I don’t really know what to say about the proposed route of the Labor Day (2008) protest planned by anti-GOP organizers in the Twin Cities, except that it’s never, never, going to happen as planned.
The plan, such as it is, is for the angry masses to rally at the capitol, then head down John Ireland Boulevard to Kellogg, then head along Kellogg towards the Xcel Energy Center. That’s pretty stupid, really, but it gets worse - the starry-eyed idealists think they’re going to be permitted to circle the X, going along Kellogg, then cutting through Rice Park to 5th Street, then the wrong way down Fifth (a one-way street) back to 7th Street, where they want to “rally” in front of the convention site.
Never going to happen. Here’s why:
Look, guys; set aside the indignity and self-righteousness for a minute, and think with your brains, okay? There are exactly two places near the X you can fit more than a few thousand people - in front of the state capitol, and Harriet Island. I firmly believe the latter (along with the adjacent Raspberry Island) is going to be where, when all is said and done, the vast majority of protests, protestors, and demonstrations are going to be. The sooner everyone accepts this reality, the sooner you can get on with planning meaningful activities that have a snowball’s chance in hell of actually taking place.
2 responses so far ↓
you're wrong // Jul 20, 2007 at 3:48 pm
Your ‘conventional wisdom’ that we’ll never be allowed to protest outside the Xcel Center is simply wrong.
In 2004, protesters fought for and won the right to march past the convention site of both the DNC in Boston and the RNC in NYC.
Why does it seem to offend you so much that we have the gall to believe that we should be able to protest *near* the actual event we’re protesting, rather than accept being on an island across the river where no convention-goer will ever even know that a protest happened?
The protesters won the right to protest outside the actual convention center in 2004 in both Boston and New York. Do you dispute this fact? Please at least do a little research before getting so self-righteous with your know-it-all ‘conventional wisdom’ telling us everything we can’t do.
Lysander Spooner // Jul 29, 2007 at 10:27 am
“Permitted”, Wanker? How… um… TELLING. What a pity for George III that he didn’t have your decidedly autocratic ideology around to help him in 1776.
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