I'm really wondering about the judgment of the GOP of choosing Philadelphia. That city has to be at least 80-85% not republican within the city limits. So many of the wealthy people left that my friend is renting a whole floor of a nice house for about $275, while my slumlord is charging $500 for a room w/o windows or heat in my rooming house here, where she has come over every day this week w/o notice and is sanding off the lead based paint all over and leaving it to us to clean up. anyway, minor tangent.
I want to go to Los Angeles in August. But Gray Davis, who has cited Singapore as a model of law enforcement, is spending millions on 'counterterrorism'. And there is somehow less imminence involved with facing Al Gore vs. the WTO.
I think Geov Parrish (Seattle Weekly, ETS!) is right is saying that 'we' need to keep evolving in strategy, like the police are. #1 would not be storing supplies in one central location (puppets signs u locks) is anyone even thinking of doing barricades this time? That wouldn't necessarily be such a good idea because we should take advantage of the fact that there already will be tons of media there, whereas at WB/WTO, those were previously essentially secret organizations that wouldn't have made the front page at all.
It seems inconceivable that activists coming could ever agree on any central theme or message, although it would be great if people could come up with a good clear way of saying 'they're lying to you. listen to us, we make more sense'. It seems impossible to pull that off. Somehow, I've noticed that at recent events in California such as a Mumia march, sectarian communist groups have made up the bulk of people. In Berkeley, the spartacists can actually have more people represented than any liberal group. Cultlike as they are, they actually bother to show up. It would be bad if they were the biggest visible presence outside either convention. ________________________________________________________________________ Get Your Private, Free E-mail from MSN Hotmail at http://www.hotmail.com