news & analysis: Democracy Uprising — from Boston to NYC
2004Mark Ostapiak 2004-09The page as the paper published it (Wayback Machine) →
From the paper's own web edition, recovered from the Internet Archive: the text as the paper put it online, not machine-read. The printed issue of September 2004 is not held.
by Mark Ostapiak
Reports in many of the major newspapers have highlighted the impressive two and a half mile march of 500,000 demonstrators at the Republican National Convention (RNC) in New York City. But how about a month long march?
That’s just what a group called Democracy Uprising did. They titled their journey DNC2RNC.
One of the group’s organizers told Socialist Action in a phone interview that the number of marchers was relatively small, between 50 and 100 young people. Nevertheless, along the 258-mile journey between the Democratic National Convention (DNC) in Boston and the RNC in New York City, they carried strong messages, which are cited on the Democracy Uprising web page, including a “struggle to build direct democracy. … We seek dignity, justice, housing, autonomy, education, health care, work, and food for all.”
They arrived in New York City on Aug. 26. Although it may be many miles from there to Boston, the marchers believe there is a very narrow gap between the Democrats and the Republicans. “Rather than representing the interests of the people,” said the DNC2RNC on the Mad Hatters Independent Media Center, “both Democrats and Republicans choose to build systems of violent exploitation.”
The marchers left Boston Common on July 30 and slept in churches and camped in fields along the route. They said they were well received by community members. At a stop in Walpole, Mass., a city council member greeted them with bottled water and non-corporate soda. All the while, Seeds of Peace kept a few paces ahead of the DNC2RNC crew to set up for providing the free meals.
In exchange for the hospitality given by communities along the 10-mile-per-day march route, Democracy Uprising member Kat McIver explained that marchers organized “community garden plantings in low-income neighborhoods, horticulture workshops, skill-sharing teach-ins, ‘know your rights’ training that deals with immigration and deportation, kid-friendly arts and crafts activities, spoken-word events, and concerts.” The long journey ended in a rousing reception for the DNC2RNC caravan as others joined with them in solidarity to help build a 2000-person march through the streets of Manhattan.
Perhaps a bit weary, the DNC2RNCers were undoubtedly charged when they joined 500,000 others protesting White House policies.
This article first appeared in the September 2004 issue of Socialist Action newspaper.