Turn Your Back on Bush: Difference between revisions

Turn Your Back on Bush is a form of protest in the United States to express dissatisfaction with President George W. Bush. The first known protest took place on June 14, 2002 in Columbus, Ohio where President Bush delivered a commencement address (full text) to the graduating class of Ohio State University and an audience of over 50,000 people.

A group identified as a coalition of concerned students, graduates, alumni, faculty, staff, guests, and community members on the website turnyourbackonbush.com instructed participants to "stand up silently and turn your back while Bush gives his commencement address." The students and guests at the event were threatened by University administration if they participated in protest. [1] [2]

The phrase was first coined by Hillary Tinapple, one of the organizers of the Ohio State University commencement protest and member of the 2002 graduating class. Tinapple later served as a legal observer in the Ohio ballot recount of 2004. Since the controversial second election of Bush, Turn Your Back on Bush has become a grassroots organization (www.turnyourbackonbush.org), co-founded by Jet Heiko. [3]

On January 20, 2005, a Turn Your Back on Bush demonstration took place at the President's second Inaugural parade. The organization's website states that over 5,000 people from around the country participated in this protest by lining the parade route with their backs turned while the motorcade passed by. This was among many counter-inaguration protests that took place in Washington, D.C. and around the United States on that same day. [4]

References

  1. Reporter hears "adulation" for Bush, not threats against protestors, FAIR, August 2002
  2. Anti-Bush protestors silenced at Ohio State graduation, Matthew Rothschild, The Progressive, July 1, 2002
  3. Taking it to the streets, Alternet, January 21, 2005
  4. Protestors make presence felt, The Washington Post, January 21, 2005

Categories: Protests, Activism, Student Activism, Nonviolent Resistance, Anti-War