The War Stops Here

Admin’s Note: This one’s for you, Rich!

This is a very rough sketch of an idea that was put into action here in Ithaca a few years ago that I feel could be used to complement the actions against the DNC and RNC.

What we did for the RNC last time, in Ithaca

During the last RNC in 2004, the August Sound Coalition was broadcasting 24/7 live audio on the web. In Ithaca, NY, a small group of anarchists and pagans set up a large guitar amplifier on the central pavilion on the Commons, Ithaca’s downtown pedestrian-only shopping district.Using a wireless enabled laptop, we took advantage of a local coffee shop’s free wireless network and proceeded to play the August Sound Coalition’s live audio feed from the RNC protests through the guitar amp. We had already used sidewalk chalk throughout The Commons to explain what was happening to those Saturday afternoon shoppers who might be wondering why the air was filled with radical political commentary and advice for dealing with tear gas attacks.

Vision

There are always a lot of people who would like to go to a mass mobilization that for a variety of reasons are not able to. This idea opens up space for at-home folks to do crucial support work for those who go to the St. Paul and Denver mobilizations this summer. Imagine a round the clock internet broadcast from the streets of the DNC and RNC actions that articulated both what was happening, on the ground and why it was happening that was listened to by folks both in and beyond the choir one would expect to tune in to such a thing.

We envision similar broadcasts in downtown areas, college campuses, community centers, in front of coffee shops, on sidewalks and in parks – wherever people are – and re-broadcasts on community and pirate stations all around the country and beyond. Anyone who can get a wireless enabled laptop, a connection to the internet, some cords and speakers can do this. We could circumvent corporate media and create a space for people to engage with the reality of what mass mobilizations are really like. People
could hear what was going on that their TV news coverage was leaving out and public space could be transformed in a strange and interesting new way.

The potential could exist for those folks tending to the broadcast sites to take donations for legal expenses incurred at the actions, provide a personal connection to the events, distro literature, encourage people to tune in at home, and connect people to local networks.

What we would need:

A live audio web broadcasting team in St. Paul and/or Denver with whatever equipment that would require, website, creative ideas for content and reporting etc.

An outreach campaign to get folks psyched to set up sites for public playing and explain how to do it.

Some live test runs to give everyone a chance to debug. We encountered a number of software troubles when we tried this out that could have been more smoothly handled had we had the foresight to test it out beforehand. Also, rain seemed to interfere with our ability to receive the wireless signal. Contingencies and best practices need to be developed with people. We need folks who know the techie stuff who can help troubleshoot the inevitable issues that come up for windows, linux, and mac operating systems.

Your brilliant ideas!

Here’s a link to the August Sound Coalition’s live audio site from the 2004 RNC:
http://radio.socialtechnology.net/RNC/index.html