Seattle Protesters Look To Inauguration

by Coleman Kitchin

In the inauguration bleachers on January 20, two well-scrubbed college kids suddenly hold up a small sign proclaiming "End the Death Penalty!" Riot cops in body armor muscle their way over and haul out the free speech hooligans almost at the same moment.

This is the image some organizers are predicting for protests that have been planned since long before most of us ever heard of hanging chads or had occasion to examine the reputation of the Florida Supreme Court.

In fact, the presidential inauguration is the next big protest for the Seattle crowd. Often perhaps unfairly criticized for their "lack of focus" in advocating a grab bag of lefty causes -- from opposing globalization (and its institutions, the IMF and World Bank) to rejecting national defense policy and welfare reform -- this disparate group has nonetheless brought new vigor and tactics to these issues, issues largely left behind by mainstream Democrats and Republicans. Because of their disdain for both parties, protests were planned no matter who won the presidential race. But for the new protesters, the story of the post-election fracas now adds to their growing brief the fight against minority disenfranchisement. The civil rights-era grail is a common cause whose resurrection comes at an opportune time for them.

For too long their aim has seemed to be one of the comfortable afflicting the comfortable. Natural allies of this mostly-college student crowd -- labor unions and civil rights groups -- have not quite coalesced. The massive union protest in Seattle was far from the center of action and less militant than that of the new young crowd.

Unions were pivotal, and surprisingly so, in the 1998 elections. Meanwhile traditional civil rights groups have a widely sympathetic new cause in fighting racial profiling by police. Finally, perhaps, now the disenfranchisement issue may bring these traditional moderate liberals into an active alliance with the young Seattle protesters for the inauguration protests.

The Seattle protesters are adapting their tactics to match police "wins" in Philadelphia and Washington, but two major problems face them. First, their numbers on the streets may well be dwarfed by the rest of the inaugural crowd. Mid-January is not the best time to recruit college protesters. Secondly, the Seattle vanguard is just not that popular with the public, nor especially photogenic. Given the choice, the news cameras may well turn away from them.

During live coverage of the crowds at the Supreme Court during the two days of arguments in December, television ignored a parade featuring Jesse Jackson marching behind a banner down the street in front of the Court. Instead the cameras -- with the exception of those owned by nonprofit CSPAN -- were trained on the Court building.

Violent protest is unlikely to garner support. The theft of the election by an amazingly cynical Supreme Court may be unpopular, but has not caught fire as a desperate issue. The fact that the Florida courts were running the recount like a county swap meet is part of the reason. And the election may well have been a statistical tie. So remaining sympathetic to the public without sacrificing the internal strength of the movement is key.

In an effort to overcome the negative publicity around the actions of the more anarchist elements at the Seattle protest, anti-globalization activists are casting the upcoming inaugural demonstrations not as a "protest against," but as a "movement for." Among other things, "it is a movement for a non-military future," as one Connecticut college student active in social justice and fair trade causes put it.

The dynamics of the new protest movement are quite fascinating. A "big-tent" attitude prevails. There is a little hierarchy and most leftish causes are welcome. Tactics also are randomly accepted, in a somewhat illusory spirit of diversity.

A few years ago I wandered into a West Coast pedestrian rights protest, quite by accident. It purported to have no set path or destination, as a ruse to avoid being blocked by the police. Along the way the more punkish elements picked up old furniture they'd stashed in parking garages. At the protesters' unstated destination, a main intersection, they unexpectedly set the pile of furniture alight, as well as an old car they had placed nearby. Afterwards the less violent, hippie components of the protest brought out brooms and cleaned up.