By Jeff Jones

Bill Dobbs, media coordinator for the anti-war group United For Peace and Justice (UFPJ), describes his organization's office building as "totally in the middle of everything but kind of obscure, which is a nice place to be."

Indeed the building, located on the backside of the Port Authority Bus Terminal along West 41st Street, is tucked away in the concrete jungle of New York City.

Obscure is one adjective that doesn't aptly describe Dobbs' group, however. It touts more than 800 member groups including the Communist Party Maryland and Episcopal Peace Fellowship and has helped organize other anti-war marches.

UFPJ has received press for its battle to obtain a permit for a march directly past Madison Square Garden and a rally in Central Park the day before the Republican National Convention begins, running from Aug. 30 through Sept. 2.

UFPJ's approach indicates the strategic differences between today's protest organizers and those of the 1960s.

"We're basically in a PR battle with Karl Rove, and we don't want to do anything to give him the upper hand," said Steve Ault, logistics coordinator for UFPJ. Rove is President Bush's senior adviser.

Ault, a self-professed anti-war and social justice activist since the 1960s, said he was impressed with the political and logistical sophistication of organizers for the upcoming RNC. Groups such as No RNC Clearinghouse, (which can be found at counterconvention.org) are putting in a lot of gritty strategic work, Ault said. A few examples of the work are lining up housing for protesters, coordinating media and doing outreach, he said.

All the hard work and PR knowledge could be misplaced if UFPJ doesn't get a permit to hold its super-sized march and rally.

"The impact of this is to invite chaos," Dobbs said of a potential permit denial.

Detective Walter Burnes of the New York Police Department said the permit approval process was scheduled to begin June 15, and he didn't seem fazed by demonstrations. Burnes said there would be established demonstration areas, but he didn't know where they would be until after permits are approved.

"We do this all the time," Burnes said. "We just need to know how many people are expected and we'll make accommodations."

Regardless of how convention demonstrations play out, this presidential election cycle is markedly different than years past for other reasons.

One of the biggest changes is the impact McCain-Feingold campaign finance reform has had on placing tax-exempt groups in the middle of the debate. And once the conventions are done, nonprofits can continue to play an important education role across the nation.

"A lot of people will be looking to nonprofits to interpret what the issues might mean to their community," said Holly Minch, director of San Francisco-based SPIN Project, a nonprofit communications consulting firm. Minch is also editor of Loud and Clear in an Election Year: Amplifying the Voices of Community Advocates. "There is a huge opportunity for more organizations to engage their constituents and clients. We have a responsibility as being that place people come to."

Back at the conventions, agitators will be making some noise if permit applications are an indication.

Some 15 organizations applied for protest permits during the RNC as of May 25, Burnes said. Boston Mayor Thomas M. Menino's office had received roughly 110 permit applications for events during the Democratic National Convention, said Patricia Malone, director of the office of consumer affairs. Many involved rallies and marches, she said.

Most-requested protest sites are Boston Common, Copley Square, Faneuil Hall and a demonstration area to the right of the Fleet Center along Causeway Street, Malone said.

Groups can get approved to hold a 50-minute program using stage and speakers. The designated area will hold roughly 4,000-5,000 people, Malone said.

Dustin Langley, New York City media coordinator for ANSWER (Act Now to Stop War and End Racism) Coalition, said the organization is planning a war crimes tribunal on the Thursday before the Republican convention.

ANSWER has been negotiating with the NYPD regarding the time and place for a mass march through the city streets, Langley said.

The organization expects a huge outpouring of protesters outside the convention, he said. "(People are) angry enough at George Bush that there could easily be a million people in the streets of the city."

As it did in 2000, ANSWER will have groups protesting at both conventions. "One of the roles we'll play in that week is in addition to whatever protest (we organize)," Langley said, "we'll also be there protesting all week at whatever is called (by other organizations). We'll maintain a presence at the Republican and Democratic conventions."

Langley said ANSWER's position has not been about supporting parties. "Our focus has never been let's get Bush out and elect Kerry. Our focus has been let's get people on the streets."

ANSWER was involved in organizing the June 5 march to the home of Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld. Initially, the march was to be from the White House to the Pentagon. "It's an awfully long march," Langley said, "especially in June."

The Accountability Campaign in New York and the Boston Social Forum are two coalitions trying to voice their perspectives.

The Boston Social Forum isn't connected with the DNC, but it will "take advantage of the energy around the political season," said Suren Moodliar, coordinator of programming for the event to be held days before (July 23-25) the DNC gets to town (July 26-29). The forum will draw linkages with local and global issues, and address a range of other issues the progressive community is deeply concerned about, Moodliar said.

Additionally, people going to the convention are looking for a meaningful discussion of political dialogue apart from the pomp of the political convention, he said. "The Social Forum is a space for that," Moodliar said.

