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Our buddies over at Curbed just received word that things are getting zany at Market and Montgomery, gangland territory for the messenger community. In yet another of moment of annoying and effective-free protest happening around the city today, cyclists and gimmicky Code Pink are currently acting up. Check it:
The scene surrounding Market and Montgomery Streets has turned tense as what was a peaceful protest has erupted into a confrontation between police and the usual suspects: hipster radical bikers and Code Pink. According to our on-the-ground informant, a team of earnest 10-speeders just bombed into the intersection, circling incessantly and blocking traffic as Code Pinkers jumped around with their pink boas and screamed a lot. Or something.
Also: this? Is insane. And, in typical fashion, misguided. If anyone wanted to have a lasting impact, then they would head over to, say, Presidio Terrace where they might actually find an actual living and breathing Republican who disagrees with them. Or better yet: carpool to Tracy, Stockton, Fresno, etc. and try to change some minds.
Image credit: Curbed
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Ah, CODEPINK, embarrassing San Francisco residents since 2002.
Oh my.
Right on the money re: go somewhere where people might actually disagree with you if you want to be so controversial.. otherwise you're just pissing off people who at worst might be on the fence about your cause. Only now they're thinking that conservatism/republicanism is looking a lot more nicer if only because the lack of morons blocking traffic all day to boost their cause.
this protest is important. we can't let either the democratic or republican parties think that we've stopped caring about ending the war. we need to get out in HUGE numbers, wherever we are to show the people who will be framing the platforms that there is a MAJORITY of americans who feel so strongly about this issue, that they are willing to stand up and say something.
and yes, even here in liberal san francisco where the majority of people are anti-war, we need to protest. we don't think about the war enough. people are DYING every day and we are sitting in our cozy little bubble with our cars and lattes and every once in a while we need to be reminded that this is happening and it's disrupting. and if we don't do it in san francisco, you think fresno's gonna do it for us?
Seriously. Now the narrative is something like, "anti-war activists? Oh yeah, they're those assholes who made me late for work. Fuck them."
Speaking of totally insane ideas...there are rumors (found at Curbed that some folks are planning to storm the Golden Gate Bridge. While I remain curious as to how they're going to get there (it would be awesome if they all parked at the Sutter garage), that's the rumor. Anyone who can point to a confirming link, please do so.
"...a team of earnest 10-speeders just bombed into the intersection, circling incessantly and blocking traffic..."
This sounds like a scene from the upcoming "Protest: The Musical"
Code Pink : The Left :: Ann Coulter : The Right
code pink in action at Chevron this morning.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tmtYwLsXfGU
That's right, matt. These yahoos have PRECISELY ZERO effectiveness. Therefore they should stop wasting everybody's time.
Really. I mean, what does this accomplish, besides looking stupid?
The problem with these protests isn't the protesting, it's the civil disobedience. San Francisco is ALREADY ON YOUR SIDE there is no reason to disrupt life here, in fact, it's counter productive.
I just saw an elderly nun (not a sister of perpetual indulgence) getting arrested. She was not handcuffed and was been treated with care and respect by the boys in blue. To be honest, the police have been very professional in the dealings that I have seen.
@bob lobotomy
Every single thing you said was completlely and utterly wrong. You need to wake up and realize that your ignorance, naivete and downright stupidity is lengthening the Iraq war and as a result, actually costing lives. But you don't have the witt and sophistication to see this. So carry on with your neaderthal bull horn tactics. You are the problem.
The cops must love this. Lots of overtime.
fizzandpop. and yet these protests have you thinking about the war today. mission accomplished.
wake up.
I don't know what the solution is to 'stopping the war,' but it sure as hell isn't protesting.
Still, I support those loons in all their foolish naiveté. Good luck.
What Fizz said. Although Fresno's representative is actually relatively anti-war. If you want to try to convince people, go to the O.C.
"Mission accomplished."
I remember someone else saying that a few years ago, to similar effect.
Or, to add a good definition of what's going on out there (from my brother via Snopes):
"the protest/display of support that doesn’t require any actual effort. (Don’t buy gas on this day, drive with your headlights on to support X, march through your own neighborhood, etc.)
It's pretty much anything that makes the protestors/supporters feel good about themselves without having any actual effect on that which they are protesting/supporting."
@ bob loblaw: but see, the problem is, I think about the war pretty much every day. Today, however, I'm thinking about how ashamed I am to be on the same side as codepink.
