Rock Against Reagan

Rock Against Reagan was organized in 1984 to protest against incumbent president Ronald Reagan, his policies and all the ultraright political skeletons (dinosaurs?) that came out of the closet to join him and support them. Although it was only organized to be a one-time event at the 1984 RNC, it made the papers again in Ireland, when protestors gathered to jeer Reagan's would-be representation of Irish heritage in America, and in Dallas, Texas, where the irony of the Dead Kennedys appearance inspired even the local paper who obviously had never heard of them (writing "Dead Kennedys" in quotes) to note them.

In 100 degree temperatures a crowds of 250 people came to the Rock Against Reagan portion of the demonstrations outside the 1984 Republican National Convention

The so-called Yippies (Youth International Party) (WP) made their last headlines during the convention. On the Wednesday of the convention a group of protesters calling itself the "Corporate War Chest Tour" conducted a paint-splattering spree against businesses in downtown Dallas.

Flag burning & Texas v. Johnson

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WP

One protester, Wikipedia:Revolutionary Communist Youth Brigade member Gregory Lee Johnson, burned an U.S. flag, and was arrested for Wikipedia:flag desecration. Johnson challenged the arrest, arguing that burning the flag was protected by the First Amendment to the Wikipedia:United States Constitution. The case of Wikipedia:Texas v. Johnson was appealed to the Wikipedia:United States Supreme Court, which ruled on June 21, 1989 in Johnson's favor and invalidated flag desecration statutes throughout the country. The remains of the charred flag were gathered by a Wikipedia:civil servant, Wikipedia:Daniel E. Walker of Fort Worth, who buried them according to military protocol in his backyard.

Other protests at the convention included Iranian dissidents and the -sarcasm on- side-splitting satire of feminist protestors by Ladies Against Women (you can tell just by their title, can't you) -sarcasm off-

Against Reagan Racism, Bands Against Bush, Andy Rooney and Irony

See Bands Against Bush and Give up Activism

On July 17, 1984, before the first Rock against Reagan protests, Andy Rooney, somewhat infamous for his one racist, one anti-homosexual and one anti-Kurt Cobain comments (see Andy Rooney's Views, wrote a column which was picked up by various newspapers. Disparaging demonstrations, it variously entitled Demonstrations; They Add Some Life To Political Conventions (Evening Independent), Demonstrations are dumb (Chicago Tribune) and Foolish Demonstrations (Pittsburgh Press), it covered a similar demonstration, called Against Reagan Racism, and put forth the idea that all demonstrations were good for was political entertainment, and not even political theatre.

Ironically, another demonstration much later, in 2004, against President Bush, proved that, the issue of demonstrations' actual effectiveness aside, post-Patriot Act policing sure thought they were.

Bands Against Bush organization and professed attendees were covertly surveilled by the New York City police department, and information sent into the Homeland Security Network.

If keeping the cops busy is your idea of a job well done, then going to see a band at a right wing political event would seem to be a good way of doing it.

See Also

• Dead Kennedys
• Rock Against Bush
• Bands Against Bush
• Flag burning
• Texas v. Johnson
• Gregory Lee Johnson (WP)
• Flag waving
• Give up Activism

External links

• Google News Search There is more here to expand the article with