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The New Flower Children
By David R. Zukerman, NYC and Winsted
 | | The new Time-Warner building under construction in Columbus Square served as a backdrop for the staging area of the protest march. |
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Thousands of people rallied against the World Economic Forum in New York City on Saturday, February 2. They assembled in Columbus Circle, at the southwest corner of Central Park on 59th Street (across from the AOL-Time Warner building under construction), walked through the park to Fifth Avenue and 59th Street, and then walked along East Side streets to Park Avenue, where the police set up pens to hold the throng between 46th and 48th Streets.
This demonstration was peaceful—even, as a report in the New York Times stated, "festive." It reminded me of the hippie "happenings" in Central Park in the 1960s—young people, in colorful attire, dancing to drums, bells, horns, and perhaps an actual musical instrument.
There were reported arrests at Fifth Avenue and 59th Street. Following the head of the line, I missed those events, but had noticed that the large numbers of police called out to maintain law and order carried plastic handcuffs and wore helmets with face shields.
On Lexington Avenue, while the line of march was temporarily halted, I went up to one of the motorcycle police and asked if he had worked the Macy's Thanksgiving Day parade. When he told me he had, I said that my paper, The Voice, had run a photograph of him posing with clowns at that parade. And while the demonstration march was halted, perhaps to give the police time to take additional security measures, this police captain and I exchanged names and addresses—I told him I would send him a copy of the paper with his picture.
 | | Vice President Cheney sports a new look. |
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While the line of march was still in Central Park, I noticed a young man wearing a Nader-LaDuke sweatshirt and gave him a copy of the February 1 issue The Voice, which included Ralph Nader's column on the Enron situation. There was at least one sign among the marchers calling the meeting they were protesting the World "Enron" Forum.
There was a confrontation between crowd and cops after the rally ended. The police had kept the pens on Park Avenue separate, and some in the crowd wanted to remove the blockage. Eventually police let people in the pen between 46th and 47th Streets into the pen at the next block, which extended up to 48th Street—one block down and across from the Waldorf-Astoria Hotel, site of the World Economic Forum this year. A girl who climbed a light pole on 49th Street was arrested.
I was able to enter the Waldorf on January 28, before the WEF entourage arrived, and took a few photos of the interior. Most WEF-accredited reporters were barred from the Waldorf during the WEF; these media representatives were permitted to follow the forum by monitor at the Inter-Continental Hotel (The Barclay New York), across 49th Street from the Waldorf.
I got into the media center on February 3 and followed a discussion on the future of the world that included Senator Hillary Clinton, Israel's Foreign Minister Shimon Peres, and plutocrat George Soros. In responding to a question, Mr. Peres indicated that it would not be in Israel's interest to be seen to have anything to do with removing Palestine Authority President Yasser Arafat from power. Mrs. Clinton remarked at one point that the U.S. had acted like a "drunken sailor" giving foreign aid to keep countries on our side during the Cold War. Another panelist, former Carter National Security Adviser Zbigniew Brzezinski, indicated a bit of unease with the quality of the discussion, adding that the causes of terrorism go beyond issues of poverty, to cultural and historical sources.
There were few demonstrators across from the Waldorf on Sunday afternoon, February 3. One of them, who only identified himself as "Kaufman," held aloft two signs for passing cars. One read, in part: "CHRISTIANS MUST DEFEND THE POOR." In his left hand he held a sign a that read on one side: "Jesus Loves You and Me! He says STOP Oppression of the Poor." The other side of this sign read: "JESUS HATES GREED."
Leaving the area, I met Judy Nelson and Binta Cisse, sophomores at Brandeis University, and Joel Reynolds, who went to high school with Ms. Cisse in Washington, DC. They had been part of the march on Saturday, and returned on Sunday to see what was going on. They were glad Saturday’s events had remained peaceful, and thought the turnout for the protest was good. Next I met two brothers, Steve and Jeremy Schwartz, who attend high school on Long Island; Steve carried a home-made sign with an elaborate collage on one side and "FIGHT CORPORATE POWER" on the other. Those were all the protesters I saw Sunday afternoon on Park Avenue.
