It’s almost here! The much-anticipated DNC in Chicago. However, at this juncture, it seems a moot point. The Democratic Party elites self-selected its candidate, a candidate that never received a single primary vote after the party made it impossible for any challengers to Biden in the primaries. Then all of the delegates (don’t even get me started on the Super Delegates) immediately transferred their votes to Harris, without input from the voters they represent, who voted for someone else. But what do I know? Evidently, this is what democracy looks like.

Ever since the DNC’s Chicago location was announced, controversy and anger has surrounded the upcoming convention. 

The other day I had a friend let me know that protests during the week of the convention will probably not amount to much. After all, how many Republicans and/or Trump supporters are going to make the trip to Chicago to launch a protest? But she had it completely wrong.

I purposely went to Milwaukee for the RNC as a sort of trial run for the DNC. I knew protests there would b e much smaller than those planned for Chicago. The anger on the streets for the Democrats is a lot more than people realize. And I was right. There was only one scheduled protest at the RNC, and it drew maybe 400-500 people (despite the claim that they were expecting and planning for 10,000). Today, only a few days before the start of the DNC, I know of eight scheduled protests, one of which is also claiming over 10,000. It will be interesting to see how that pans out.

Months ago, organizations started protesting, demanding that Genocide Joe cancel the convention. They have held demonstrations, they have slapped stickers on any flat object all over the city, they have promised chaos. One protest in particular made the news when an alderman spoke to a crowd in front of a burning American flag.

The complaints have been many: the city has no money, the Democrats support Israel, resources are being diverted from communities that really need them (i.e. the homeless), potential for ugly conflict between cops and protesters.

You might think that since Joe Biden dropped out that perhaps the vitriol may have dampened, but you would be wrong. The groups have just added Killer Kamala to the chants. These organizations have every intention to make their presence known by the attendees visiting the city.

To add to the tension, the CHicago Police Supt. Larry Snelling has announced that “We are not going to let you riot.” Appointed in 2023, he did not mince words by declaring that indeed, what happened in 2020 on the streets of Chicago was rioting. (It’s about time someone in power is willing to admit that rather than to dismiss what happened as mostly peaceful protests or just people struggling to feed their families!) He said that under his command, things will be immediately shut down if there is any violence, vandalism, or straying from the designated protest route.

That has upped the tension a bit.

In addition, the city has certainly not made it easy to organize protests at the DNC. At least seven or eight lawsuits have been filed as organizations repeatedly had their protest permits rejected. 

If you’re interested, here’s a little inside baseball…

I made the mistake of looking into who it is that approves these permits, and my god. What a bureaucracy. I read numerous articles about permitting, and saw references to multiple organizations as having a say in whether a permit is approved: Chicago Parks, Chicago Department of Transportation, Chicago Police Department, Chicago City Council, Secret Service, Homeland Security …

I cannot seem to find where this idea comes from, but everyone, including the City of Chicago and the ACLU, seems to agree that protesters have a right to demonstrate within “sight and sound” of whatever they are protesting. But initially, protest groups were offered locations far from the convention site, most notably at Grant Park, which is four miles away. So every permit was rejected.

Except one.

The Poor People’s Army, whose mission it is to ​​build “a nonviolent Poor People’s Army to keep people alive and to build a cooperative economy and society,” was issued a permit to protest at the United Center’s front door thanks to a screw up by the City Council. The council has a ten-day deadline to make a decision on a permit, and they didn’t make the deadline. So the Poor People’s Army was granted their permit by default. And you can believe the city tried to override their own rules.

The other organizations turned to lawsuits, even going so far as filing federal lawsuits, claiming that “their permit applications were improperly denied and that the city’s ordinances that could restrict their activities and enforce additional security perimeters are unconstitutional.” NBC Chicago.

Much like at the RNC, some of these organizations joined forces under the coalition March on the DNC to fight for their First Amendment rights. As of right now, protesters’ complaints and proposals have been rejected by a federal judge. Organizers promise to march whether they have a permit or not. So we shall see what happens!

Finally, I am very curious to see if I run into any of the same political agitators that were up in Milwaukee at the RNC. It is clear that many are paid agitators. And of course, these large organizations are promising to finance busloads from around the country. That didn’t manifest in Milwaukee. We’ll see if Chicago is any different.

The first protest is actually on Sunday, one day before the official start of the convention, and it is being led by the group (with a very long name!) Bodies Outside of Unjust Laws: Coalition for Reproductive Justice and LGBTQ+ Liberation.

I’ll be there as well as at the convention site Monday through Thursday. If you want to follow my reporting on what is happening on the ground, be sure to follow my blog. Just click HERE.

And to go back and read about the RNC, click HERE.

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More in the DNC Series

Next: Pre DNC Protest. Day One. Day Two. Day Three Day Four