Sue Sapir-Niederer is an American political activist.
Niederer's son was Second Lieutenant Seth Dvorin, a 24-year-old U.S. Army soldier in the 10th Mountain Division who was killed on February 3, 2004, during the occupation of Iraq. Dvorin, who had just returned to Iraq after spending two weeks with his family, was killed after locating an improvised explosive device. After Dvorin's death, Niederer campaigned against the re-election of George W. Bush and continued American military presence in Iraq. Niederer came to national prominence after she was arrested for disrupting a speech by First Lady Laura Bush in September 2004. Later criminal charges of "defiant trespass" against Niederer were dropped.
Niederer lives in Pennington, New Jersey. [1] She entered a Bush-Cheney rally of about 700 at a firehouse in Hamilton Township on September 16, 2004. Niederer had a ticket to the rally, as required, and carried a T-shirt in her purse which read "President Bush You Killed My Son," with a picture of her son. During Bush's speech, Niederer shouted "Why did my son have to die?" and "When are yours going to serve?" (a reference to Bush's children).
Bush supporters began a loud chant of "Four more years," quickly drowning Niederer out. Reports indicated that such a response to disruption was planned; one campaign volunteers was quoted as saying, "If anybody acts up, I just start chanting, 'Four more years!'" Some Bush supporters directly confronted Niederer, including one audience member who yelled, "Your son chose to fight in that war."
Niederer was forcibly removed by local police and Secret Service, who handcuffed her and placed her in the back of a police van. Even though videotape of the incident appears to show Niederer resisting arrest, she was never criminally charged with resisting arrest.
Mercer County Prosecutor Joseph L. Bocchini Jr. issued a statement defending the police for stopping Niederer from heckling the First Lady, but some free speech advocates felt the charge was unwarranted.
Beginning in late 2002, and continuing after the 2003 invasion of Iraq, large-scale protests against the Iraq War were held in many cities worldwide, often coordinated to occur simultaneously around the world. After the biggest series of demonstrations, on February 15, 2003, New York Times writer Patrick Tyler claimed that they showed that there were two superpowers on the planet: the United States and worldwide public opinion.
Free speech zones are areas set aside in public places for the purpose of political protesting. The First Amendment to the United States Constitution states that "Congress shall make no law ... abridging ... the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances." The existence of free speech zones is based on U.S. court decisions stipulating that the government may reasonably regulate the time, place, and manner – but not content – of expression.
The 2004 Republican National Convention, the presidential nominating convention of the Republican Party of the United States, took place from August 30 to September 2, 2004 at Madison Square Garden in New York City, New York. The convention is one of a series of historic quadrennial meetings at which the Republican candidates for president and vice president, and party platform are formally adopted. Attendance included 2,509 delegates and 2,344 alternate delegates from the states, territories and the District of Columbia. The convention marked the formal end of the active primary election season. As of 2021, it is the most recent major-party nominating convention to be held in New York City.
2004 Republican National Convention protest activity includes the broad range of marches, rallies, performances, demonstrations, exhibits, and acts of civil disobedience in New York City to protest the 2004 Republican National Convention and the nomination of President George W. Bush for the 2004 U.S. presidential election.
In the United States, a heckler's veto is a situation in which a party who disagrees with a speaker's message is able to unilaterally trigger events that result in the speaker being silenced.
The United States 2008 Republican National Convention took place at the Xcel Energy Center in Saint Paul, Minnesota, from September 1, through September 4, 2008. The first day of the Republican Party's convention fell on Labor Day, the last day of the popular Minnesota State Fair, though because of Hurricane Gustav, this day was mostly a call for action to help victims and formal, required activities; most of the politicking and partying did not start until Tuesday, the second scheduled day.
Raymond McGovern is a former Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) officer turned political activist. McGovern was a CIA analyst from 1963 to 1990, and in the 1980s chaired National Intelligence Estimates and prepared the President's Daily Brief. He received the Intelligence Commendation Medal at his retirement, returning it in 2006 to protest the CIA's involvement in torture. McGovern's post-retirement work includes commenting for Consortium News, RT, and Sputnik News, among other outlets, on intelligence and foreign policy issues. In 2003 he co-founded Veteran Intelligence Professionals for Sanity (VIPS).
