I was on the front lines, with camera in hand as part of the Philly IMC. I stood and watched so many people take to the streets with their signs and their causes protesting for the things they believe in. Looking back now it was an amazing experience. Sadly though, many of these causes were completely ignored by the mass media.

When I returned home (60 miles from Philly) and started talking to people about the protests. Many of them had no clue what the people in the streets were doing. Many of them just thought they were a bunch of kids who had nothing better to do other then break things and disrupt traffic. The major media had done an amazing job of reporting about "protesters" but not about their causes. They reported "violence" and "Clashes with police" but they never bothered mention the thousands of people who sat and protested peacefully. The end result is that much of what we were fighting for in the streets of Philadelphia has been discredited or watered down.

YOU CAN"T LET THIS HAPPEN IN LA!

When your out on those streets protesting for your cause make sure the media knows exactly why you are there. Hand out flyers with your motives, Talk directly to reporters (be clear and concise with them so they cannot mess up your views), and most importantly avoid violence. In Philly, the media used any property damage to discredit the protestors as vandals. Although kicking in the windows of some police cruiser seems like a strong message it will only be turned against you by the big media machine.

I don't think I can stress enough how important this is. These protests have the possibility of waking a lot of people up and maybe help make this world a better place. If people come up to you and say all your doing is blocking traffic and breaking laws remind them that the people who contributed to the Boston Tea Party were technically breaking the law, but we now hold them up as "heroes of the revolution". Remind them that our government is doing the same things now that caused the tea party. (The media also seems to forget all about the civil rights and anti-vietnam movements of the 60's. Be sure to ask them why they think this is any different from those movements)

Let the Nintendo Generation take control!

We are all members of a very electronically inclined generation. The protestors in the 60's never had the media outlets that we do. Please use all of them to your advantage. Contributing to websites like this will help even out the news that hits the streets. But don't stop there. Create your own websites, email local newspapers and radio stations, print up flyers and photocopy them. The media is yours so make the best of it.

I'm hoping once the general public gets a one two punch of two well organized protests within weeks of each other they may start wondering about whats going on.

and in closing....

One chant I heard in Philly was, "The whole world is watching". The protestors chanted this as they were surrounded by cops (to remind the officers of the huge media presence so that they wouldn't start pummeling protestors). I feel that the message, "The whole world is watching" is something the you the protestor should remember every second you are in those streets. Your actions in the streets of LA will be watched by millions. Make sure you message is heard loud and clear and from every possible angle.

Protest with your mind and body and not with your fists.

Good Luck

I wasn't in Philly, largely heard about the protests through the mass media (and, thankfuly... indymedia), and from others who went. You say vandalism, notably the smashing of some police cruisers windows allow the media to talk about "violence" instead of the issues. You then suggest that we avoid violence for the typical reasons of getting good press. You also suggest we make extra effort to distribute literature about our causes to the media, etc...

Well, for Philly we have a great example of different ways of doing things. We have the Shadow Convention, Unity 200, Chinese opposition to the Stadium, KWRU, PDAG and black block as a sort of spectrum of protest. The vandalism was largely absent until the "day of action", but police repression was started months before hand, as well as media smear about violence.

The Shadow Convention, is what it is. Political wannabees. They want to form the next party for us to buy into. They want to reform our electoral process. They do put forth some ideas about ending the war on drugs, and addressing gross inequality, but they don't offer any solutions and... much like the republican and democratic party conventions they want to mock, they are still top down hierarchial affairs. They are liberals who want to be daring. And for all their effort, what coverage do they get? The most of the Shadow Convention I saw was McCain's endorsement of Bush and the Republicans! Some shadow!

Unity 2000, was a permited, legal march with a whole host of issues. They had plenty of literature, backing from some parts of big labor, and well known national NGOs like NOW. Did they get their message out any more effectively than PDAG? How much corporate media coverage did they get? Wasn't all of it deragtory? Wasn't all of it addressing how much of a failure to attract the numbers they wanted? How the message was blurry and unfocused? How it was too white?

KWRU was more militant. They never got a permit for their march. KWRU has been part of the Philly community for a long time, and are organically connected to the social struggles going on locally. They took the streets and got to do exactly what they wanted. They also got some coverage for their tent city's and reality tours. However, KWRU and friends suffered alot of repression with raids on puppet making, surveillance, having their tents moved, etc... but KWRU is used to alot of police abuse.

