This weekend the NATO Summit is taking place in Chicago. Everything has stopped for this event. All of the previous summits have taken place in Europe, except for two in Washington D.C. What is NATO? In 1949, after the end of WWII, NATO was formed. In a man on the street poll on TV in Chicago this week, most people thought NATO stood for National Association of Trade Organizations. Au contraire, ma frère. It stands for North Atlantic Treaty Organization. Originally formed to keep an eye on Russia, it included countries which bordered the North Atlantic Ocean. Now it has countries from all over the world, including Russia. NATO has troops in the war in Afghanistan, as well as currently keeping an eye on Iran and its missile project. It is highly political.
So this weekend, everybody from everywhere is coming to Chicago, including lots and lots of protesters. The ACLU has a big presence. They are wearing orange t-shirts and orange baseball caps with ACLU Observer on them in big letters. They are watching to see that the police and the protesters all behave. There are thousands of police from Chicago, the suburbs, other states, Illinois state troopers and the Coast Guard. The Coast Guard has armed boats on the lake and on the river. There is a 10 mile no-fly zone over the city. There are fighter jets ready to scramble at the first sign of anything happening in the air. They practiced on Wednesday. The building and parking lot next to my daughter’s office, half an hour away from downtown, is being used as a staging area for helicopters. She saw three helicopters landing when she came back from lunch on Friday. Many, many streets are closed, train stations are closed, trains and buses are not running in certain areas, Riders cannot bring any food or beverages, no backpacks, no big purses, only riders with passes.
For those not knowing, Chicago’s eastern border is Lake Michigan. The summit is taking place at McCormick Place, a huge convention center on Lake Shore Drive. It is now surrounded by eight foot tall steel fences. The Drive and Michigan Avenue, the two major north-south streets are closed for a long stretch. The Field Museum, The Shedd Aquarium, the Art Institute, Grant Park, Navy Pier, The Adler Planetarium, Soldier Field. These are all in the blocked off area so they are all closed for the duration. I pity the poor tourists who came for the weekend, not knowing what was happening and basically the Loop is closed. Many businesses are either closing or letting their employees work from home. Some companies are letting their employees dress really down, wearing jeans, so they will not stand out. Many people will not be getting paid this weekend if their place of employment is closed. All of this is because of the protesters. Groups are protesting about the economy, the war, NATO in general, education, immigration. There are people from the Occupy movement coming from all over the country. When they get here, they are trying to find places to stay. Groups are providing them with food. A bunch are camping on the grounds of a mental health facility that was recently closed for economic reasons and merged with another site. Those protesters are now protesting that the facility was closed.
Thursday there was a raid on an apartment that had been under surveillance for a while. The occupants were suspected of making Molotov Cocktail bombs. There were bottles, pipes and other equipment. They said they were making beer. Nine people were taken away, including some protesters who were staying there. Six were released and three were arrested as terrorists. The police are also watching for a group called the Black Bloc. These folks dress in head to toe black, including ski masks. They smash windows and set cars on fire, then they throw their black clothes in a trash can and blend in with the crowd so they can’t be caught. With thousands of protesters marching and milling around, that is easy to do.
On Friday afternoon, thousands of nurses in red shirts and green Robin Hood hats had a rally in Daley Plaza. They came from all over the US. They had signs about Medicare, mental health and their big issue seemed to be that banks should be taxed a teeny amount-maybe $.50 per $500- and the money would go for education, housing, the economy, and other things. The statement of the green Robin Hood hats was rob from the rich and give to the poor, of course. They had a little march and everything was peaceful.
All this happened so far and the summit doesn’t even start until tomorrow. The dignitaries are flying in now and motorcades are everywhere. The final straw-one of the NATO guys is throwing out the first pitch at today’s Crosstown Classic game (between the White Sox and the Cubs) so the streets all around Wrigley Field are closed, too. No protesters allowed in baseball.