Notes From a Polite New Yorker
By Matthew Sheahan

Billionaires at the Barricades

On the surface it might have sounded like a good idea. The World Economic Forum, which usually takes place in the resort hamlet of Davos, Switzerland, would bring its 3,000-strong cadre of corporate and government elite to the Big Apple. Businesses would be helped as high rollers spent money at restaurants and hotels, and New York would be championed by billionaires showing that they weren't afraid of terrorists.
The WEF said it was to show solidarity with our suffering city after the September 11th attacks, but protest organizers debunked that myth at a press conference a few days before the forum started. David Boehner, an anti-WEF protest organizer from Switzerland, said the WEF was "chased away from Switzerland" and "if it goes back to Switzerland next year, it will be for the last time." Indeed, the Swiss government has spent untold millions of francs on security in the past few years keeping ever more numerous protesters from disrupting things in Davos.
How much New York City spent on police overtime has yet to be calculated officially, but is estimated to be in the millions. Cops worked shifts as long as 14 hours. Police officers were stationed outside every Starbucks and Gap in Manhattan
"There is no secret cabal of violent thugs in this movement," said accomplished author and Pagan Cluster leader Starhawk, who didn't want to give reporters her original name (Miriam Simos). In one way she was right: The cabal of violent protesters is no secret at all. Gatherings like the WEF have been plagued with violent protests since 1999. Sadly, for every one of these violent protesters that are out in the streets getting arrested, there are hundreds of peaceful protesters, like Starhawk and her friends and genuine police excesses, that are generally ignored by the mainstream press.
On the Saturday of the WEF, I went Central Park near Columbus Circle, where a group called Reclaim the Streets was gathering. I found a ragtag crowd a few thousand strong, outnumbered by the police.
One protester placed a black anarchy flag in the arms of one of the statues at the park entrance, to the cheers and raised fists of the crowd. Despite threats by police to arrest anyone in a mask, dozens of masked men and women appeared in the crowd, often in a group. One apparent ringleader wore a black balaclava (mask) and a white construction helmet.
Reclaim the Streets had a permit to rally but not to march. The police allowed them to march through the park to join the Another World is Possible rally at 59th and 5th avenues. Another World is Possible, an umbrella group of many protest organizations, did have a permit to march. I walked alongside as the procession wound its way through Central Park. Protesters pounded out a steady beat on five-gallon buckets, orange traffic barrels, and even a few real snare drums. Whistles blew and various chants went up, including "Anarchy Now!," "Corporate media go home!" and "This is what democracy looks like!"
In the park, a group of masked men unfurled a standard rectangular flag that consisted of a black triangle overlaying a red triangle. I asked one of the flag bearers what the flag represented.
"Anarchist Syndicalism," said the masked young man, who identified himself as a New Jersey resident who attended Rutgers University.
The Another World is Possible Rally was well attended but poorly organized. Much of the crowd couldn't hear what was being said over a scratchy P.A. system. Protesters quickly grew weary of standing there listening to different groups have their say and began chanting "Let's go!"
The rally ended and the procession started with a series of giant puppets. As one particularly large dragon puppet tried to make its way across a street blocked by police, protesters and cops negotiated for a while and eventually reached a settlement. Cops and protesters worked together to move some wooden barricades to lead the dragon through an approved avenue.
After most of the marchers had left and headed down 59th Street, there were more than 30 arrests when a confrontation between police and protesters erupted. It was hard to see what was going on, but I spotted pepper spray being used and a protester's makeshift plastic shield being taken away. Police said they had information that they were about to be attacked by protesters and were moving in to make arrests when protesters threw makeshift plastic shields at them. Protesters claimed the police charged them for no reason.
Near where I was standing, a young kid wearing a mohawk haircut and a black bandana over his face started to rip up cobblestones around a planted tree, presumably to throw at the police. Someone soon joined him and I stepped back a safe distance. When I turned around to look back at the place near where I was standing, there was an American flag on fire on the ground. Police Emergency Service Unit trucks rolled in and an ESU officer put out the burning flag with a fire extinguisher.
A few minutes later, protesters tried to block Fifth Avenue by lying down in the street. Police quickly put the kibosh on that and let the rest of the marchers through.
