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Announcement: Protest Activity |
Protest the Dedication of the Dole Institute of Politics in Lawrence!
by Dave, Tyranny Ends Now
(No verified email address) |
Current rating: 5
07 Jul 2003 |
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For three days, Lawrence, Kansas will play host to a long list of tyrants. Help Lawrence citizens confront this celebration! |
From July 20th-22nd, Lawrence, Kansas will be host to the Dedication of the Dole Institute of Politics at the University of Kansas.
The guestlist includes Rudolph Giuliani, Tom Brockaw, Jimmy Carter, Gerald Ford, Bob Dole, Kathleen Sebelius, and many others. As this article comes to Infoshop, rumors continue to circulate, and can be slightly confirmed, that George Bush and Colin Powell will also be in attendance.
The celebration is being billed as the "Greatest Generation's Greatest Celebration." Hundreds of World War II veterans will be coming to Kansas for this event, to coincide with "veteran" Bob Dole's 80th birthday.
One of the major spotlighted events, besides the actual dedication, is the "Robert Dole Legacy of Leadership Dinner" in which all the guests will be in attendence, to watch on as Rudolph Giuliani becomes the first recipient of the Dole Leadership Award. The dinner is a $500.00 a plate invite only dinner to be held at a local hotel.
The fact that Giuliani will be recieving this award comes as a slap in the face for all the workers, poor, and people of color of New York City that suffered under his control.
The entire celebration is a mockery of the situation now upon the world as the United States delves deeper into the formation of its Empire.
The people of Lawrence will not be held captive in their own town as these "guests" arrive. They will be in the streets of Lawrence, showing these tyrants what they will really think of them.
The people of Lawrence call on any and all anarchists, revolutionaries, and radicals that can, to come to these protests in solidarity with local residents. Together, we will make our voices heard to the world. The Tyrants are not welcome in Lawrence. They are not welcome anywhere!
Reasons to protest the dedication of the Robert Dole Institute of Politics:
On Bob Dole:
Bob Dole is a major stock holder and has recieved many large donations from Koch Industries, an oil company that made it's fortune through the illegal and immoral appropriation of land beloging to native peoples. Koch has a major stake in the war in Iraq and is one of many oil companies that has high dollar investments in the war in Iraq and post war contracts.
Bob Dole is outspoken for support for the war. In a speech given at the foot of what once was the World Trade Center in March, Dole equated anti-war protesters to being "jokes of democracy" and turning the "rights soldiers were fighting for" into mere theater antics.
Dole is a long time supporter of the death penalty and wished to decrease the number of appeals an inmate could reiceve. He also helped push legislation that would have made inmates unable to use a defense of "racial prejudice in judicial proceedings" for a reason for appeal.
Dole was a long time propenent of NAFTA and other free trade agreements that have devestated labor in the United States and created perpetual poverty in Mexico and other nations.
There are many more reasons, but these are some main ones.
On Rudolph Giuliani:
Giuliani is best known for turning New York into the police state it is today. For years, Giuliani waged a war on the homeless, by evicting a record number of squats, trying to slash funding to social services while increasing funding for the city police, and making street vending a misdeanor jailable offense if done without a lisence.
Giuliani also helped break strikes by transit workers, resisted all attempts in maintaining rent controls, and defending the use of deadly force by police against unarmed "criminals".
On the Celebration of World War II:
From Howard Zinn's People's History of the United States:
The victors [of World War II] were the Soviet Union and the United States (also England, France and Nationalist China, but they were weak). Both these countries now went to work--without swastikas, goose-stepping, or officially declared racism, but under the cover of "socialism" on one side, and "democracy" on the other, to carve out their own empires of influence. They proceeded to share and contest with one another the domination of the world, to build military machines far greater than the Fascist countries had built, to control the destinies of more countries than Hitler, Mussolini, and Japan had been able to do. They also acted to control their own populations, each country with its own techniques-crude in the Soviet Union, sophisticated in the United States--to make their rule secure.
The war not only put the United States in a position to dominate much of the world; it created conditions for effective control at home. The unemployment, the economic distress, and the consequent turmoil that had marked the thirties, only partly relieved by New Deal measures, had been pacified, overcome by the greater turmoil of the war. The war brought higher prices for farmers, higher wages, enough prosperity for enough of the population to assure against the rebellions that so threatened the thirties. As Lawrence Wittner writes, "The war rejuvenated American capitalism." The biggest gains were in corporate profits, which rose from $6.4 billion in 1940 to $10.8 billion in 1944. But enough went to workers and farmers to make them feel the system was doing well for them.
