Kind of Blue: Are today's protesters effective?

A review of the RNC protests: Is the performance and pageantry of modern protest effective? Why the greatest threat to the peace movement may not be the totalitarian police response but the lack of coordination and commitment by activists. This will be among the topics of discussion at the RochesterIndyMedia video screening this Sunday, Sept. 26 at 3 p.m at the Visual Studies Workshop. A 45- minutes of short video segments of various actions during the week of demonstrations against the republican national convention in NYC.

I took the one bus from Rochester, sponsored by Metro Justice, to the RNC protests two Sundays ago. There was one channel, NBC-WHEC10, covering our departure: 50 plus anti-Bush, but not necessarily pro-Kerry, protesters. The news reporter never interviewed anybody but took a long shot of the lone bus leaving late at night - must have been a pretty pitiful sight. If they had zoomed in they would have seen quite an eclectic bunch, the same diversity that would be on display in NYC.

Of course in NYC eccentricity is always amplified. You had your freaks of today - multi-pierced, tattooed, hair-out-to-here, delinquent youth who put on protest like a fashion, to them everything else was fascist. They were graciously welcomed by the freaks of yore who could still fit into their one-size-fits-all universal protest Furtherfest dresses. I just wonder how much of this performance and pageantry furthers the cause.

There was "Billionaires For Bush" who went for the wit and sarcasm of mirroring the excesses of the priveledged. The polar opposite was "Bushville", which I was a part of, that set up a shantytown in Bushwick, a rather rundown area of Brooklyn already. The aim was to bring attention to the third-world nations within our own nation. There was "Critical Mass"- leftists on bicycles. A number of them raced down Broadway, donning hand-made horse heads, screaming "THE REPUBLICANS ARE COMING! THE REPUBLICANS ARE COMING!" Another group set up a make-shift cemetery outside of Madison Square Guard-den. These coffins were made of cardboard, but neither they nor the real coffins will make the nightly news. I am guessing after a thousand or so it's not really new.

At Union Square across from Foot Locker, there took place the greatest outdoor shoe display in NY City's history, only these shoes weren't for sale. A thousand boots, sneakers, and slippers were there in memory of the US soldiers and Iraqi civilians killed in the war. There was also ladies dressed in pink lobbying for abortion rights.

Adding to this circus was the Olympics of freedom movements. There was teams of Free Cuba, Free Palestine, Free Venezuela, Free Haiti, Free Iraq, Free Afghanistan, and individual events such as Free Mumia and even Free Winona (the actress that is, not the country singer. Country singers are pretty much the freest out of all US citizens, unless you're a Dixie Chick.). All together these groups share the goal of ousting Bush. I just wonder about the tactics, which are becoming more and more theatrics.

After the all-inclusive Sunday march, there were more specific, issue-oriented protests planned. On Monday I joined the March for Poor People's Economic Rights. Despite being denied a permit from Mayor Bloomberg, the marchers began their trek from the UN to Madison Square. The NYPD appeared accommodating initially. Whether they let us have half of the four-lane 3rd Avenue or we took it is unclear. The march grew in size and fervor, wicking bystanders along the way.

"Free Palestine," yelled one marcher with a sign to match. I agreed with his cause but that wasn't what this protest was about. Okay ya maybe indirectly since Palestinians are some of the poorest people on the planet, but still. Would this protest devolve once again into the "Free Everything" cabal? It's at these times when I wonder if the greatest problem facing progressives is not George Bush but ourselves - our inability, forget about staying on the same page but, to even get on the same page. Everyone there seemed to have their own dot-com they were promoting, some t-shirt they were hawking, some paper they were selling, some agenda they were pushing. Was all that necessary?

As the march approached MSG, the NYPD showed the protesters how fictitious their chants of "Who's streets? Our streets!" had been. New York's finest slammed down gates dividing the marchers into two more manageable groups, just in time for the mainstream media to cover how small the march was.

The police had effectively cut off the snake's head and served it to the press on a slithering platter, now as a pesky garden snake rather than the rattler it once was.

But really it was quite unnecessary, for we had already separated ourselves - symbolized in the number of activists activating their cell phones rather than talking to each other, symbolic in the dozens of "leaders" now out-shouted by the thousand more "leaders" of their equally formidable affinity groups. Instead of one voice, or one channel, the protest became the sound of a lunchroom at a public elementary school, recess, Circuit City with all sorts of stereos blasting different stations for prospective buyers.

As Americans we have spent so much of our lives buying into individualism, championing diversity, socializing separatism that there is no turning back. The marchers engineering the protest in the front did not turn back, they had no clue what had happened to the rest of their train. They had no communication, no links and therefore no loyalty to the marchers behind them. And vice-versa, the marchers cut off from the front soon withered away through side streets and off to their other evening events.

Championing diversity is what allows the progressive movement to absorb such growing numbers of humanity, but likewise it is this extravagant diversity that ultimately runs counter to an effectively organized movement. If you are up against a highly equipped, studied, and trained NYPD Blue, you can't be Kind of Blue.