WEBVTT - The DNC's Day of Protest 0:00:01.720 --> 0:00:08.280 Coolso media, welcome to it could happen here, a podcast 0:00:08.320 --> 0:00:12.080 about it happening here and here this week is Chicago. 0:00:12.320 --> 0:00:15.640 I'm Robert Evans. I'm here in town with Sophie Lichterman, 0:00:15.680 --> 0:00:17.439 who will not be on MIC for this episode but 0:00:17.480 --> 0:00:20.680 will be later this week. And Garrison Davis Hello, with 0:00:20.760 --> 0:00:23.160 whom I've been out all day in the streets. 0:00:23.520 --> 0:00:26.560 We are currently recording just a few blocks away from 0:00:26.720 --> 0:00:29.520 the DNC protest, the Coalition to. 0:00:29.560 --> 0:00:32.000 March down on the Corn out in the street, So. 0:00:32.000 --> 0:00:35.519 We apologize for whatever sounds are getting picked up. Today's 0:00:35.520 --> 0:00:37.760 been very hectic. There's been protests all day that me 0:00:37.760 --> 0:00:40.239 and Robert have been at and that's mostly what we're 0:00:40.240 --> 0:00:41.200 gonna be talking about you today. 0:00:41.360 --> 0:00:43.879 So this is day one of the DNC. 0:00:44.400 --> 0:00:47.200 We actually have not yet been inside the venue, although 0:00:47.360 --> 0:00:50.639 we will be later for the speeches. Today has basically 0:00:50.760 --> 0:00:53.680 all been protests. So at the start of the day 0:00:54.120 --> 0:00:57.680 I went to the kind of temporary headquarters out of 0:00:57.720 --> 0:01:01.040 like a rental space, and I think north Shire, Cagot. 0:01:01.080 --> 0:01:03.400 Don't quote me on the exact chunk of town. I'm 0:01:03.400 --> 0:01:08.319 bad at directions, but organizations called behind enemy lines and 0:01:08.400 --> 0:01:12.320 it's a local they call themselves a militant activist group. 0:01:12.520 --> 0:01:16.160 That has been kind of controversial because they have made 0:01:16.200 --> 0:01:18.640 a couple of statements about something. So what was the 0:01:18.720 --> 0:01:20.880 rhyme nineteen sixty eight was. 0:01:20.800 --> 0:01:22.800 That the slogan they've been using is make it great, 0:01:22.840 --> 0:01:23.479 like sixty eight. 0:01:23.520 --> 0:01:25.920 Make it great, because nineteen sixty eight was a famously 0:01:25.959 --> 0:01:30.760 bloody DNC as a result of the conflict over McGovern 0:01:30.959 --> 0:01:34.560 versus Hubert Humphrey. And this is not so far very 0:01:34.640 --> 0:01:38.800 much like sixty eight because everyone's known who the candidates 0:01:38.800 --> 0:01:41.480 are going to be going into this thing, and the 0:01:41.560 --> 0:01:43.959 protest today, at least by the time we left, no 0:01:44.120 --> 0:01:47.400 serious violence. You know, I didn't want to talk a 0:01:47.400 --> 0:01:50.680 little bit about that group because they've made some interesting 0:01:50.720 --> 0:01:53.520 statements and this is not their march today. The march 0:01:53.560 --> 0:01:56.320 today that we were at is specifically billed as the 0:01:56.360 --> 0:01:59.160 family friendly one, whereas behind enemy Lines has made a 0:01:59.160 --> 0:02:02.000 couple of statements of like, you know, collect bruises from 0:02:02.040 --> 0:02:04.680 the Chicago police. It's the new fall fashion, that sort 0:02:04.680 --> 0:02:07.040 of deal. So they're really playing up the hole. There's 0:02:07.080 --> 0:02:10.000 going to be a big conflict thing. If that happens, 0:02:10.360 --> 0:02:12.680 it'll be tomorrow because that's when their event is planned 0:02:13.080 --> 0:02:15.880 today was the event that everyone thought was going to 0:02:15.919 --> 0:02:18.080 be the largest march probably will be. 0:02:18.600 --> 0:02:21.399 It's called the March on the DNC twenty twenty four. 0:02:21.560 --> 0:02:21.800 Yeah. 0:02:21.800 --> 0:02:24.080 It's put together by a coalition of a lot of 0:02:24.120 --> 0:02:26.200 like local different organs in Chicago as well as some 0:02:26.240 --> 0:02:27.280 once from around the country. 