Political activists hoping to rain on the Democrats’ parade when the party holds its national convention in Denver have launched a website encouraging others to make the next convention look like the one in 1968.
The group, Recreate-68 Alliance, bought up several Internet domain names that are similar to the Denver host committee’s official site, www.denverconvention2008.com.
But instead of raving about the city’s assets like the official site does, these sites redirect viewers to www.recreate68.org – a site professing to be “your virtual activists’ Convergence Center.” Among other information, the site encourages protests like those that marred the 1968 Democratic National Convention in Chicago.
“Join us in the streets of Denver as we resist a two-party system that allows imperialism and racism to continue unrestrained,” the site says.
Glenn Spagnuolo, a co- founder of this and several other metro-area protest groups, said the message is about hope.
“That was a gathering of community members who actually thought the power of mass mobilization could lead to change,” he said of the 1968 convention, where violence broke out between angry Vietnam War protesters and police.
Denver convention host committee co-chairman Chris Gates, who was at the 1968 convention, said protesters are expected at every party convention.
“Part of the reason (Hubert) Humphrey lost that election was because of the chaos in the streets of Chicago in 1968,” Gates said. “So if you believe in progressive values and progressive causes, their argument doesn’t really make sense.”
