La Libre Belgique · 2004

A city on the campaign trail

David Benaym · July 28, 2004

Translated from the French. Original: La Libre Belgique, July 28, 2004 · French version · Read the original on lalibre.be ↗

united states

DAVID BENAYM

Published and posted online on 28/07/2004

In a Boston entirely won over to the Democratic cause, John Kerry is to receive his party’s nomination.

Delegates, supporters and media have invaded the city.

Nobody wants to miss the crowning of the hometown boy.

THE MOOD

SPECIAL CORRESPONDENCE FROM BOSTON

“It only happens once in a lifetime.” That is how Alicia, 28, a Boston-born volunteer, describes her experience of the summer of 2004. The Democratic convention has been under way for a few days and the volunteers are as enthusiastic as ever. Boston is a small city where life is pleasant. So seeing more than 50,000 people arrive, between participants, journalists and police, makes quite a change.

The streets are dressed in the colours of the “Stars and Stripes”, red, white and blue; banners, flags, posters: the perfect activist’s kit is within everyone’s reach. Well, within every wallet’s reach. To dress “Democrat”, short-sleeved shirt, cap, T-shirt, you have to take out the dollars. Political marketing is a well-oiled machine. The stands, set up on every street corner likely to see a political delegate walk by, provide badges, stickers and coffee mugs bearing the likeness of the stars of the week: John Kerry and John Edwards. The shops are all decorated to please the participants in this political carnival.

Every resident is a potential supporter. The atmosphere is one of welcome and information. If a passer-by seems lost in the historic streets of Boston, the local good Samaritan is happy, city map in hand, to help the lost soul in search of a Democratic president. The stakes are high, since the point here is to parade so that the hometown boy, John Kerry, reaches the summit of power.

A turn on the dance floor for Chelsea

A few rebels, however, are there to stop him. But nothing very organised: it is hard to fight John Kerry and the Democratic camp when everyone is getting ready to invade New York next month in order to remove George W. Bush from office.

Each day brings its share of demonstrations on the most controversial themes.

“Billionaires for Bush”, an ironic way of standing up for the less well-off. Some marches, never very large, are nonetheless more unsettling. Homophobes, anti-abortion activists, anarchist protesters: the subjects of the liberal line are attacked by extremist cores penned in a “protest cage”. “Much ado about nothing

”, says Jimmy Dean, a curious man in his sixties who came to the centre of the show.

The evenings are very lively too: all the nightclubs have been booked for the official delegates. The Human Rights Campaign, which fights inequality based on sexual orientation, treated itself to the trendiest club in town: Avalon, which gathers everything young and hip. Techno music, precisely timed concerts, everything is an excuse to party. A few stars take a turn on the dance floor to be seen, Hillary and Chelsea Clinton or the actor Ben Affleck. The media show is under way. Next round? In a month in Manhattan with the Republican convention...