Like 'mint levitation,' most protests fall flat

Paul A. Anthony

Published August 29, 2008 at 12:05 a.m.

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It was supposed to be a protest big enough to surround the U.S. Mint and lift the building off its foundation with psychic energy.

Instead, the event sank. A few dozen protesters were outnumbered - again - by the watching media and police.

Monday's mint-levitation protest was one of a series of protest fizzles, flops and failures this week as the expected massive outpouring of anti-war anger into the streets of Denver, with few exceptions, never materialized.

Even the protesters themselves noticed.

"I think, in general, the overall mobilization has had much lower numbers than expected," said Tim Simons, of Unconventional Denver, an anarchist group whose "street party" Sunday disrupted traffic downtown, although he praised his own group's turnout.

The specter of the 1960s - particularly the riot-plagued 1968 Democratic convention in Chicago - ultimately may have been too much to bear, experts said. This year's protests simply may have been doomed to fall short of such lofty expectations.

And fall short they have.

Only one protest this week attracted well more than 1,000 people. Wednesday's Iraq Veterans Against the War march from the Denver Coliseum to the Pepsi Center drew 2,000 to 3,000, making it the only unqualified success.

Even then, it was a far cry from what protest organizers predicted before the convention, when headier estimates projected 20,000 attendees for each of two separate protests Sunday.

"We had a good idea it was going to be big," said Duke Austin, an organizer with Students for Peace and Justice, one of the organizations that makes up the Alliance for Real Democracy. "We were happy it was big."

Not everyone was so lucky.

The mint levitation drew only 70 participants. Unconventional Denver's march was interrupted by police Monday night, and about a third of the 300 were arrested. The Sunday events initially pegged for an attendance of 20,000 were estimated by the groups and police as having drawn no more than 1,000 people. About half of the 26 scheduled parades actually happened.

The biggest shortfall appeared to be with events sponsored by Re-create 68 Alliance, which had taken the lead as the most outspoken protest group.

"It's not a numbers game for me, so I don't keep count on that," said Glenn Spagnuolo, the group's co-founder.

Ultimately, experts said, expectations were simply too high - 2008 is not 1968, and Denver is not Chicago.

While youth in the 1960s were motivated by the prospect of the draft to oppose the Vietnam War, the Iraq war has been fought with a volunteer military. Also, the economy has supplanted Iraq as a key issue for many voters, said Mike McDevitt, a University of Colorado associate professor of journalism and an expert in political communication and youth engagement.

"The Bush administration has been successful in its strategy of keeping protests at a low level by not invoking a draft," McDevitt said.

Whatever the reason, the relative absence of protesters befuddled those who were a part of the volatile demonstrations that roiled the country four decades ago and ultimately helped end the Vietnam War.

Gem Bordages, sitting on a bench across from the mint Monday, seemed disappointed as she watched the meager number of protesters gather.

"I was one of the '60s hippies," said Bordages, 73. " . . . A lot of us went to jail. It's a different generation (today). Maybe it's a lack of passion."

Staff writer Patti Thorn contributed to this report.

Reality check

* Turnout for most parades and demonstrations fell far short of levels organizers anticipated on their city permits. A look at hoped-for turnouts and reality:

Group Event - Hoped-for -Actual

Re-create 68 Alliance/ Tent State University anti-war parades 40,000 / 1,000

Re-create 68 Protest 25,000 / 200

We Are Change and 9/11 Truth First Amendment Rally 100 / 24

Tent State University anti-war assembly 1,000 / 2,000 to 3,000

• August 29, 2008

  7:45 a.m.

  Suggest removal

  timeandagain writes:

  hey glenn -

  great little party you threw! It is just like you standing around in your Highlands Ranch living room, balloons out front, waiting for people to show up...kind of pathetic, I almost feel sad for you.

• August 29, 2008

  10:28 a.m.

  Suggest removal

  Glenn writes:

  This is article is a continuation of the false media. Numbers were higher than reported in these articles, but like we said, it is the numbers of dead Iraqis, incarcerated community members of color and starving families in this country that this fool should be spending his time writing about. And for the record, for the last goddamn time, we never said we were going to re-create Chicago, but don't let the truth get in the way of a good left bashing article. One more note, the mint did levitate for a momement, but you media fools were all busy running after agent provocatuer Alex Jones, hoping to cover conflict instead of a peaceful protest pointing out the issue of poverty in this country as the number one killer. Officially, the mint stopped operating for the whole week. How many of you have been able to stop the greed machine of the USA from producing money? Too much to say here about how proud we were of the true Amerikans who switched sides and joined us in our quest for peace and justice.

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