0:02:27.600 --> 0:02:31.160 So heading into this, when organizers were asked, they said 0:02:31.160 --> 0:02:33.720 they were expecting thirty to forty thousand. I saw a 0:02:33.800 --> 0:02:35.640 video by I think a CNN guy where he was like, 0:02:35.720 --> 0:02:38.639 fifty thousand people could show up. That's not the numbers 0:02:38.639 --> 0:02:41.880 we've seen. I would say two to three thousand, maybe 0:02:41.960 --> 0:02:44.360 five the most, maybe five k kind of on the 0:02:44.360 --> 0:02:48.240 outside end. One of the organizers on the mic said 0:02:48.280 --> 0:02:50.800 that they had fifteen k there. I don't think that 0:02:50.919 --> 0:02:54.079 was fifteen thousand people. I will say there's more protesters 0:02:54.120 --> 0:02:56.760 than cops, but it is closer to parody in terms 0:02:56.800 --> 0:03:00.400 of numbers than you normally get. The Chicago police have 0:03:00.440 --> 0:03:03.680 been lining every block for several blocks around the protest 0:03:04.280 --> 0:03:07.160 lines and lines of police vans, some of them fold 0:03:07.200 --> 0:03:10.160 with riot teams, some of them clearly for potential arrestees. 0:03:10.840 --> 0:03:13.640 Every time the protests moved. They started in Union Park 0:03:13.680 --> 0:03:15.359 and moved towards what was the number. 0:03:15.200 --> 0:03:18.480 Of the park number five seven eight. 0:03:18.680 --> 0:03:21.560 Five to seven eight sounds like a fucking half life two. 0:03:21.480 --> 0:03:25.360 Which is the park that Chicago and DNC is wanting 0:03:25.360 --> 0:03:28.160 most of the protests to take place at. Protesters, at 0:03:28.200 --> 0:03:30.800 least these pig coalitions have preferred to use Union Park 0:03:31.040 --> 0:03:34.040 as it's bigger. But in this very moment, we just 0:03:34.120 --> 0:03:36.760 walked over from PARC five seven eight, where people are 0:03:36.760 --> 0:03:38.280 currently lined up in front of the fence. 0:03:38.600 --> 0:03:41.280 I would say it was a very controlled event. It's 0:03:41.320 --> 0:03:43.960 possible something's happened since we've left, or will happen later, 0:03:44.080 --> 0:03:47.560 especially people try to occupy the park, But from what 0:03:47.600 --> 0:03:50.080 happened while we were there, there was a group of 0:03:50.120 --> 0:03:53.000 a protest safety team who we're all wearing Hives vests 0:03:53.080 --> 0:03:57.360 that the entire line of march. The march itself was 0:03:57.440 --> 0:03:59.680 hmm done on two sides by lines of bike cops 0:03:59.760 --> 0:04:02.480 using their bikes to make a mobile wall. Inside the 0:04:02.520 --> 0:04:06.160 line of bike cops was a line of protest safety 0:04:06.360 --> 0:04:10.560 people in Hiva's vests who when folks tried to confront 0:04:10.600 --> 0:04:13.320 the fence, there's a fence that is essentially the same 0:04:13.360 --> 0:04:15.440 fence we had in Portland lining et side of the DNC. 0:04:16.240 --> 0:04:19.000 Some groups of people tried to confront that tried to 0:04:19.400 --> 0:04:22.280 get off of the route of march and move somewhere 0:04:22.320 --> 0:04:25.200 other than back to the park that the safety team wanted, 0:04:25.240 --> 0:04:29.080 and the safety team basically walled off the protest from 0:04:29.120 --> 0:04:32.159 doing anything but going back into the park, essentially doing 0:04:32.200 --> 0:04:34.560 like kind of what the police were doing directly next 0:04:34.600 --> 0:04:38.440 to the police, which caused some conflict and some soreness 0:04:38.880 --> 0:04:41.400 among people. But as of the time we left like 0:04:41.440 --> 0:04:42.680 nothing else had really happened. 