Abstract

No Bush, No Chicago '68

The author comments on United States politics, the Republican convention, and the antiwar movement. The war on the other side of the world was launched with high expectations but is now widely seen as a fiasco. Support for the war erodes at home, and the President is despised worldwide. For months, antiwar demonstrators have been making plans to manifest their displeasure during the Republican convention in New York City in late August. Peaceful demonstrators are squaring off with stiff-necked authorities over the city's refusal to grant permission for the rally they want. As thousands of Republicans gather to nominate George W. Bush for re-election, and as many more protesters gather to express themselves against the damage Bush is doing, Americans of all stripes will be watching. Fair-minded people can understand dignified opposition even when they disagree with it. Rage in the streets is something else altogether. Protesters who spell "Bush" with a swastika, who smash windows, fight the police or try to block Manhattan commuters might as well stay home and send their contributions to the Republicans. It is, or ought to be, so obvious that violence and chaos in the streets works to Bush's advantage that not a few oppositionists worry about the Republicans planting their own provocateurs in the protest.