American Dreamer: Make that 15,002
By Steven T. Jones
Kid Beyond and I arrived in Denver about an hour ago after a 16-hour drive from Black Rock City, cruising through Nevada, Utah, Wyoming, and Colorado, a couple of which Barack Obama will probably need to win in November if he’s to take the White House.
We headed south toward Denver just as a gorgeous dawn was breaking, arriving with a few hours to spare before our Democratic National Convention press credential would have been redistributed to other journalists, who reportedly number more than 15,000 here.
I’d hoped to post another missive from Burning Man, but it was difficult to get on line there, so you’ll have to settle for the short post below because now it’s time to change gears and focus on the convention, which kicks off tonight with Michelle Obama, Nancy Pelosi, Jimmy Carter, and Ted Kennedy, among others.
But first, it’s time to get down to the Sheraton, where we get our credentials and where the California delegation is staying. And then we might just need a bit of sleep. Check back later tonight for more.
The Philadelphia Project members have been busy setting up their theme camp and performance stages at the corner of Esplanade and 8 o’clock in Black Rock City, but four of their key members will soon be taking a little side trip to the Democratic National Convention.
The four members of the project’s Archedream dance troupe will be joined in Denver by three other members from their native Philly that couldn’t make it out to the playa this year. Burning Man figures prominently into how this highly political performance came together and with the call to action they’re trying to spread.
It was on the playa that the Philly crew linked up with Bay Area artist Eric Oberthaler, who used to choreograph San Francisco artist Pepe Ozan’s fire operas on the playa, and the collaboration resulted in “Archdream for Humanity,” which will go on a national tour after premiering at a Democratic National Convention party on Tuesday.
To three of the young and idealistic artists behind the show, who I interviewed during a dust storm on the playa on Sunday, the connection between these two big events is important. And they say the artistic and collaborative forces that Burning Man is unleashing could play in big roll in creating a transformative political shift in America.
But I’m afraid you’ll have to wait for a future post and/or next week’s cover story to hear their stories and outlook. Gotta run.
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Comments (2)
Phones in the Fridge by Cindy Sheehan
by Cindy Sheehan
Cindy Sheehan for Congress
Aug. 25, 2008
Cindy for Congress adamantly believes that the problems in this country (and world) go way deeper than the Republican Party. We believed this before our campaign, and unfortunately, we have been proven correct repeatedly with Dem leadership sanctioning the occupations, torture, destroying our 4th amendment and not upholding the rule of law and Constitution especially since regaining majorities of both Houses of Congress—off the backs of the grass roots movement, that the Party has virtually ignored for the last year and a half, plus.
With the Democratic Party moving farther to the right each day, we believe it is even more imperative to have our voices heard for peace, accountability, fossil fuel independence, environmental stability and economic equality. If We the People don’t drag our leaders towards the people and positive change, it won’t happen, no matter who is the president, or which party controls Congress. I know I was approached by many activists wearing Obama ‘08 paraphernalia that are very distressed with the direction their Party is going in, too.
Today, CFC participated in the Recreate ‘68 rally on the steps of the State Capitol here in Denver—there were awesome speeches, especially by Cynthia McKinney (Green Party Presidential Candidate) and Ron Kovic (disabled Vietnam Vet and subject of Born on the 4th of July). World Can’t Wait, ANSWER and other groups participated in the coalition and there were a reported 500-1500 people from all over the country in attendance. I myself am distressed that most organizations in the so-called peace movement refuse to protest here in Denver because they believe that the Democratic leadership is any better than the Repugs.
Something that really bothered me at the rally, also, was when a group of activists surrounded the correspondent from Fox News. Now, mind you, I abhor Fox News, however, I think Fox News is just a little worse than CNN (brought to us by Lockheed Martin and Boeing) and NBC (owned and operated by General Electric). Fox, (like CNN and NBC) is a propaganda ministry of the US imperial-military regime and deserves nothing but contempt and ridicule—that’s why I refuse to do national Fox (except when Sean Hannity called my bluff once) and I DON’T WATCH the network. So, we were there protesting our government’s suppression of our 1st amendment rights to peaceably gather and express our freedom of speech, and some elements of our side were denying 1st amendment protection to Fox News because they don’t agree with their speech—as far as I am concerned that’s as bad as what BushCo have been doing for the last 8 years.
The most troubling thing happened, though, when I arrived back to my hotel. We got back early because the altitude and sleeplessness were starting to take a toll on us. We did not march after the rally, so we decided to rest before the next event at 7pm. As I walked toward my room, I noticed that the door was opened with the security bolt blocking the complete closing of the door. I knew immediately that I had not left the door open, and I double checked to make sure it was the right room because, as a frequent traveler, I have been known to forget my room number, but it was the right room.
I was upset at first thinking that housekeeping had made a mistake and left my room open and I was worried that something might be missing. So I walked into my room and bigger than life, there was a man standing by my desk holding the room phone with a screwdriver in his hand!
I immediately said; “What the hell are you doing? Are you putting a bug on my phone?” He looked like he got caught with his hand in the cookie jar and stammered out: “N–no, we are having problems with the phone.” I told him to get out of my room because my phone was fine and I called the front desk and the person at the front desk stammered something out about “problems” with some of the phones.
This room was reserved soon after we got to Denver last night because the room we had was inadequate for 3 people. The room was reserved under my campaign manager’s name with a CFC debit card. By the time we left for the march, it could have very well been ascertained that I was the one in this room, and the room we did reserve could be bugged, also. I am confident that that’s what was happening when I walked in on the “maintenance” man and I am becoming more shocked every day with what the ruling class are capable of….that’s why…
My phones are in the room fridge. Let them listen to refrigerator noise.
CFC is feeling a little shaky on the security front, because there is no way to reasonably expect privacy from a Party and a government that has discarded our 4th amendment rights to be secure in our persons and papers…in other words, our safety and our campaign can be compromised by a government that exists to protect our rights, not abuse them at will.
OUTRAGEOUS!!!
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August 25, 2008 04:54 PM
Cindy you sound insane and you're an embarrassment. Please pack it in - preferably sooner rather than later.
Posted by Shane | August 25, 2008 11:06 PM