Dada in the Public Square: Police, Protest, and Creative Dissent

The Republican National Convention in Cleveland culminated one of the craziest party nominating contests in history. Many people on both the left and the right were dissatisfied with the result—the coronation of Donald J. Trump. Trump's rhetoric throughout the primary season had been incendiary, and had led to protests, sometimes violent, at his events. Because of this, security in Cleveland was extremely tight, and progressive groups, including the ACLU, sued in advance over worries that citizens' rights to free speech were going to be unconstitutionally restricted. As a result, the police presence in Cleveland was overwhelming. They manned barricades on foot, on horseback, on bicycles, and in cars—totaling nearly 5,500 in all. This made protesting very difficult, and forced protesters to become creative in expressing their dissent. This article describes the situation in Cleveland, and shows how dissent—in the spirit of the now century-old Dada movement that rose up in response to World War I—still finds a way to express itself, even when this dissent must become shocking and outrageous to gain voice and show the true absurdity of an undemocratic situation.