0:04:43.200 --> 0:04:46.800 Hello, Future Gear here cutting in from the middle of 0:04:46.839 --> 0:04:50.520 the DNC where I was just suffering through the Hillary 0:04:50.520 --> 0:04:53.320 Clinton speech, and I'm here to tell you that more 0:04:53.360 --> 0:04:56.080 in fact did happen, and things actually did get a 0:04:56.120 --> 0:04:58.680 little bit more spicy. But you will hear about that 0:04:58.960 --> 0:05:01.680 a little bit later on in the episode. Anyway, back 0:05:01.720 --> 0:05:05.400 to us sitting on a random Chicago street corner. Yeah, 0:05:05.480 --> 0:05:07.120 among the five thousand people, there's a lot of like 0:05:07.200 --> 0:05:09.080 smaller groups. You know, you will have a few hundreds 0:05:09.080 --> 0:05:11.280 of people from this organization, this organization, and it's a 0:05:11.320 --> 0:05:14.680 lot of regular people who are both against the genocide 0:05:14.720 --> 0:05:18.080 in Palestine. They do not believe that either political party 0:05:18.120 --> 0:05:20.200 is going to put an effort to actually achieve that, 0:05:20.760 --> 0:05:23.840 and they, you know, put most of the blame for 0:05:24.000 --> 0:05:27.440 sending bombs to Israel on Biden and now Kamala. 0:05:27.480 --> 0:05:30.080 And I would say that's the vast majority. I did 0:05:30.160 --> 0:05:35.240 run into some people wearing like DNC Kamala shirts that 0:05:35.520 --> 0:05:38.839 my understanding was they were kind of here to get 0:05:38.880 --> 0:05:43.359 the vibe. And yeah, it was definitely a lot of 0:05:43.400 --> 0:05:45.960 hostility towards the DNC, so I guess would be not 0:05:46.120 --> 0:05:51.200 a positive reaction. There a couple of different communist organizations. 0:05:50.480 --> 0:05:52.480 Here, including five I've never heard of before. 0:05:52.520 --> 0:05:55.400 Yes, almost none of them, but RevCom was there, which 0:05:55.440 --> 0:05:58.640 is a fun one that's essentially a cult PSL. 0:05:58.680 --> 0:06:00.240 A few other PSLs. 0:05:59.760 --> 0:06:02.680 There also, kind of on the coltiest side of things, 0:06:03.560 --> 0:06:03.839 I guess. 0:06:03.960 --> 0:06:04.440 Highlights. 0:06:04.440 --> 0:06:06.480 We did meet a lot of nice people out there, 0:06:06.520 --> 0:06:09.159 a lot of fans of the show. I was happy 0:06:09.160 --> 0:06:11.920 to see that they were not with the Popovacchi and crew. 0:06:12.560 --> 0:06:13.599 Everyone was very nice. 0:06:14.480 --> 0:06:16.800 I hope we weren't too Kurt, which is kind of 0:06:16.800 --> 0:06:19.400 exhausted and I've been talking to folks all day. 0:06:19.600 --> 0:06:23.159 I was able to geolocate enemy of the podcast. 0:06:23.000 --> 0:06:27.559 Jack Posobic. Yes, yes he was in quote unquote Camo. 0:06:27.680 --> 0:06:29.880 He was just wearing a green shirt and a kefia 0:06:29.920 --> 0:06:32.840 around his face, trying to interview people. I ran up 0:06:32.839 --> 0:06:35.080 to him and yelled his name out repeatedly until he 0:06:35.240 --> 0:06:37.960 acknowledged that he was in fact Jack Pisobic. Then I 0:06:37.960 --> 0:06:40.160 asked him about an event from twenty seventeen where he 0:06:40.160 --> 0:06:43.479 showed up at a protest undercover as an ANTIFA with 0:06:43.560 --> 0:06:47.919 a sign that said rape Milania. BuzzFeed immediately published text 0:06:47.920 --> 0:06:51.680 messages of him essentially talking to a friend about like, Yeah, 0:06:51.720 --> 0:06:53.240 I think this would be a great idea. We need 0:06:53.279 --> 0:06:55.119 to get somebody in there with this fucked up sign. 0:06:55.600 --> 0:06:57.480 So I asked him about it. He didn't want to answer, 0:06:57.600 --> 0:07:00.720 but he eventually left. I think the only people who 0:07:00.720 --> 0:07:03.400 were willing to talk to him were communists who wanted 0:07:03.440 --> 0:07:07.640 to quote long passages of political writing at him. So 0:07:07.680 --> 0:07:09.720 I don't think it was a great content day for Jack. 0:07:09.840 --> 0:07:12.280 But we'll see. Maybe this will be what causes him 0:07:12.280 --> 0:07:14.320 to blow up. We're going to do some ads and 0:07:14.360 --> 0:07:15.920 we're going to come back and talk about some of 0:07:15.920 --> 0:07:19.080 our highlights, what we expect from the week ahead and 0:07:19.360 --> 0:07:32.200 the great city of Chicago, and we're back. Garrison are 0:07:32.240 --> 0:07:35.080 you aware because we're in Chicago. But the south side 0:07:35.080 --> 0:07:38.280 of this very city is, according to many, the baddest 0:07:38.280 --> 0:07:38.840 part of town. 0:07:39.520 --> 0:07:40.560 And if you go down there. 