Adbusters Promises 50,000 Protesters for NATO/G8 Summits

Art by Adbusters

Adbusters, the Vancouver-based activist group who helped spark the Occupy movement, is calling for over 50,000 protesters to come to Chicago for the May NATO and G8 summits, and they're invoking the ghosts of Chicago history in the process.

In a "tactical briefing" on their website, Adbusters writes:

"(T)his time around we’re not going to put up with the kind of police repression that happened during the Democratic National Convention protests in Chicago, 1968 … nor will we abide by any phony restrictions the City of Chicago may want to impose on our first amendment rights. We’ll go there with our heads held high and assemble for a month-long people’s summit … we’ll march and chant and sing and shout and exercise our right to tell our elected representatives what we want … the constitution will be our guide.

"And when the G8 and NATO meet behind closed doors on May 19, we’ll be ready with our demands: a Robin Hood Tax … a ban on high frequency ‘flash’ trading … a binding climate change accord … a three strikes and you’re out law for corporate criminals … an all out initiative for a nuclear-free Middle East … whatever we decide in our general assemblies and in our global internet brainstorm - we the people will set the agenda for the next few years and demand our leaders carry it out.

"And if they don’t listen … if they ignore us and put our demands on the back burner like they’ve done so many times before … then, with Gandhian ferocity, we’ll flashmob the streets, shut down stock exchanges, campuses, corporate headquarters and cities across the globe … we’ll make the price of doing business as usual too much to bear."

Referencing the 1968 Democratic convention, at the very least, is intended to link opposition to the summits and the ongoing debate over protest restrictions passed by City Council for the summits to one of the low-water marks in Chicago history, if it isn't perceived by Chicago Police as a challenge to their authority.

Adbusters isn't the only group planning protests in the weeks before the Summits. Chicago Mass Action—a union of the Coalition Against the NATO/G8 Summits and Midwest Anti-War Mobilization—is planning marches May 19 and 20.

Even though City Council passed what opponents are now calling the "Sit Down and Shut Up" ordinance, protesters may have an unlikely ally in 22nd Ward Ald. Ricardo Munoz. Munoz is pushing for legislation at the next City Council meeting Feb. 15 that will prohibit Chicago Police from attempting to block access to social networking sites and cell phone networks during the summits. He's been asking for suggestions on his Twitter feed he hopes to add to the ordinance proposal.

Munoz, leader of the City Council Reform Caucus, voted for the summit security changes but said his goal is finding the right balance between internet security and free speech.

“This will be the first G8 summit on American soil in the Age of Twitter,” Munoz said. “Social media sites are more than information sharing tools; they are organizing tools. They are fundamental to our right to free speech and assembly. That’s why these sites are blocked in countries like China and why we must protect access to them here.”