Joyce L. Arnold, Liberally Independent, Queer Talk, equality activist, writer.
Preparations for the Republican National Convention in Tampa, FL, August 27 – 30, and for the Democratic Convention in Charlotte, NC, September 3 – 6 are in the final phase. Security is a legitimate and major concern, and law enforcement offices are doing their part, getting all riot geared and militarized.
But apparently the Department of Homeland Security was taken by surprise at how little time remains between now and the RNC’s gathering in Tampa. How else to explain that it was only last week that the DHS asked for bids to purchase riot gear for their officers who will be at the two conventions? From Tampa Bay Times:
In a request issued last week, Homeland Security officials sought bids for supplying 147 sets of riot helmets, upper body and shoulder protectors, shin guards and tactical gloves. The agency also wants to buy a few extra sets of forearm protectors and thigh and groin protectors.
The gear is to outfit officers of the Federal Protective Service, which guards federal buildings and facilities, for the Republican and Democratic national conventions, the 2013 presidential inauguration and other events, according to the request. Time is of the essence: Homeland Security asked bidders for a response within one day of the request being issued, and wants to take delivery within 15 days of the contract being awarded.
Given the geared up levels of security in general, from drones, to riot geared police, to construction of new spy centers, etc., isn’t it kind of odd that DHS would be scrambling with “rush” orders for events scheduled years out?
More from Susan Stabley at The Charlotte Business Journal:
I also found details on the site for a U.S. Secret Service request for a company that can provide ‘perimeter security asset management’ at both national conventions.
The federal government gave $50 million to both Tampa and Charlotte for convention security purposes. According to HuffPo, both Tampa and Charlotte police are being selective about what information they release regarding purchases made.
The Secret Service contends that the information is exempt from public scrutiny due to homeland security concerns … .
We do know, according to the same post, that
[Tampa has purchased] … seven Segways, 1,765 handheld radios, 163 vehicle-mounted radios, helmets, face shields and body armor. …
[Charlotte] …has released three pages showing how some of the money has been spent. About $1.7 million was used to upgrade space in its command center, and more than $131,000 was allocated to help expand and equip the department’s motorcycle unit. …
A NY Times says
The Tampa government has paid $57,000 to sublease a lot, which will be open to protesters 24 hours a day, a few hundred feet from the convention center.
Isn’t that nice of them, to provide such a welcoming space for protestors? What’s more, Tampa has an official “parade” or “march” route for groups of 50 or more, with neatly slotted 90-minute increments, for which activists must sign-up. A Tampa official said they were “a little baffled,” with only three of the 28 slots taken.
Numerous reports, including the HuffPo post, note that Tampa has enacted ordinances related to protests which ban everything from water guns to chains, though permitted firearms will be allowed.
Meanwhile, in Charlotte, a coalition of groups is planning Wall Street South actions, and it’s clear that Charlotte has its own ideas about how to keep activists from upsetting Convention goers.
On July 2, the City of Charlotte held their sham ‘Free Speech Lottery’ to issue permits for a speakers platform and march route that Occupy Charlotte called ‘a tour of Charlotte parking lots’ and ensures that those who march on this route will not be seen or heard by convention delegates or the bankers Uptown.
I couldn’t find any official Charlotte expressions of bafflement that some people are upset with such restrictions, though of course I could simply be missing it.
How large and how “controlled” the protests will be in both cities remains to be seen, but both conventions will likely provide the most Occupy and other protest “coverage” we’ve seen since Zuccotti Park and pepper spraying law enforcement officers. Which means we’ll also get to see officers and their new equipment on display, and probably in action. David Rosen, writing at AlterNet:
The … conventions … will probably witness the mass arrest of many American citizens assembling to exercise their First Amendment rights. …
A political convention is designated a National Special Security Event (NSSE), a category of state security originally established by President Clinton through a classified 1998 directive. …
In an effort to further restrict the rights of ordinary citizens to assemble, the Congress, with bipartisan zeal, moved with speed and stealth to outlaw OWS-types … assemblies on federal property. In March 2012, President Obama signed the Federal Restricted Buildings and Grounds Improvement Act of 2011 … .
Don’t you love the word games? “Improvement” as a euphemism for “control and restrict.”
The need for security is obviously real. The necessity of balancing that with First Amendment rights is also real. The list of indications that police departments are being militarized, that questions of “police state” are grounded in facts, is long and growing. One more indication, perhaps, is that the Military stands ready if needed at RNC, other conventions.