0:07:40.920 --> 0:07:42.680 So I'm just telling you, if you go to the 0:07:42.720 --> 0:07:44.440 south side of Chicago, you need to be aware of 0:07:44.480 --> 0:07:45.400 a man called Leroy. 0:07:45.440 --> 0:07:47.920 B I knew it, bad, bad Leroy. But he's the 0:07:47.920 --> 0:07:49.720 baddest man in the whole damn town here. 0:07:50.160 --> 0:07:50.680 I knew it. 0:07:51.080 --> 0:07:53.400 I knew it batter than old King Kong. He's meaner 0:07:53.440 --> 0:07:54.360 than a junkyard dog. 0:07:54.720 --> 0:07:56.840 I'm not looking at my fucking notes, all right, Okay, great. 0:07:57.080 --> 0:07:59.680 As Robert was checking out this office for this other 0:07:59.720 --> 0:08:03.080 group planning a protest at the Israeli Conslitch tomorrow, I 0:08:03.200 --> 0:08:06.640 got to the Union Park protest early, was able to 0:08:06.680 --> 0:08:09.080 walk around, got a whole bunch of flyers for communist 0:08:09.080 --> 0:08:11.240 magazines that I again have never heard of, And you 0:08:11.240 --> 0:08:12.880 don't need to seek them out either. They will walk 0:08:12.920 --> 0:08:14.160 up to you and put one in yours. 0:08:14.520 --> 0:08:18.320 A whole book by Caleb Mappin, who is a luite communist, 0:08:18.680 --> 0:08:21.360 which is like it's like the it's like the foil 0:08:21.520 --> 0:08:25.120 Charizard Communist, like you're really yeah, it's beautiful stuff. 0:08:25.320 --> 0:08:27.440 And then we had like three hours of speeches before 0:08:27.760 --> 0:08:30.680 people eventually left and marched to the march to the 0:08:30.760 --> 0:08:34.440 DNC fence by Park five seven eight. And although most 0:08:34.480 --> 0:08:36.600 of this is about Palestine, there also is some like 0:08:36.640 --> 0:08:39.120 intersectionality with a few other things. You know, there's a lot. 0:08:38.920 --> 0:08:41.480 Of LGBTQ stuff, a lot of trans a lot of 0:08:41.640 --> 0:08:43.400 TBTQ stuff, all them stuff. 0:08:43.400 --> 0:08:45.199 Obviously, a lot of abortion rights and stuff that is 0:08:45.520 --> 0:08:48.720 one of abortion rights that has become a recurring, recurring 0:08:48.720 --> 0:08:50.640 talking point that I think, I think I'll mention something 0:08:50.640 --> 0:08:51.720 a little bit closer to the end. 0:08:51.880 --> 0:08:54.120 Yeah, because there's one of the groups of counter protesters 0:08:54.120 --> 0:08:56.520 who has kind of shown up for these people purporting 0:08:56.520 --> 0:08:59.240 to be like dims against abortion. Basically one of their 0:08:59.360 --> 0:09:03.240 chants was essentially being anti abortion is being pro trans 0:09:03.280 --> 0:09:06.400 because trans people might get aborted, which was a fascinating 0:09:06.480 --> 0:09:06.960 argument and. 0:09:06.920 --> 0:09:11.240 An amazing chant both like abortion is able, lest abortions transphobic, 0:09:11.600 --> 0:09:14.959 abortion is racist. You know, all of all the things 0:09:15.040 --> 0:09:15.400 and what. 0:09:15.400 --> 0:09:18.080 I'll say, so you know, obviously you and I have 0:09:18.120 --> 0:09:20.160 both expressed either of us really like it when at 0:09:20.200 --> 0:09:23.120 a protest you have a group of people basically being 0:09:23.200 --> 0:09:26.160 security who wall off other people from doing stuff. What 0:09:26.280 --> 0:09:28.800 I will say the protest safety team was effective at 0:09:28.840 --> 0:09:31.719 was every time someone like the Progressives against abortion or 0:09:31.720 --> 0:09:34.760 whoever would show up, there was a one literal fascist 0:09:34.840 --> 