Protesters Could Disrupt Rose Parade
PASADENA, Calif. - There could be some discord during the Tournament of Roses Parade as demonstrators promise to raise issues during the holiday spectacle that has been going on for more than a century. Human rights advocates plan to protest a float honoring the 2008 Beijing Olympic Games and anti-war activists, including “Peace Mom” Cindy Sheehan, intend to rally for peace. 
The theme of this year’s New Year’s Day parade is “Passport to the World’s Celebrations.” It will feature 46 floats, 21 marching bands and 18 equestrian units.
Volunteers have busy in Pasadena and nearby areas this past week decorating the floats with buckets of flowers and seeds.
“It’s such a great feeling, to see the float on TV and have people say ‘You worked on that float, that was so cool, that was so neat.’ It makes all the hassle and everything we go through worthwhile,” said Moreno Valley resident Linda Priest, 49, assistant crew chief on Honda’s “Passport to the Future” float.
The National Weather Service forecast no rain for Tuesday’s parade, with highs in the low 70s and not much wind.
This won’t be the first Rose parade touched by protest - in 1992, American Indians complained about the naming of a descendant of Christopher Columbus as grand marshal - but most problems have been mechanical.
“Honestly, in the past years, it’s really been more about floats breaking down, delaying the parade, than other things, than protests,” said Tournament of Roses President CL Keedy.
Yet some fear the protests could develop into an annual pattern that could tarnish the parade’s shiny image.
“If controversy like this diminishes the positive impact of the Rose Parade, it would be of concern,” Pasadena Mayor Bill Bogaard said.
Chinese Americans who claim they were victims of political or religious persecution in China are criticizing the $400,000 Beijing Olympics float.
Bogaard said the city cited security considerations in turning down the group’s proposal for a demonstration along the parade route involving a large band and several vehicles.
“The tournament views the float as I do, as a celebration of the Olympic Games, not as a subject of criticism of the Chinese,” Bogaard said. “It is my hope that as China emerges more and more into the world community it will be inclined to respect all human and civil rights.”
Protest organizer John Li, a member of Caltech’s chapter of Falun Gong, the spiritual movement outlawed by the Chinese government in 1999, promised his group would be seen if not heard.
“We are going to ask the audience on the road to turn their back when the Asian float arrives, and show banners. We have to send a strong message to say no to human rights abuses in China,” Li said.
The float is sanctioned by the Beijing Olympic Organizing Committee but is sponsored by the Roundtable of Southern California Chinese-American Organizations and Pasadena-based label maker Avery Dennison Corp. It will feature the upcoming Olympics’ five official mascots rotating on a base and decorated with a combination of flowers, including carnations and daisy petals.
Sheehan, the outspoken San Francisco Bay area activist whose son was killed in Iraq, is campaigning for Congress against Rep. Nancy Pelosi and calling for the impeachment of President Bush and Vice President Dick Cheney. She will join other pro-impeachment and anti-war groups at the parade, according to her sister, Dede Miller.
As many as 1,000 supporters are expected to rally before and after the parade and distribute 20,000 pamphlets while flying 300 banners along the parade route, said Peter Thottam, executive director of the Los Angeles National Impeachment Center.
Police said they were prepared for the protesters and the hundreds of thousands of spectators. As usual, about 1,200 officers from a number of agencies are set to be on hand.
“We’ve had to ramp up our resources, police personnel, but nothing out of the ordinary,” police Commander Paul Gales said.
© 2007 The Associated Press.
“the positive impact of the Rose Parade”
Which is… money for Pasadena and network advertisers?
Posting links (not images) the HTML syntax is:
The URL goes between the “double quotes”
the displayable text goes between the >arrows<
Images I haven’t figured out yet - it’s too bad common dreams won’t post a small paragraph of instructions on basic HTML syntax.
The humongous URL strings posted in the discussion area should be embedded in HTML links and image syntax to avoid screwing up the article page width.
It’s too bad that eveyone who wants to use some HTML syntax in their posts have to scour the web to find some instructions and are forced to use the discussion areas as a sandbox.
A basic HTML guide is here although the basic image syntax does not appear to work in these discussions.
What we really need is a small three line paragraph at the bottom of the common dreams article pages illustrating the syntax for a link, an image, and a couple of basic text styles. But don’t hold your breath. Instead, be prepared for more right wing propaganda assaults right here at good old common dreams.
Go Cindy!!
Please join Cindy and RUN FOR CONGRESS!
Just look at the people in our current Congress to know YOU ARE QUALIFIED!
http://peacecandidates.com/
go human rights - can’t PETA do something too for the animal rights????
