Abstract

The Fine Art of Bush-Bashing

The article looks at the protest movement being formed to demonstrate against the Republican Party national convention in New York City, 2004. For the past decade, in contrast with the 1960s, political and cultural dissidents have occupied largely separate worlds. Antiglobalization activism, for example, inspired little music and art of significance, and with a few notable exceptions, the cultural underground stayed out of politics. As New York City's preparations for the Republican convention show, United States President George W. Bush is changing all that. Artists, musicians and other creative types, most unaffiliated with activist organizations, are planning numerous ways to "welcome" the Republicans. United for Peace and Justice (UFPJ) hopes to hold a march and rally on August 29. The city is desperately trying to prevent these actions from happening. The Parks and Recreation Department has refused to issue UFPJ a permit for a rally in Central Park, ostensibly out of concern for the vegetation. Activists do not, at a time when hostility to Bush is so widespread, want to help him out by creating an unappealing fracas. It is important to organizers that the protests seem hospitable to members of the general public; otherwise, fearing confrontations between police and demonstrators, mainstream Bush-haters could stay home.