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Anarchists Offer to Call Off All DNC Protest Plans

July 30, 2008 by strongwindsahead

Unconventional Denver, a group of anarchists organizing against the Democratic National Convention, announced on Monday its offer to call off all protests during the convention if the city, federal government and the DNC agree to redirect the current $50 million earmarked for heightened security during the DNC and invest it in Denver communities. This money is being used to install surveillance cameras, flood Denver with hundreds of extra police officers and federal agents, and purchase new police weapons such as pepper ball rifles and tasers. Unconventional Denver believes these purchases will be used to suppress free speech and will have a lasting negative impact on the people of Denver.

"As anarchists, we feel the greatest problem with government is how its primary interest is to protect the profits of those in power, even when it comes at the expense of the general public," said Clayton Dewey, an organizer with Unconventional Denver. "Spending $50 million dollars on weaponry to attack people voicing their opinion and flooding the streets with riot police while schools close down, children go without health care and people lose their homes is exactly the problem with the corrupt two-party system we're opposing this August."

The group is giving the City of Denver, the federal government and the DNC a chance to prove them wrong. If $50 million dollars is spent on any items from a list of possible programs the group has compiled, they will call off all protests which include street parties, rallies, marches, protesting fundraisers and nonviolent direct action aimed at disrupting what they're calling the "spectacle of a sham democracy".

According to research, compiled by the group, $50 million dollars is enough money to provide 18,986 children with health care for a year. There are upwards of 160,000 children in metro Denver alone without healthcare coverage. $50 million dollars would also provide 88,495 homes with renewable electricity for one year or six new elementary schools for the Denver area. Any way you cut it, the money could be invested in real security for the future of the people of Denver instead of being used to suppress democracy, says Unconventional Denver.

"That's what we're working towards- a world where people's basic needs are met and those most affected by the issues at hand are the ones that have the most say," explains Kelli Refer of Unconventional Denver. "When you look at the DNC, you see that the opposite is true. Instead of our needs being met, our city is being militarized. And instead of the people who have the most at stake making decisions in the convention, it's the corporations and party-insiders living it up behind a wall of heavily armed police."

If the DNC can prove them wrong, Unconventional Denver and hundreds of other anarchists will be elsewhere while the convention goes on. "If the city agrees to fund people's needs instead of corporate greed and suppressing dissent, I'll be spending my free time catching up on some books and being with my family," says Dewey. "But I have this sneaking suspicion the Democrats aren't going to go for it."

Unconventional Denver is the local organizing body of a national network of anarchists mobilizing in opposition to the DNC and the RNC.

Members of Unconventional Denver will hold a press conference to further elaborate on their proposal in front of the Denver City and County Building at 4:45pm on Monday. The press conference is timed to coincide with the 5:00pm city council meeting where a proposed ordinance restricting what protesters can carry during the DNC will be discussed.

FACTS: WHAT COULD $50 MILLION BUY FOR DENVER COMMUNITIES?

• 11,356 People with Health Care for One Year OR
• 88,495 Homes with Renewable Electricity for One Year OR
• 8,876 Scholarships for University Students for One Year OR
• 450 Affordable Housing Units OR
• 18,986 Children with Health Care for One Year OR
• 6,622 Head Start Places for Children for One Year OR
• 877 Elementary School Teachers for One Year OR
• 6 Elementary Schools
• 80,128 Free Lunches for Kids
• 2,423 Students With College Paid For
Source:www.nationalpriorities.org

AttachmentSize
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Comments

great idea

July 30, 2008 by Anonymous, 1 year 14 weeks ago
Comment id: 122

What a great concept! Better yet, how about calling it off ANYWAY, and using the money you WOULD have spent on bus tickets, gasoline, spraypaint, sign materials, pot, beer, cool activist t-shirts, black hoodies, black bandanas, etc, and funnel THAT cash into Denver communities, and/or your own communities if you plan on travelling to Denver from afar?

And wouldn't it be hilarious if all the riot pigs showed up armed for a super-rumble, and the streets were completely empty? Wouldn't the city feel stupid for spending that 50 million?

shameful chauvenism

July 30, 2008 by Anonymous, 1 year 14 weeks ago
Comment id: 123

And how would you explain this 'deal' to the people of Iraq?

I recognize this article is (I hope) a bit 'tongue in cheek' but it's ideology reeks of national (or community?) chauvenism. The Dems are part of waging imperialist wars of plunder and exploitation around the globe. Diverting some money from this police state to local communities does not clean its hands from the blood of the world. In fact, even if it WERE to consider such a 'concession' it would be at an even greater expense to the people around the world.

The Anarchist view of 'community focus' or 'dumpster diving' does not take into account the problem of imperialism, the lop-sided nature of the world, and living off the spoils of global capitalism in a country like the US (whether its in a dumpster, or in Beverly Hills).

re: shameful chauvenism (sic)

July 31, 2008 by Anonymous, 1 year 14 weeks ago
Comment id: 126

What exactly are you proposing? That the protests should continue for the sake of the Iraqis? Do you really think that the people of Iraq take any comfort or satisfaction, much less tangible benefit, from a bunch of activists marching around holding signs in Denver for a few days? That they're sitting there watching coverage of the DNC in their bombed-out houses and cheering whenever they see the protesters parade by?

the point

August 2, 2008 by Anonymous, 1 year 13 weeks ago
Comment id: 127

The point is that what's needed now more than ever is a growing and visible pole of opposition to this entire direction of both Democratic and Republican ruling class manuevering...not concessions to the people of THIS country. And while you may be right, most Iraqis are not watching protests on TV...bombs dropped by Democrats do as much damage as those by Republicans, and people around the world (in Iraq and in this country) DO need to see there is a strong pole of opposition within this country to both U.S. imperialism, AND also to Islamic Fundamentalism.

The only times fundamental change has occurred in this country has been when people refused to accept the terms of the ruling class (then concessions were made to keep shit from getting out of control), not when they had 'really strong demands' for their ruling class. We need to go even further than the upheavals of the 60's if we're serious about ending all forms of exploitation and oppression.

Check out this piece, especially the last part on "Realism... and Revolution"
http://rwor.org/a/138/UFPAJ%20polemic-en.html

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