Organizers invited groups concerned with corporate globalization and militarism, and they expect 3,000 attendees to take part in roughly 250 programs to be held on the University of Massachusetts, Boston campus during three days, he said.

"I've been involved with the nonprofit community for 20 years," said Moodliar. "I've never seen such excitement generated across so many sectors."

In New York, the Accountability Campaign is a collection of organizations that believe "the present direction of our nation's public policy across the board has to be examined," said The Rev. Osagyefo Uhuru Sekou, former community outreach coordinator for Democratic presidential candidate Dennis Kucinich.

Sekou, an ordained Pentecostal pastor, became head of the Accountability Campaign recently after the former leader left for a job in California.

"The need is becoming greater and that has directly to do with the kind of resources that are allotted for social work," he said.

Sekou called for a re-prioritization of the federal budget to support nonprofits and to create a society where there is less dependency on nonprofits for services "because government is holding up its end of the deal."

"All nonprofits know nobody cares about poor people anymore," he said.

Convention demonstrations will come in all shapes and sizes. For example, Operation Rescue Boston, a pro-life group, is planning protests comprised of roughly 50 people in front of Democratic Presidential candidate Sen. John F. Kerry's house in Louisburg Square the night before the convention starts and also a demonstration outside Kerry's church, the Paulist Center, president William Cotter said. The group has applied for permits.

Operation Rescue's national headquarters in Dallas has been involved in a walk across America. Its leaders have been voicing their views against abortion and not discussing their involvement in the upcoming conventions.

"I don't think we've anything planned (for the conventions) yet," said Pat McEwen, spokesperson. "We usually don't."

Republican National Coalition for Life, a Dallas-based 501(c)(4), will be involved at the Republican convention to make sure the pro-life plank of the platform is nailed in tight.

Colleen Parro, executive director, said the organization, formed in 1990 as a response to another Republican group that intended to raise millions for pro-choice platform efforts, would attend platform committee meetings the week prior to the convention "to influence the members of the platform committee."

Parro said, "The Republican party is the only national mainstream, if you will, party that is pro-life. ... We work to make sure it stays the same."

She said it will hold a dinner the night before the convention closes, calling it the "Life of the Party Party" at Tavern on the Green in Central Park and will have other pro-life supporters such as Ann Coulter and Miss America 2003 Erika Harold as featured guests.

But it will not be involved at the Democratic convention in Boston and does not protest against politicians who are pro-choice. "We figure that the nominee for the Republican party is protest enough," she said. "We accentuate the positive and hold our event to entertain pro-life delegates, and alternates and friends, and make sure the media is aware the pro-life cause is a major part of Republican victories."

Colorado Springs, Colo.-based Focus on the Family doesn't plan to have a presence at either convention, said Paul Hetrick, vice president.

"We don't typically get involved in that kind of street activism," he said. "There are other forms for activism to take than to become active outside those two conventions."

Focus on the Family Action, the group's first 501 (c)(4), started operations in April, Hetrick said.

Focus on the Family will continue to use its broadcast channels, print publications and the Internet to voice opinions on issues that "impact the family," Hetrick said. The group opposes gay marriage and so-called judicial activism, Hetrick said.

Given the level of rancor throughout the nation particularly with regard to the war in Iraq, both conventions could be the scenes of the most dramatic protests since the late 1960s. "Our plans are and always have been to engage in a lawful, legal mass protest. Exercise democracy," Langley of ANSWER said. "Going into this convention (season) that's what we're planning for and what we expect."

In Boston, Peter Cook has been organizing ANSWER's involvement in the Boston Commons rally and will take part in other events. "We're going to be focusing a lot on how the Democrats and the Republicans are essentially supported by the same financial interests in this country and that's whose interests they have at heart," Cook said. "And the Democrats (are) being complicit."

Some organizations will forego the protest route and instead try to influence from within. David Williams, director of the Planned Parenthood Action Fund in New York, the political wing of Planned Parenthood, indicated the group would be "inside the tent" at both conventions. The group would pass out information about its mission and reach out to both parties, instead of more traditional protesting outside.

"To advance our agenda we need friends in both parties," Williams said.

The group has endorsed Kerry, but Williams said the group does have some Republican friends regarding its family planning program.

Others will use vigils to send a message. "We're going to sponsor, along with other faith-based groups, prayer vigils before the Democratic and Republican Conventions," said Jackie Lynn, executive director of Episcopal Peace Conference based in Chicago.

Veterans for Peace, based in St. Louis, is holding its national convention in Boston at the end of July, the week before the DNC. "We are planning a rally (on Boston Common)," said Gabriella Inderwies, spokesperson. "We probably will also have a vigil. ... We don't have the permit yet."

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