0:09:37.480 lady who I was definitely unwell with like a cardboard 0:09:37.520 --> 0:09:39.960 sign covered in racial slurs. They would just get a 0:09:40.000 --> 0:09:42.120 team to kind of wall them off with their bodies 0:09:42.200 --> 0:09:45.640 and it kept them from becoming like media were not 0:09:45.760 --> 0:09:48.920 focused around the folks coming into disrep stuff like they 0:09:48.960 --> 0:09:51.439 were at the march yesterday. We were at a march 0:09:51.520 --> 0:09:54.960 on Sunday afternoon, where as soon as those anti abortion 0:09:55.040 --> 0:09:57.440 folks showed up, every camera turned towards them because there's 0:09:57.440 --> 0:09:58.800 this thought that like, oh maybe this is where there 0:09:58.800 --> 0:09:59.640 will be a conflict. 0:10:00.040 --> 0:10:02.240 I think walling off groups like that makes sense. 0:10:02.280 --> 0:10:03.960 I dare get effective way to do it. 0:10:04.000 --> 0:10:07.000 I do get very hesitant and a little bit on 0:10:07.080 --> 0:10:10.240 my toes whenever they start walling off people in the 0:10:10.240 --> 0:10:13.560 crowd who are actual participants, who are just doing something 0:10:13.679 --> 0:10:16.240 that people in haives vests don't like. Yes, and when 0:10:16.240 --> 0:10:18.520 you start restricting their freedom of movement, when you start 0:10:18.520 --> 0:10:20.800 walling them off and keep and pushing them towards the 0:10:20.840 --> 0:10:22.000 police away, everyone. 0:10:21.800 --> 0:10:23.800 Else looks like they were trying to push a chunk 0:10:23.840 --> 0:10:24.440 of the crowd. 0:10:24.520 --> 0:10:26.760 You can get pretty fucked up, including the person with 0:10:27.040 --> 0:10:29.920 a YPG flag that you know, I don't know, I'm 0:10:30.000 --> 0:10:32.559 just inherently sympathetic towards. But yeah, trying to push them 0:10:32.559 --> 0:10:35.240 towards the police riot line. I did not like seeing that. 0:10:35.400 --> 0:10:37.240 And there was some talk about this leading up to 0:10:37.280 --> 0:10:40.040 the DNC. There was some like leaked memo I think 0:10:40.040 --> 0:10:43.240 from some PSL people and a few other orgs about 0:10:43.280 --> 0:10:45.760 plans too if there was any like quote unquote like 0:10:45.800 --> 0:10:48.680 disruptors or whatever, to circle them off, keep them away 0:10:48.679 --> 0:10:50.480 from the march, make sure they cannot rejoin the march 0:10:50.480 --> 0:10:52.880 and push them towards the police line. Yeah, and that 0:10:53.400 --> 0:10:55.960 is never great. That's never great to see. 0:10:55.920 --> 0:10:58.600 No, especially when all of your chants are like fuck 0:10:58.679 --> 0:11:02.240 the DNC, Kamala is evil. But like we need to 0:11:02.240 --> 0:11:04.240 do what the police are not doing here, Like we 0:11:04.320 --> 0:11:05.000 have to be the cops. 0:11:05.320 --> 0:11:08.280 You're preventing people from actually marching to the DNC. And 0:11:08.320 --> 0:11:10.679 for most of this march on Monday, it was the 0:11:10.720 --> 0:11:13.599 cops who were leading the march, yes, literally of the 0:11:13.640 --> 0:11:16.600 march in front of everybody. They both had all of 0:11:16.600 --> 0:11:17.560 the streets walled off. 0:11:17.760 --> 0:11:19.760 At the head it was about six to eight cops 0:11:19.760 --> 0:11:21.520 at any given time, and then a couple of dozen 0:11:21.720 --> 0:11:24.640 people with cameras, media, and then it was the actual protest. 0:11:24.720 --> 0:11:27.120 But it's essentially the whole the whole march is being 0:11:27.200 --> 0:11:29.319 is being led by police. And that's also one thing. 0:11:29.280 --> 0:11:30.440 Is ween surrounded. 0:11:30.480 --> 0:11:33.120 Whenever you're chanting like who streets are streets and all 0:11:33.120 --> 0:11:35.640 these other things, you're like, this is this is basically 0:11:35.679 --> 0:11:37.720 a cop street. This is basically a cop led protest. 