RNC protests. Do the Republicans want chaos in the streets?
From Danny Schecter’s Media Channel listserv and blog
In Britain and around the world this is front page news-a peace rally banned in New York. The BBC reported it that way: “Organizers say the ban is a violation of their constitutional rights of assembly and free speech. A judge at New York’s state Supreme Court has ruled that the rally, which was expected to attract a quarter of a million demonstrators, cannot be held in Central Park because of the damage which may be caused to the grass.”
Save the grass and kill the constitution seems to be the order of the day. What is one likely result: “.organizers have warned that in the absence of a place to gather legally, demonstrators may move on Central Park afterwards and that could bring the possibility of provoking clashes with the police.”
A PROVOCATION?
Increasingly this seems to be a planned provocation. The GOP knows how hostile this city is to them, how furious and enraged. They know how easy it is to get the kids fighting the cops — and voila we have a modern day Reichstag fire without the fire, a scene of just the kind of chaos that can be twisted and used to win support for strengthening the Patriot Act and keeping the gang in power in power.
Bush is planning to Nixon on this — to demagogue about the need for order and a strong America. If there is violence, as is probable given the hard-headed attitude of the city, the consequences are unpredictable. It is all escalating with few calm heads to cool things down. Another Vietnam parallel is threatening in the streets.