Democratic Party chief Terry McAuliffe said yesterday that he wants protestors at the Republican National Convention (RNC) to be respectful. McAuliffe appealed to protestors to "please let the Republicans have a great time, let them speak, let them go to their big corporate parties." McAuliffe's statements echo those of other activists sympathetic to the Democratic Party who worry that "chaotic" protest will undermine Senator John Kerry's prospect of winning the 2004 Presidential Election. These fears have prompted articles such as Michelle Goldberg's recent piece for salon.com The Whole World is Watching which is full of statements from moderate liberals attacking more militant protestors and contains a wholesale acceptance of the police campaign designed to create a fear of "anarchists" who will allegedly engage in random destruction. Todd Gitlin, who has spent much of the past two years criticizing the antiwar movement using his credentials as a former leader of Students for a Democratic Society (SDS) to speak with authority, warned "rioters" that they are "buying Christmas presents for Karl Rove" implying that militant demonstrations will hand the election to President George W. Bush.

While Gitlin goes on to provide a seriously flawed analysis of the 1968 presidential election and the protests at the Democratic National Convention that year, Gitlin and company are harming current movements. By falling into a debate about violence and nonviolence, factions of RNC protestors are doing exactly what the police and RNC want them to do?focusing on debates over tactics rather than focusing on the Bush administration. Instead of hearing why people are opposed to the Bush administration, the focus is on different activists' positions on "violence." This strategy of setting protestors against each other has taken place since the World Trade Organization (WTO) protests in Seattle and has successfully undermined the ability of protestors to communicate with the corporate media.

Previous Media Mouse RNC Updates:

• NYPD: Weather Underground Directing RNC Protests
• Bring your earplugs to NYC
• FBI and NYPD Engaging in Widespread Surveillance and Intimidation of Protestors
• Mayor Bloomberg calls freedom of speech a "privilege"
• NY City Offers Retail Discounts to "Peaceful Protesters"
• 258-Mile March from DNC en Route to the RNC
• "The People" Get Ready to Take on Democrat and Republican Conventions