0:11:38.120 --> 0:11:38.720 The cops at. 0:11:38.600 --> 0:11:41.200 Most points I was I was walking by a Chicago 0:11:41.280 --> 0:11:44.840 ped sergeant who was on his comms and he was telling, 0:11:44.960 --> 0:11:47.360 like everyone on the walkie talkie system or whatever, like 0:11:47.559 --> 0:11:50.720 there's there is quote nothing nefarious going on, there's nothing 0:11:50.720 --> 0:11:53.960 to worry about. Everything's good. And yet from their perspective, 0:11:54.400 --> 0:11:56.760 that was what most of today was like, at least 0:11:56.840 --> 0:11:59.240 until a few hours ago. When people in the actual 0:11:59.240 --> 0:12:02.679 protest are organized committee, we're sectioning off people that they 0:12:02.720 --> 0:12:03.200 didn't like. 0:12:03.559 --> 0:12:06.880 From what I have seen so far, you know, there's 0:12:06.920 --> 0:12:09.720 not much that would go viral that would be big 0:12:09.720 --> 0:12:12.000 news from this protest, certainly, not much that you would 0:12:12.040 --> 0:12:14.800 say it was embarrassing to anyone. But there's also not 0:12:14.920 --> 0:12:18.360 much that's gonna like draw any attention if you're considering 0:12:18.440 --> 0:12:20.720 that the goal of activism like this, I don't I 0:12:20.760 --> 0:12:23.640 don't see this as like being a needle moving march. 0:12:23.720 --> 0:12:25.720 And even if you have a martial tie dozen people, 0:12:25.720 --> 0:12:29.000 which is good, when it's after three hours of speeches 0:12:29.040 --> 0:12:31.400 about communism, that's not actually doing anything to put pressure 0:12:31.400 --> 0:12:33.679 on like the vit administration and the Democrats to actually 0:12:33.679 --> 0:12:34.640 do something about Palestine. 0:12:34.640 --> 0:12:36.640 There were several minutes today about getting the US out 0:12:36.640 --> 0:12:39.439 of Korea, and like that's going to be your issue. 0:12:39.440 --> 0:12:41.240 That's going to be your issue. But like if you 0:12:41.280 --> 0:12:42.960 if you're kind of making it about. 0:12:42.679 --> 0:12:44.199 Everything, it's about nothing. 0:12:44.320 --> 0:12:46.000 Yeah, it's about nothing. It was not a lot of 0:12:46.040 --> 0:12:46.959 punch to today. 0:12:46.720 --> 0:12:49.520 A ceasefire, and Palestine is a very popular issue and important. 0:12:49.960 --> 0:12:52.760 But the more time that you're talking about and trying 0:12:52.760 --> 0:12:56.000 to recruit people for like the Revolution TM and fill 0:12:56.080 --> 0:12:58.839 up your sign up sheet and have speeches about about 0:12:58.880 --> 0:13:02.880 you know, Marxism, the Marxism, Leninism, the Immortal Science, that's 0:13:02.920 --> 0:13:06.280 not going to actually help anyone in Palestine. At this point, 0:13:06.400 --> 0:13:09.160 I'm not sure how affective these protests are going to be. 0:13:09.280 --> 0:13:11.760 That's always hard to say. But if you are actually 0:13:11.760 --> 0:13:14.680 trying to apply pressure onto the Democrats onto, like the 0:13:14.679 --> 0:13:17.360 party in charge of the executive branch, I think focusing 0:13:17.360 --> 0:13:21.600 on that would would probably be be a slightly more beneficial. Hello, 0:13:21.720 --> 0:13:26.559 this is gear cutting in again from a corridor underneath 0:13:26.640 --> 0:13:31.200 the Democratic National Convention the United Center in Chicago. Sleepy 0:13:31.280 --> 0:13:33.520 Joe Biden's about hit the stage. Before he does, I 0:13:33.600 --> 0:13:36.520 need to give you a special update. So right after 0:13:36.800 --> 0:13:40.400 we recorded this little street conversation between me and Robert, 0:13:40.520 --> 0:13:43.559 a whole bunch of more things happened. So there was 0:13:43.600 --> 0:13:46.200 already some kind of inter conflict within the march. On 0:13:46.240 --> 0:13:49.000 the way to park five seven eight, people had different 0:13:49.040 --> 0:13:50.439 ideas on where they wanted the march to be like 0:13:50.480 --> 0:13:52.440 