- Turn Your Back on Bush
Turn Your Back on Bush is a form of
protest in the United States to express dissatisfaction with PresidentGeorge W. Bush . The first known protest took place on June 14, 2002 inColumbus, Ohio where President Bush delivered a commencement address [ [http://www.whitehouse.gov/news/releases/2002/06/20020614-1.html full text] ] to the graduating class ofOhio State University and an audience of over 50,000 people.Background
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 publicly threatened by University administration if they participated in protest. [ [http://www.fair.org/index.php?page=2644 Reporter Hears "Adulation" for Bush, Not Threats Against Protesters ] ] [ [http://www.progressive.org/mag_mcohiostate Anti-Bush Protesters Silenced at Ohio State Graduation | The Progressive Magazine since 1909 ] ]
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 (see
2004 United States election voting controversies ). Since the controversial second election of Bush, Turn Your Back on Bush has become a grassroots organization [ [http://www.turnyourbackonbush.org Turn Your Back on Bush ] ] , co-founded by Jet Heiko. [ [http://www.alternet.org/story/21051 AlterNet: Taking It To The Streets ] ]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-inauguration protests that took place in
Washington, D.C. and around the United States on that same day (seeJanuary 20, 2005 counter-inaugural protest ). [ [http://www.concordmonitor.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20050121/REPOSITORY/501210372/1037/NEWS04 Concord Monitor - Protesters make presence felt ] ]Media coverage of the Turn Your Back on Bush inaugural protest appeared in several mainstream publications and was used in a segment of NBC's comedy television show "
Saturday Night Live ".References
External links
* [http://www.fair.org/index.php?page=2644 Reporter hears "adulation" for Bush, not threats against protestors] , Peter Hart, FAIR, August 2002
* [http://www.progressive.org/mag_mcohiostate Anti-Bush protestors silenced at Ohio State graduation] , Matthew Rothschild, "The Progressive", July 1, 2002
* [http://www.alternet.org/story/21051/ Taking it to the streets] , Michael Blanding, Alternet, January 21, 2005
* [http://www.concordmonitor.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20050121/REPOSITORY/501210372/1037/NEWS04 Protestors make presence felt] , "The Washington Post", January 21, 2005
Wikimedia Foundation. 2010.