| human being on Tue, 13 Aug 2002 23:28:54 +0200 (CEST) |
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| <nettime> the Vice President Special |
Sometimes people are said to carrying the weather around with them. Empirical evidence shows that, a Presidential or Vice Presidential visitation is often preceded by the globally warmed heat wave, followed up by a spritzing of biblical floods, to balance all of the fire and brimstone... In any case- again, a bike trip into downtown Minneapolis, this time, the mass media give notice via print and tele- vision and radio that the VP Richard Cheney will be in town this Monday, at 1pm, at a hotel to give a pep-talk to 700 or so Republican donors, and to raise funds for one of the hand-picked Republicans, otherwise known as horseflesh... Oddly enough, less than a year ago, George Bush (I) was in town to visit some Republicans, and gave no interviews to the media. Then, focus on the state's politicians became focused and the republican JFK-clone, transplanted here, and former Mayor of St. Paul, is now a contender on the Senate race, chosen from above. Bright teeth, east-coast accent, and perfect for the national scene, like a preened TV news anchor, waiting for the national spotlight to shine... In this instance, the Vice President, Cheney, is in town to do a little shuffle. See, the person who is running for the Governorship, to replace Jesse Ventura, was _initially in the race for _Senator, yet Bush and Cheney and GOP Company stepped in, told him it would be better for him to run in- stead for _Governor, so that the handpicked favorite race horse, Coleman, could try to unseat Democrat Paul Wellstone... Maybe this explains why the V.P. flies into Minneapolis to raise big-cash for their political gamesmanship. So, it was said Cheney was just in Iowa or the Dakotas, raised some big money for their political pieces on the board, and was going to swing into Minnesota to raise about 330,000 US Dollars. Or, so it seemed this was what was stated. If correct, the local newscast, tonight, after the event, said Cheney raised the sum total of (a whopping) "$250,000" or so. Well, maybe their accounting is off, or wrong. Or they have yet to add up all the money. Else, they may not have raised what they projected they would in the media, the same day that it is reported that Bush outshines even Clinton at the fundraising gambit. Politics... Regardless, biked downtown on a humid and dew point filled sky and nearing 12:15 pm or so, was surprised that no one had yet to visualize on the scene of the hotel where Cheney would be, likely hiding on the television news again behind the smog of one-way soundbites. A total of three people were seen, two with signs, across the street from the hotel, the Cheney Special... Lots of police around, this time, approachable, unlike a few weeks prior when the President G.W. Bush (II) was in town, and an almost militarization of the domestic police felt tangible. If a guess were to be made, from what is said of who's running the U.S. game show these days, it might seem likely such force would be present, and yet, the local officers were helpful and the tension was not the same at all. Everything worked very well... So, bicycling around the hotel building, and still not sure if the objective is to try to photograph V.P. Cheney or the event itself, nothing seemed to be going on, close to 12:45 or so. A sense of purpose to aimlessly biking around, looking for some- thing to document and report on, helped come up with the purpose of carrying a bunch of photo equipment around on a bicycle. If asked a purpose, the response would be-- "I'm trying to photo- graph Vice President Cheney, to see if he is a hologram or not." Then, turning the far corner of the hotel, in front of the hotel, a huge mass of people filling a whole street come marching toward the hotel. A mass of people so large it congealed somewhere else and made its way onto the stage of the Cheney Special appearance... postalflow.jpg (85k) http://home.earthlink.net/~aetherica/temp2/postalflow.jpg flow.jpg (25k) http://home.earthlink.net/~aetherica/temp2/flow.jpg Seen from a downtown block away, on a slightly elevated grade, it was to see a solid wall of people moving toward the hotel, and it would not be possible to setup camera gear and get that shot, as this spontaneous-seeming flow of people, chanting and signs in the air, having a good time at it, were moving like lava all over the place. It took a minute to bike around a block or two to access the side of the marchers. Ironically, the hotel was a half-block away from a major television station, WCCO (Ch.4) in what is an amazing building and context, and on its back lawn many people gathered. At the same time, ironically, the Postal Workers Union had a national convention, and from the words spoken, they just decided to visit. And they did, along with many others from the downtown area during lunch, a gradient going from the front to the stippled onlookers bringing up the back. The theory that the local PGA Golf Tournament with Tiger Woods may have something to do with Cheney being in town may need to be revised for later use in deciphering U.S. policies. That, and Attorney General John Ashcroft up in Duluth, in northern Minnesota, the Midwest's San Francisco, giving absolute reassurance that destroying the constitution is the last thing on their minds... Two sides of the four sided building were under heavy civilian protest. The union was here, and singing songs of solidarity. And, with traffic rushing between them and the private Cheney event, they were determined to be heard. Loud jeers could be heard once when a passing combustion engine passed, maybe having made a remark or something such. Yet, on more than one occasion, truckers and other union workers from other trades would drive by, honking their horns and a big cheer of excite- ment would go up, palpable energy, there was a great power in voices and determination, and great spiritedness in standing together as one... 0851.jpg (60k) http://home.earthlink.net/~aetherica/temp2/0851.jpg union.aif (audio file, 454k) http://home.earthlink.net/~aetherica/temp2/union.aif The difficult thing to do is describe how quickly, and