directed to whether that's just a stopping at the park 0:13:52.640 --> 0:13:55.120 or trying to break through and go further into the 0:13:55.160 --> 0:13:58.800 actual like DNC perimeter. And eventually we had a smaller 0:13:58.800 --> 0:14:01.480 group of people kind of up by the fence line 0:14:02.000 --> 0:14:04.800 that were able to breach a small secret of the 0:14:04.800 --> 0:14:07.680 fence and people started going into one of the many 0:14:07.760 --> 0:14:11.080 layered barricades at the DNC. Now, as this was happening, 0:14:11.240 --> 0:14:14.160 some of the protest marshals like organizers and stuff, tried 0:14:14.160 --> 0:14:15.880 to rally the rest of the crowd to march back 0:14:15.880 --> 0:14:18.280 to Union Park away from this breach at the DNC 0:14:18.640 --> 0:14:21.040 and others started pouring in. There was maybe about like 0:14:21.080 --> 0:14:25.080 fifty to seventy five people who actually broke through this line, 0:14:25.120 --> 0:14:28.000 and maybe like half of them were protesters, the other 0:14:28.040 --> 0:14:30.080 half were like press and media. A whole bunch of 0:14:30.080 --> 0:14:33.000 the guys that going through those barricades are people looking 0:14:33.040 --> 0:14:35.680 to take photos, and it was a lot of press. 0:14:35.720 --> 0:14:38.720 But police did pressure people out. I think they arrested 0:14:38.720 --> 0:14:42.120 maybe like three people in this whole mess. But police 0:14:42.120 --> 0:14:44.240 pushed the remaining people out of the park and closed 0:14:44.240 --> 0:14:47.520 it for safety concerns. And then those people who got 0:14:47.520 --> 0:14:49.560 pushed out and then people who were kind of already 0:14:49.560 --> 0:14:52.120 were on the move met back at Union Park where 0:14:52.120 --> 0:14:55.200 the day's protests began, and almost immediately they started setting 0:14:55.240 --> 0:14:58.280 up in campments, setting up tents, doing like logistics stuff. 0:14:58.400 --> 0:15:01.560 Now police saw this happen, did not like this very much, 0:15:01.720 --> 0:15:03.720 and they quickly moved in and gave a dispersal order. 0:15:03.720 --> 0:15:06.360 I believe two people were arrested during this kind of 0:15:06.480 --> 0:15:09.640 second kerfuffle. Police were saying like people can stay in 0:15:09.640 --> 0:15:11.680 the park as long as you're not setting up tense, 0:15:11.720 --> 0:15:14.200 as long as you're not doing like larger logistics, you know, 0:15:14.400 --> 0:15:17.200 using the sound system, all these kinds of things. And 0:15:17.560 --> 0:15:19.960 at a certain point, I think police pushed most people 0:15:20.440 --> 0:15:22.920 either onto the edges, onto the periphery orders out of 0:15:22.920 --> 0:15:24.880 the area, but a whole bunch of like swat to 0:15:24.920 --> 0:15:27.800 a whole bunch of Chicago PD just surrounded this whole 0:15:27.840 --> 0:15:31.200 area and kept a pretty tight lit on things. So 0:15:31.280 --> 0:15:33.880 I know people were planning to want to do a 0:15:33.960 --> 0:15:37.040 larger encampment tonight and Chicago p D would not let 0:15:37.080 --> 0:15:41.200 that happen. And for whatever reason, there was either wasn't 0:15:41.280 --> 0:15:44.320 enough people or there wasn't enough like logistics or dedication 0:15:44.480 --> 0:15:48.840 to really fight off the chicagopd's incursion in Union Park. 0:15:49.240 --> 0:15:52.000 So now the day is wrapping up, Joe Biden's about 0:15:52.000 --> 0:15:55.160 to head on stage, and that is the situation for 0:15:55.360 --> 0:15:59.880 the protests. The first day of the DNC back to 0:16:00.120 --> 0:16:02.680 Robert Evans is sitting on a random street corner. 0:16:03.400 --> 0:16:06.680 So you know, the highlight to me of today again, 0:16:06.720 --> 0:16:09.520 we met a lot of very nice fans and they 0:16:09.560 --> 0:16:12.360 all seem to be doing smart things, which I like seeing. 