Protesters planning own inaugural 'gala'

Jet Heiko wasted no time. On Nov. 3, the day after President Bush was elected to a second term, the 31-year-old Fishtown resident launched a new Web site:

TurnYourBackonBush.org.

Even though the presidential election did not go the way he wanted, Heiko was not discouraged. He immediately began organizing a protest to be held during Bush's inauguration on Thursday. Bush detractors plan to blend with parade watchers and then turn their backs as the President's motorcade passes.

"We felt it was really important to show the widespread discontent and resistance to the President and his policies," said Heiko, an affordable-housing consultant who has set up an office in Washington for the protest.

As Bush's team works exhaustively to prepare for the $40 million 55th presidential extravaganza in Washington, thousands of demonstrators traveling from around the country are expected to put on their own show.

Of course, Inauguration Day protests are nothing new. But the scale of next week's demonstrations - which organizers think could be the largest since Richard Nixon's inauguration in 1973 - highlights the deep divisions over the Iraq war and other Bush administration policies.

"When you're talking about war, that's a pretty significant issue, a pretty volatile issue. People are less willing to compromise," said Ralph F. Young, a history professor at Temple University who teaches a "Dissent in America" course.

In 2001, protesters mostly seemed unhappy about the outcome of a contentious election. This time the stakes are different, Young said.

"I think much of the protests next week aren't against Bush's election but against his policies, especially in Iraq."

Groups representing an encyclopedia of causes are expected to descend on Washington, lining the parade route, marching in streets, rallying in parks, staging acts of civil disobedience, and even partying at counter-inaugural balls.

Those who favor Bush's policies also are organizing demonstrations and parties.

West Chester antiwar activist Michael Berg, whose son, Nick Berg, was beheaded in Iraq by militants, will be there, perhaps joining a "die-in" planned as an act of civil disobedience.

Bush "needs to see huge crowds," Berg said. "He needs to see his inauguration - coronation - marred because of public dislike of his policies."

Organizers are expecting the number of demonstrators to exceed the more than 20,000 who turned out four years ago; that, in turn, was considered the largest since the start of President Nixon's second term in 1973, when 60,000 protested the Vietnam War. The inauguration is meant to be "a day we come together as a nation," said Ben Porritt, a spokesman for the Presidential Inaugural Committee. "We put our differences on hold to celebrate the most cherished ideals of the U.S. Constitution."

Opponents of the Bush administration said they will celebrate First Amendment ideals by protesting the President and his foreign and domestic policies.

"You can't wake up and say this guy got a majority, however small, and hang it up and go home," said Karen Porter, director of the Chester County Peace Movement, which plans to send two busloads of protesters to Washington. "No one who has fought for justice and peace has ever done that."

Charlotte Hummel, 47, chairwoman of the Democratic Party in Lansdowne, plans to stay in this area, protesting an election she thinks is "illegitimate" by participating in "Not One Damn Dime Day." It calls for people not to spend any money on Jan. 20 to protest the Iraq war. Her daughter, Zoe, 10, will take a bag lunch to school to avoid patronizing the cafeteria.

Her husband, Andy Farquhar, 45, will "show opposition" by traveling to Washington. "I'm adamantly against the war," he said.

Son Elliot, 12, will accompany his father, missing school to protest at an inauguration for the second time. In 2001, he created a sign that read, "We're mad." This time, he's thinking of something along the lines of "All Hat, No Cattle," and "Yee-hah is not a foreign policy."

"I was pretty upset when Bush so-called won," Elliot said.

Said his father, "The more people that come, the harder it will be to ignore us."

FreeRepublic.com's members would agree that turnout matters. That's why the D.C. chapter of the conservative group that supports Bush has rallied its members to demonstrate, securing a permit for 1,000.

"We want to provide a safe haven for conservatives and other supporters of the President on the parade route," said Kristinn Taylor, co-leader of the D.C. chapter.

Raoul Deming, 45, of Chester Springs, who supports the wars, wants specifically to counter the protests of the eclectic anti-war, anti-racism ANSWER Coalition, which has permits for up to 10,000 people.

"These people are trying to affect the political will," he said. "These people are Saddam's cheering section. I'm going down to support America and support our troops."

Demonstrations also will take place around the country.

In Center City, Philadelphia Regional Anti-War Network plans to gather at 15th and Market Streets to "engage" with other Philadelphians on the need to spend money not on war but on "human needs," said Marlene Santoyo, 66, a group board member and retired public school teacher from Mount Airy.

Many of those planning to protest learned about events through the Internet.

"We're in a new age in many respects," said Edward Turzanski, a professor of political science at La Salle University and a senior fellow with the Foreign Policy Research Institute in Philadelphia. "In the Internet age, protest is more widespread, more easily assembled and sustained than it has been in the past."