Re-Create What?

From NPR, a report that a group wants to "Re-Create '68" at this year's Democratic National Convention in Denver. What struck me about the report was the feeling that this is seen as less a movement than an event. For example you can, I heard, adopt a Port-A-Potty and decorate it any way you want.

But a couple of the iconic individuals from 1968 were interviewed. One was former Black Panther Bobby Seale. He won't march, he said. He has had a heart attack and has a defibrillator. But the reported pointed out that Seale has a personal interest in the Iraq war issue. His son is army reservist who will be heading to Iraq

Then there's SDS charter member Tom Hayden. He says we shouldn't try to make comparisons between now and 1968. This is not the pressure cooker that it was 40 years ago. He did have one moment of caution. He said that if there is a theft of nomination, there will be protests that he says will be non-violent and massive.

As it is the organizers have no idea whether the turn out will be a few dozen or thousands. It is interesting that the organizers are trying to work with the local police to keep it peaceful as the story tells it. The "protest area" is to be about 15 blocks from the convention site.

Well, as one who is an intrepid survivor of at least the events of 1968 though not at the convention itself, I headed over to the website for R-68 and found first the not un-expected logo of a raised, clenched fist and this:

Welcome to the "Re-create 68" website, your virtual activists' Convergence Center for the Denver Democratic National Convention of 2008. This website was created for all the grassroots people who are tired of being sold out by the Democratic Party.

R-68 agrees with the proposition, POTESTAS IN POPULO, "all power comes from the people." What stands between the people and power are the party machines. The parties were devised as a means to represent the people. Today they represent nobody, not even party members, but only party bureaucracy. The people have been left without appropriate institutions for their representation. We intend to create those institutions!

Join us in the streets of Denver as we resist a two-party system that allows imperialism and racism to continue unrestrained.

Wow! Does that sound like 1968 or what?

Well, I for one do not want to relive 1968's Democratic Convention. I remember the anger and fear I felt while watching it on TV. (More on that in August.) And I remember the aftermath- Richard Nixon winning the election. Another convention and election like that would be a disaster.

So spare me. Do the work in your local communities. Build up the alternatives from the local on up. Protests are expressions of anger. And I fear anger never gets anything but anger in return. And this is coming from one who wanted to protest 40 years ago. Today, even more than then, it is a media circus. The media will swarm all over the protests and find, sadly, the weird, and the extreme, and make it a circus of the freaks and the ones who will draw the ratings.

The other week I happened to drive the local Planned Parenthood office. Since I am new in town I had no idea where it was. Until I saw the lone protester outside. A single individual walking back and forth with a sign saying something anti-abortion. No, such protests don't do much. Yes, I know I noticed but it only made me feel sad for the person who was carrying the sign. It gave the impression of a lost crusade with the survivor standing around.

Only massive numbers with a cause may get some positive attention. It sure doesn't sound like that's what R-68 has in mind. It might be fun naming Port-A-Pottys, but stopping war and ending racism and poverty take a lot more than that. Like perhaps the money that will be spent on these things that might be better utilized some way else.

That's my thought, anyway.