Picketing the debates.

Hellinger, Daniel

The exclusion of third party candidates from the three scheduled presidential debates is generating plans for protests which could include non-violent direct action. Organizers in St. Louis call their planning group the "O-17." The organization is made up mostly, but not exclusively, of Nader supporters.

Speakers at the rally outside the debate venue will include Jeff Cohen of Fairness and Accuracy in Reporting, and Elaine Bernard, Howard Trade Union Center. Other speakers representing groups opposed to U.S. intervention in Colombia and in favor of universal health care are also on the program, whose theme is "Where is the debate?"

Organizers tell SJR that the Washington University administration at first resisted granting any permit for a demonstration on campus near the university fieldhouse where the event will take place. This has now been resolved. Some of the organizers were not interested in negotiating in the first place and reject the idea that a permit should be necessary for a public event on a university campus.