[lbo-talk] Koch blockers

Max Sawicky sawicky at verizon.net
Fri Nov 4 19:22:17 PDT 2011


Went to a demo tonight at a Koch bros affair. About a thousand, mostly young, very integrated, pretty well-organized. Staging area was a small parking lot near the event. Assorted food trucks had assembled, and not the shit hot dog type. Best catered demo I'd ever been to. Huge balloon of a porcine Koch-character, reminded me of the malevolent Stay Puft Marshmellow Man in Ghostbusters. They had a projector that flashed a huge picture on the side of a building, playing a video. A rapper did a few numbers.

There is an encampment in D.C. I haven't been there yet. My impression is that its denizens joined the demo. We marched around the block to the event, walking the balloon along.

Drums, brass instruments, an assortment of get-ups. It was like a page out of Doctor Seuss. The police basically facilitated the whole thing, blocking off streets as needed. Very limited police presence, no riot squad. I left after the group sat down in the middle of an intersection, doing nothing in particular.

The video included a rant by Dylan Ratigan, babbling like a fool. I presume its appeal lay in his level of anger. Content was not at a very high level, nor especially what I would call left-radical. There was also a snippet of Elizabeth Warren's speech about the need for the rich to pay their fair share (sic). The same sort of signs and slogans you've heard at other demos, though with more emphasis on the evil Koch brothers. My main impression was that although I did not see any heavy left ideological messaging, I could not see this crowd falling into line for Obama and the Democrats.



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