Supes Should Stop Business as Usual

Supes should not conduct business as usual; Upside to Game 6 defeat


As protesters shut down the city on the first full day after the Iraq invasion, San Francisco was lauded in the New York Times as the "epicenter" of anti-war activism. This is one of those occasions that explains why people choose to live in the Bay Area despite our exorbitant housing costs. But for all the success in blocking traffic on major thoroughfares, interfering with the work of global corporations, and preventing the conducting of "business as usual," one arena particularly susceptible to popular pressure was ignored: local government.

The Planning Commission met as usual on Thursday despite the crowds just outside City Hall. The Board of Supervisors has a full agenda on Tuesday, and as our city's elected leadership it would be outrageous for the Board meeting to proceed with business as usual.

The Supes are already on record as opposing Bush's war. Now they must take the next step and devote either their entire meeting or at least the beginning portion to taking public comment on the invasion of American troops into Iraq. I know people are eager for the fate of Ben Hom and Benny Yee to be decided, and there's surely other important items on the agenda but the Board's constituents are focused on the war. It would send a terrible and embarrassing message for the Supes to act as if America's role in the world were none of their business.

The Iraq invasion will cost $90 billion, all of which will no longer be available for spending on schools, housing and other needs of San Franciscans. The war is clearly and profoundly a local issue. Supervisors Ammiano and McGoldrick and perhaps others have spoken out against the war at Saturday rallies; now they and their colleagues must assist the anti-war effort while acting in their official capacities.

Invoking the power of local governments to create officially sanctioned space to comment on the war offers a far more systemic and meaningful statement of "no business as usual" than traffic disruption. This strategy is also far more participatory, as the hundreds of thousands who have marched against the war would look forward to the opportunity to speak out in an official public hearing. Imagine how the corporate media's agenda would be confounded to see the elected leadership of San Francisco-as well as other major cities and small towns ---leading a public insurrection against Bush's war. Local news coverage could not avoid showing the crowds steadily streaming into city halls, while the absence of city action on land use or budget issues would powerfully confirm that the city is not proceeding as usual.

People are angry and frustrated but the strategy of disruption has its limits. It quickly produces a backlash from angry motorists and small business owners, and results in increasing police violence against protesters (the police were on their best behavior until Thursday afternoon, when the Chief's claim that the city was in "complete anarchy" created pressure for countless involuntary arrests).

While the disruption strategy generates media, nobody should act surprised when protesters are soon put in a negative light. The stories will inevitably focus on how protests aimed at Bush are actually hurting the little guy, whether it be the immigrant small business owner whose windows were broken or the mother stuck in traffic and frantic over her inability to pick her child up from school.

Activists know the game. We've seen it time and time again. Once war starts the media portrays opponents as outside the mainstream, and the tactic of random disruption provides the ammunition they need. Even when protests are peaceful, and are targeted at Bush or Congress members who support the war, the dominant frame is that anti-war activists are estranged from the nation's democratically elected political institutions.

The Board of Supervisor's transformation of its Tuesday meeting into a public comment session or town hall meeting on the war both demonstrate the depth of opposition to the war and create great local and national media. The opportunity is there-the Supes need merely seize it.

Upside to Game 6 defeat--- Still upset at the Giants failure to hold their Game 6 lead? Think of it this way. A Giants World Series victory would have brought a huge parade down Market Street and cost the city more than $500,000. By losing the Series these already budgeted police overtime funds were available for the anti-war protests.