Overheated rhetoric in Chicago
After glancing at recent headlines and listening to rumors,
I was under the impression that the Chicago City Council had passed repressive
new restrictions on protests leading up to the G8 summit in May. The
newspapers' pictures of Mayor Rahm Emanuel looked dictatorial. I pictured
Emanuel strong-arming the council into passing a crackdown.
"Rahm Ramps Up the Repression" ran one headline. Even the Chicago Tribune used the phrases
"unfettered power" and "stifle dissent."
When I finally got around to researching the matter, I found
little to substantiate the image forming in my mind. It is true that Emanuel
proposed heavier fines for resisting arrest, and he wanted to restrict parades
to two hours length. (The current limit is 2 hours and 15 minutes.)
