January 20, 2005

Sign of the Times
Signs Sum Up Views As Protesters Greet Bush Inauguration
By Paul Rosenberg, Senior Editor

     Neal Weiner hadn’t planned on going to Washington to protest Bush’s inauguration on January 20. When the Long Beach resident and his partner went to the Republican National Convention (RNC) in September and distributed 500 posters, “We figured that was going to be our last protest,” Weiner said, believing that Bush would be defeated. “But he seems to have wiggled his way back in, either by voter fraud or being elected.” And so, “We decided to make some posters and take them to Washington, DC. It says, ‘Worst President Ever.’”
     Weiner was pleased with the RNC effort. “We got our posters on Fox News, on CNN and MSNBC,” he recalled. “When we do that, we become the media just like Jello Biafra says to do,” referring to Biafra’s slogan, “Don’t hate the media. Become the Media,” Biafra, a spoken word artist and former lead singer with punk legends The Dead Kennedies, has tirelessly advocated the same do-it-yourself approach to media that bands like his brought to making, promoting and distributing their music.
     “It’s a way of infiltrating into the media,” Weiner explained. “Since the media doesn’t want to give us a fair shake we have to use these guerrilla tactics.”
     In line with four years of suppressing political protests at Bush’s public appearances, the Secret Service banned all signs or posters attached to handles at Bush’s inauguration. And there were concerted efforts to keep all protesters away, following a pattern that’s been in place for years, relegating Bush critics—but not supporters—to “free speech zones,” far removed from Bush and the media following him.
     Such blatant disregard for the First Amendment has been vigorously opposed by the anti-war ANSWER coalition, which eventually won a permit for a mass convergence at 4th St. and Pennsylvania Ave. That’s where most of Weiner’s posters will be.
     The organizers of Turn Your Back On Bush (TYBOB), took a different approach, planning an eloquently non-violent and non-verbal protest: simply turning their backs.
     As the organizers explained, “In the past four years, Bush has made it clear that dissent is unwelcome in his America, and his policies have created an atmosphere where demonstrators are corralled and their messages marginalized. Polls show that the majority of Americans disagree with Bush on numerous issues, but by refusing to talk to anyone but the most subservient press outlets and appearing only in highly staged events, he has cut himself off from all but his most ardent supporters.”
     “We want our audience with our President.... By leaving our signs and buttons at home, we will avoid all of the obstacles that Bush and his supporters have used to keep anyone who disagrees with him out of sight.”
     Tracey Sperko, TYBOB’s Wisconsin coordinator, is a 38-year old Navy veteran who was never politically active before last year. She told The Capital Times of Madison, “I’m part of the 49 percent that did not vote for Bush and did not give him what he calls a mandate. As a veteran who once raised her hand for her country, I cannot sit by silently. To be silent on Jan. 20 will be taken as support of Bush, which I do not.”
     As shown in Michael Moore’s “Fahrenheit 9/11,” there were extraordinarily intense protests at the 2001 Inauguration, which the media tried to ignore. This time out, protesters are bypassing media gatekeepers by coming directly to people in communities across the country. ANSWER sponsored a counter-inaugural demonstration at the Westwood Federal Building at 6 p.m.
     “We are also going to have some of our people, a crew of four, at the LA protests,” Weiner said.
     Closer to home, an early morning (6-9 a.m.) silent vigil was organized in downtown Long Beach at the World Trade Center West, by local activist Karen Ashikeh, who hosts Earth Neighborhood TV on Charter TV. Ashikeh encouraged a wide range of concerns.
     “Signs should reflect the No To The Bush Agenda theme and can reflect issues like war, environment, economic justice, save Social Security, no to the Patriot Act or whatever...there is so much to chose from,” she wrote in an announcement.