Youth Wasted

It's the Sunday before the beginning of the Republican Convention in New York. At the moment C-SPAN is carrying live coverage of protesters marching in from of Madison Square Garden. As the throngs pass by signage reading "FOX News: America's News Channel" people break into a chorus of "FOX News sucks" and "FOX News lies". The usual bad puppets, rainbow flags and colorful abbreviations (Mothers in pink lettered shirts reading "MOB", presumably Mothers Opposing Bush, but from the looks perhaps also against brassieres) saunter by, their messages a myriad of far-left rhetoric with little central theme beyond great distaste for the current leadership.

Its 3:00 now and a paper mache dragon was just set ablaze on a city street. City firefighters, heroes of Sept 11th, were resourced to put out protesters handiwork. I don't know if the arsonists were caught. If not, it is likely they employed some of the fugitive escape tactics advised on anarchist website nyc.indymedia.org:

Don't waste your psychic energy fretting about the police. Keep sober. Plan your range of action and do it. Don't waste time on DTs (undercover cops) except to try and lose them. Invisible Bloc tactics of "everybody in khakis" is really only for those who plan direct actions. If you are a radial, don't wear the subculture uniform that says to police: Arrest that guy. Layer. Do not wear a scarf, but keep it in your pocket. Wear a baseball cap.

4) If you are personally targeted: duck down, move quickly through the crowd while taking off your over shirt and putting on/taking off your hat. You will lose a tail/snatch squad like this.

They have the resources to arrest up to a thousand people a day, but even still, that will not be enough to stop the protests.

5) Do not engage in property destruction of small businesses. Many of them are with us and small merchants are not the problem. No group of any kind has called for this and virtually all have strongly urged not just restraint, but a populist orientation that takes the majority of the population with us.

Nice to see that at least the small businesses are given deference from violence in this public document. Overall the protesters are voicing anger claim to not be against the President, but instead against "the 'Bush agenda'". This is because Kerry "has effectively endorsed that agenda including the war, 'free trade' and a domestic prison state". Funny though, I didn't see these protests in Boston.

There are lots of Nadar signs out, and almost no Kerry/Edwards placards. This is in part because the marchers are mostly cynical, radicalized youth that feel isolated and disenfranchised. Neither party appeals but the one to complain to is the one in power. The other reason there are few signs for the Democratic nominee is one of political strategy. Party guys do not want a week of protests --some which may turn violent-- to reflect back upon the party. They are encouraging therefore people to refrain from attending protests and especially from brandishing Kerry symbols.

Just found some good video here.

The protesters will do more then march the streets; they have set up plans to harass delegates everywhere they go. Schedules of delegates events, methods by which to identify them, and even the release of the names and other personal information of every delegate (currently under investigation by the Justice Department) have been posted on the web for anyone "to use in whatever way they see fit". This is more than protest; its stalking, harassment, and a public disturbance. Even if there was one unified message being voiced, these nefarious methods would undercut any credibility it would be given. Not that they ever would. There are so many different organizations, collectives, and cells on display, it seems that there is a unique group for every third person. Of course if what any one group was saying were a realistic alternative to, for example, the occupation of Iraq, as to require resorts to violence and stalking to get it out, they would get more than 10 people to agree on it.

Then again these demonstrations have nothing to do with the issues. The adolescents of all ages marching in NY this week will tell you how "stupid" and "evil" the current leadership is, but never tell you what they would do in their staid. These children who likely don't even believe in private property, let alone possess any, are the reasons that our wise founders barred the unlanded from the franchise. Voting based on the principal "adults are jerks" is dangerous. More so because the zeitgeist of the moment holds protest and the physical act of casting a vote, informed only by emotion (what one "feels") to be popular, and even lauded. These jeopardous actions, far from the duties of a good citizen, in fact do damage by choosing charisma over wisdom, passion over reserve, ideologues over open minds. It is better that one stays home then to cast an uninformed vote. But thinking is hard. Burning a paper maché dragon, making out with your queer lover, or calling someone "stupid" are easy, everyman activites, no matter how many brain cells have been burned on weed and e.

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