Aug 19

Aug 19 DNC Dispatch 4

Demonstrations, Parades, Performance, Protest, Public Declarations

Today was the first of the two scheduled Marches on the DNC. The organizers and the City of Chicago have been battling over the route and logistics in Federal Court for months. Court documents referred to “between 20,000 and 25,000” participants. Hatem Abudayyeh, executive director of the Arab American Action Network, responding to my question at a press conference last Friday, spoke in terms of tens of thousands.

Given those numbers, I was not surprised to find what seemed like hundreds of reporters, videographers, photojournalists, social media influencers, and other members of the media milling about in Union Park when I arrived at 11:00 AM for the noon rally and demonstration. Nor was I surprised by the heavy police presence. As was the case yesterday during the Bodies Outside of Unjust Laws rally and march, the stars were the bicycle cops, who moved as if they were either choreographed dancers in a Busby Berkeley movie, or members of the famed June Taylor dancers.

The demonstration brought out the higher ups, including Police Superintendent Larry Snelling, who could be seen conferring with other senior police officials on the roadway that cuts through Union Park on its tree-lined southern border.

Keeping with past practice, the formal program began 45-minutes late, as people baked in the sun. By then there were more than 100 people waiting in line to use one of the seven porta-potties positioned in front of the park’s field house. Both the organizers and Mayor Brandon Johnson deserve criticism for the lack of toilets. It is not clear whether Johnson capped the number, or whether the organizers only thought seven would prove adequate, but without adequate sanitary facilities, the rally should have never proceeded. To the organizers’ credit, I did see two first-aid stations.

As is also typical of these affairs, the speeches went too long. After 90 minutes, I left the press pen, having seen most of the speakers too many times before. Each speaker simply repeated what had already been said. It would be one thing if the speakers offered an objective history lesson, or put forth cogent solutions, but most of what I heard was empty rhetoric and rants.

Of course, I knew the minute I left, someone famous would take the podium. Would the final speaker be Representative Rashida Tlaid or Representative Iihan Omar? Maybe Representative Cori Bush or Representative Jamaal Bowman, who both suffered electoral defeat at the hands of AIPAC. I subsequently learned that presidential candidate Cornell West spoke.

The one bit of relief came when poet, songwriter, and singer Jamila Woods took the stage for a three-song performance. While her lyrics were both edgy and occasionally appropriate, her vocal style at times would have earned her kudos in the Greenwich Village cafes during the early Sixties, when folk music reigned supreme. Seventies folk-soul sensation Bill Withers also came to mind.

By and large, this was a failed demonstration. Given all the hype, I did not see television cameras from CNN, MSNBC, FoxNews, or the three networks—although those networks may have been using cameras without branded signage. Despite coinciding with this week’s major national story, the rally was decidedly local—really no different than the pro-Palestinian demonstrations that have become a weekly staple in Chicago since October 7.

The organizers said that some demonstrators were bused in from around the Midwest, but those buses didn’t carry thousands of people. When one organizer rattled off the participating cities, he did not mention, Boston, New York, Washington, D.C., Los Angeles, San Francisco, Portland, Oregon, or Seattle.

Most notably, there were not tens of thousands of people in attendance. I asked several police officials about the number, and was told the department did not have an estimate. My bet was 5,000 tops: more likely two or three thousand.

Another photographer put the number at 10,000 but acknowledged that she is terrible at crowd estimates. A Chicago Tribune article published later in the day used the phrase “numbering perhaps a few thousand.” At a Tuesday morning press conference, Superintendent Snelling announced that the 3,500 demonstrators participated, well below the 15,000 that organizer Hatem Abudayyeh gave when he spoke toward the rally’s end.

Both pro-Palestinian and other march organizers should learn the important lesson that the march offers: stop exaggerating the numbers. To debate whether the organizers projected “between 20,000 and 25,000” or “tens of thousands” demonstrators is pointless. Either way, the organizers over promised, which meant the demonstration can easily be characterized as a colossal failure, as it was in a number of articles.

Furthermore, the wildly exaggerated estimates undermined the organizers’ efforts to change and expand the march route. Federal District Court Judge Andrea Wood specifically pointed to the “25,000” number in her decision to deny changes to or expansion of the route, stating:

Plaintiffs claim that roughly 20,000 to 25,000 people will march in the protest parades. Simply put, allowing a crowd of that size (or even a smaller one) to march directly alongside an unyielding barrier—no matter how much of the street is available for pedestrian use—poses an obvious risk of injury. . . . Because this risk is “plausible and substantial,” Defendants have a significant interest in implementing mitigating restrictions, regardless of the fact that they may be addressing the “worst-case scenario.”

