She goes by the name "Mothra," and her first act of protest came in eighth grade when she wrote an essay explaining why she would not pledge allegiance to the US flag.
Yesterday, the 21-year-old Massachusetts College of Art film student confronted a higher-profile target: the 2004 Democratic National Convention, scheduled for late July in Boston. Mothra was among the dozens of mostly young activists who gathered in a Back Bay church for a weekend crash course in protesting the convention - all aimed at resisting what they view as corporate influences, out-of-touch politicians, and wasted taxpayer money.
"All the local businesses owned by working-class people aren't going to get anything," said Mothra, originally from Taunton. "No one's going to want to go to 'Joe's Salami Shop' in the North End. They're all going to want to go to the Armani Cafe."
That theme of sticking up for the underserved was just one thread that ran through yesterday's "resistance consulta," sponsored by the Boston-based Bl(A)ck Tea Society, a loosely knit group of anarchists and antiauthoritarian activists formed in July to mobilize against the convention. Among other topics: strategies on smart street protesting (don't get dehydrated; do protect your face against tear gas), and assurances that legal and medical aid would be available for those arrested or hurt during the protests.
The Bl(A)ck Tea Society plans no marches or rallies, although it hopes to arrange an open-air concert and an "alternative village" that would disseminate information on politics and current issues. Members dismissed the stereotype of unruly activists running around breaking windows or creating havoc - although they acknowledged that a little street theater or traffic disruption would not hurt.
Society member Elly Guillette of Cambridge predicted that few of the anarchists, if any, would confine themselves to police-designated "protest pens."
"We're not a threat to anyone," said Guillette, 27, an analyst for a consulting company. "We're all committed to nonviolence. We should be able to talk to pedestrians. We should be able to talk to anyone."
She added: "If we disrupt the convention, that's awesome."
Yesterday, about 60 people gathered inside the Community Church of Boston on Boylston Street, dissecting the convention and pressing issues in Boston, such as skyrocketing housing costs.
The afternoon's question-and-answer session was closed to the media and other "authoritarians" (although someone pointed out that such exclusions were undemocratic).
In the audience, sitting on folding chairs, were high school and college students, workers, and freelance writers. Some were clad entirely in black with piercings and chains; others wore button-down shirts and corduroys. A few went by pseudonyms. A map of the United States - labeled "Loose Confederation of Autonomous Non-States of Far Northern Mexico" - hung on a wall with stickers marking where the activists live.
Jose Martin hitchhiked from Chicago and wore a black shirt that carried Patrick Henry's famous quote, "Give me liberty or give me death."
"Mass mobilizations are events based on hope," Martin said during a lunch break. "They're an attempt to create links between movements that are local and national and even global. It makes people much more interested in political activity."
Using a yardstick as a pointer and an overhead projector for hand-drawn street maps, Andrew Little, 21, of Cambridge, led the crowd through the basics - the security zones around the FleetCenter, quick descriptions of neighborhoods, and the best places to distribute political messages.
Little also warned that a fence probably would be erected around the FleetCenter.
The subject of police arose again when Guillette outlined local issues that protesters should know about, such as the lack of union contracts for nearly all of Boston's public employees, including the police. Some in the audience derided the police for the ultra-heavy security, but others noted that they were just doing their jobs.
"Cops are not the enemy ... they're people just like us," one woman said.
Another shouted: "The state is the enemy, and cops are the state!"
Guillette quickly changed the subject. Later, she acknowledged that police officers or other security officials probably showed up yesterday in plain clothes, saying that the Bl(A)ck Tea Society's meetings had been infiltrated before. "We have a policy - assume everyone's a cop," Guillette said.
Boston police spokeswoman Mariellen Burns said officials are aware of groups planning to protest the convention and will release a more detailed security plan this spring.
"We've been preparing for 14 months,'' Burns said. ``Do we have more work to do? Absolutely. But do we feel like we're prepared? Absolutely."
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