how fully the space went from one of anonymous emptiness, into a full and embodied pulsation of the democratic will, of the social cohesiveness that binds citizens together in shared consequences and endeavors to make change. There was a giant mass, made up of different lines and depths of people, and then, the composition as a whole, for which this was no game at all... line.jpg (32k) http://home.earthlink.net/~aetherica/temp2/line.jpg line2.jpg (24k) http://home.earthlink.net/~aetherica/temp2/line2.jpg line3.jpg (25k) http://home.earthlink.net/~aetherica/temp2/line3.jpg If having to guess numbers, and not having any training in conjuring up such a thing, it would seem based on other professional 'crowd counting' results that somewhere in the range of 800-1200+ people appeared out of nowhere. And, yet, while still not verifiable it may be possible to get a sense of the crowd through a few more images... depth.jpg (44k) http://home.earthlink.net/~aetherica/temp2/depth.jpg depth2.jpg (100k) http://home.earthlink.net/~aetherica/temp2/depth2.jpg depth3.jpg (55k) http://home.earthlink.net/~aetherica/temp2/depth3.jpg People were not standing still, as more room was needed to let people into the area, and eventually the whole street across the hotel Cheney was teeming with humans with a large and loud opposition to events as they are unfolding in the United States of America. Movement, closer and closer, louder and louder, and clearer and clearer the message... crossings.jpg (50k) http://home.earthlink.net/~aetherica/temp2/crossings.jpg crossings2.jpg (42k) http://home.earthlink.net/~aetherica/temp2/crossings2.jpg heyhoa.aif (audio, 136k) http://home.earthlink.net/~aetherica/temp2/heyhoa.aif To give the fullest sense of this civic score, conducted by no one and everyone, the standards of a digital camera on autotimer, attached to a monopod held high, with the scope of a wide-angle lens- offers a view... intersections.jpg (121k) http://home.earthlink.net/~aetherica/temp2/intersections.jpg intersections2.jpg (60k) http://home.earthlink.net/~aetherica/temp2/intersections2.jpg intersections3.jpg (67k) http://home.earthlink.net/~aetherica/temp2/intersections3.jpg solidarity.aif (audio, 465k) http://home.earthlink.net/~aetherica/temp2/solidarity.aif This multitudinous group began to filter across the sidewalk and in the street in front of the hotel, as there was no way to confine this many to the sidewalk. The hotel stood there, silent, a cloister for private political gamblers and their bookies. Signs sprouted up, many by many, and people began to march around the block, many back to the convention... hotelview.jpg (53k) http://home.earthlink.net/~aetherica/temp2/hotelview.jpg hotelview2.jpg (81k) http://home.earthlink.net/~aetherica/temp2/hotelview2.jpg multitudinal.jpg (70k) http://home.earthlink.net/~aetherica/temp2/multitudinal.jpg march.jpg (39k) http://home.earthlink.net/~aetherica/temp2/march.jpg As they were marching, they were still singing and waving the signs of a great public discontent, no, it was on the level of pure disgust at what the U.S. political establishment has become in its more egregious hour. This sentiment, a charge, was shared by most all who heartily joined in the raucous fun. If there was anything that could unite the democratic masses, it just may be owners of the bad-apple orchard... chanting.jpg (40k) http://home.earthlink.net/~aetherica/temp2/chanting.jpg heyhoa2.aif (audio, 333k) http://home.earthlink.net/~aetherica/temp2/heyhoa2.aif signs.jpg (119k) http://home.earthlink.net/~aetherica/temp2/signs.jpg If one ever happens upon a Vice President Special at a nearby hotel, it might be worth asking for a children's menu in which there is a simple game of connect the dots. It was an oft-used metaphor to the attacks of 9-11, and the complete failing to prevent such a tragedy. Yet, if one were to connect the dots on this game, there would be a connection between several events that might make one wonder about the ability of the United States to democratically govern itself. From Gary Condit's alibi to connections at Enron and Halliburton, and their accounting practices, to a revival of a failed nuclear planning strategy to reneging on nuclear test-ban treaties, to having news 'leaks' about the immanent invasion of Iraq every time V.P. Cheney or the market is in trouble, to a thoroughly corrupted Energy Task force whose documents are guarded by a political shill, to the daily redaction of constitutional governance and liberties, to total secrecy and protection of the most innocuous of materials while selling citizens private information to the highest bidders in the surveillance state currently under-construction -- if there really were a free and public media, protected under the constitution, or if there were people who exercised these rights to freedom, even dissent, then such a basic connect-the-dots would not need to be done by those who are unprotected, while the game continues to be played. No news of any impact made it on the early television news. A sound- bite and video of the protesters. About 5-10 seconds worth on that TV-station mentioned before, that had this protest on its back lawn and whose workers were seen hanging around the back door, observing. Instead, oddly enough, it was the PGA Golf tournament which head- lined on all public television news stations at 5 pm. The goal was, after biking home, to get this online before their crews. But they had no work to do as nothing happened. This took longer than expected, as there is an obligation to try to report public news as it occurs... bc, minneapolis.mn.us 2oo2 copyright free. content is online temporarily. if archiving, please download/mirror all files. ------- For a report on President Bush's recent visit to the Twin Cities, please see: Designing Secure Politics-- http://lists.psu.edu/cgi-bin/wa?A2=ind0207&L=design-l&F=&S=&P=8799 # distributed via <nettime>: no commercial use without permission # <nettime> is a moderated mailing list for net criticism, # collaborative text filtering and cultural politics of the nets # more info: majordomo@bbs.thing.net and "info nettime-l" in the msg body # archive: http://www.nettime.org contact: nettime@bbs.thing.net