"Police denied permits to disperse on the 29th into Central Park to incite confrontations. This is a political move based on the assumption that clashes will aid the sitting president in a 'law and order' campaign, as with the supposed 'Nixon effect' of 1968. They are using an out-of-date playbook.
"Eighty percent of registered voters in the city are against the convention. Fifty-eight percent support acts of non-violent civil disobedience. Eleven percent are personally planning on attending the August 29 march. Bush made a mistake coming here from the same deluded hubris that made him say occupation soldiers in Iraq would be greeted with flowers. Conservatives wanted to capitalize on the pain New Yorkers feel from September 11. We reject them. Direct action forces should know that the people here in NYC, and around the entire world are with us.
"Some liberals, notably tenured hacks like Todd Gitlin and the Clintonite leader of the DLC Terry McCauliff are trying to depress the turnout because they believe confrontations will swing centrist voters away from Bush.
"The problem isn't Bush –- it's the Bush agenda (falsely Christian, omni-corporate, anti-Earth, anti-human -- DT).
"Since Kerry has effectively endorsed that agenda including the war, 'free trade' and a domestic prison state, we need to send the world a message that we do not support the militarist course the elites have taken. We have a different audience than the liberal triangulators and we shouldn't be defensive or ashamed for taking our right to dissent. No fear.
"A popular resistance to the war and domestic repression will energize tens of millions alienated from any political action, and will let people under threat of American cruise missiles and F-16s know that we do not consent. We are not 'good Germans' doing the leaders' business. We are a free people whether the government gives us permission or not. If we have to choose between the warmongers and the world, then we choose the world. Our audience is small-town America, the city we live in, and the rest of the world. The conservatives are a tiny minority and the liberals defeated.
"We believe another world is possible and we're going to show it tomorrow. We will not allow police to suppress the will of the people. We are marching and the world will know. With their help, we can win."
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