Cindy is only protesting for what is right and sets an example for what every American with a lick of common sense and decency should be doing. Our press of course doesn’t display any common sense or decency __ or honesty anymore.
Having had an on-again, off-again relationship with various Chinese dissident groups, from democracy advocates in the ’90’s to the Falun Gong movement today, I’m glad to see some of them standing up to the greed of the Pasadena Tournament of Roses.
I’m currently looking for an imaginary friend to thank for Cindy Sheehan, her brothers and sisters in this protest, and all the exemplary men and women who have been willing to risk their freedom to oppose this regime.
Is it still legal to protest in this country without being confined to “protest zones”? Kick ass Cindy, you have the constitutional right to protest this failed regime. And if not, who are the cops protecting if you do protest? And it could be more fun than the Rose Bowl game. Take out a few LAPD pigs for me and don’t forget to sue their asses.
Mayor Bogaard is sweating bullets about Pasadena’s image; too bad he doesn’t understand this is a democracy, not a garden party. The protests should not disrupt the parade one whit.
I don’t normally watch parades, but I might watch this one, in hopes of seeing a protest picket. I expect, however, that the corporate-controlled broadcast will avoid showing any sign of protest even more assiduously than they would any sign of a wardrobe malfunction.
PEACE CANDIDATE
bugger, i just missed being a qualified congress person because i haven’t lived in the u.s for 7 years. how unlucky can you get? this sort of ‘bad’ karma seems to follow me everywhere. (i could have fooled them about my age) but hopefully after i have become a ‘b’ movie actress or a legalised austrian immigrant i can once again try my luck…….
Cindy & Co.,
Please make sure to wear your flack jacket, gas mask and steel helmet because the combined Gestapo police will show you no mercy if you try to tarnish the image of the “democratic patriotic economic institution” of the good old Tournament of Roses. Think of all the poor TV watchers that gave up a few hours of sleep to watch the parade and see the real conflict going on in this country instead.
Between Pro Chinese rights and pro-Peace, the police are surely steeled to subvert everything possible in advance, especially when demonstrators have pre-publized where (in front of most cameras) the action is to occur. The cameras are likely not even going to be manned by the networks, but by Blackwater [but then I’m crazy, mentally ill, and paranoid].
I suspect that a new gitmo is going to be getting mo’ people during the early hours, just prior to parade time, a regular dark parade before the sun shines on the roses (that will hardly mask the stench of illegal seizures and counter-insurgency).
I wonder how they’ll be able to hide their pervasive actions, with thousands on the streets, but I can imagine that there will be a large number of unexpected open seats appearing, for those arriving after 5am.
Besides the risk to demonstrators, I would go further and suggest that the usual critters may become vulnerable to a new false flag event (some time this year), so why not start it out with a parade?
Is this really the place to protest? It’s a fun parade. Kids look forward to it as well as the adults. The floats take time and creativity to produce. Can’t we have some relief from protests to enjoy life for a few hours?
Why don’t we just convert all these “sport stadiums” which advocate physical competition (which could entail broken bones and even death) up to its next logical pre-war preparation stage? That is to say gladitorial arenas! Then, after being totally conditioned, we could all (un-hypocritically) declare all out war on the planet and slake our thirst for “sport”. Fight terrorists indeed! Have ya got a mirror?
I think the human rights and anti-war people are treading on thin ice here. Next thing to protest should be the dropping of the apple in NYC, the tradition of candles on birthday cakes, and other things that many people hold dear. No purpose in bringing the message there, unless one is trying to discredit the movement, add fuel to the right-wing radio fire, etc. It still defies any analysis why Jane Fonda would have gone to Vietnam and posed with the “other side” unless she was working for the CIA, etc. — deliberately charged with discrediting/false-flagging the anti-war movement.
There is a time and place for protest. Non-political celebrations, jubilees, holidays, traditions that people hold dear, a foreign army, etc. are simply not wise ideas, unless one is begging for the message to backfire.
Now maybe I’m wrong here — and there will be something positive that comes out of strategies like this. But people go to events like this to escape, feel happy, forget their troubles, etc. Injecting bad vibes, however true, is terrible timing.
And that’s why I remain a bit suspicious here. Are these groups trying to wedge the movement apart from Middle America?
Why protest??? At the Rose Bowl Parade no less. ____ Heaven forbid.