After the Saturday demonstration, the crowd (or at least a portion of it) headed to Grand Central Station. I took a photo of MacDonald Scott, one of the legal observers for the rally. I had spoken briefly with Mr. Scott a short time before, giving him a copy of The Voice and calling Ralph Nader's article to his attention. When I took the photo, a young man he was talking with gave me a quizzical look. Mr. Scott indicated not to be concerned, because I was with "a progressive paper."
There were a few signs at the demonstration critical of the performance of the media. And in view of the deplorable performance of the New York City daily media on the Dayton Seaside story (which I have mentioned many times in these pages), I could not much disagree with one sign that called out: "HEY NEWS MEDIA: There's More To Protest Than Traffic Disruption—COVER THE ISSUES!"
 | | The Radical Rockettes led Saturday's march, wearing flexible Statue of Liberty crowns. |
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Media personalities at the WEF included Peter Jennings of ABC News and Louis Uchitelle, economics writer for the New York Times, who served as "facilitator" for a session called "Business, Labor and Globalization: A Strategic Approach." (Mr. Uchitelle did not list this meeting or otherwise mention his participation in his Times preview of the WEF on January 27, written with Stephanie Strom.) And members of Congress, including Senator Christopher Dodd—and Senator Clinton, as already noted—were also among WEF participants.
In his closing address, UN Secretary General Kofi Annan urged the gathering to prove wrong the critics of globalization "with actions that translate into concrete results for the downtrodden, exploited and excluded."
So far as I know, none of the WEF participants walked over to chat with demonstrators. My dog Shana and I did have a brief chat with a New Jersey couple as they waited for their car after the Saturday night "Soiree" at the New York Stock Exchange. They told me that the most interesting part of evening was being cleared through checkpoints during their drive to the event. The gentleman indicated that only hors d’oeuvres had been served, and he was looking forward to getting back to the Waldorf, where he could have a hamburger and milkshake. He was also looking forward to attending the panel with Senator Clinton the next day, even though his wife earlier had corrected my reference to President Clinton by stressing that he was "former" President.
Perhaps the lesson is that had I brought Shana with me on Sunday and Monday, even lacking WEF accreditation, I could have interviewed many more of the approximately 3,000 attendees. Maybe the demonstrators who are feeling locked out of the proceedings should also think about bringing a friendly dog or two along next time …
 | | Some pent-up tension was expressed as protesters tried to convince police to let them cross a barricade to join others on the next block. |
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 | | There were also light-hearted moments on Saturday, as when Allan H. Hoehl, Chief of Patrol, Manhattan South, walked along the line of march with protesters on Second Avenue. Chief Hoehl was top aide to NYPD Police Chief Joseph J. Esposito, who was also on hand as the march proceeded from Columbus Circle to the pens on Park Avenue. They, along with Police Commissioner Raymond W. Kelly, were among those personally acknowledged by WEF president Klaus Schwab during the closing ceremonies on Monday. |
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|  | | This phalanx of police officers preceded the march on Saturday. Here they are shown walking through one of the pens, between 46th and 47 Streets on Park Avenue, which was soon to be full of protesters at the end of their march. |
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|  | | "Reclaim Democracy" |
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 | | This Secret Service officer had a steel helmet on his head. |
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|  | | WEF founder and president Klaus Schwab spoke with reporters after the closing press conference in the Inter-Continental Hotel on Monday. |
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 | | Lieutenant Elias J. Nikas and his colleagues in the NYPD Public Information Office were on the street during Saturday's demonstration. (Two weeks earlier, Lt. Nikas had walked me through the process of obtaining my NYPD press card.) |
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|  | | Steve and Jeremy Schwartz state their opinion. |
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 | | A lone protester occupied a pen in front of the Mutual of America building on Park Avenue on Sunday. |
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|  | | A view of Saturday's march as it passed through Central Park. |
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 | | A recurring theme since September 11 ... |
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