Protest Organizers Turned Away From Convention Office

A cluster of activists Wednesday tried to deliver a list of demands to party officials at the headquarters of the Democratic National Convention Committee, but they were turned away by security, another example, they said, of what’s wrong with American politics today.

The event, which unfolded in front of rows of television cameras and a horde of reporters, is part of a continuing effort by protesters to seize the spotlight during the convention that begins Monday.

Activists also worked on another front Wednesday as their attorneys prepared to file a lawsuit today to force police to cease surveillance of activists.

But publicly, they tried to focus attention on their various messages.

“It’s no secret that our politicians are bought and paid for by corporations,” said Kevin Rudiger, an organizer of the protests, at a morning news conference outside Arco Towers in downtown Los Angeles, where the convention committee has set up offices. “It’s time for our elected officials to start making their decisions based on human needs.”

About 20 activists unfurled a list of a dozen demands in English and Spanish, including abolishing the death penalty and Third World debt, holding corporate leaders criminally responsible for crimes against humanity and the environment and public financing of political campaigns.

The demands are an attempt to focus their messages before the diverse groups take to the streets for four days of demonstrations.

Their goal is to expand the coalition that shut down meetings of the World Trade Organization in Seattle, when activists decried the global economic system. Here they will criticize a wide sweep of issues, from police brutality to Third World structural adjustment programs.

This shift, some within their coalition say, could lead to unfocused and hard-to-understand protests.

Such actions in Philadelphia last week were criticized for being vague and without a clear message.

Los Angeles organizers, who had planned the demands list before Philadelphia, say they want the public to know why they will be out in the streets.

On Monday morning, protesters intend to highlight Occidental Petroleum’s plans to drill for oil in land occupied by an indigenous Colombian tribe. On Tuesday they plan to stress women’s issues, including cuts in welfare. But other groups with diverse messages also plan to converge in downtown too.

Steve Kretzmann of the group Amazon Watch said the planned drilling by Occidental Petroleum, in which Vice President Al Gore owns hundreds of thousands of dollars in stock, is a perfect metaphor for activist concerns about corporate control of politics.

As television cameras rolled, the activists tried to deliver their list to the convention offices on the 42nd floor of the Arco Towers, but were turned away from the entrance by building security. The guards told activists that no one from the committee would come down to take the list.

“This is just another example of how we’re shut out of this process,” Rudiger said. Activist Cameron Levin added: “They’re the ones who force us to protest.”

After the activists stood outside the building for several minutes, security guards asked them to leave. The activists ultimately did, nearly an hour after their news conference started.

Peter Ragone, a spokesman for the convention committee, said the office did eventually send someone down to get the demands but that the activists had left. “We’re interested in what they have to say, of course,” Ragone said.