Philly ACT-UP is one of dozens of groups busily organizing to greet the July 31-Aug. 3 GOP gathering with what promises to be some of the most energized convention protests since Democrats gathered in Chicago in 1968. Marches backed by labor unions, anti-poverty campaigners, death penalty foes and supporters of national health care promise to bring thousands of activists into the streets of Philadelphia, and police fear that direct-action protests next week could rival last fall's protests against the World Trade Organization in Seattle.

In fact, Philly ACT-UP played a role in organizing both the Seattle protests and this spring's A16 protests in Washington against the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund. And now, amazingly to the Philadelphia activists, the Grand Old Party is coming to Philly ACT-UP's hometown.

Texas Gov. George W. Bush and his Republican minions -- a group that includes the GOP presidential candidate's pal "Tommy T,'' Wisconsin Gov. Tommy Thompson -- have little experience with the sort of in-your-face activism that Philly ACT-UP has perfected. The 12-year-old, all-volunteer organization focuses on local, national and international concerns in an all-fronts battle to guarantee that governments and corporations put AIDS research and care ahead of profits.

It's "Gore Zaps'' -- raucous protests at Al Gore's Democratic primary campaign stops -- forced the vice president to address U.S. policies on distribution of AIDS drugs in Africa. This spring, Philly ACT-UP brought the single largest contingent to the A16 protests in Washington, and early in July it dispatched a delegation of eight activists to organize protests at the international AIDS conference in South Africa.

"Philly ACT-UP rocks,'' says Lori Wallach, director of Public Citizen's Global Trade Watch. Wallach worked with the Philadelphia group to help organize the Seattle protests; and Global Trade Watch and Philly ACT-UP were close allies in the struggle against the Wall Street-sponsored "NAFTA for Africa'' trade bill. "I wish every city had a group this committed -- and this creative,'' Wallach says of Philly ACT-UP.

In coming days, that commitment and creativity will be directed toward upsetting George W. Bush's coronation. ACT-UP will bring major contingents to a July 31 March for Economic Human Rights being organized by the Kensington Welfare Rights Union and to a July 29 Ad Hoc Committee to Defend Health Care march being organized by health care professionals under the banner: "For Our Patients, Not for Profit.''

These are just two of the dozens of marches, rallies and direct-action protests designed to challenge the policies of Republicans, which will be summed up in a platform drafted by Tommy Thompson and a committee of party bigs. Though it is thick with feel-good rhetoric, the Thompson platform maintains the militant right-wing economic and social policies that have lost the party the last two presidential elections.

And Philly ACT-UP and other groups want to make sure Republicans know that, while those policies may be popular with the party's corporate givers, they don't have much appeal on the streets of Philadelphia.

To make sure the crowds in the streets know what they're up against, ACT-UP members are setting up teach-ins for dozens of local drug and alcohol recovery, AIDS service and gay and lesbian youth groups. "We're going to the people who have never shown up for a demonstration,'' Ewing says of the group's intensive grass-roots organizing. "We provide them with background on the issues, talk about how to demonstrate and about why it matters to be there.''

In addition to marching, expect Philly ACT-UP to "zap'' Republicans with high-profile interruptions of the politics of complacency. "We won't let them rest easy,'' says Ewing, whose group invites prospective members to "come kick butt with us.''

Copyright 2000 The Capital Times