The organizers of the protest during the SOTU speech on January 31st need our help NOW.
Cross-posted at the
Democracy Cell Project.
Permit Battle Continues...
In today's Washington Post, the battle against the continuing enclosure of public space and minds continues.
For the record, we have a permit for January 31. And the U.S Park Police have been, if not apologetic, at least concerned about the blowback from denying the original site offered.
Here is an excerpt from the Washington Post article this morning:
Demonstrators have been told to confine their gathering to the gravel walkways on the Mall between Third and Fourth streets, farther from the Capitol. The grassy areas are fenced off because they are being resodded.
Travis Morales, one of the organizers of the demonstration, said the restrictions effectively deny the protesters a meaningful public space to gather as a group. The nearest place to meet together, he said, is Seventh Street, about a mile from the Capitol.
"We are being told that turf renovation and security trump our First Amendment right to protest," he said.
The World Can't Wait is filing a lawsuit, protesting the ever-changing 'laws' that protect President Bush from hearing or seeing the dissent of the people.
Here's where you can help
They have asked us (please share among the blogosphere) to help their case by researching all known and publicized incidents where the people were prevented from protesting near the President in the past five years.
They need this information this morning.
Meanwhile, our plans continue for the DC event, wherever it will be held (it will definitely be on the west side of the Capitol somewhere).
Here is a description:
We will be on the west side of the Capitol, around and in front of the reflecting pool. The Press will be parked along 3rd Street and along the South Side of the Capitol (Independence). Cindy Sheehan and Ann Wright will speak to us (and them) at 8 pm; they will be followed by other speakers (the Rev. Yearwood and Doug Nelson, an Vietnam War vet) and then at 9, the main event will begin:
Picture a marching band/brass ensemble, a drum circle, a choir, tap dancers, a rock ensemble, hip-hop poetry, other spoken word, hootenanny, African, Asian, Irish glorious soaring rhythmic, each beginning and doing a few minutes in sequence, followed by overlapping moments, followed by at least 30 minutes of jazz-like improv, call and response, followed by one fully stunning long-held harmonious wall of sound that rises to the heavens. The whole main event will last 50 minutes, from 9-9:50. It's possible the media might be roused from their hypnotic stance to report on it.
Thanks for helping to get the word out.
As for the larger message here, it has been appalling to note the slow seeping removal of access to public buildings and spaces here in DC, all in the name of national security. The message could not be clearer -- the people no longer have agency or say in how the government is run. We no longer have access to the buildings our tax dollars build and maintain. We no longer have access to dissent. We are enclosed from even the critical thoughts within our own minds by the steady stream of MSM BS.
As Travis Morales points out in today's Washington Post article:
"...the Bush administration 'is trying to push us so far away that we can't be seen or heard. . . . A protest not seen and a protest not heard is not a protest.' "
And if you can help out financially, here's a bit more on who came to DC and what we're doing to feed them...