A close ally of the local war-protest group Re-create 68, which is organizing for the 2008 Democratic National Convention, is severing its ties, the group told R-68 Monday.
Tent State University, a national organization represented locally by Adam Jung, says it is having trouble organizing support and bands to perform because of the violent imagery associated with Re-create 68’s name and with recent heated rhetoric from R-68 organizer Glenn Spagnuolo.
From the outset, Spagnuolo’s group has attracted criticism because of its name, which suggests for many the violence near the 1968 Chicago convention.
“We don’t feel that Re-create 68 is working well with the anti-war left,” Jung said.
Medea Benjamin, co-founder of the national group CodePink, seconded concerns over Re-create 68’s message and image, saying she wanted to portray the anti-war message as positively as possible. But Benjamin didn’t rule out working with R-68.
Weeks ago, Spagnuolo said the city was creating “a very dangerous situation” because it had given a permit — in a blind lottery — to the committee hosting the convention for use of Civic Center park on the Sunday before the convention. He has since said R-68 activity would be peaceful.
“We feel like a more positive message would be more attractive to people, and we prefer it to be a more positive message,” Benjamin said.
Spagnuolo said Jung’s call was “disappointing.”
“This is typically what happens when you have these conservative liberal groups who come in and pressure the smaller groups with their resources,” Spagnuolo said. He declined to define “conservative liberal groups.”
“It’s a shame,” he said. “It’s not going to stop us from what we’re doing. We have upwards of 40 groups working with us.”
