Those Pesky Anarchists

According to the New York Daily News:

Fifty of the country’s leading anarchists are expected to be in the city for the Republican National Convention, and a handful of them are hard-core extremists with histories of violent and disruptive tactics, according to police intelligence sources.

Police said each of the 50 have up to 50 followers who are willing to be arrested during disturbances at the convention. This group, police say, is expected to engage for the most part in civil disobedience, including sit-ins in front of delegates’ buses. They also may stage more direct-action tactics, such as vandalizing McDonald’s and Starbucks.

Now if I were an anarchist and looking to disrupt the Republican Convention, I’d be hanging out at Le Cirque, not McDonald’s or Starbucks. [They’d probably find the Kerrys there too! -ed. No doubt. But, hey, these are anarchists. They don’t have any use for Republicans or Democrats. I’m doing them a favor. Right.] But apropos of black flags and revolution, I have been asked if I attended the Chicago Convention. Short answer: no. But I did come to know some of the better known participants, like Abbie Hoffman. He even came to visit me while “underground” on the Universal lot back in 1979 because he was pissed I’d parodied him in the film version of The Big Fix. Actually he had another, probably more important, clandestine mission on the lot that day — flogging screen rights to his Steal This Book. Hey, this is America. Everything’s for sale. One of the anarchists in New York next week will probably be making a book deal. [You’ll be carrying your D70. Maybe you can do the cover snap.-ed. Maybe.]