It was an old lesson learned by governments: that war solves problems of control. Charles E. Wilson, the president of General Electric Corporation, was so happy about the wartime situation that he suggested a continuing alliance between business and the military for "a permanent war economy."
That is what happened. When, right after the war, the American public, war-weary, seemed to favor demobilization and disarmament, the Truman administration (Roosevelt had died in April 1945) worked to create an atmosphere of crisis and cold war. True, the rivalry with the Soviet Union was real--that country had come out of the war with its economy wrecked and 20 million people dead, but was making an astounding comeback, rebuilding its industry, regaining military strength. The Truman administration, however, presented the Soviet Union as not just a rival but an immediate threat. In a series of moves abroad and at home, it established a climate of fear--a hysteria about Communism--which would steeply escalate the military budget and stimulate the economy with war-related orders. This combination of policies would permit more aggressive actions abroad, more repressive actions at home.
On the entirety of the celebration:
Dole will be recieving another building in his name, paid for by private donations, but also by budget bills in the U.S. Congress, costing Tax Payers millions of dollars. These were in the same budget bills that slashed millions of dollars to social programs and welfare.
Giuliani will be rewarded with the first ever "Dole Leadership Award" at a $500.00 a plate dinner. This is a direct insult to many in Lawrence, who have lost jobs in the past year due to the spiraling economy, and in a town where dozens of teachers will be "laid off" due to budget crises in the State budget.
For three days, the population of the town of Lawrence will double with the estimated 50-100,000 attendees of the celebration. Our town cannot support such an influx of people. Our roads will be more clogged, the city shut down with security, and the ordinary people's lives turned in a utter struggle to carry out daily tasks. The people of Lawrence never asked for this, and many don't want it.
For three days, some living, breathing examples of white supremacy and patriarchy (all of the invited major guests besides Dole's wife are male... coincidence?) and domination of the world. They will make this a celebration of one U.S. war and also create a celebration of U.S. Imperialism in the years since.
And this doesn't even include if Bush and Powell come. They are expected to... But even if they don't, we have plenty of reasons to be in the streets. These kinds of people and their celebrations should not be welcome here.
In solidarity. Tyranny Ends Now! |
See also:
http://www.kansasanarchist.net/ten.htm
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Commentary: Protest Activity |
Re: Protest the Dedication of the Dole Institute of Politics in Lawrence!
by mpb
(No verified email address) |
Current rating: -2
08 Jul 2003 |
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i'm all for protesting these bunches of clowns and tyrants too, but for chrissake, let's be creative about it for once. marching in the streets, echoing chants, and offering ourselves as lambs to be slaughtered by the media and the police is not my idea of constructive resistance.
incorporate the element of surprise.
act in small groups (less of a target).
i live in lawrence and i'll be there in June, but don't expect to see me on Mass. making a sacrificial fool of myself.
mpb |
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Commentary: Protest Activity |
Re: Protest the Dedication of the Dole Institute of Politics in Lawrence!
by George Ballard
(No verified email address) |
Current rating: 0
08 Jul 2003 |
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We don't expect to see you there making a fool of yourself. You have done an excellent job of making a fool of yourself on this website. |
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Commentary: Protest Activity |
Re: Protest the Dedication of the Dole Institute of Politics in Lawrence!
by Roberto
(No verified email address) |
Current rating: 0
08 Jul 2003 |
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"MPB": offer some 'creative' suggestions regarding what they should do. You have done nothing but contribute griping. |
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Commentary: Protest Activity |
Check the website for actions..
by Dave, TEN
(No verified email address) |
Current rating: 3
08 Jul 2003 |
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And before you go on some tyrade, there are some creative and powerful actions being planned.. and nothing on mass street.... So stop preaching and start planning yourself. The main rallies are what's really important I also want to point out that TEN is a group of radicals, progressive, revolutionaries and anarchists.... lots of diversity.. and lot's of creativity. We honor a diversity of tactics...
And when have people EVER been sacrificial fools in Lawrence? When was the last time anyone was allowed to be arrested by police, or even an attempt was made at such?
Check yourself. |
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Commentary: Protest Activity |
Re: Protest the Dedication of the Dole Institute of Politics in Lawrence!
by mpb
(No verified email address) |
Current rating: 0
08 Jul 2003 |
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this is true, Roberto, I do gripe a lot, but I think I have good reason :)I was in NYC for the World Economic Forum protest, and that is the last one I'll attend in the states, being led around like sheep by the police.
In large groups you are an easy target, plus you can't trust those around you.
Secondly, what good is there in non-violence??