I'm with you on protest in general, I think it can be a powerful thing and I think it's imporant for people to gather and voice their opinion. But protests like this don't make anyone change their minds, they just either alienate people, piss people off, or make people laugh at the stupid antics of the protestors.
From my window I can see a ragtag group of about 7 protesters on the Civic Center lawn. 3 appear to be asleep on the grass. One of the standing ones is wearing a hat with fake floppy rabbit ears. One is wearing a bicycle helmet, but no bike is visible.
The war, alas, has not yet been ended by their efforts.
LOOK AT ME! LOOK AT ME!! LOOOK AT MMMMmeeeeeeeEeEEEEE!! I'm a war protestor and you have LOOK AT ME!!! LOOK AT ME!!!!!! I'm super self important because I'm against the war! Without these direct actions nobody would think about the war, I know I don't when I'm not actively protesting, I have worry too much about whether or not my hipster beard is hip enough.
Ignorance is bliss. And I'm blissful!
@ bob douchebag
Oh yes, it's the protest that makes me think of the war. When there are no protests, it just completely slips my mind. You really are a moron.
I'm beginning to think you're a GOP shill, boblaw. Calling out the hippies and harpies in huge numbers to preach to the choir is exactly what is hurting the anti-war movement.
aj wins this thread for best comment so far.
I am really happy about the protests today; I sped over the GG bridge at about 60 mph and through Marin County at about 75 (85 when I passed the Civic Center). With all the CHPs in downtown SF, it's a great day to break the speed limit!
@ bob loblaw: PLUR!
somebody please dress up like waldo and get out there before it's too late
With Code Pink in SF today, who's acting slutty in front of the Marines office in Berkeley?
@Bob - hey brother, don't waste your time trying to have a cogent discussion about the necessity of civil disobedience in a healthy society. The level of discourse in sfshits discussion boards has almost reached the lows of those crackhead gorillas at sfgate.
i have to sort of agree with jt, people -- at least on this thread. let's keep the too personal attacks to ourselves. please. or let me do them for you.
let's keep the outright hateful comments on youtube where they belong.
Look at all the traffic these kooks caused .... great for the environment. Three of my workers missed important meetings thus did not get paid, great for there families!!! Good job jerks!
Hey, talk all you want about the necessity of civil disobedience. This kind of thing simply does not qualify. It has to have a remote chance of success, and not be viewed as a total joke, to count.
so NOBODY dressed up like waldo?
i can't believe that in our supposedly enlightened city, nobody has the common decency to ruin this protest by dressing up like waldo.
WAKE UP.
The cause is just; how can the protestors have been so silly and wrong in their methods? They would've been a lot better off organizing a candlelight vigil down Market around 7 or 8 PM last night. They would've likely had a much larger turnout, it would've had a greater visual impact than a bunch of aging crust-punk divas and Marin hot-tub hippies dancing around in feather boas, and they wouldn't have alienated a good chunk of the city's residents, who are ostensibly behind them in principle. Lame.
@Aj - you don't dig the methods of protest in SF, get the hell back to Fairfield or Boise or wherever else you came from. Many San Franciscans take pride in our tradition of protest and direct action.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1934_West_Coast_Longshore_Strike
Oh, boo hoo, your day got inconvenienced for a few hours. Big fucking deal. The protesters hardly had you in mind when they decided to risk being beaten and arrested en masse by tools of the fascist state.
And just how exactly can one quantify the "success" of a day of protest and direct action? Did any one out there yesterday really expect the Joint Chiefs to suddenly stop mid-sentence and begin making calls to withdraw the troops? No.
I could go on to explain the real aggregate value of direct action and civil disobedience but I suspect you care what I think about as much as Dick Cheney does.
Cute.
Because a few hundred Code Pinkers are just as effective as the fucking Harry Bridges Longshoremen of 1934. They can't even get Nancy Pelosi, the most liberal speaker of the house in a generation, to talk to them.
All I know is, the war is still going on, and when the war does finally stop, you can be damn sure that a few punks in the middle of an SF street did not do one iota to make that happen. Instead, it will be our elected leaders who make that decision.
Want real change? Elect someone who will make that change.
Oh, and Joel makes a great point. Effective demonstrations are organized outside work hours, so people who, ya know, work for a living can actually attend.
Do you think Obama schedules his mega-rallies for the middle of a work day in the middle of a busy street? No, he holds them in the evenings or on weekends, so people will actually show up.
The media coverage is a whole lot better too, because the people participating look like people that might command the respect of the audience, instead of, as noted previously, Code Pink.