The efforts in Tampa and Charlotte will be met with resistance, of course. Jim Hightower writes about that in Protecting Political Insiders from Our First Amendment.
The opposite of courage is not cowardice, it’s conformity. What makes America great are courageous folks … who refuse to go along with authoritarians and elites who always demand that we surrender our most basic liberties to protect them from speech they don’t want to hear.
(Oakland Police Via OWS
Democratic Convention 2012 Poster Via Charlotte 2012
Republican Convention 2012 Via GOP Convention)
Oh! Now that’s alliteration that works.
I wonder if the networks will cover the security aspect. What a story that would be.
It will be interesting to see what the networks do with this. My guess is not much, other than show what makes for the best clip of the “clashes” between protestors and police.
It’s an “improvement” as far as the people who matter are concerned.
Interesting rundown, Joyce. It’s sad how quickly we’ve come to this. Back in the 1960s we wouldn’t have put up with this. Now, it’s business as usual, and people are amazed when we suggest it’s not how things have always been.
There’s no way not to think “Chicago” and “the whole world is watching,” at least if if one is old enough to remember
And you’re right, of course, that “it’s business as usual,” including seeing police in full riot gear, with pepper spray, bean bag, rubber bullets, sound cannons, etc., all along with “free speech zones” and kettling.
Thanks for this terrific summary of what will undoubtedly happen at the two conventions. I feel like Alice did when she arrived in Wonderland because our country is turning itself inside/out. If something doesn’t happen to curtail all of these continued negative hits to our land, it’s going to be unreconizable.
Interesting rundown, Joyce. It’s sad how quickly we’ve come to this. Back in the 1960s we wouldn’t have put up with this. Now, it’s business as usual, and people are amazed when we suggest it’s not how things have always been.
I was remembering the 1960′s as well with all the demonstrations. The 1968 Dem Convention in Chicago and Daley’s henchmen roughing up protestors and even news people on the floor of the convention while they were doing their jobs reporting on the Chicago police notorious beatings of demonstrators. But, I was also thinking of Kent State http://tinyurl.com/379qbx8 which was imo the breaking point for demonstrators and demonstartions. I truly think that horrific day, scared the crap out of people because for the first time the National Guard shot at unarmed Americans. Many believe that the anti-war movement was never the same.
From that link:
When Nixon announced the Cambodia invasion on April 30, campuses erupted.
In 12.53 seconds, 28 Guardsmen got off 61 to 67 shots. (Some fired into the ground or the air; 48 Guardsmen did not shoot at all, according to the FBI.)
A Gallup Poll found that only 11% of Americans faulted the Guard; 58% thought the demonstrators were partly responsible for the carnage.
Based on an FBI investigation, the Justice Department concluded that the Guardsmen were never in danger and that their explanation — they were surrounded, outnumbered and fired in self-defense — was a fabrication. Later that year, a presidential commission called the shootings “unnecessary, unwarranted, and inexcusable.”
A state grand jury declined to indict any Guardsman, a federal judge dismissed civil rights charges, and no one spent a day in jail. In 1979, the state paid $675,000 to the wounded students and the families of the dead to settle a civil suit. The Guardsmen signed a statement of regret, not apology.
I’m not so sure, Cujo, if the American public now is more tolerant of this type of deadly force by the Government of it’s own citizens. I think if government officials and their corporate cronies poison the atomosphere enough to cause the American public to blame the victims (demontrators) as Nixon did as that article implies here:
He (Nixon) called the protesters “the worst type of people that we harbor in America,” and said: “We are going to eradicate the problem. We are not going to treat the symptoms.”
I think the silent majority then (which was a term coined by Nixon) who weren’t part of the demonstrations fell for that official line of Nixon’s. I could be wrong, but I don’t think much has changed over these 42 years.
Thanks for providing the 1968 and Kent State references, because they are definitely a part of the context of the present. I really don’t know what the “American public,” in general, would do if we had a “Kent State” moment. Police are so heavily protected with “body armor” and “non-lethal” weapons that it would seem they’d feel less threatened. But of course, they could also feel as if they’re in a “war,” and protestors are the “enemy.”
I think what has changed is that today, there are virtually no prominent Americans who speak out about this. Some progressives do, occasionally someone else questions things a bit, but that’s it. Back then there was a serious debate. Now, it’s a fait accompli.
I don’t think the basic relationship between politicians, police, and protesters has changed all that much, but how the rest of us seem to feel about it certainly seems to have.