(originally published in the Stony Brook Press, August, 2000)
by Stephen Preston
If you’ve turned on your television in the past week or so, you probably already know far too much about the Republican Convention. Thus I’m going to avoid saying anything more about the Convention itself. Those who need such information can find it…well, just about anywhere.Unity 2000
Amid this gluttonous orgy of commercialism and corporatism, protests were not only justified, they were demanded. The main theme of the Unity 2000 protest (the only one I was able to attend) was to criticize corporate control over both the Republican and Democratic parties.
However, the various contingents of protesters generally had little to say about corporations; most of them were from groups with other issues. For example, there was the SOA Watch protest, a part of a "War No More" contingent of the full gathering. The School of the Americas, as regular Press readers know, is notorious for teaching techniques of repression to military officers in Latin America, who have then gone on to kill priests, labor leaders, and other spokesmen for the poor. Peace Action the War No More protest, bringing a balloon in the shape of a missile, carried on the back of a flat-bed truck, in opposition to the new "Star Wars" missile defense plan). Other causes represented included ending sanctions on Iraq, and ending the war in Colombia.
There was a very large presence from people opposed to the execution of Mumia Abu-Jamal and the beating of Thomas Jones several weeks before the convention, both of which are obviously important to Philadelphians. A group of Mumia supporters dressed in black and carried balloons, running back and forth through the march
Although some chapters of local unions had endorsed the march, most had made no effort to persuade their members to actually attend. The march ended up being much smaller than anyone had expected. The highest estimate I saw was the police estimate of 5,000.
Billionaires for Bush (or Gore)
One of the most entertaining of the groups at the Unity 2000 protest was the Billionaires for Bush (or Gore). These were activists who dressed as 19th century rich folk and led a satirical counter-protest, with chants like "The wealthy, united, will never be defeated!" and "This is what plutocracy looks like!" Assuming names like Phil T. Rich and Millie O’Nair, they entertained the media while stuffing fake $500 bills into reporters’ pockets and thanking them their corporate-friendly coverage.
Along similar lines, a group of anarchists staged a mud-wrestling match between men with Bush and Gore masks. Calling their flatbed truck "Corpzilla," they hosted a series of rounds in which, on issue after issue, Bush and Gore agreed. A voter would run into the ring, carrying a sign advocating, for example, universal health care. Bush and Gore would beat him over the head with a sign saying "More of the same," then call each other names and wrestle in the mud. It was all quite entertaining, until they finished it off with a group of women who represented anarchy and danced on stage, while shouting something that was drowned out by a death penalty march. Though the performances themselves were a bit amateurish and improvised, the decorations were very elaborate.
"Creative Action"
I spoke with a woman named Jennifer, from Bellport, who went to the protest as a Billionaire. She said she had become an activist after the Gulf War, as a reaction to the overwhelming cheerleading for death. "Somewhere along the way," she said, "I decided that the root cause of our problems is the maldistribution of wealth and power in society." She now works as a volunteer workshop presenter for United for a Fair Economy, in addition to her full-time job as Program Director at a Unitarian Universalist Fellowship.
Asked why she decided to come as a Billionaire, rather than simply march in the protest, Jennifer explained, "Satire, humor, is an extremely effective tool… Doing protests in the traditional way can lead to burnout." Elaborating, she described one of her first actions as a Billionaire: after hearing a speech from "Phil T. Rich" (Andrew Boyd) on creative means of protest, she went to a Wal-Mart dressed as a corporate executive. While protesters were outside waving signs and generally getting a hostile response from shoppers, she walked around inside reminding shoppers not to take any of them seriously, saying, "The less you know, the better it is for us!" People were far more receptive to her, because they are accustomed to respecting corporate executives, and because her approach was entertaining and less "threatening."
Direct Action
Creative approaches seem to be more successful than the disruption methods that were attempted on the second day of the convention. The direct action, which consisted mainly of blocking intersections in downtown Philadelphia, was broken up after a couple of hours by police, who had infiltrated several of the planning groups and arrested many of the organizers on Tuesday morning. Some protesters were beaten by police, and many were arrested and are now facing prosecution.
One reason the direct action failed was because activists were unable to attract sympathy from Philadelphia residents. By disrupting traffic in Center City, far from the Convention itself, the activists frustrated residents, who then approved of the beatings and arrests. And with their props and most of their signs confiscated and destroyed earlier by police, few people knew that the activists’ causes were freeing Mumia Abu-Jamal, ending the death penalty, and reducing the prison-industrial complex.
At the risk of offending several of my friends, who attended the direct action, I would say that it would make more sense for them to try to target better the elites whom they oppose, rather than the citizens they are trying to convince. There are some situations in which this is much easier than others. For example, IWW organizers tell the story of bus drivers who went on strike. Instead of halting bus service, though, they continued their routes, but did not collect any fares. Naturally, the people were much more sympathetic.
Of course, disruption is not always a bad thing. On Monday, the first day of the convention, the Kensington Welfare Rights Union (Kensington is a poor neighborhood of Philadelphia) marched down Broad Street, despite not having a permit. Ready to be arrested, five thousand people marched anyway, blocking traffic to call attention to the poverty which still exists in this country, despite public pronouncements of prosperity from Bush and Gore. Police, trying to avoid confrontation with peaceful protesters (I’ve heard repetition of consonants makes long articles easier to read—what do you think?) simply let them march after negotiating with the organizers, who agreed to march toward a park rather than directly to the convention center. The protest got very favorable media coverage, and helped open up public discussion of poverty and homelessness.
But such relative successes are not as common as one would hope. I would encourage protesters who plan direct action to carefully consider the effects on the public. The ultimate goal of protests must be first to convince the public, for without large numbers, politicians will not listen. The methods currently being used are not working; in a society overrun by corporate commercialism, where serious political ideas are nearly taboo, we need to first connect with great numbers of people before we can expect the government to take our ideas seriously.
Why Protest?
But this is not a travelogue; I do have a purpose. The next time there is some major protest (for example, there are already protests being planned at the Presidential debates, against the similarity of the two candidates), you might consider going.
First, it’s better than voting. I’ve heard far too many people say that protests are foolish and protesters are wasting their time. Protests open up debate; they call attention to issues that corporate and political interests don’t want to debate. If you attend a protest, you’re one of 10,000 people who are expressing an unequivocal point of view, which is far more important than being one of a million people who vote for the Democrat or Republican in an election. If one is going to care about politics, then it’s better to be a drop in the bucket than a drop in the ocean.
Second, they can be a lot of fun. Costumed performers and street theater can be very entertaining, and there are a lot of relatively normal people who attend. Of course, you should go because you support the cause, but it doesn’t have to be boring.
For more news about the protests, check out
For more information about Billionaires for Bush (or Gore), check out