This obsession with all things '60's- counterculture-free-love-protest-anti-war is an absolute farcical caricature. It is so much more about the collective egos of these morons than a true desire to effect change. When will they realize that their actions and words hurt any cause they attach themselves to. Oh wait, they don't care because that's not what it is about. It is about who yells/actslike an idiot/taunts cops more than the next guy. A badge of cool in a pathetic subculture.
The protesters hardly had you in mind when they decided to risk being beaten and arrested en masse by tools of the fascist state.
Risk being arrested? As if that was not the intention of the protestors when they chained themselves to things and go to block off traffic?
You fucking children should live in a real fascist state for a while. Brass balls to compare yourselves to Harry Bridges.
Wow there is so much I disagree with here I don't know where to begin.
the protestors _did_ target their civil disobedience. Furthermore, if there is "general strike", pandemonium in the streets, etc, than _yes_ people don't go to their meetings and this costs the country money. If enough people do it, it hurts our bottom line which is all those in power care about. If you want to work within the system, if you believe your legislators will make changes not because the people demand it but because you asked them so *nicely* than do that. Go to your city council meetings. Call your senator. But not everyone believes that working within the system will achieve any real change. Some people believe that only through struggle and demand do the people in power change anything. They hold their rallies in the day because that's when the meetings are happening. That's when the people they are targeting are doing their work. If you don't like the target or tactics, organize your own protest.
This kind of divisiveness hurts the anti-war movement. The pacifists don't like vandalism. The moderates don't like the black bloc. The radicals say marching doesn't do enough. How exactly is your criticism productive? Okay, so you hate the protesters. You don't like their tactics. You could do it better (though you don't bother). Fine. But do you really hate the protesters more than the war? Fucking A. Have a little perspective.
I spent last night at a potluck with about thirty people who were at this protest. Some of them were arrested. Some of them spent the day on the streets even though they were sick. Most of them work day jobs in nonprofits where they _do_ try to make change within the system. Most of these jobs pay half what their corporate counterparts do. We had lengthy discussions about their interactions with the police. (And that's another thing! How many cops have to kick the shit out of you before being nice is "idiotic"? I guess protesters are all idiots because I have never once seen them say a cruel word to an officer that wasn't provoked) Their entire lives are devoted to making the world a better place so don't feed me some bullshit story about the antiwar movement as a fashion trend while you sit on your ass sending insults into the blogosphere.
And BTW, Code Pink _does_ talk to Nancy Pelosi. They write emails and dress in suits when meeting with politicians behind closed doors when it is appropriate. They're not stupid; they're strategic. Why do you think they get so much attention? Their techniques, whether you like it or not, make national headlines. And if you think they look weird and radical that only serves to move the center further left (don't believe me? Seems to be working for Rush Limbaugh).
Yes, they dress up and make protest fun. Protest has long roots in Carnival. There is no reason it shouldn't be fun. There is no reason it shouldn't look like art. If that's how people want to express their anger and frustration, who are you to criticize them? If every person that was against the war in this country took the day off and did something as ridiculous as dance in the streets it _would_ make a huge difference. Exactly what are _you_ doing to stop this war? If you think the war is wrong and all you are doing to confront those in power is criticize those who are trying to do what they can, however effective, my only advice is that you get a fucking life.
@Joel - I don't know if my balls are made of brass but I do know that I honor the tradition of protest as exemplified by the death defying actions of the waterfront workers in 1934. We can all take pride in the fact that much of what we have today in terms of rights on the job come out of the struggles of the rank and file of the early CIO unions, including the ILWU. If you know anything about the '34 strike you'd remember one of the most successful actions they engaged in was a spontaneous march up Market street to honor the men who were murdered whilst picketing. Talk about drama!
I do not compare myself to Brother Bridges, I live in his shadow.
And were it not for the continued tradition of active protest, a constitutional right of all Americans, we might be living in a full-blown fascist state.
Look, I don't disagree with the purpose or principles behind the protest. I don't even care that I was late for work (I work a non-profit, too--a labor union, in fact). And by the way, I have macrhed and protested several times in the last five years, and have continued to contact the lawmakers who represent us who do have a sliver of power to do something about it. But I stand by that the tactics displayed during the protests were ineffective at best, harmful to the movement as a whole at worst. If you really wanted to "work outside the system," you'd do something more brash and large than have a few crusts on bikes blocking some Market buses--that won't and didn't make "national headlines."