7.04.2006
Sweet Home Chicago
I'm back in Chicago and have been unpacking and getting myself organized and so I have not posted photos of my trip, or anything about France's miraculous victory over Brazil on Saturday, or about my readjustment to American living. I'd like to post a link to a news story about the Taste of Chicago Seven, the seven people who were arrested at the Taste of Chicago for handing out leaflets against military recruiting, aka "protesting without a permit." But -- that's funny -- there are no news stories about it.
OK, wait, there is this one: you have to register to read it, so use bugmenot if you need a login and password.
I always thought that if you were in a small group and not blocking traffic, you didn't need a permit. But apparently now political speech is only free in "free speech zones," as Daley takes a page from Bush's playbook. Hm. I wonder if it would be acceptable to stand in the same place handing out flyers for something you want to sell?
Passing out political leaflets at the Taste of Chicago is truly a heroic, self-sacrificing act. The Taste of Chicago is a yearly event where, in the heat of summer and in the company of millions of others, you are given the opportunity to eat overpriced samples of food from Chicago restaurants when you could eat at the same places more cheaply while seated in an air-conditioned restaurant. It's a sweltering mess of flesh (human and otherwise). To me, it always seems calculated to increase the total quantity of misanthropy in the world. But some heroic souls see it as an opportunity to reach others with their activist message.
And of course, the city of Chicago can't have that.
P.S. This just in. Here's a link to the story on indymedia.
OK, wait, there is this one: you have to register to read it, so use bugmenot if you need a login and password.
I always thought that if you were in a small group and not blocking traffic, you didn't need a permit. But apparently now political speech is only free in "free speech zones," as Daley takes a page from Bush's playbook. Hm. I wonder if it would be acceptable to stand in the same place handing out flyers for something you want to sell?
Passing out political leaflets at the Taste of Chicago is truly a heroic, self-sacrificing act. The Taste of Chicago is a yearly event where, in the heat of summer and in the company of millions of others, you are given the opportunity to eat overpriced samples of food from Chicago restaurants when you could eat at the same places more cheaply while seated in an air-conditioned restaurant. It's a sweltering mess of flesh (human and otherwise). To me, it always seems calculated to increase the total quantity of misanthropy in the world. But some heroic souls see it as an opportunity to reach others with their activist message.
And of course, the city of Chicago can't have that.
P.S. This just in. Here's a link to the story on indymedia.
