Today’s pro-Palestinian demonstration adhered to the blueprint that the organizers have utilized over the last eight weeks. Like many of the demonstrations, this one began as a rally at the plaza adjacent to the intersection of Michigan Avenue and Ida B. Wells Drive. When I arrived 20 minutes prior to the 1:00 PM start time, I didn’t see hordes of people, let alone audio equipment. There was some signage, but not lots of it.

When another photographer and I discussed the crowd size before the speeches began, we both wondered whether the combination of winter cold and eight weeks of demonstrations had reduced the the enthusiasm for the now weekly gatherings. I ran into that same photographer on Michigan Avenue 90 minutes later. With a quizzical expression, he asked, “Where did they come from?” We both agreed that there easily could be a couple of thousand people marching up Michigan Avenue.

I have no doubt that some of the demonstrators would argue more people were present—they often accuse the media of lying about the numbers. My estimates are admittedly rough ones, but during the speeches, I walked around the plaza. It clearly was not as densely populated today as it had been at prior rallies. Nor were people spilling into the adjacent streets or standing on the other side of Michigan Avenue.

While the demonstrators are still turning out, the media clearly isn’t. When I reviewed the Chicago-Tribune and Sun-Times websites this evening, I did not see a single article or photo reporting on the demonstration. With the exception of WGN, which sent a cameraman, none of the local television stations covered the event. During WGN’s 10:00 PM newscast, the video montage ran for no more than 25 seconds.

In a sense, the pro-Palestinian demonstrators are no different than the Christmas shoppers who perennially flood Michigan Avenue. On Black Friday, the media reports on the shoppers, comparing this year’s turnout to prior years’ turnouts, but it does not return to Michigan Avenue on a daily basis to report on shopping activity.

On October 8, the media was waiting outside the Chicago Office of the Consulate General of Israel, covering the first pro-Palestinian demonstration after the Hamas attack. The media then covered the early demonstrations, but as time has passed, there are fewer video cameras, photographers, and reporters present, with the exception of the demonstration on Black Friday that shutdown the Magnificent Mile.

As I have previously noted, I view each demonstration as a different chapter in a novel that the pro-Palestinian demonstrators are writing. There is plot development, an array of interesting characters, and wonderful atmospherics, all working together to create a page-turner. How will the organizers address the ceasefire, the hostage exchanges, Israel’s shift from the north to the south, the rising civilian death tolls, President Joe Biden’s diplomacy, and reactions in Congress and from governments around the world? But I must confess, even I am growing weary of what are now mostly formulaic exercises.

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Losing Control of the Streets. The Chicago Police Department’s (“CPD”) response continues to both fascinate and puzzle. I have no idea how, when, or even if the CPD and the organizers strike an agreement about what is permissible. I do see the organizers conferring with the police, but I don’t know what is being said.

Today, the police seemingly conceded the northbound lanes of Michigan Avenue from Ida B. Wells Drive to Wacker Drive. The powder-blue salt trucks and a line of bicycle cops blocked access to the DuSable Michigan Avenue Bridge; the CPD ostensibly was saying, “No, you are not shutting down the Magnificent Mile three Saturdays before Christmas.” But was CPD making the call, or was Mayor Brandon Johnson making it?

Once the marchers reached Randolph, several apparently decided to shutdown Michigan Avenue’s southbound lanes despite what appeared to be at least a tacit agreement between the City/CPD and the organizers to limit the closure to just the northbound lanes. What appeared as a spontaneous decision by these marchers created a dangerous situation because the southbound lanes were still open to traffic, meaning motorists were trapped in their cars, forced to decide whether to just sit in place, or somehow navigate around those in the street. Might a frightened or hostile motorist hit the accelerator, mowing down several demonstrators?

The police must maintain some semblance of order to avoid and protect demonstrators against just such an occurrence. Rather than making arrests, the bicycle cops tried to divert the marchers back into the northbound lanes—at least that is how I interpreted what I was seeing.

The demonstrators most likely will argue that they were engaged in legitimate civil disobedience, like Rosa Parks or the four college students who staged a sit-in at the Greensboro Woolworth’s lunch counter. Nonsense! Rosa Parks engaged in ‘legitimate’ civil disobedience, refusing to give up her seat on a bus when ordered to stand so a white person could sit in it.

The law is clear when it comes to unauthorized obstruction of the roadways. It is against the law for everyone, so Saturday’s disobedience did not highlight a specific wrong against Palestinians and their access to the street. The demonstrators who shut down the southbound lanes were essentially engaged in a power play rather than the sort of informative civil disobedience practiced by Parks and others who fought Jim Crow laws.

One incident I witnessed encapsulated the arrogance that was on full display. A woman was trying to turn right onto Michigan Avenue from Lake Street, but her access was blocked by the marchers who were in the southbound lanes. As she kept creeping forward, a bicycle cop intervened.

A young man waving a large Palestinian flag was aggressively approaching the woman’s vehicle. The police officer inserted himself between the young man and the car. As the officer was speaking with the woman, the young man demanded to know whether the woman supported the Palestinian cause. Why does he think this woman owed him an answer? Why did he interrupt the officer’s conversation with the woman?

The young man was operating under a highly egocentric world-view: the Israeli military incursion into Gaza should be the only thing on everyone else’s mind because it is the only thing on his mind. Did he consider the possibility that this woman was coming from a hospital visit with a dying relative, or that she needed to be at a daycare facility in 15 minutes to pick up her child before the facility closed for the day? What is important to one person is not necessarily important to everyone else. It is time to grow up, showing others the same respect that you demand others show you.