We have an administration that has placed our country on the brink of bankruptsy and a depression, has destroyed a foreign country by spreading DU all over their land and ruined it’s ifastructures, killed over a million of their citizens, put anothr four million homeless, has virtually eleminated our Constitution and established policies where we now have to import 40% of our food, has allowed a crimnal to sit in the White House and refuses to impeach him for numerous crimes, a presient who refuses ot help with the global warming crisis and some criticize a protest at the Rose Parade.
I understand that to a point, we do have to set our priorities don’t we, especially for our children. __ Of course perhaps our children will someday wonder why we refused to address the global warming isssue, when the methane gas busts loose from the Arctic permafrost.
We should all be there with the protesors. It is impossible for me to attend this time and I am shamed because I cannot go.
I agree Paul it could backfire. I can see where it will recieve bad press or no press coverage and make Cindy look bad. The primary reason for that is, because there won’t be a million or more protestors. There should be a billion or more.
Hi all,
I sure wouldn’t want to see a violent protest at The Rose Parade. But, it is a way to show more and more people what needs to change for the better. Remember the children…let them enjoy themselves on this day, and if protesters are there to make their point, let it be a good example to the children. Hopefully the police will not show themselves to be rabid and vicious on this day.
YEAR END REFLECTIONS
Glad 2007 is done.
Looking for a new start.
Dare to hope for better
-fair elections
-a non-puppet leader who is ethical, inclusive, and
positive results seeking and effective at same
-end to war and occupation of ME
-a united global effort and progress in environmental
healing and protection
-the development of alternative energies, no more foot
dragging
Should I have sent my wish list to Santa?
Should I repeat this mantra in my prayers every night?
Should I continue to write my government representatives
imploring them to focus their energies on these serious
issues?
We meet here at this forum, various personalities, commonly or extensively educated, sentient and observing persons, commenting on the troubles of the country and world. I have my favorite bloggers-Sioux rose, moonraven, KEM PATRICK, ezflyer, pacplayer, Paul Bramscher and others,…for their spot on observations, well written and usually susinct presentations of issues, factors, different perspectives and questions of intentions. Some personalities are passionate in their expressions and not afraid to show their anger. Others are cool mental types. Both are prone to dour predictions it seems, but maybe the passionate ones can fire up more action? Not sure…Myself, I have a foot in both worlds, so I have whiplash most of the time.
Where’s it all going? We don’t really know, do we? Fear comes from observing deterioration of conditions of safety and life preservation. We DO KNOW where we’d like it to go, without a doubt.
And so, compatriots, I toast you for your caring and high intelligence, for your engagement as world citizens-that ability to look out beyond your own little world, for using your own “spark”, small by itself, to join with others’ sparks in making a mighty flame to light the way.
Year end reflection caused me to revisit one of Kurt Vonnegut’s last pieces written in 2006-a worthy read.
http://www.commondreams.org/views06/0205-29.htm
Happy New Year everyone!
Marianne
Of course the reason this has come about is the lock-out of us Americans from the ‘Commons’ of the broadcast frequencies, which we have lately seen with the FCC 3:2 takover for the MSM (hopefully to soon be reversed by congress - we HOPE!). Imagine public broadcasting with local content and more diverse programming. Why, we could have channels set aside where you could look up products and see their advertising, while KEEPING THEM OFF THE OTHER CHANNELS. What a fantasy huh? Commercialism is about to destroy this world. I can imagine a world where it is put back into its corner. I wonder when it will catch on. I guess when enough of us have had enough.
MAS 1946 — The last PEACEFUL protest that I went to, was when I was 13 with my Mom.
That was Chicago’s DNC, Wed 28th August 1968 (in Grant Park)– and it DID NOT end peacefully.
I care more for my son (in today’s corrupt environment) and can benefit from my Mom’s regret (we saw many other Mom’s with babies in carriages that day, running from the pervasive tear gassing).
Remember Kent State, 40 years ago?
A few of us now know, that the National Guard did fire preemptively (found out through civil lawsuits of the kid’s parents), which is gov’t sanctioned (directed) murder of war protesters.
People are going to die in this coming revolution (hopefully just a few, and not tomorrow), and the kids had better see it to remember it for future generations (hopefully on TV). But then, people are going to continue to die, if more AMerican’s don not put their butts on the front lines too!
And please DO have a Happy (and productive) new Year,
(and hopefully we can have one in 2009 as well?)
Yes, COMMENTARIAN
Cindy,
Are you sure the Rose Parade is the right venue for protest? As you know, I always support you, but are you certain this will have the intended impact? I am wondering if there might be another venue where your protest will have a greater impact. Anyway, best of luck to you.
