that the McCain camp opted to go with the "treat everyone like a threat" method, regardless if they were peaceful and cooperative, or not.

With a campaign underway with one moderate conservative hell bent on war and Patriotism, and a vice president who is very conservative, both of whom have centered their platform around terrorism, National Security from foreign and domestic terrorism, and smear campaigns with the notion that legislation will lean towards social conservative wills...it's no wonder those with opposing views are considered dangerous.

The real question, however, is one that burns and worries. If, if, the McCain ticket actually took the presidency, what then will happen to those who oppose openly?

There is a common misconception that the "Liberals" are afraid of the McCain/Palin ticket because they will lose the bid, as if we were talking about a baseball game. People , both Liberal and Conservative are supportive of, and confident in their candidates, that is not the issue. Concern and worry, however are warranted and spoken about not because of the election itself, but will will happen after the new president and vice president have been sworn in.

The fear is that if the conventions, and actions outside of the conventions are any indication of how those with opposing view points will be treated by the administration and supporting camp alike along with proposed policies and ideologies, then we are in serious trouble.

It is cause for concern.

{The photo is a still from raw footage taken during the riot on the bridge, the flashes and smoke are from flash bombs, and smoke bombs or tear gas, aimed directly at protesters. For phenomenal photos of both conventions, please go to Fear and Loathing}