I'm thinking I should hire myself out as a demonstration management professional. These anarchists can't be trusted to organize anything. Four groups were supposed to meet at secret locations and then converge at another secret location downtown. One group was supposed to meet at Sylvester Park at 2:22. Right. Let's just say someone needs to come out with a better anarchist alarm clock. Just about everyone was late. Except the onlookers and the anarchist wannabees. All day long before the celebration business men, state workers and out on a half day high school kids prowled through the streets of downtown, waiting for a glimpse of a nekid hippie.
May Day in Olympia has become a tourist attraction. "Where's the naked hippie painting this year Maybelle?" "I think it's over on Plum Street, Flossie."
Personally I think they should have the Precession of the Species parade and the MayDay demonstration on the same day. That way you'd only have to block the streets once. And they're kind of similar; at least some of the participants looked (and smelled) like wild animals. And if, as was quoted in the paper around Artswalk, the Precession of the Species is the jewel in Olympia's crown then I would assert that Mayday is the nugget in its throne.
And speaking of that kind of throne, that's one of the first things I would suggest to the anarchy demonstration committee. Get more Sanicans. What you guys don't realize is, if you work with the city, you'll be able to have places scattered around your march route where you can conveniently relieve yourself from all that herb tea you imprudently drank before the demonstration. Nothing like a painful bulging bladder to take the energy out of a protest.
Suggestion number two. More signs. All the news vans and helicopters were there. You need more and more legible signs. For good video bytes. If you're going to be educating the public about the woes of the third world worker, painting naked hippies just doesn't quite get an articulate message across. Throw out a few statistics. "Nike kills 500 daily" or "Asian Sweatshops Maim Children" or "China, Home of Involuntary Organ Donors" or "Bare Your Breasts for Peace!" Things like that. Get people thinking while they're steaming behind the wheel of their car trying to get through the intersection you just blocked.
Scattered observations:
When the big group of marchers finally made it back downtown, the advance guard were a dozen teenage skateboarders; apparently reveling in the fact that they could skateboard unmolested down Capitol Blvd. The police just looked on indulgently. This was a group they knew well.
The hooting cyclist vanguard obviously needed more anarchist training. They stopped for lights and wore helmets. Well, half of them did. The other half apparently didn't have enough brains to put in a bucket
Cyclists, skateboarders, marchers; this thing's turning into a full fledged parade. What next? The Masonic Clown float?
At the very beginning of the demonstration an Intercity Transit bus pushed its way through the group of cyclists, one empty bike mounted on its front bumper in an apparent subtle threat.
I'm not sure but it looked like a couple of anxious anarchists were inside the bus. How ironic. They seemed to be worried they'd be late for the demonstration. One bad thing about taking back the streets is sometimes you have to take the traffic jams along with them.
The homeless had mysteriously deserted downtown for the day. Kind of like coyotes before an earthquake.
When most people were late to the park, it looked like the closely guarded demonstration plans were too secret. No one knew where to go to find the damn thing.
One wag said that he guessed April shouldn't be the only lucky month. April 1st was April fools day, why couldn't May 1st be May fools day...
And in a supreme act of anarchist planning, the biggest convergence of the demonstration ended up on Plum Street, right in front of city hall. City Hall, incidentally, also houses the police station. How convenient. And they say anarchists don't make it easy for the city. Hey, it's kinda nice when you can just walk your unruly arrested hippie right to the station. Think of all the gas that was saved.
Which brings me to my last philosophical conundrum. On the order of the paradox: "If a tree falls in the forest and no one is there, does it make a sound?"
If an anarchist is being beat up by an enraged citizen, can he call the police?