CommonDreams Posters:
I wish all of you a very happy New Year! Let’s hope that 2008 will be a much better year than ‘07.
Regards,
Claudius
CINDY
Please continue your courageous stand for our future’s children, by valiantly standing strong for your supporters and your own right to free expression and civil disobedience.
Namaste … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … Mahatma Gandhi … … … … … … … … … …
« We must be the change we wish to see in the world »
« There is a sufficiency in the world for man’s need but not for man’s greed »
“…diminish the positive impact of the Rose Parade.” The Rose Parade is just another mind-numbing spectacle for the masses.
Yay protest a parade! Yay for stupidity. Here’s an idea, why not protest on the steps of the Capitol building or in front of the White House instead of pissing off family’s trying to enjoy themselves. It is important to win someone over for this war to stop and not piss them off which cause’s one to close one’s ears and not hear the message. Oh, and Cindy is an idiot.
My estimation of writer Tom Wolfe has declined sharply over the years, but I still think he nailed it in “The Right Stuff” when he personified the press coverage of the first Mercury astronauts as a “Victorian Gentleman” whose primary role was to set the tone, the decorum, appropriate to the subject of their reporting.
Wolfe’s Victorian Gent has remained present over the years, and it is a sure thing that any political protest at the Rose Parade will elicit universal disapprobation from the corporate infotainment media. From the blatant demagogues to the cable news and network teevee infotainwhores, such protest will be deemed seditious at worst and tasteless and inconsiderate at best.
It wouldn’t surprise me a bit if Madame Pelosi were encouraged to comment, and even work the event into her campaign ads if Cindy is reckoned a real threat, which I fervently hope will be the case.
I’m sure Cindy and her supporters and colleagues expect all this. Presumably they feel that standing up for principles and expressing solidarity with oppressed Chinese is worth the heightened hostility and ridicule. And FWIW, there’s not much information on the nature of the protest, except that it is, or was, simply a rally. It’s not as if Code Pink or anyone else is expressing an intention to actually disrupt or interfere with the parade per se– no human chains or buckets of blood and such.
“Can’t we have some relief from protests to enjoy life for a few hours?”, Boo,Cindy,Yea,ddell413
I am starting to cheer for a completely-docile,not just a partly-docile American populace so as to get to America’s inevitable First Reich as quickly and as painlessly as possible.
Americans deserve it
… rage, rage against the dying of the LIGHT …
RONALD WHITE — it’s a disservice to the global community to encourage the fascists, as if there is any where safe. And thanks, the bankers and war profiteers have been providing plenty (enough) of fuel for the pyre of American freedoms.
It saddens me to read that you actual consider someone (anyone) worthy and deserving of forfeiture of inalienable rights and life-long torture.
It must be one seriously hot-to-handle chip on your shoulder and pain in your gut to attempt to justify additional suffering on Earth (even though you paradoxically comment to make it “as quickly as painlessly as possible”.
Do you realize how absurd this sounds? Try reading your message aloud, and perhaps you might realize that fairness of torture is not an equal opportunity distribution, whereas extinction of humankind is damn final (and global, for your too).
Namaste … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … Mahatma Gandhi … … … … … … … … … …
« We must be the change we wish to see in the world »
« There is a sufficiency in the world for man’s need but not for man’s greed »
Ronald White and DDEl 413 are plants. There are several here now. Change your code names fellas and come back, you often make it interesting.
I wish to thank all for helping me to learn here this year. I honestly have aquired far more knowledge here in a few months, than I have in the past 72 years. I still have much to learn. Again, thank you, especially Nspire, Siouxrose, Mairanne, Rebel Farmer, Beforkids, Pacplayer, Palul M Smith and so many others.
Lets all try to have fun while learning and have a better year. It starts in 7 minutes. I will work on my speling tu. __ Promise. GaNite all, ___ Kem.
Happy New Year!
Although I’ve heard no news of what effect, if any, the dreaded protests had at the Rose Bowl Parade, it occurs to me that this is a fine object lesson in the compelling nature of Bread & Circuses.
We all know, or should know, that the Roman Empire used bread and circuses to placate and subdue the populace. Yet it’s hard to avoid buying in to the modern-day equivalent. Objecting to the tactic of holding a protest rally or demonstration at a festive parade is a tacit admission of the power of the circus.
In other words, even my own reaction was that the protestors would come off as party-poopers. Or, as Sherri & Terri once scolded Bart Simpson: ruiners!
But when I thought it through a little more deeply, I concluded that raining on the parade isn’t so much horrible or tacky as a righteous decision to afflict the comfortable.