Cindy Lee Miller Sheehan is an American anti-war activist, whose son, U.S. Army Specialist Casey Sheehan, was killed by enemy action during the Iraq War. She attracted national and international media attention in August 2005 for her extended antiwar protest at a makeshift camp outside President George W. Bush's Texas ranch—a stand that drew both passionate support and criticism. Sheehan ran unsuccessfully for Congress in 2008. She was a vocal critic of President Barack Obama's foreign policy. Her memoir, Peace Mom: A Mother's Journey Through Heartache to Activism, was published in 2006. In an interview with The Daily Beast in 2017, Sheehan continued to hold her critical views towards George W. Bush, while also criticizing the militarism of Donald Trump.
Gold Star Families for Peace (GSFP) is a United States-based organization founded in January 2005 by individuals who lost family members in the Iraq War, and are thus entitled to display a Gold Star. It is considered an offshoot of Military Families Speak Out. Gold Star Families for Peace now includes more than 65 families of troops killed in Iraq.
Code Pink: Women for Peace is a left-wing internationally active non-governmental organization that describes itself as a "grassroots peace and social justice movement working to end U.S.-funded wars and occupations, to challenge militarism globally and to redirect our resources into health care, education, green jobs and other life-affirming activities." In addition to its focus on anti-war issues, it has taken action on issues such as drones, Guantanamo Bay prison, Palestinian statehood, the Iran nuclear deal, Saudi Arabia, and Women Cross DMZ.
Camp Casey was the name given to the encampment of anti-war protesters outside the Prairie Chapel Ranch in Crawford, Texas during US President George W. Bush's five-week summer vacation there in 2005, named after Iraq War casualty US Army Specialist Casey Sheehan.
The January 20, 2005 counter-inaugural protests were a number of demonstrations, held in Washington, D.C., and other American cities to protest the second inauguration of U.S. President George W. Bush.
In the 1960s, several "be-ins" were held in Central Park, Manhattan, New York City to protest against various issues such as U.S. involvement in the Vietnam War and racism.
March 19, 2008, being the fifth anniversary of the United States 2003 invasion of Iraq and in protest and demonstration in opposition to the war in Iraq, anti-war protests were held throughout the world including a series of autonomous actions in the United States' capitol, Washington, D.C., in London, Sydney, Australia, and the Scottish city of Glasgow with the latter three being organized by the UK-based Stop the War Coalition. Actions included demonstrations at government buildings and landmarks, protests at military installations and student-led street blockades. The protests were notable, in part, for mostly replacing mass marches with civil disobedience – including religious-focused protests – and for utilizing new technologies to both coordinate actions and interface with traditional print and broadcast media.
Barack Obama, who was the 44th president of the United States, was involved in multiple security incidents, including several assassination threats and plots, starting from when he became a presidential candidate in 2007. Secret Service protection for Obama began after he received a death threat in 2007, while serving as the junior United States senator from Illinois and running for president. This marked the earliest time a candidate received such protection before being nominated. Security was increased early for Obama due to fears of possible assassination attempts by white supremacist or other racist groups or individuals against the first African American major party presidential nominee.
A counter-protest is a protest action which takes place within the proximity of an ideologically opposite protest. The purposes of counter-protests can range from merely voicing opposition to the objective of the other protest to actively drawing attention from nearby media outlets away from the other protest toward the counter-protestors' cause to actively seeking to disrupt the other protest by conflict of a non-violent or violent nature.
Marissa Johnson is an activist who attained notoriety when she interrupted U.S. presidential candidate Bernie Sanders at an August 2015 rally in Seattle. Her activism has been associated with the Black Lives Matter movement. She is a founder of a Seattle-based justice group called Outside Agitators 206, which was disbanded when she became a cofounder of the Seattle chapter of Black Lives Matter around September 2015.
The following is a timeline of the protests against Donald Trump, the former President of the United States of America, businessman, and television personality.
The 2017 Berkeley protests were a series of protests and clashes between organized groups that occurred in the city of Berkeley, California, in the vicinity of the University of California campus. Violence occurred predominantly between protesters opposed to then-President Donald Trump, including activists such as antifa groups and socialists; and pro-Trump groups such as Republican, alt-lite, alt-right, neo-Nazis, and white nationalists. The majority of the participants on both sides were people who wanted to listen to the speakers peacefully, and peaceful protesters against the speakers.
The Boston Free Speech Rally took place at the Boston Common on August 19, 2017. The organizers and participants were characterized as adherents of the alt-lite, a loosely organized right-wing political movement. Around 50 people attended the rally, and they were met by tens of thousands of counterprotesters. Though the rally itself had been planned weeks in advance, it was ultimately eclipsed by the violent Unite the Right rally in Charlottesville, Virginia on August 12.