My Torch Observations - The Mayor Triangulates (or should we say Capitulates)

I was on the ground today in San Francisco with the protestors. This was a first for me - I haven't protested anything or anybody since Ted Kennedy's visit to my university many years ago (I had far less company then, being the only person holding a "Justice for Mary Jo" sign - but I digress).

I arrived at the Ferry Building around 1pm. The area was packed with thousands of protestors. I would estimate that there were 100 protestors for every 1 of the Chicom supporters. It probably didn't appear to be quite that lopsided on TV because the Chicoms were more visible thanks to the huge Red Flags supplied by the embassy to students that had been bused in from universities as far as Sacramento (no doubt "volunteered" under threat of having their student aid cancelled). Contrary to the Mayor's statement, the crowd was very peaceful - after all these are peacenik types who support the Dalai Lama in the non-violent tradition of Ghandi and MLK. Yes, there was an occasional heated exchange when the Chicoms got in people's faces with their flags, but overall everyone co-existed remarkably well.

The protestors were different from the usually scruffy anti-war gang that typically block the intersection in front of my office. Primarily young, but cleancut, with a smattering of old timers. And of course many Asians and Tibetans - some of whom had traveled hundreds of miles at their own cost to be here (contrast to the students bused in by the Chicoms). As one of the more grizzled veterans said, "Hey, even you Republicans agree with us today" (I had to laugh, but he was right).

At about 1:30 there was a massive protest march that began at Folsom street and proceeded to the ferry building. Hundreds of people carrying signs and chanting slogans highlighting the atrocities committed by Chicoms over the past 50 years in Tibet. Again no threat of violence, though I did see a dozen people laying in the street after the march had passed.

By 2pm, word began to spread that the Torch was taking a different route (after all, the protestors all had cellphones and were wired in). People hurridly began to rush up Sacramento street and some made it in time to greet the torch as it worked its way down Van Ness. But sadly most did not make it. As a result the Chicoms got exactly what they wanted - nice video footage of the torch making its way past spectators (admittedly with a huge police contingent) and then onto the scenic Marina Green with the GG bridge in the background. The torch was then whisked off to the airport in a motorcade usually reserved for POTUS.

At this point I have to give the Mayor credit. He has learned well at the knee of the Clinton team (and Bill made several appearances supporting him in his first election, which was closer than he would have liked). Gavin successfully defused any problems by triangulating. He allowed the protests to take the streets with virtually no arrests. The torch was carried through the streets without any of the problems that occurred in London and Paris. The Chicoms are delighted as they have been reporting that the torch was a success (and have lots of video sans protestors). Very good for encouraging more Chinese investment in the local economy. The US government could not be more pleased as an international incident was averted (after all the Chicoms may be the biggest US creditor and hold billions of U$D). And to top it off Gavin probably won a quite a few votes (not to mention endorsements) from the local Chinese community which naively believed that the torch should be protest-free.

The only fallout for the mayor will be from out-of-town visitors (some travelled from as far as NYC) who missed the torch run - and they don't vote in SF. The protestors types never voted for him anyway (he is considered a right-winger in these parts) but rather his radical opponent. So in sum Gavin successfully triangulated the torch from a potential disaster into a win-win situation.

Personally I think that the Chicoms don't realize how bad ly they miscalculated on this whole olympics thing. The negative PR has been massive and is bound to continue. The local media has been highly critical of the mayor's decision (no doubt disappointed that they didn't get more entertaining protest footage) with the President of the Board of Supervisors pointing out that the Mayor's lies and secrecy might be more suited to the Chinese style of government. Zing!

Anyway, I think most of the protestors here won't be disappointed when they get home. The massive turnout completely changed the nature of the event from a celebration of the olympics and a Chicom propaganda moment to a more appropriate hide-and-seek farce that serves to keep the Chicom atrocities in Tibet and elsewhere on the media's frontburner.

Grusome Newsom triangulated well and maybe he’ll get some Chinese cash for his game of saying he supports the First Amendment but not “violence.”

His spokesman was on CNN saying all that but also adding a caveat that final decisions about moving the torch were a security matter handled by the police chief and the police department.

CYA Newsom.

Hats off to a piece well done. Did the scene provoke some after-thoughts on our immigration policy from you, especially those young, red-flag-waving, passionate ChiCom supporters bused in by their consulates?

BTW, you don't need to read Chinese to see how ChiCom claims victory over protesters (they didn't credit AP for photos): http://2008.sohu.com/20080410/n256195631.shtml

This interesting clip was in an AP report today:

At least one torchbearer decided to show her support for Tibetan independence during her moment in the spotlight. After being passed the Olympic flame, Majora Carter pulled out a small Tibetan flag that she had hidden in her shirt sleeve.

"The Chinese security and cops were on me like white on rice, it was no joke," said Carter, 41, who runs a nonprofit organization in New York. "They pulled me out of the race, and then San Francisco police officers pushed me back into the crowd on the side of the street."

http://apnews.myway.com/article/20080410/D8VUMO7O1.html

Nice to see the SF Police cooperating so nicely in the propaganda effort ....

Am I the only American concerned that — according to reports from “Fair and Balanced” Fox — CHINESE PARAMILITARY TROOPS policed the crowd in SF as the idiotic Olympic torch was trotted through the streets??

Does no one recall that the Soviets used MONGOLIAN troops to quash the Hungarian and Czech revolts because these troops couldn’t know any of those they would be ordered to shoot and couldn’t even speak the same language?

Couple this with the numerous reports from returning US troops that they had been asked by their officers if they could fire on fellow Americans and the new deal to interchange US and Canadian troops during “disturbances” and I fear that we’re being set up for some very serious problems here which, so far as I know, not even the talking heads on Fox found disturbing.

Just because I’m paranoid doesn’t mean “they’re” not out to get us.

It’s been interesting reading different people’s experiences - I ended up spending a lot of time near the start thinking they’d at least attempt to run down the street, since it really was very peaceful - some shouting but not too serious. That put me way too far south to try to see the torch.

Got some nice pictures though http://www.protestshooter.com/20080409OlympicTorch/

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