WASHINGTON — Four years ago, thousands of protesters
massed along the inaugural parade route to show their anger over the
contested election in which President Bush gained his first term. Bearing
signs such as "Hail to the Thief" and "Supreme Injustice," they crowded
the subways, got into sidewalk debates with inaugural guests and gave a
historic day a heightened sense of democracy in action.
This year,
as George W. Bush is sworn in for a second term, the atmosphere promises
to be calmer.
Once again, demonstrations are planned. An
organization called Turn Your Backs on Bush says it will send hundreds of
supporters to Washington to literally turn away from the president in
silent protest as his motorcade passes.
Anti-Bush activists at an
Internet website called bushblackout.com are suggesting that supporters
black out their websites or silence their blogs for the day. And a group
called Not One Damn Dime Day is urging a boycott of commerce on Jan.
20.
Mainstream liberal and antiwar groups, however, are sitting out
the ceremonies this time. The security planned for the first inauguration
since the Sept. 11 attacks would make protesting difficult. And the groups
are concerned about alienating moderates whose support they hope to
attract on issues including Social Security, tax reform and war
appropriations.
"We felt our focus has been and should continue to
be this war," said Tom Andrews, national director of Win Without War, an
antiwar coalition of MoveOn.org and about 40 other groups opposed to the
administration's policies in Iraq.
Asked how he planned to spend
the day, Andrews paused and said, "I'm going to try to sleep
in."
Washington-area law enforcement will not have that luxury.
About 6,000 federal, state and local law enforcement officials will be on
hand, including Coast Guard patrols in the Potomac River.
"Security
for this occasion will be unprecedented," outgoing Homeland Security
Secretary Tom Ridge told reporters this week. "Our goal is that any
attempt on the part of anyone or any group to disrupt the inaugural will
be repelled by multiple layers of security."
Tightened security is
one reason that Jet Heiko, a 31-year-old activist from Philadelphia, came
up with the idea of a silent protest. During the Bush campaign, protesters
were often given permits to demonstrate only in spaces far from event
sites. So Heiko figured the only way to crash the party was to dress the
part.
"We're telling folks to dress neutral, to not have any
outward signs of protest," he said.
Angry that inaugural planners
have commandeered so much space on Pennsylvania Avenue for bleachers —
with scalpers selling tickets for more than $300 — protesters plan to
sandwich themselves on the sidewalk wherever they can, and turn their
backs on Bush at the appropriate moment.
"We think it's shameful
that, even though they call it a public event, this is increasingly
private," Heiko said. "The only ones who will see the president are the
ones who pay to see him."
Some observers think a more muted protest
is appropriate.
"If you think of protests in a coldly pragmatic
way, rather than in an emotional way, this is not the best place to
focus," said Norman J. Ornstein, an analyst at the American Enterprise
Institute, a conservative public policy center.
"It's raining on
the parade of people who won legitimately. If you do jarring protests to
the point where a lot of Americans react viscerally, you're hurting
yourself."
For reasons of security or political sensitivity, most
protesters are keeping their distance.
Code Pink, a group of
street-theater activists formed in 2002 to mock the Bush administration's
terrorism alert codes, is protesting the Wednesday evening Black Tie and
Boots Ball organized by the Texas State Society because, spokeswoman Nancy
Mancias said, "they are wealthy, well-to-do Texans with a long history of
supporting Bush." The group plans to march to the White House on Thursday,
Mancias said, or "at least in that general direction."
Critical
Mass, an umbrella group of left-wing organizations that lists its events
on counter-inaugural.org, is calling for a bike ride from Union Station
starting at 7:30 a.m., four and a half hours before the inauguration.
Other groups are scheduling events outside Washington: In New Mexico,
protesters are planning "A Funeral for Democracy" with mourners forming a
procession in Santa Fe.
The newest twists on inaugural protests
rely less on shoe leather than on brain power. The Internet blackout and
the consumer boycott — which owes something to a protest organized by
blue-state Democrats against corporations that actively supported
Republicans — are new additions to this year's mix.
"It's elegant
and simple and not scary to do," said Kimberly Hughes, a psychotherapist
and musician in Brooklyn, N.Y., who is helping promote the consumer
boycott through her church. "We the people are fueling these policies with
our money. If there's an appreciable dip in commerce, it may get someone
thinking."
And then there's the book.
A postelection instant
book called "What We Do Now," offering commentary by former Vermont Gov.
Howard Dean, former Al Gore campaign manager Donna Brazile and other
notable Democrats proved so popular that the publisher was planning a
series of counterinaugural events on the day after the inaugural — one in
Washington on Wednesday night, one in San Francisco on Thursday and one in
Cooper Union's Great Hall in New York, where Abraham Lincoln once
spoke.
"They will be well-attended by those who don't want to
confront the military," said Dennis Loy Johnson, who with his wife,
Valerie Merians, runs Melville Press, which increased its run of "What We
Do Now" from 3,000 to 30,000.
"It's about just doing something," he
said. "And these are not [Democratic] party books; they're just from
people frightened by the rise of the American right."
*
Times staff writer Faye Fiore contributed to this
report.
