The Democratic National Convention host city of Chicago's response in 1968 to street protests is still iconic in this country for police brutality and machine politics over populist politics.
The Democratic Party has kept at arm's length from the Occupy movements, for both political reasons (to avoid looking too radical) and pragmatic (too many in the Dem establishment have too many ties to Wall Street). But the Charlotte DNC coming up next year provides a potential opportunity to harness that progessive protest movement's energy and their message (which resonates with a lot of folks), and provides a potential opportunity for the Occupy folks to get their message out to more of the mainstream. Even if that's an uncomfortable fit in a lot of places, it could be a win-win.
If I were in the DNC leadership, I'd be talking with Charlotte about how to tread very carefully with anything that looks like harassment or suppression of protesters. I'd also be working with them for something other than the "free speech zones/ghettos" that both political party's convention cities have adopted over the past few decades. #ddtb
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Charlotte Prepping for Occupy Wall Street at DNC
The city is moving to ban public tents ASAP.