On Lexington Avenue, outside of the Fitzpatrick Hotel, there was another scuffle between police and protesters that ended in some arrests. I saw a mass of people and cops but couldn't tell what was going on. Many protesters started chanting "Shame!" at the police. I approached one of the chanting protesters. "Did you see what happened?" I asked him.
"No," he said. "It was too far away, I couldn't see what happened."
"But you were chanting 'shame,'" I said. "What if the police arrested someone legitimately?"
"That never happens!" was his reply.
The march eventually wound its way to within shouting distance of the Waldorf-Astoria (if you shouted very loudly).
The protest group I found most appealing was the Billionaires for Bush and Bloomberg, the local chapter of Billionaires for Bush or Gore, a group that protests big money's hold on politics by posing as wealthy billionaires profiting from our current system. Silk ties, fur coats, champagne glasses and snappy hats were their calling cards, and the dapperly dressed Billionaires stood out in the sea of face masks, caucasian dreadlocks and other fashion oddities. Their placards read "Wealthy Executives Forever," "Protect Out Profits" and "Hire A Child - Little Hands Make Big Profits."
Fellow protesters, onlookers, even cops had a good chuckle as the group of Billionaires chanted, "Welfare for the wealthy! Keep our profits healthy!" David Case, also known as Fillmore Pockets, handed out dollar bills with Dick Cheney's picture on them.
After the march was over, I caught up with the Billionaires and spoke with Mya Cash, who wore a fur coat and a tiara. "At least 66 companies, if not more, gave between $50,000 dollars and $1-million dollars each to both the Republicans and the Democrats to insure that whoever won, we'd be in office," she told me outside Grand Central Station, where she had thanked police for protecting her. "We knew big money had already won no matter what the outcome."
"It's wonderful. Just for a paltry few million dollars here and there we were able to reap billions in profits."
"We felt like it was important to bring our message of wealth power into the streets to counter-protest these rabble, these violent protesters who commit violence against our money - they dare to smash windows. For too long we've ruled the country through tinted windows and chauffeur-driven limousines."
Mya Cash, a.k.a. Jennifer Pozner, is a freelance journalist who leads the loosely organized New York group that operates under the name of Billionaires for Bush and Bloomberg. "We salute Mike because Bloomy's an old pal of ours," she said of New York's new mayor, who spent an average of over $90 per vote in the election. "He's a billionaire from way back. We salute him for winning the election in New York the old fashion way: by buying it. And we also salute him for slashing city budgets for social services and then giving the red carpet treatment to the World Economic Forum."
"Remember, WEF equals 'Wasn't Enron Fun?'"
Billionaires for Bush or Gore was started in the 2000 election year by a group called United for a Fair Economy. Adopting such names as Meg A Merger, Art Killwoodz, Phil T. Rich, Ivana Cheatem and Olive Oilfields, the Billionaires appeared at protests outside of both conventions and even held an election eve pre-victory party to counter a Ralph Nader rally. "Don't vote for a third party candidate!" the Billionaires implored voters, "Vote for one of the boys we bought!"
"People decided that this was a really great way to educate people, a really great way to get our message across," said Ms. Pozner, who told me more about the group a few days later. "Basically our government has been bought by big business and there are obvious consequences of this."
"I find that as this Billionaire character I can diffuse a lot of tension." She cited an incident in Philadelphia two years ago during the Republican National Convention when she and other brave Billionaires paraded between police and protesters during a particularly tense standoff.
At one point during the WEF protests, police mistook the Billionaires for actual counter-demonstrators and formed a protective cordon around them as they spoke to reporters. "We're here today to salute the WEF for increasing the gap in the world between the rich and the poor," they told the press. Police officers later realized that they were left-leaning protesters of the same stripe as their less elegantly dressed counterparts and ordered them back in with the others.
Next election time, the national organization will be sure to change its name to Billionaires for Bush and whoever the Democratic nominee is. Until then, local groups will continue to hold their own protests at various times. You can reach the national organization online at www.billionairesforbushorgore.com, and the New York chapter online at http://www.geocities.com/artandpolitics//nycbillionaires/.
"Every time the rabble decide to interrupt and crash our parties with their tedious protests, the Billionaires will be there to expose the ludicrous nature of social justice and advance the cause of big business," Mya Cash said. "Now that we've come out of the wealth closet, there's no going back in."