The official protest zone in Philadelphia was in FDR park, across the street from the Wells Fargo Center. It was a nice, large park. But while it was technically within sight and sound of the WFC, the streets were bounded by the 8-foot fences and the buses carrying delegates came in the other side.
Except for a few dozen police, no one saw or heard the protesters who didn't go looking for them. I did that on Tuesday. While it should have been a five minute walk from the Wells Fargo Center, police directed me through large parking lots to get outside the security zone in order to do a gigantic U turn on local streets to go inside FDR park. It took about 20 minutes. That's how I happened to be with the Berniers when Senator Bernie Sanders moved to support Hillary by acclamation.
The Berniers wanted to march on the WFC, but all they could do was hold their signs up against those iron fences where the only viewers were the cops on the other side making sure they didn't knock down any fences. They hung out there for an hour or so until a major rain storm drove them away for the day.
Convention cities also have unofficial protest zones. How hard the police try to control the use of these varies. In Cleveland this zone was about a block from the Q at an entrance used by the press and some delegates. It wasn't big enough for a rally, but was a good place for people to stand with signs, or do a little street theater, and catch the attention of the thousands of people using that entrance. Police sometimes pushed the sign carriers down the street, but didn't push them out.
The unofficial protest zone in Philadelphia was around City Hall, usually on the shadiest side for that time of day. Marches began from there. On Sunday about five thousand people walked 4 miles to FDR park in 90 degree heat. While 'Climate' was the purpose of this march, it was full of Berniers carrying dual use signs and t-shirts. This was true of the other actions that week. Protests about Berta Cáceres, immigration, healthcare, student debt and Black Lives Matter were heavily populated with Berniers proclaiming their loyalty to Bernie for President and their opposition to Hillary for anything (other than prison). They also denounced the DNC as "corrupt." I didn't see any signs in Cleveland denouncing the RNC, only Trump.
Berniers were present in both cities, though they were a much bigger presence in Philadelphia. Other groups were visibly present at both. The four Christians who brought their large signs to Cleveland were joined by a fifth in Philadelphia, where they were less successful in disrupting the various rallies. CodePink did flash actions at both, though I saw more of it in Cleveland. RCP's troops doubled in Philadelphia. Marching around in military fashion with their distinctive t-shirts and chants makes them hard to miss.
Support services for protesters were present at both conventions. Food not Bombs did a fine job of feeding them healthy vegan fare. Churches provided places to meet, sleep and just chill out. In Cleveland counter conventions were held in two black Baptist Churches. In Philadelphia they were held in the Arch Street Meeting House and the Friends Center. The Arch Street Methodist Church maintained an "Oasis for Activists" and other churches provided traveling activists sleeping space on floors.
At the City Hall rallies I ran into three different groups of academics studying the protesters. This is new. Usually scholars study the delegates. They can do that at the convention or after it is over by getting the delegate lists and sending questionnaires to a random sample. News organizations used to conduct surveys of delegates before the conventions, but stopped doing that a couple conventions ago.
Michael Heaney of the University of Michigan brought 10-15 students to both conventions to ask protesters about their attitudes and backgrounds. LeeAnn Banazak brought a dozen students from Penn State to Philly to do a short survey on issues and how the protesters feel about the parties. She will follow up later with a longer one of those willing to give up their e-mail addresses. Both studies sample spaces and control for demographics later.
A different angle was taken by John Noakes of Arcadia University. and Patrick Gillham of Western Washington University. Their students are studying police/protester interactions through observation, not surveys. They have identified eight different ways in which the police engage protesters; you can read about them when it is published.
I ran into a fourth study when I was walking down the hall in the Pennsylvania Convention Center (PCC). While many convention events in the PCC were open to the public, you have to go through a search, which eliminates casual observers. I was stopped by a young woman from the University of Maryland in Baltimore County and handed a card explaining that this survey is being sponsored by the Congressional Black Caucus "to understand how delegates and attendees think about representation and citizen advocacy."
She didn’t know I was a ringer, having run studies like these myself. I answered her questions. Now I want to read the results!
©2016 Jo Freeman for SeniorWomen.com
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