|
June 12 , 2000 Poverty in America: Turning
the Tables Allied
Forces Poverty
in a Gilded Age Out
of Sight Leave
the Kids Alone The
Union Difference Down
and Out on Polk Street Other Features: Star
Wars: Episode Two "This
Is Not Life. This Is Prison" Bosnian
Serbs Still Look to Belgrade Editorial Appall-O-Meter Marching
On The
Other Side of the Street Going
to Waste Profile
Forgotten
America Ancient
Daze A
Class by Itself A
Different Point of View |
Marching On
By Dave Lindorff
Philadelphia
The
City of Brotherly Love has backed down in its attempt to crush dissent
during this summer's Republican National Convention. But the potential
remains for a confrontation between demonstrators and Philadelphia police
during the week - long event.
Faced with a lawsuit filed by the American Civil Liberties Union, the
city agreed on April 28 to issue permits to two organizations planning
to march on July 30, during the run - up to the convention. In March,
the city had denied permits for the groups - Unity 2000 and The Ad - Hoc
Committee to Defend Health Care - and had required them to confine their
activities to a remote area only 40 - by - 190 feet. Meanwhile, Republicans
will have access to all 10 blocks around the First Union Convention Center.
The groups got permission to demonstrate on their originally planned route,
along Benjamin Franklin Boulevard.
 |
|
Former
Mayor Ed Rendell masterminded the restrictions. Credit: Robert Giroux/Newsmakers
|
A third organization, the Kensington Welfare Rights Union, still has not
received a permit for its planned convention protest. "I'm not satisfied,"
says Michael Morrill, spokesman for Unity 2000, a coalition of some 100
progressive organizations anticipating more than 100,000 marchers. "It
annoys me that we had to bring the city to court to get this, and I'm
concerned that there are only two legal demonstrations. The police have
said they will quarantine a five - block radius around the convention
center, so any groups that try to bring their protests to the convention
site will be arrested."
If that situation sounds reminiscent of recent events in Washington and
Seattle, it's no coincidence. To back up Philadelphia's severe restrictions
on protest activity during the Republican convention, the city sent a
dozen of its top officers to observe the way Washington police handled
the demonstrations against the International Monetary Fund and World Bank
in April. Philadelphia's finest returned from Washington full of praise
for the D.C. cops' "restraint," but vowed to be even more liberal in their
use of tear gas if protesters this summer step out of their permitted
demonstration area.
Unity 2000 is a broad coalition of organizations including everything
from ACT UP to the NAACP and various trade unions. Its focus is economic
globalization, universal health care and workers rights. The death penalty
and the fate of Mumia Abu - Jamal, currently on Pennsylvania's Death Row
for the 1981 killing of a white Philadelphia policeman, while not a part
of the coalition's agenda, are also likely to be major protest issues.
Philadelphia went all out last year to land the Republican convention.
Ed Rendell, then mayor and now chairman of the Democratic National Committee
allowed the Republican Party to deny protesters any access around the
convention site. All convention organizers had to do was claim they have
plans for those locations. The only place left was the so - called "protest
pit."
Protest organizations, so far, have taken a hard line against the city's
plans. "We won't be applying for a slot in the censorship pit," says Pete
Davis, an activist with Philadelphia's ACT UP. "As far as I know, no other
groups are signing up for it either. We feel that the city's efforts to
contain protest is likely to backfire, and lead to a greater degree of
civil disorder than if they'd just be more open."
So far, the only organization that has agreed to the city's terms and
applied for a permit to demonstrate at the designated site is the Greyhound
Adoption Group, which says it just wants to show off some dogs.
|
In These Times ©
2000
Vol. 24, No. 14 |
Election 2000 Coverage
Never
Mind the Bollocks
BY BILL
BOISVERT
Here's
the new Republican Party
September
4 , 2000
The
Battle of Philadelphia
BY DAVE LINDORFF
September
4 , 2000
Working
It
BY DAVID MOBERG
Will unions go all out for Gore?
September
4 , 2000
Editorial
BY DAVID MOBERG
Big money problems.
September
4 , 2000
Cleaning
Up
BY HANS JOHNSON
Missouri, Oregon consider campaign finance initiatives
September
4 , 2000
Why
I'm Voting for Nader ...
BY ROBERT McCHESNEY
August 21,
2000
...
And Why I'm Not
BY JAMES WEINSTEIN
August 21,
2000
Dumped
BY JEFFREY ST. CLAIR
August 7,
2000
Bush's
dirty politics turn an Texas town into a sewer.
An
Environmental President
BY GUY SAPERSTEIN
August 7,
2000
Three's
Company
BY JOHN NICHOLS
July 10, 2000
Third parties strategize for the November elections.
Editorial
BY JOEL BLEIFUSS
June 12, 2000
Memo to third parties: Face Reality.
Marching
On
BY DAVE LINDORFF
June 12, 2000
Unity 2000 plans to disrupt this summer's GOP convention
Party
Palace
BY NATHANIEL HELLER
May 1, 2000
George W. Bush's lucrative sleepovers
Stupid
Tuesday
BY HANS JOHNSON
April 17, 2000
After Super Tuesday,
progressives mull over missed opportunities
What
Women Want
BY DAVID MOBERG
April 17, 2000
Working women's votes
could seal Al Gore's fate. But is he listening to them?
David
vs. Goliath
BY KARI LYDERSEN
April 17, 2000
Socialist presidential
candidate David McReynolds
How
to Deal with Gore
BY JEFFREY ST. CLAIR
and LOIS GIBBS
April 17, 2000
Love him or leave him?
Ralph
Really Runs
BY DOUG IRELAND
April 3, 2000
Nader kicks off his
second bid for president
Editorial
March 20, 2000
Flub watch.
On
the Fence
BY MATTHEW KNOESTER
March 20, 2000
Human rights or big oil for Al Gore?
The
First Stone
BY JOEL BLEIFUSS
March 6, 2000
Vanishing voters.
Gush
vs. Bore
BY DOUG IRELAND
March 6, 2000
Free
Ride
BY PAT MURPHY
March 6, 2000
Meet the real John McCain.
Cash and
Carry
BY JEFFREY ST. CLAIR
March 6, 2000
George W. Bush's environmental menace.
Fair
Weather Friends
BY JUAN GONZALEZ
March 6, 2000
Candidates court the Latino vote.
More
Marketplace Medicine
BY DAVID MOBERG
March 6, 2000
Neither Democrats' health plan will fix the system.
New
Labor, Old Politics
BY DAVID MOBERG
November 14, 1999
Bradley
Courts the Black Vote
BY SALIM MUWAKKIL
October 31, 1999
Changing
Primary Colors
BY DAVID DYSSEGAARD KALLICK
June 13, 1999
The
Great Right Hope
BY RUSSELL CONTRERAS
Who is George W. Bush?
May 30, 1999
Money
Money Money!
BY NEIL SWANSON
Al Gore and Bill Bradley go one-on-one.
May 30, 1999