Present At The Recreation

August 25, 2008 by Frank Gannon | Filed Under Election 2008 

The usual suspects will be out in force this week in Denver, bent on recreating their last really good time when the whole world was watching, back in the day, at the Democratic Convention iin Chicago in 1968.

So if you want to hear speeches from Cynthia McKinney, Cindy Sheehan, Ward Churchill, Kathleen Cleaver, Ron Kovic, Rosa Clemente, Fred Hampton, and Mumia Abu Jamal (live on tape from Death Row) — you should be in Denver.

The rather demurely named Unconventional Action plans to cherry-pick the Convention’s 1,500 planned parties and fundraisers, the delegate hotels, and “designated institutions perpetuating global injustice”:

Using space reclamation, street theatre, direct confrontation, positive action, and a broad array of other tactics, we will force the national media to question the Democratic Party’s failures, hold Democratic candidates accountable for their abuses of power, and engage in direct actions that reflect our ultimate goals of joy and liberation through creativity and confrontation.

The folks over at Recreate 68 get right down to the business of rewriting history and establishing that if, heaven forfend, all their nutcase harrangues and purposely planned in-your-face confrontations actually lead to anything bad, it won’t be their fault. (But just in case all the peace, love, and understanding breaks down, they’re offering daily classes in “Self Defense Training”.)

Let us be clear: the name is not “Recreate Chicago 68” or “Recreate the DNC 68.” The idea that “Recreate 68” refers specifically to the events of late August 1968 in Chicago has been put out by those who wish to discredit an organization planning peaceful, nonviolent protests by associating it with what they would have us believe was a violent protest 40 years ago. Let us also be clear that those conducting this smear campaign are distorting history: what happened in Chicago in 1968 was not a violent protest, but rather a “police riot,” the term used by the Walker Commission, a body appointed by the Nixon administration to investigate the events surrounding the Chicago convention.

The passage of forty years has brought great advances in the logistics of anarchy and the organization of disruption. One can spend hours wandering the various websites reading schedules, signing on to manifestos, and buying t-shirts. (All t-shirts are available in medium and wide cut. This may be a bow to fashion, but I perfer to think of it as geezer-friendly thoughtfulness.)

There are even a number of domain names (progressing, to suit your taste, from anodyne to aggressive) that have been thoughtfully reserved and are available for purchase.

2008DENVERCONVENTION.COM
2008DENVERDNC.ORG
2008DNCDENVER.ORG
CHANGETHEDNC.COM
CHANGETHEDNC.ORG
DENVER2008DNC.COM
DENVER2008DNC.ORG
DENVERDNC.ORG
NODNC.ORG
NODNC2008.COM
NODNC2008.ORG
STOPTHE2008DNC.COM
STOPTHE2008DNC.ORG

It’s safe to assume that, if you can control your impulse, you’ll be able to strike a better bargain if you wait until Thursday morning.

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