If you really want to confront this thing, and if it is really worth it, then perhaps put the poster down and invest yourself deeper.
mpb |
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Commentary: Protest Activity |
Re: Protest the Dedication of the Dole Institute of Politics in Lawrence!
by sara
(No verified email address) |
Current rating: 0
09 Jul 2003 |
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You guys are falling over each other attacking mpb and making snide childish remarks (check yourself??) when all he did was bring up a pertinent issue of tactics.
Roberto, maybe if you would read between the lines a little you would find your suggestions.
Dave.. being a 'sacrificial fool' doesn't just mean getting arrested. Greenpeace gets arrested, but they get things accomplished by it. Protesters in Lawrence don't get arrested, but then they don't pose the slightest threat to the status quo. I would not even say they are sacrificial. After the protest, they hop into their SUVs and go home. |
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Commentary: Protest Activity |
Re: Protest the Dedication of the Dole Institute of Politics in Lawrence!
by guest
(No verified email address) |
Current rating: 0
09 Jul 2003 |
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MPB-"i'm all for protesting these bunches of clowns and tyrants too, but for chrissake, let's be creative about it for once. marching in the streets, echoing chants, and offering ourselves as lambs to be slaughtered by the media and the police is not my idea of constructive resistance."
Sara-"You guys are falling over each other attacking mpb and making snide childish remarks (check yourself??) when all he did was bring up a pertinent issue of tactics."
I would say that mpb had attacked, without provocation I might add, a person and issue in a very insulting manner. His first sentence was a direct attack against Dave by insinuating that this rally was not going to be creative, empty of content, and ineffective. He does this in a manner with which to discredit Dave and this action he is advocating; It’s done in a very underhanded and provocative way. After all the quote "I’m all for protesting these bunches of clowns and tyrants too, but for chrissake, let's be creative about it for once." assumes that Dave must do this all the time and therefore attempts to discredit what Dave is advocating by setting a tone of "here we go again", and connotation that people really interested in change need to do something different because "this is just another one of those ineffectual rally's like Dave always throws together.
Secondly "I live in lawrence and i'll be there in June, but don't expect to see me on Mass. making a sacrificial fool of myself." In this statement he presupposes that this will take place on Mass. street, and then refers to anyone doing so, as Dave must be asking him or her to, as sacraficial fools. Hmmm...
I think you can see where I'm going with this and I dont blame Dave or anyone else for getting upset. These tactics were very underhanded, assumed a lot, sought to help others along to the same assumptions, tried to discredit this rally without any actual knowledge of the event, personally attacked Dave, Tried to associate his (Daves) name with ineffective tactics and various other more character damaging insults and was done for a reason.
Sara, this is far beyond "bringing up the issue of tactics".
If tactics were the issue it would have sufficed to ask what tactics were going to be involved, or simply state ones preference for specific tactics. Instead mpb has a specific desired result and uses specific tactics, whether mpb is cognizant of it or not is another issue, to discredit Dave and a rally he is attending in order that he may persuade others. I've been reading some other posts by this person and it seems as though they have a history of attacks in this manner with the desired result of discrediting those against whom it is directed. Provocotuer....... |
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Commentary: Protest Activity |
Re: Protest the Dedication of the Dole Institute of Politics in Lawrence!
by mpb
(No verified email address) |
Current rating: 0
09 Jul 2003 |
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"Provocateur"? Your paranoia is really quite amazing, as well as your imagination. You read a lot into my posts that simply isn't there, and ascribe to me "connotations" that I certainly wasn't aware of when I wrote it. I'm just trying to engage in real thoughtful discussion... (Why does the left insist on fighting itself? And one wonders why we can't get anything done...)
As per your claims, I attacked no one and nothing in particular. I only said Mass. Street because it is the obvious choice for any and every protest. I don't at all know Dave or his methods, and his post says nothing about the type of action being planned. So how could I attack it?
Mine was a broader statement, based on my experience with the protest movement in general, which to me has been mostly a lot of ineffectual noise. I am just tired of the crowds of disaffected middle class white kids who don't have the will to risk anything, but at the same time convince themselves they are actually accomplishing something with scripted marches and worn out chants.
That is all I ever meant to connote with my "attacks" and as far as the actions/events planned for lawrence and the Dole Institute (I couldn't very well attack them even if I wanted to, because they haven't happened yet) I just hope they go well and are effective.
mpb |
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Commentary: Protest Activity |
Just please check the website
by Dave, TEN
(No verified email address) |
Current rating: 0
09 Jul 2003 |
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Check the website... limited information there, but times and places are there for the rallies..
As far as tactics go.. of course I'm not going to say what kind of tactics will be employed, even if it's all legal. That would just be setting the protest up for trouble.
I will reiterate that the TEN working group that is organizing this respects a diversity of tactics, and asks others to do the same.
Creativity and effectiveness is something we definately have planned. |
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