How a band of Knoxvillians lived through it

by Nick Corrigan

It was the largest protest seen in New York City in more than 20 years and the largest protest ever at a political convention. Fifteen Knoxvillians armed with musical instruments were among the diverse group of hundreds of thousands of demonstrators on the streets.

Amir Arman, 25, carried a horn.

“We’ve all got voices, and unless we speak up, we’ll never be heard,” said Arman, whose father came to the United States from Iran. While he dislikes the Bush administration, he said he disagrees with its policies in Iraq and the Middle East the most. “If Iraq and Afghanistan were really free then why did we pick the people who are in power?” Arman asked.

Erick Haaby, 26, known as Hobbes to his friends, organized the group of Knoxville musicians called the Utopian Street Orchestra. He has attended several protests in the past, including the 2000 Republican National Convention in Philadelphia.

“I had a less than desirable experience at the last convention,” Hobbes said. “I was arrested, and that really wasn’t fun.” This was Hobbes’ first large post-9/11 protest, and although he had reservations about protesting this convention, he described Sunday’s demonstration as “very successful.”

An estimated 400,000 demonstrators participated in the United for Peace and Justice march on Sunday, Aug. 29, filling 20 full city blocks sidewalk-to-sidewalk. Although authorities have not released an official number, some reports mark the number closer to a million people. Some protesters carried giant puppets of George W. Bush, with an endless string of words coming out of his mouth that read, “Lies, Hate, Fear.” Other signs declared, “War is corporate welfare,” “Re-defeat Bush,” and “Out-Source Bush.”

The massive protest reached a fever pitch as demonstrators filed past Madison Square Garden, where Republicans would convene the next day. People pounded drums and chanted in unison, under the gaze of police and military standing on top of surrounding buildings. Helicopters buzzed overhead, and even the Fuji Blimp hovered quietly, surveying the march from above.

The majority of the United for Peace and Justice marchers proceeded with few arrests and only minor reports of violence. The only reported incident of unlawful conduct occurred when a group of protesters set a green papier mache dragon ablaze in front of Madison Square Garden. Although several arrests were made, police singled out one man in particular. Josh Yusuke Banno was arrested and charged with assaulting the police officer, resisting arrest and being the ringleader of the group that set fire to the paper prop. His bail was set at $200,000.

Abigail Singer, an activist from Knoxville, was part of Banno’s affinity group, a decentralized bunch of like-minded individuals who look to ensure each other’s safety. She says the charges are not supported by any evidence and are completely false.

“When the fire broke out, everyone scattered, and the police just started arresting people,” Singer said. “Josh doesn’t even know these people he is being associated with.”

Singer hopes Sunday’s march is remembered for more than just the arrests of protesters. “It’s historical to have this huge diverse group of people of all ages, different organizations and ethnicities. It’s so important to have this large voice of dissent at a time when so many people are against the Bush agenda and when the Republicans are obviously exploiting [the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001],” Singer said.

Even before the start of the convention, demonstrators took to the streets. On Aug. 27, hundreds of protestors rode bicycles while others walked naked, messages of protest scrawled on their bodies.

On Aug. 28, some 16,000 demonstrators streamed across the Brooklyn Bridge into Manhattan for more than two hours in a permitted march organized by Planned Parenthood. Participants rejected the president’s pro-life stance and what organizers called “a continued assault on women’s reproductive freedoms.” Grandmothers held signs that read “I Love Pro-Choice NY.” Others came with their children and carried banners announcing “We Say No to the Bush Agenda.”

While some observers may see the glaring differences between protesters and Republican delegates, Singer believes those differences lie only in the details.

“I think a lot of those people have the same values as most of us. It’s just sometimes they change the meaning of some things,” she says. “Sometimes when people say we are bringing democracy to a country, they really mean we are bringing capitalism. And when they say we are bringing them freedom, they really mean the free market.”

Forrest Kirkpatrick, 25, and Katherine Hite, 24, both from Knoxville and graduates of the University of Tennessee, participated along with several thousand others in a Poor Person’s march organized by the group Still We Rise on Aug. 30.

Kirkpatrick, whose first organized protest was on the UT campus against the construction of the bridge that now connects the main campus to the agriculture campus, saw the chance to come to New York and protest the RNC as an alternative vacation. “I can’t think of a better way to spend a vacation than participating in something like this. It was amazing to see people of all these different ethnic groups carrying signs in Spanish and singing songs,” he said. “I was really upbeat.

“It was really peaceful during the march. Organizers and police coordinated and worked really well together,” he said.

But as that march came to an end near Times Square, protesters and police began to butt heads when police penned protesters in with steel barricades, while undercover detectives charged them on mopeds. One detective was knocked off his scooter after he plowed into a protester. Then he was punched and kicked in the head. Only three arrests were made, and although the protester who initiated the violence against the police initially got away, he was caught the next day at another march wearing the same clothes and hat as the night before.

The second official day of the convention became known among protesters as A31, a day of direct action to counter the convention. Kirkpatrick and Hite, along with more than 1,000 protesters, demonstrated in front of Fox News’ headquarters, chanting: “The more you watch the less you know,” and “Shut Up Fox,” mocking Fox News anchor Bill O’Reilly who, on several occasions, has been known to tell guests to “Shut up.”

Later that evening, protesters used cell phones and text messages to coordinate several marches aimed at disrupting the convention. Protesters lay in streets at different points along Broadway, delaying busloads of delegates from reaching the convention and resulting in hundreds of arrests. Units of police in riot helmets met marches at Union Square and protests at the New York City Library. They arrested close to 1,000 protestors, journalists, tourists and city residents alike on Aug. 31 in the name of security. Nearly 2,000 people were arrested throughout the week of protests.

Hobbes and his Utopian Street Orchestra were marching from Union Square Park to Madison Square Garden on Aug. 31 when they received the disheartening news that two of their friends had been arrested in the action. Arman and Hobbes franticly organized jail support and legal defense on cell phones on the sidewalks of Manhattan. “We were planning on leaving tomorrow,” Hobbes said. “I guess we’ll see.”

Sept. 1 saw tens of thousands of organized union members rallying only a few blocks from the Garden. Unlike the previous night, this rally was much more pacified. Actors James Gandolfini (The Sopranos) and Danny Glover spoke in support of organized labor and touted unionized workers as “the heart of America.” Musicians Steve Earle and Tom Morello, of Rage Against the Machine, sang songs about the working man.

While New York City police officers looked on, knowing their union was negotiating a new contract with the city, one police officer said, “There are two ways to be heard. One is like this and the other is in November. They will hear all of us in November.”

Later that night, while Vice President Dick Cheney and Georgia Democrat Sen. Zell Miller reminded viewers of the war on terror and railed against Democratic presidential candidate Sen. John Kerry, protesters held candle light vigils for peace and to honor those who lost their lives in the war.

As the Republican convention wrapped up with a speech by President Bush charged with empathy and emotion of the attacks of Sept. 11,2001, still thousands of protestors gathered outside to declare that this was not the person they elected to the presidency; this was not their vision of America. The convention wound down, following the script that had been prepared weeks before. The GOP declared it a success. And those who opposed the Bush agenda who gathered as well on the island of Manhattan did the same. Only in November will one group or the other be able to declare victory.

September 9, 2004 • Vol. 14, No. 37 © 2004 Metro Pulse