Anti-war groups are planning massive protests against the Iraq war for next year’s GOP convention in Minneapolis-St. Paul, ensuring Iraq will be a big issue in the street as well as the convention hall.
Minnesota-based groups opposed to the war say they are expecting tens of thousands of demonstrators to convene in September 2008. “We think it could be anywhere between 50,000 and 150,000,” said Marie Braun, a local organizer with the Twin Cities Peace Campaign and Women Against Military Matters.
If such estimates are accurate, the crowds would be smaller than those in New York City during the 2004 GOP convention, though that was on the more densely populated East Coast.
Braun is planning a march on the opening day of the Sept. 1-4 GOP convention, and said anti-war groups hope to set up an alternative conference on Harriet Island in St. Paul, which would be renamed “Peace Island” for the convention.
In contrast, officials in Denver, the site of the 2008 Democratic National Convention, said they haven’t been made aware of any war protests, although they have heard from groups planning other demonstrations. A group called “Re-create 68” is planning daily events at the Denver convention, but did not respond to e-mails asking for comment.
United for Peace and Justice (UPJ), a coalition of more than 1,300 anti-war groups, has been in contact with Twin Cities anti-war groups on their plans for the GOP convention, but hasn’t had similar contacts with local groups in Denver, according to Leslie Cagen, a UPJ national coordinator.
Local governments in Minneapolis and St. Paul, however, have received applications from groups asking for permits to demonstrate or march against the war. The permits were turned down because the cities don’t provide demonstration permits more than six months in advance, but both cities are taking steps to cooperate with protesters.
For example, Minneapolis has created a “free speech working group.” The group seems designed in part to avoid the sorts of problems surrounding the 2004 GOP convention in New York City, where police came under harsh criticism for detaining hundreds of protesters for minor offenses.
Draft operating principles for the Minneapolis group include a list of unacceptable restrictions on protesters, including “the lengthy and unlawful detention, searching and fingerprinting of demonstrators accused of minor offenses.” The working group includes Mayor R.T. Rybak, members of the City Council and the city’s police chief.
Both conventions are equally important for the national anti-war movement, according to Cagen, who said anti-war groups will have a significant presence in Denver even if at this stage plans for Colorado seem to be lagging behind the Twin Cities.
“We don’t know the outcome of the next election, so we think it’s important for both parties to see mass demonstrations at a time when there’s a lot of media attention,” Cagen said.
The Twin Cities are co-hosting the GOP convention, with St. Paul’s Xcel Energy Center serving as the site for the nominating convention and Minneapolis hotels expected to house many of the 45,000 expected attendees, Rybak spokesman Jeremy Hanson said.
When Republicans picked the Twin Cities as the site for their 2008 convention, it was seen as reflecting the inroads the GOP has made in Minnesota, which generally has favored Democrats for president. In 2004, the state’s 10 electoral votes went to Sen. John Kerry (D-Mass.).
At the same time, Republicans have gained support partly due to the growing GOP-leaning Twin Cities suburbs. The state elected a Republican governor in 2002 and 2006, and GOP Sen. Norm Coleman defeated former Vice President Walter Mondale in 2002 to replace liberal Sen. Paul Wellstone (D-Minn.) after Wellstone died in a plane crash.
Coleman faces a difficult reelection bid in 2008 partly because of the war, and the convention is seen as potentially giving him a boost.
While Minnesota overall has become more friendly to Republicans, however, the Twin Cities appear to remain a
progressive bastion.
In January, the Minneapolis City Council approved a resolution urging the U.S. government to begin withdrawing troops from Iraq. The resolution said funds spent by Minneapolis taxpayers “on the war and occupation in Iraq” equal more than $569 million, and could have provided enough money for 47,000 children to attend Head Start for a year.
Cagen said that makes Minneapolis one of 255 U.S. cities that have passed anti-war resolutions. Denver’s City Council passed resolutions urging a peaceful resolution to the situation in Iraq in 2003, before U.S. forces entered that country. The current Denver City Council has not weighed in on the war.
Minneapolis Mayor Rybak “has been one of the most outspoken opponents of the war since its earliest days,” according to Hanson. Rybak is supporting Democratic Sen. Barack Obama (Ill.) for president and has joined some Iraq war protests, Hanson said.
Rybak also is known as a relentless promoter of his city, however, and seems determined to ensure the GOP convention, which could mean big bucks for Twin Cities businesses, is a success.
Minneapolis bid to host both conventions in 2008, and was seen as an attractive host city by both parties. The convention could have an economic impact of $150 million to $160 million, according to Matt Burns, the GOP’s communications director for the convention.
Burns said everyone, including the Democratic mayors of both cities, is on the same page in terms of setting up operations for the convention, and described the GOP as fortunate to be working with Twin Cities officials. He also said the Republican Party is supportive of any American’s right to exercise his or her free-speech rights at the convention.
Protests also don’t guarantee bad conventions or hurt the party’s presidential candidate. For example, the large war protests surrounding the 2004 convention in New York City didn’t seem to harm President Bush, who saw his poll numbers hike significantly after the event.
According to Newsweek, Bush trailed Kerry in late July 2004 by nine points, but polled 11 points ahead of Kerry immediately after the September 2004 convention in New York.
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