He relishes the idea, and it is just an idea, he says, of linking arms on streets around New York's Madison Square Garden to block delegates and bring the Republican convention to a halt. Getting arrested for civil disobedience, if it comes to that, does not faze him.
"I am not going to have a work schedule for two weeks after, just in case," says Jim Straub, 23, who is a part-time dishwasher and bookstore clerk and full-time radical in Richmond, Virginia.
For Jen Lawhorne, 24, who also plans to attend the convention from Richmond: "This is going to be one of the finer moments of the American left. The sheer numbers excite me."
They are a band of like-minded activists, many in their 20s, leading a charge to direct protesters from Richmond to New York for the convention, Aug. 30 to Sept. 2.
Linked by indignation over the war and economic and social issues, protesters from all around the US are developing their plans to descend on New York City for the convention.
The protesters are not deterred by the barriers they face. New York City has yet to issue any protest permits. Housing is in short supply and prohibitively expensive. And just the logistics of getting to vehicle-unfriendly New York can be daunting. But convention protesters like the group in Richmond are pressing forward with plans, and developing ways around the hurdles.
An organizer on the West Coast is suggesting using airline discounts to New York. Another is arranging backpacking trips to raise money for airfare, while some groups in Los Angeles and San Francisco have discussed a car caravan. And in Richmond, organizers plan to pass the hat at parties and hold other fund-raisers for the US$1,000 or so needed to charter a bus.
No permits, no problem
The fact that the New York police have not issued permits for any of the 15 groups that have applied for marches and rallies near the Garden matters little, especially to the more rebellious sorts.
The RNC Not Welcome Collective, an affiliation of radicals in New York, is encouraging prospective demonstrators to focus on other sites besides the Garden, like parties and other gatherings of delegates.
"If we are diffused throughout the city, we will have a much better advantage," read a recent handout at a strategy meeting. "After all, the real target is not Madison Square Garden, the stage of the spectacle, but the various events where deals are made -- where the lobbyists wine, dine, and bribe Bush & Co."
"If we are truly everywhere in this very big city," it goes on, "the police cannot be concentrated in one area, their communications will be hampered by their hierarchical processes, their steps will be slowed by their pounds of body armor and fatigue from forced overtime."
Big and small groups joining in
Whether for organized demonstrations or not, people anxious to protest the convention are strategizing.
A "consulta" was held recently in Chicago among various groups to discuss plans to take at least 1,000 people to New York, said Jose Martin, an organizer in Chicago.
M.J. Musler, an anti-war activist in Cleveland, said groups across Ohio hoped to muster 15,000 people to New York, "little church ladies to the more radical end of the spectrum." Most, she said, plan to go for at least Aug. 29, when United for Peace and Justice has applied for a permit for an anti-war demonstration past the Garden for 250,000 people or more.
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