Hard numbers not part of protest
Estimates vary, but officials downplay crowd predictions
By Sara Burnett, Rocky Mountain News (Contact)
Published August 23, 2008 at 12:05 a.m.
Photo by Matt Mcclain / The Rocky
A map of Denver is seen Friday during a media tour of the multi-agency communications center that is monitoring and coordinating communications for all agencies involved with security planning for the the Democratic National Convention. The city has signed contracts with about 40 agencies to assist Denver's police force.
The protesters are coming. That much we know for certain.
But how many and how vocal or violent will they be? That's still anyone's guess.
Ask the various advocacy groups, and the anticipated turnout ranges from 20,000 for two anti-war marches Sunday to 50 people for a Tuesday parade organized by the Raelian Movement, which believes life on Earth was created by extraterrestrials.
"It's hard," said Glenn Spagnuolo, one of the organizers of the protest group Re-create 68 Alliance.
"People don't RSVP for a revolution."
The one sure thing seems to be Wednesday's music festival at the Denver Coliseum with headliner Rage Against the Machine. The stadium seats 10,500, and the band has filled venues twice that size, so the anti-war concert could be one of the week's biggest draws.
Denver officials have downplayed the expected crowds, saying protesters' predictions may be inflated and they expect the majority to be peaceful.
At the same time, the city has signed contracts with about 40 agencies to assist Denver's police force, and expects to spend $1.2 million on overtime for Denver officers alone.
On Sunday, the city also will open a temporary, overflow detention center that will hold up to 400 people at a time.
"The city does not anticipate the need for widespread arrests but is obligated to plan and prepare for that possibility, given the volume of people anticipated to attend the convention and the intention of some organizations to deliberately get arrested," city officials said.
Spagnuolo - who showed up for a recent news conference wearing a shirt that read "Defend Denver," with a picture of an AK-47 - insists his group will get violent only if police do so first.
Organizers of the group Unconventional Denver say they're not planning to be violent either. But they are planning activities likely to get them arrested.
Among them are "snake marches," intended to stop delegates from entering the convention, and "bike blocs," in which cyclists shut down traffic.
Most of the other groups say they're just trying to get their messages out, without causing trouble.
Which means Denver could see a repeat of the 2004 Democratic National Convention.
Like Denver, Boston beefed up security in advance of the DNC.
When it was all over, the largest crowd topped out at 3,000, according to The Washington Post.
Police reported just six convention- related arrests.
burnetts@RockyMountainNews.com or 303-954-5343
Protest profiles
Adam Jung, organizer for Tent State University
* Age: 28
* From: Kansas City
* Day job: None. Was a waiter at BD's Mongolian Barbeque in LoDo
* About Tent State University: An activist event and "alternative university" founded in 2003 at Rutgers University in New Jersey. There have been Tent State events at college campuses around the country since then.
* What to expect from Tent State: Crowds that organizers estimate may number 20,000 a day, an "alternative university" at Cuernavaca Park, daily free shows at the Tent State Music Festival capped by a Wednesday Rage Against The Machine concert at the Coliseum.
* Web site: tentstate.org
Jung has been busy. Known around Denver as the face of and spokesman for Tent State, he's been putting in 16-hour days organizing for protests at the DNC. It's just the latest chapter in a long history of activism for Jung.
"I've always done stuff like this," he said. "In third grade, we rallied all the neighborhood kids to put signs on our bikes saying 'Welcome to Kansas City - Where the Pony Express started, Jesse James ended and the home of the lowest-paid police department in the country.' "
Jung isn't sure whether his efforts helped officers. But he feels pretty good about his recent efforts to organize for Tent State, including the past two years at the University of Missouri, Kansas City, where he is working on a degree in economics and political science.
Zoe Williams, DNC coordinator for Codepink
* Age: 22
* Hometown: Denver
* Day job: Pursuing emergency medical technician certification
* What to expect from Codepink: Street theater and a Monday night free concert featuring Michelle Shocked
* About Codepink: Founded in 2002 by three women activists. It's a "women-empowered" organization with 270 active branches - and 180,000 people on the e-mail list - who are working to stop the war and create progressive social change.
* Web site: codepink4peace.org
For Williams, activism runs in the family. Her mom was a 1960s organizer with Students for a Democratic Society, and Williams has been carrying the family's progressive torch since the start of the war in Iraq. The youthful activist said that experience counts for a lot.
"I think there are definite attempts to say that these are just idealistic young people who have no idea about how things work in the real world," she said of protest naysayers. "But we've all been organizers for a long time."
Williams said that Codepink will work toward the goals of ending the war in Iraq, preventing a war with Iran and spreading the message that "war is not green."
Although Williams' direct connection to the activism of a generation ago - her mom - will be on the East Coast for family reasons and won't be at the DNC, she did send her daughter a note of support. It reads, in part, "I wish I could be in the Freedom Cage with you."
Jim Shafer, Colorado director of the Minuteman Civil Defense Corps
* Age: 63
* Hometown: Denver
* Day job: Retired from the telecommunications industry
* What to expect from the Minutemen: A rally featuring alternative-party presidential candidates from 10 a.m - 6 p.m. Monday in Congress Park and at least 350 to 400 attendees
* About the Minutemen: Founded in 2002. Has hundreds of members in Colorado, according to local organizers, and more than 10,000 members nationwide
* Web site: minutemanhq.com
Shafer is the Colorado director of the immigration-watchdog group and has been a member of the Minutemen since 2006. He expects the DNC to provide a chance to educate locals and delegates about the group's objectives. Those include national sovereignty and securing the U.S. border with a fence, according to the director.