Had the organizers told the court that they expected 3,000 to 5,000 demonstrators—a number that is far more in line with the actual number—the court might have granted the request to alter and expand the route. Regardless, why the organizers thought they needed a longer route is beyond me. It was long enough—this was not a marathon, although at times it felt like one.

The march, which began somewhere between 2:45 PM and 3:15 PM was languid. The route was along streets that were much narrower than downtown boulevards, so the marchers could not step into formation behind waves of banners, which probably explains why the organizers fought so hard to change the route. While not in sight and sound of the United Center, Michigan Avenue would have provided far more visibility, particularly because so many delegates were staying in nearby hotels.

Unlike the typical demonstration, CPD did not allow photographers to gather in front of the marchers. Instead, senior CPD officials seemed to lead the way. Early on, Chief of Patrol Jon Hein looked at me, saying, “I love you, but you gotta get out of the street.” Of course, I complied with his order.

Despite CPD’s decision to literally sideline photographers, the social media influencers mixed with the demonstrators, which resulted in the march being an undifferentiated mass of humanity. It certainly was not photographic. As a general proposition, nothing saps an image of its drama than even one photographer pictured in the frame. The illusion that the image portrays reality vanishes.

For me, the moment of greatest clarity came when one speaker pointed to pressing social problems. He highlighted medical debt, which according to him, is the leading cause of bankruptcy, and the lack of affordable housing. Has this young man been so blinded by the conflict in Gaza that he can think of nothing else? Is he aware that just last Friday, Vice President outlined her economic plans, which included the forgiveness of medical debt and proposals to make housing more affordable? Does he or anyone of the other demonstrators think a President Donald Trump will treat the Palestinians better than a President Kamala Harris? It’s time for the demonstrators to join the world of realpolitik.

During the speeches, I heard the familiar chant, “This is what democracy looks like,” but for many attending the rally, it is “my way, or the highway.” With all the platitudes about democracy, many of those standing in Union Park fail to recognize what it means to live in a pluralistic society. Figuratively speaking, they exude a “burn the whole thing down” ethos because mankind has yet to return to the Garden of Eden. Ideological purity may feel good, but purity means standing in Union Park rather than sitting in the United Center.

As for me, I expected to be standing in the United Center Monday evening. Unfortunately, my plans did not pan out. I purchased a standing-room-only pass from the Democratic Association of Secretaries of State, a PAC. Turns out, SRO status entitled me to stand anywhere in the United Center except the convention hall. I couldn’t even get a sneak peak at the podium, but when I complained, I was told that I could make all the images of delegates standing in line at concession stands that I wanted to make.

Adding insult to injury: the list of prohibitive items did not include cameras, probably the most obvious article that someone might bring to a major event. Only when I tried to enter the security zone did I learn that cameras were prohibited, which was particularly frustrating because a week earlier I had contacted both the Secret Service and the DNC media office—cameras would not be a problem. Despite being told I could not even take iPhone photographs—a ridiculous assertion based on countless images of people taking iPhone photographs at presidential campaign events—I figured I could use my iPhone, on the assumption that I had access to the convention hall. I decided to ditch my cameras, which cost me two hours. It was only when I was inside the United Center that I realized I didn’t need my iPhone because I was not even permitted in the hall.

Eventually, I contacted Andy Colgan, my DASS contact, telling him that his PAC was running the equivalent of Trump University. When I threatened to dispute the $1,000 charge with my credit card company, he did return my money. Had I not left the March on the DNC midway through the actual march, I would have witnessed the security breach outside the United Center and 13 arrests.

Two small consolations. First, once I made it through the Secret Service security checkpoint, I walked past former Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi exiting the United Center. Second, I returned to Union Park, where several demonstrators and a phalanx of riot police faced off. The demonstrators were in the process of erecting some sort of encampment in the park. When the standoff ended peacefully, I headed home.

Finally, if you have never gone through a Secret Service security checkpoint, you have no idea how much scrutiny people receive. I noticed the screeners opening my wallet, examining my paper money and credit cards. I have no problem with the precautions, but the process goes far beyond the typical airport screening.

[Click on an Image to Enlarge It. The Images Are Not Necessarily in Exact Chronological Order.]