0:16:12.760 --> 0:16:14.240 There was an old man who had he had a 0:16:14.240 --> 0:16:16.920 big Palestinian flag and underneath it was a Bosnian flag. 0:16:16.960 --> 0:16:18.320 So we went up to him because I was just 0:16:18.360 --> 0:16:20.480 kind of curious. I had a feeling it had something 0:16:20.520 --> 0:16:22.600 to do with the genocide, but like you know, I 0:16:22.600 --> 0:16:25.440 wanted to talk. And he was a survivor of Strebernitza, 0:16:25.640 --> 0:16:30.600 which was a massacre during the the Yugoslav breakup that was, 0:16:31.240 --> 0:16:33.680 I mean, just one of the worst exogenocide of the 0:16:33.840 --> 0:16:36.200 twentieth century. We talked ab it because I'd been to 0:16:36.240 --> 0:16:38.640 stre Burnitza and interviewed some survivors and stuff, and he 0:16:38.760 --> 0:16:41.440 was like very moved to be here, expressed a lot 0:16:41.440 --> 0:16:42.840 of solidarity with Gaza. 0:16:43.080 --> 0:16:44.920 Essentially said like I. 0:16:44.920 --> 0:16:47.680 Lived through a genocide too, so I'm going to show 0:16:47.720 --> 0:16:49.880 up and support these people, which was very moving. Was 0:16:49.880 --> 0:16:51.800 the probably the most moving part, definitely the most moving 0:16:51.840 --> 0:16:53.200 part of the day for me. 0:17:02.600 --> 0:17:06.840 Among all these big like socialist communist newspaper organizations. 0:17:06.240 --> 0:17:08.200 People handing out books, yeah. 0:17:08.000 --> 0:17:10.119 And a lot of just people who actually really care 0:17:10.119 --> 0:17:11.960 about what's going on, and this feels like to them, 0:17:12.000 --> 0:17:13.960 like the only thing that they can do. Yes, like, 0:17:14.040 --> 0:17:15.800 especially if you're like from this area, if you're from 0:17:15.800 --> 0:17:18.600 the Midwest, you're like, what can actually do to stop 0:17:18.640 --> 0:17:19.640 what's going on here? 0:17:19.680 --> 0:17:22.200 They are all of the leaders of the Democratic Party 0:17:22.200 --> 0:17:23.040 are here, you know. 0:17:23.280 --> 0:17:26.240 And that is the majority of the thousands that are gathered. 0:17:26.359 --> 0:17:29.320 Yeah, you know, I have to say again not to 0:17:29.359 --> 0:17:31.840 just be shitting on people, but it's probably a tactical 0:17:31.880 --> 0:17:35.160 mistake to prior to the event. In the days heading 0:17:35.240 --> 0:17:37.520 up to this, some of the organizers said they were 0:17:37.520 --> 0:17:41.320 expecting thirty to forty thousand people in town for protests. 0:17:41.520 --> 0:17:44.080 And you know, the crowd we got today was a 0:17:44.119 --> 0:17:46.960 solid crowd five thousand people or so. You know, marching 0:17:47.000 --> 0:17:49.600 three to five thousand not bad. But when you've gotten 0:17:49.600 --> 0:17:52.000 people prepped for that, then the story is going to 0:17:52.000 --> 0:17:55.959 be that, like, well, less people than expected showed up, 0:17:56.000 --> 0:17:58.399 and that can be used by folks to make the 0:17:58.440 --> 0:18:01.159 case that like, well, this isn't really that popular an 0:18:01.200 --> 0:18:03.600 issue for the Democrats, Why should they care as much 0:18:03.640 --> 0:18:06.000 about it as they would if you had gotten fifty 0:18:06.040 --> 0:18:07.159 thousand people in the street. 0:18:07.320 --> 0:18:11.880 Anyway, So that was the second protest at the DNC. Technically, 0:18:12.359 --> 0:18:16.000 the first protest was yesterday. The day before mentioned that 0:18:16.040 --> 0:18:19.120 I actually started and yes, both me and Robert were there. 0:18:19.160 --> 0:18:22.280 I showed up as early as usual, and Robert showed 0:18:22.359 --> 0:18:23.439 up late as usual. 0:18:23.520 --> 0:18:26.199 That's right, that's right, late and hungover, don't you forget hungover? 0:18:26.480 --> 0:18:28.520 Of course I got drunk as hell on that plane. 0:18:28.560 --> 0:18:31.400 It started off with maybe like five hundred people slowly 0:18:31.480 --> 0:18:34.200