Post-RNC
I’ve been back from the RNC protests since Friday, catching up on things while reading accounts of the protests on the web. I’ve also put photos on my website.
A few comments:
1. About halfway into Monday’s legal noon march from Union Square to Madison Square Garden, a white-shirted police commander noticed a group of anarchist drum-beating dancers. Perhaps the anarchists’ pink clothing helped them get that far unnoticed. I watched the commander speak to another cop and motion for others to hurry over. After that, 10 or so cops started walking alongside, keeping their eyes on the pink marchers. The commander seemed to be pointing out specific individuals to other cops, but I couldn’t see who he meant. A Legal Observer was also watching the cops watch the anarchists. The cop gang followed along for several blocks, perhaps 20 minutes. Before the march reached the end, though, the cops stopped following. Shortly thereafter the targeted anarchists left the march and disappeared. (photos)
2. I got to the New York Public Library on Fifth Avenue and 42nd Street on Tuesday afternoon when people were gathering to march toward the Garden. Here’s how the The New York Times described it:
In one incident Tuesday, on the steps of the New York Public Library, protesters who were not trying to cause any disturbance - though they did not have a permit - ended up in a 15-minute melee with police, prompting rows of officers in helmets, clubs in hand, to form a phalanx on the steps. The officers moved in unison, chanting “Move, move, move.” One uniformed officer swung his club wildly at protesters and at journalists, trying to force them back.
It was a pretty one-sided melee. When I got there, things were energetic but peaceful, with people sitting around talking, waiting for things to begin. Someone had put a circle-A anarchy poster on one of the library lion statues. Suddenly, after motioning for other cops to come closer, another white-shirted police commander climbed the steps and ripped the sign down. Within seconds the cops began pushing people sitting or standing near the poster and made the first of two or three arrests. Then they formed a line and pushed all of us back, knocking over chairs, swinging that club the Times mentions. A few minutes later they pulled out their orange fencing and blocked the library steps. Afterwards, they arrested more activists who had been pushed west toward Bryant Park. (photos)
3. The Times article notes that different commanders had different levels of tolerance for protest activity — some went out of their way to avoid trouble, others seemed to invite it. That’s what it looked like to me, too. But throughout the five days I was there, it seemed the cops in general gradually shifted from a tolerant, amused stance during the big Sunday half-million person march and Central Park gathering that followed, to a grumpier, annoyed, rougher approach even during legal marches. At Monday’s legal noon march, for example, cops blocked a street to halt the marchers just as things were getting going, without explanation. After 15 minutes or so they let the march continue.
Ironically, and surprising to me, despite the gradually escalating hostility, the New York cops seemed more varied in attitude and mood than those in Boston during the Democratic National Convention. Many were relaxed, and some of them talkative, at least when they weren’t pushing people around. At the DNC, though, cops routinely stood shoulder to shoulder in riot gear, never cracking a smile, and the Fleet Center where the convention was held was surrounded by rows of fencing, the view blocked by black netting (photos). Boston cops, unlike the New York cops, acted as if they really did think the hordes were about to attack, though their commanders did a better job than their New York counterparts of not overreacting to illegal but peaceful protest. In New York, police patience and flexibility were in shorter supply, perhaps by design.
4. Overall, the cops owned the streets despite protesters shouting “Whose streets? Our streets?” Money buys a lot of barricades and police overtime. The decentralized Tuesday actions brought a lot of surprises and got a lot of local attention, but police quickly reached every trouble spot I saw or heard about. And except for the pre-RNC Sunday events, they were quick to make arrests to prevent actions from progressing, sweeping up legal observers, journalists, and bystanders along the way. Kind of depressing to think about where this is headed, not that it isn’t bad enough already.
5. Where are the older anarchists? Or at least people who used to be younger anarchists? In an interview a few weeks ago I noted the need for anarchists to create institutions to help maintain motivation for the long haul. If anarchism is not only portrayed as a young person’s fad but really becomes one, it can’t make lasting headway. There’s more to anarchism than showing up at protests — it’s an approach to organizing a better society, not just an excuse to run wild — but it’s whatever’s visible that determines public perceptions. Not that I saw any protesters running wild in New York, for the record.