"
The restaurant serves as something of a neutral ground, where protesters and policemen are able to switch off the suspicion and hostility born of the power relationship they find themselves in when the latter are specifically charged with supervising the former. 'Suddenly,' says Wilkins, 'they're really courteous to you. They can see you're a protester; you've walked in there with a cardboard sign. But if they bump into you, they apologize.' Policemen have seen footage of protesters tossing barricades, and protesters have seen footage of policemen tossing occupiers, but none of this footage has been set in McDonald's.
'Everybody needs a break,' says Wilkins, inadvertently recalling the fact that McDonald's used to ask whether you'd had yours today."
I made this a necessary rule when organizing protests; find out where the useable restrooms are nearby and check them out. We've used Christian Science Reading Rooms, grocery stores, and even the police station when those worked out best.
No comments:
Post a Comment