Abstract

Full of Beans in Boston

Progressives in the United States, 2004, are faced with the question: whether to demonstrate at the Democratic National Convention (DNC) in Boston July 26-29 or to give the Democrats a pass and concentrate on the Republican National Convention in New York. The organization United for Peace and Justice in Boston eventually decided on a middle road between protesting and not protesting by organizing "People's Parties" in four Boston neighborhoods to coincide with the DNC's opening parties for delegates. These, in turn, will cap a three-day Boston Social Forum, which will include more than 400 workshops, seminars, films, performances and exhibits on issues like global justice, immigrants' rights and feminism. One group that has listened had originally planned a mass rally on Boston Common but changed plans in favor of a series of teach-ins and street actions on civil rights, economic justice, the Iraq war and healthcare in neighborhood locations during the week of the convention. The campaign plans to bring its issues inside on July 29, with a demonstration on the convention floor a half-hour before Democratic presidential candidate John Kerry's coronation, in which sixty or so delegates will hold signs reading Democrats for Justice and End the Occupation. Hoping to defuse tension and avoid violence, Boston police have stressed that their policy is one of "high tolerance for civil disobedience," according to superintendent Robert Dunford, who oversees convention security.