Event Analysis: march on the RNC

September 1 I attended the major march against the RNC. I always love being part of big protests, because there is such a feeling of solidarity and hopefulness. The current administration might be ridiculously messed up, but at the protest I knew that others felt the same way, and maybe with the next election shit can change. It’s also interesting, because most big protests attract a wide range of people, and it becomes about much more than just, say, the RNC. There were Obama people there, Green party people there, anarchists there, people protesting against racism, classism, sexism, heterosexism, people demanding an end to human rights abuses, ignorance of Dar Fur and Palestine, people drawing attention to the situation in Israel, people against the war on Iraq, people promoting alternative energy, people promoting alternative media…the list goes on and on. A protest like this becomes a place where people who disagree with general systems and attitudes of our society can come, and find some sense of solidarity. Events like this draw a more liberal crowd, so pretty much every liberal idea and desire is represented.
The RNC protest was hot, but quite enjoyable. We marched within a larger group of students from all over the country, so I felt even further connected with those I marched around. Everyone is excited at a protest, but I think students even more so, because we are so idealistic and passionate about everything. We were really enthusiastic when doing all of the chants, and there were a few new ones I’d never heard of (like “Stand up, sit down, there’s an anti-war movement in this town,” when we would crouch down and then stand up).
The snipers on the rooftops, riot police blocking off streets and huge black metal corrals we had to march through were chilling. I’ve been to quite a few protests, but never any with “security” that intense. At one point we started chanting “Tell me what a police state looks like! This is what a police state looks like!” Although I know that the United States has broken laws and the Geneva conventions willy-nilly, and we are not exactly an example of a perfect democracy, usually I only hear about these practices in the newspaper. Seeing measures so blatant and so sinister in my face really made me worry about the situation that our country is in, and disgusted at what we have become.
Most of the chanting was fun, but there were a couple that I had a problem with. One chant I always cringe at is the simple “one, two, three, four, we don’t want your fucking war.” I understand people’s anger and their desire to be heard and to intense, but I think it reinforces the idea that us protesters (especially students) are just angry, crude, unprofessional, time-wasters. There are also often children at these events, and it is usually so easy to simply say “oil war” or “racist war” instead of using crude language in front of young children. I also did not agree with the chant “hey hey, ho ho, the RNC has got to go.” The RNC has a right to be here, and although I strongly disagree with most everything they do, I disagree with their beliefs and practices, not their right to be in St. Paul. I love the chants, but some of them could be better thought-out.