The favorite political expression of the far left is the street protest. The appeal of these protests is not that they are effective, because they aren't. The appeal is more direct. Street protests are an exercise in the left's actual political ideal: rule by force.
For example, the article below details the early preparation by leftist anarchist groups to disrupt the Republican National Convention next year in St. Paul, Minnesota. Such protests are not an exercise of free speech, but an attack upon it. Their specific goal is to use mobs of fanatics to prevent political opponents from being able to organize, hold political conventions, and make their case to the public.
Read item #2 above and ask yourself if these seems familiar. Call this the "Lenin Connection" between the Western left and the Islamists. Both believe in the prerogative of an anarchic "revolutionary vanguard" to use force to intimidate the rest of society into submission.
"Will Riots Greet GOP at Convention?," Katherine Kersten, Minneapolis Star-Tribune via RealClearPolitics, September 7 Later, the protest ride turned ugly. Two officers tried to arrest several riders who covered their faces with hoods while blocking motorists. They resisted, and about 30 protesters surrounded the officers, chanting "Let them go! Let them go!"
Forty-eight law enforcement personnel from six agencies responded to a police call for help, and chemical spray was used to control the crowd. Nineteen demonstrators were arrested.
Get ready, Minnesotans. The protest was "a kick-off" for a "weekend of organizing against the Republican National Convention" to be held here in September 2008, according to the RNC Welcoming Committee, a local anarchist group.
Across the country, similar groups have announced their intention to cause havoc in our cities next year….
"It used to be peaceful ex-hippies with placards—they're almost quaint by today's standards," she said. "In New York we saw a professional class of protesters, with an angry, violent mob mentality. Their goal is not to be heard. Their sole purpose is to create anarchy in our streets."
Meeks saw protesters use burning trash bins in an effort to shut down Manhattan's theater district. Swarms of bicyclists blocked traffic, crowds of protesters harassed delegates at their hotels.
"They screamed obscenities—any way they could conjugate the F-word," she said. "Then they grew weary of yelling and started spitting and throwing things at us."…
In such a situation, our first impulse is Minnesota Nice…. But Minnesota Nice isn't likely to dissuade determined anarchists. When demonstrators converged on Seattle in 1999 to protest a World Trade Organization conference, the mayor welcomed them and police backed off. Protesters trashed the city so thoroughly that, within hours, the mayor declared an emergency and asked the governor to call in the National Guard.
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