When I took the bus home, I was seated toward the back. Four or five other passengers began to talk among themselves. The woman in front of me complained that she had been trying since 3:00 PM to get a bus home from work. It was now well past 4:00 PM. Two people in the back responded by saying that the demonstrators are just “pissing” people off with their weekly disruptions, which brings us back to who controls Chicago’s streets.

A staffer in one alderman’s office told me two weeks ago that Mayor Johnson dictates city policy pertaining to demonstrations and marches. If that is the case, Mayor Johnson might want to rethink his edict, if for no other reason than the precedent he is setting.

Next summer, the Democrats bring their quadrennial convention to town. The hostilities in the Middle East most likely will be unresolved. The prospect of a second Trump term will loom large. And then there are the ongoing controversies surrounding abortion, guns, economic inequality, the police, race, and the U.S. role in the world. As has happened during recent World Economic Forums, international summits, and other major events, fringe groups who are passionate about many of those issues show up hoping to incite violent confrontations with the police. During the convention, will Mayor Johnson acquiesce if there is widespread vandalism, blockades denying delegates access to the United Center, street closures, and efforts to occupy corporate headquarters? If not, has Mayor Johnson given any consideration to the expectations that he is fostering? The expectation that anything goes.

Foley & Lardner Is Called Out. The speakers and the speeches at the pro-Palestinian rallies tend to be inflammatory and superficial, which is unfortunate, but no different than most speeches given whenever people gather in support of a particular cause. I, however, took notice today when Jinan Chehade, a 2023 graduate of Georgetown Law School, took the mic. She had received an offer of employment from Foley & Lardner, a national law firm that I just so happened to have worked for after I graduated from law school, so I was particularly interested in what Chehade had to say. For the record, I left Foley over 30 years ago, and I suspect I don’t know anyone who presently works there.

The day before Chehade’s October 23 starting date, she was called into a conference room by senior members of the firm to defend statements that a Foley spokesperson said, “were inconsistent with our core values.” Justine Wise, a reporter with Bloomberg, wrote that in an earlier “version of the firm’s statement [the firm wrote] that Chehade made public statements ‘condoning the horrendous attacks by Hamas,’” but that “Foley did not identify the public statements it found problematic.”

Chehade recounted the incident, asking why Foley didn’t seem to take issue with Jewish lawyers in the firm who support Israel. Not surprisingly, on November 13, 2023, Chehade filed a complaint with the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, accusing Foley of illegal retaliation and discrimination on the basis of her religion and nationality. Rima Kapitan, Chehade’s lawyer, has indicated that Chehade also plans to file a lawsuit in Federal court.

Given that court records are generally public, I presumably will have an opportunity to examine the social media posts once entered into the court record. In the EEOC complaint, Chehade “pointed out that the October 7 attack needs to be contextualized in light of 75 years of ethnic cleaning and apartheid.” Bloomberg’s Wise, in summarizing the filing, reported that Chehade also indicated that “she never supported targeting civilians by either side.”

One thing is for sure: Listening to 2,000 people chant my former employer’s name surrounded by derogatory phrases was startling. Chehade certainly caught my attention.

Interesting Signage. There was particularly rich signage visible at the rally and in the streets today. The award for best sign was a flyer taped to one of the bus shelters on Wacker Drive. It was noteworthy for two reasons. First, rather than a snappy, easily repeatable slogan devoid of any illuminating content, the flyer reprinted four maps depicting the encroachment of Israel on territory that was not set aside in 1948 for the State of Israel. The flyer is a visual depiction of alleged Israeli wrongs against the Palestinian people, thereby building a factual rather than an emotional case supporting the Palestinians’ grievances.

Second, the sign’s juxtaposition with the advertisement for the movie or television show highlights Palestinian horror over Israel’s alleged encroachment. Who knows if the person who posted the sign intended the juxtaposition, but whether intentional or not, the point had been made.

I also liked the two signs that I saw high above the demonstrators during the rally. One depicted a young boy holding a sign. The person who pointed it out to me said it reminded him of something that Norman Rockwell might have created. The second depicted happy children bathing in a beautiful blue bathtub that was resting in the streets of Gaza on a pile of rubble, creating another meaningful juxtaposition.

Before the rally started, I saw a woman handing out what looked like packets of small posters, but I only caught a glimpse of the distinctive artwork, but I was unable to read the text. Before I headed home, I saw a poster depicting Lama Ghosheh, a woman who according to the poster, had been arrested by the Israelis for her social media posts. I saw similar posters with similar stories as I walked along Wacker Drive. These posters were what were in the packets that I had seen earlier.

This series of posters strikes me as a response to the now infamous “Kidnapped” posters that Israelis and their supporters have posted throughout Israeli and American cities. Taken together, the two sets of posters constitute a conversation between the two opposing groups.

Once again, I noticed signage that drew a link between U.S. aid to Israel, on the one hand, and student loans, housing, and health care, highlighting the opportunity costs that come with such aid. While some members of the Palestinian community undoubtedly support increased funding for health care, more affordable housing, and cancellation of student loans, those members are probably not the target audience for this signage. I suspect Progressives and college students constitute the intended audience, which makes this signage strategically brilliant.

As for best DIY sign, it goes to this kid:

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