Still, outside of C-Span, there was very little coverage of the KWRU march... and it quickly faded as an event outside of Philly media.

Similiarly, the Chinatown community resisting the Stadium had some similar features to KWRU, being local.

PDAG was doing alot, but I don't think I would call the civil disobedience they are doing "direct action". Indirect action, more accurately... it's protest, spectacular couragous illegal protest, but it is still protest. However, kicking off the day of action against the "prison-industrial complex", any police repression became part of the criticism of the police state we live in. The cops playing their part.

Plenty of literature was handed out, and protestors tirelessly explained what was going on.

After the civil disobedience, PDAG and others have gotten involved in jail solidarity protests and trying to get the hundreds and hundreds of people out of jail... many on ludicrous bails. Very little coverage about the protestors has come out of the media since the arrests.

There was a black block.... and a clown bloc, and tons of anarchists about through all the events (though maybe a little lacking at the shadow convention). I'm not going to address the black block as if it was a unified group through RNC... but it seemed to have been very flexible with it's actions throughout the week.

Vandalism largely absent until the day of action. And what vandalism there was was directed specifically at the state and police, and largely consisted of paint, spray paint, broken glass and slashed tires. It probably got the most media coverage of the whole week of protests. What's the message... "protestors fighting cops",is how the corporate media wants to put it out. That's as probably close to "protesting the prison-industrial complex" as were going to get in the corporate media.

Vandalism as an excuse for why protests fail to get good press is lame. That's not the excuse. The blame is the corporate control of the media, and to a certain extent the indirect nature of protests because they are usually appeals to those in power, instead of people taking direct action in their lives to change things. Vandalism and streetfighting are part of the same indirect action of the protests.

Courage and miltancy is to be applauded, and protest is important for raising our spirits and showing some of what we can accomplish and getting our message out there.... but it is only a compenent of change. We must have a social revolution, a revolution in our every day lives, in the way we relate to one another.

As for LA, give the democrats hell... but when the party is over, be thinking about how we can not only reclaim the streets, but reclaim our lives.

Here is some strategy for revolution...

One big factor was that the Puppetspace was raided and we lost most of our banners and props. Those are some of the key visuals we need to use to get the message out in visuals.

But I should add that what is needed is a PRESS RELEASE - especially from mis-represented groups such as the Black Bloc.

I took part in the Black Bloc (Anti-Statist Bloc) actions which were much more confrontational, and I think it would have been a great help to have had a brief statement circulated as to why we were taking such actions (intolerance over the failure of the two-party farce of a democracy, etc.)

Also, unlike DC, in Philly the press didnt know where to be and when since the blockades were spontaneous and mobile. Much of what I witnessed first hand saw no media coverage.

You think handing out fliers to corporate media is going to change coverage? Maybe it'll open a few individual minds, so perhaps it should be tried but the media is PURPOSELY IGNORING the protests, except to villify or mock protesters. You can be on the peacenik extreme or the slash and burn extreme. Either way - the media is largely ignoring protest events, because they CAN. Their job is to keep the boat from being rocked, not get the public to think about the weighty issues protesters tend to voice. L.A will be no different unless we play hardball with the media. I'm tired of begging the media for coverage like a puppy begs for a bone, when so much life is on the line. HARDBALL. They're not getting out of this one so easily. We've been waaaaaay too trusting and polite with the media, only to get fucked up the ass time and time again. Yeah.. it would be nice if L.A could be different both in our tactics, relationship to the press, and outcomes. What do we have to lose at this point?

In solidarity

Warcry

Its a sad situation really, but in order for the 'ratings' motivated media, any news that they report must be sensational. As others have commented, the KWRU and PDAG and others got very little media coverage, minimal in fact. There were reports of journalists being disappointed from the lack of violence and remarking disgust about the cops that they (journalists) missed a big confrontation and police beat down.

Handing out literature/leaflets is probably a good idea, so we can at least say we TRIED to inform these bastards. Otherwise, their accusations about us as pre-adults with nothing better to do might as well be true. You noticed how coverage went through the roof when the police chief got a couple bumps and bruises (hearing him talk about it, it was a life and death struggle!). Those reports, while slightly slanderous to us, are more opportunities for the REAL message to get out.

