Arbor Update

Ann Arbor Area Community News

Summer Heating Up

29. June 2004 • Rob Goodspeed
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”... Depending on whom you talk to, the 2004 Republican convention could look like Seattle in 1999. Or Chicago in 1968.

But many hope that their efforts will create a new high-watermark on the messy history of mass protest.

“I would like to see August [in New York] turn into a political ground zero,” says Jason Flores-Williams, a political writer for High Times magazine. “I want to see waves of direct actions. Streets being blockaded. Almost constant attempts to [engage] Madison Square Garden. I’d like to see 2,000 to 3,000 arrests a day. The jails overflowing. Where the story becomes the nightmare around the convention.”

To try to steal the spotlight from the Republicans, a leftist array has been forming since last summer with organizational meetings in New York. But outside of the usual suspects – the inveterate protesters – the convention is likely to draw a diverse throng, temporarily united by their beefs with the Bush administration. For example, groups as seemingly opposed as the Hip-Hop Summit Action Network and the city’s police and fire unions have filed for marching permits. ... ”

> Hartford Courant (Registration Required)
> Local organizing meeting

Here’s the RNC speaker lineup announced yesterday:

Monday, August 30, 2004
Mayor Michael Bloomberg
Former Mayor Rudy Giuliani
Senator John McCain (R-AZ)

Tuesday, August 31, 2004
First Lady Laura Bush
Secretary of Education Rod Paige
Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger

Wednesday, September 1, 2004
Mrs. Lynne Cheney
Vice President Dick Cheney
Senator Zell Miller (D-GA)

Thursday, September 2, 2004
Governor George Pataki
President George W. Bush