Representatives for many of the citizen groups planning events during the Democratic National Convention met together in Denver on Sunday morning, July 20, with the dual purpose of sharing information about their plans and trying to heal a rift among the activists.

The so called “consulta” fell short of being representative of all the diverse organizations planning activities during the DNC.  More than 85 percent of those attending were from either Recreate 68 or Unconventional Denver.

I did not hear anybody at the consulta, for example, overtly declare during the opening introductions that they were there representing the coalition of immigrant rights organizations planning a nonviolent mass demonstration on Thursday, August 28, the last day of the convention.

Some groups represented at the consulta were not members of the Recreate 68 coalition. These  included Code Pink (playfully creative nonviolent street theater protests), Hunger for Justice (feeding those at “Tent State” and other encampments), The People Call For Change (evening programs during  the DNC to build a positive vision of the future), The World is Listening (a network of compassionate listeners at the DNC so people can voice their visions), and the Network for Spiritual Progressives (holding an independent two day interfaith conference at the start of the DNC with Rabbi Michael Lerner, Matthew Fox, Sharon Salzburg and others supporting the Global Marshall Plan).

There was only token representation from the Alliance for Real Democracy (ARD), which I’m told was begun by a few people who walked away from Recreate 68 because that coalition refused to publicly renounce any and all use of violence at the DNC. These people joined with others to form ARD, which has independently grown to include diverse groups that were never part of R68.

The contrast between Recreate 68 and the Alliance for Real Democracy is striking.

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