Maybe for LA we should print of a flyer to hand out to the mainstram media, that if they dont start giving our demos edequate coverage, will fuck shit up. Because thats what it comes down to. If we have to raise a ruckus to get our message out, blaim the media for negligence, because it is THEIR responsibility to fairly report the situation

And one more thing. Fuck those pigs! They were arresting several of the more prominent organizers and raided our warehouses. They got whats coming to them. Any acts of violence were totally precipitated on their part.

See ya'll in LA!

I know it'd be a monsterous and expensive task, but I think it'd be wise to go to the brain of the beast/system and take out the satellite and antennae transmission systems that transmits the media tv and radio and newspaper information. Think of how beautiful it'd be if we stopped living inside of our televisions and computers and actually communicated with one another on a personal and intimate level and finally started taking back and rebuilding our lives and communities.

Totally supportive of your comments! American TV audiences are not stupid, just lazy by and large. In our minds we need to remember that WE HAVE ALREADY WON the moral issue because we hold the more humane position. When violence erupts out of frustration, we weaken our cause.

We may have to take a few oppressor hits, but we will persevere.

The second poster responds with this "Vandalism as an excuse for why protests fail to get good press is lame. That's not the excuse. The blame is the corporate control of the media, and to a certain extent the indirect nature of protests because they are usually appeals to those in power, instead of people taking direct action in their lives to change things. Vandalism and streetfighting are part of the same indirect action of the protests." Sure, the corporate media blows, but why give them undue ammunition to deflect the message? Agent provocateurs don't have to sweat so hard with others doing their work for them.

Imagine instead of trashing a cop car placing a tailor made slipcover in the shape and design of a school bus. More schooling, less imprisoning. Get it?

Talked to 3 different groups of reporters at the Shadow convention who had stopped at CEC and or Puppet shop hoping to get stories, at least 1/4 sympathetic, and been refused admittance or no-one would talk to them.

They didn't schlep to Philadelphia to reprint your press release. If you refuse to talk to them, they can't write a story that reasonably p;ortrays what you are about.

Police obviously were able cover meetings despite the security fetish. If "neutral" reporters are not excluded, it is much harder for police to put words in yer mouth.

Ben Masel

in the 60's the coverage was bias, and really not much different then now...for it did the job of separating us from our parents...they were treated to violence on every station, and witnessing how the violence was acted out and covered it was obvious that they were simply infiltrators, with every imaginable anger provoking instument at hand, such as, nazi helmet's, spitting and provoking the riot garbed cops, actually shoving them at one point to get a response...at least at that particular march in seattle their tactics didn't work, however they got ALL the coverage, and the rest of us had none, unless it was to categorize us in the same light as those few infiltrators....violence is the only way to discredit a peaceful march....it was that way everywhere....you see they are practiced at promoting and orchestrating exactly what they want when and where they want....i have learned that to protest is an individual commitment, not for media coverage, but for self fulfillment, for honor, and for truth and justice...it is what we are, how we got this way is an individual thing, how all those who hate us will get this way is not my concern, for it seems to lead only to frustration and anger, for both parties...ours is to teach by example...as things change, and they are changing every minute, then those who oppose, will be enlightened in their own time..americans are still by and large too comfortable, with 500 channels, 10,000 choices at the supermarket, 20,000 cars too choose from, etc.etc...whats to be upset about? they still think their free...the message hasn't seeped into their minds yet...the light is still arriving so to speak...but arrive it well...so in the meantime i choose to honor those before and after me, by seeking the truth always...with truth comes justice...for all those in philly and elsewhere in the world, i respect and honor your commitment...our prayers are with you...always stay focused, remember who you are and why your here...and remember, propaganda is nothing new, its been used for centuries to divide and conquer, to de-fuse the revolution, or better put evolution...for human's are in a struggle to recover their birth-right, that which has been taken from us through deception....forget the media, they wouldn't get the story right anyway...we are the STORY!!! and we don't need their approvel or permission to do our job.....sorry this is probably way too long..so,.see ya and stay focused....

366 degree's