"My interest is mostly with immigration," Shafer said. "I would tell Obama and McCain the same thing - amnesty is wrong. We don't want amnesty."
The Minutemen have invited Libertarian Party candidate Bob Barr, Constitution Party vice presidential candidate Darrell Castle and Independent Party candidate Alan Keyes to speak at a rally.
Shafer said the Minutemen are not planning to picket the immigrant rights' march Tuesday.
"We chose not to be confrontational," he said. "The Minutemen are law-abiding and pro-law enforcement. We don't need more laws. Let's enforce the laws that we have on the land today."
Jojo Pease, organizer for the Denver branch of Students for a Democratic Society
* Age: 25
* Hometown: St. Louis
* Day job: Pursuing master's degree in taxation at the University of Denver
* What to expect from SDS: Supporting Tent State University; raising the activist group's local profile
* About the SDS: 150 chapters nationwide; Denver chapter founded four months ago. There are 15 local members.
* Web site: studentsforademocraticsociety.org
Pease is a full-time student. But the rest of the time she's busy organizing for the Denver Chapter of Students for a Democratic Society.
The group was one of the most important activist organizations of the Civil Rights era, but it disintegrated after 1969. Since 2006, there has been a resurgence of students who have taken on the activist group's name and ideal of participatory democracy.
"Each chapter is autonomous," Pease said. "In Denver we're mostly focusing on anti-war efforts revolving around the DNC."
Duke Austin, organizer for Students for Peace and Justice
* Age: 33
* Hometown: Boulder
* Day job: Ph.D. candidate in sociology at the University of Colorado
* What to expect from SFPJ: Supporting Tent State University
* About the SFPJ: Founded in Boulder. About 500 members in Colorado. Goals include ending the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, supporting immigrant rights and repealing the Patriot Act
Web site: sfpj.org/
Austin said the work of activists at the DNC could have long-term value.
"This will be a success if we're able to influence the Democrats to make the changes that they talk about," he said. The activist, student and former Outward Bound wilderness instructor is willing to take risks to create change. He was arrested for occupying Rep. Mark Udall's office in 2007 in an anti-war protest and counts Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. as his biggest hero.
Garett Reppenhagen, member of Iraq Veterans Against the War
* Age: 33
* Hometown: Colorado Springs
* Day job: Student at Pikes' Peak Community College
* What to expect from IVAW: Guerrilla street theater, manning the guard stations in Cuernavaca Park, marching in Sunday's "Funk the War" event, speaking at the Rage Against the Machine show
* About IVAW: Founded 2004 by war veterans with the goals of bringing troops home immediately, helping Iraq rebuild and providing full health coverage for veterans at home. There are three chapters in Colorado and 40 members in the state.
* Web site: ivaw.org/
When Reppenhagen was serving in Baquaba, Iraq, as an Army cavalryman, he heard about Iraq Veterans Against the War.
"I said, I'm in Iraq now, I'm a soldier, but I'm against the war," he recalled. "I said, can I join?" The answer was a resounding yes. Reppenhagen said that after he became an active member while on active duty, he was investigated by the military but not found to be breaking any laws. He was honorably discharged, but that hasn't assuaged his anger at the armed services.
"There's a veterans crisis in America right now," he said. "We're a country that makes veterans but doesn't take care of them."
Brian Vicente, executive director of Sensible Colorado
* Age: 31
* Hometown: Cincinnati
* Day job: Lawyer, director of People's Law Project
* Organization mission: To create an "effective drug policy" in Colorado, especially marijuana reform
* What to expect: Speakers from Sensible Colorado at various rallies
* Founded: 2004
* Membership: About 3,500 people on the group's e-mail list
* Web site: http:sensiblecolorado.org/
Vicente is director of Sensible Colorado and the People's Law Project, which will put trained legal observers on the street to ensure protesters' rights are protected.
"I believe that law should be used as a tool for making society better, as opposed to simply perpetuating the status quo," Vicente, 31, said. "Law schools train people to be more concerned with money than with social justice."
With his work with Sensible Colorado, Vicente and others will try to influence people to take another look at the nation's marijuana laws, "which are broken," he said. "We'll take another look at Obama's proposed marijuana laws."
When he's working with the People's Law Project, Vicente said that he and other lawyers will work to help people to speak their minds at the convention.
"My hope is that free speech rights will flourish and not be trampled, as they have been at prior conventions," he said.
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August 23, 2008
4:59 p.m.
Suggest removal
avast writes:
The "All-American America" Protest will take place at the Pioneer Monument Park, August 28, 2008, sponsored by The Nationalist Movement. Richard Barrett, conservative Mississippi Democrat, will be speaking at 2:00 PM. His topic is "Our Blood is Our Border." The "backlash" protest calls repatriating incompatible minorities and aliens, taking back the Democratic Party and America, abolishing the Civil Rights and Voting Rights Acts, instituting national-voting by referendum and building a majority-ruled, indivisible and democratic "post-Obama" nation.
August 23, 2008
5:02 p.m.
Suggest removal
avast writes:
Two "All-American America" supportive websites are:
nationalist.org
skinheadz.com