On January 26, the activist organization Adbusters, which helped spark the Occupy Wall Street movement, called for at least 50,000 “redeemers, rebels and radicals” to visit Chicago in the month of May for “the biggest multinational occupation of a summit meeting the world has ever seen.”
Mayor Rahm Emanuel used his clout with President Barack Obama to bring the NATO and G8 summits here, and the way the preparations are proceeding says a lot about how he runs this town.
Roughly 7,500 delegates representing 80 delegations will attend, plus about 2,500 journalists—and all those protesters.
Unofficially, Mayor Rahm Emanuel really, really, really wanted the summits to come here. As he’s told his aides: it’s like the Olympics—only easier to get.
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No. Unlike the prospect of hosting the Olympics, which always had some support, the summits weren’t on the radar—until President Obama offhandedly announced in a speech last June that they were coming to Chicago.
Not until the deal was already made. More on those friends and donors in a bit.
So what has the mayor said about her criticism?
»We don’t know how much the G8/NATO protests will cost, but we do know Chicago is still paying legal fees for the 2003 Iraq War protest.
»Read Judge Posner’s recent decision explaining why those 2003 Iraq protest arrests were unreasonable. (PDF)
»The U.S. Dept. of Homeland Security promises to respond to our request for information . . . right after their 421 other pending requests. (jpeg)
