Newmindspace planning a "Welcome Back America" celebration at Yonge-Dundas Square
so there are various US election parties going on across Toronto tonight, but one in particular is being organized by the lefty Newmindspace folks at Yonge-Dundas square, should Obama win..
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"Welcome Back America" Tonight in Dundas Square
You can bet we'll be in Dundas Square tonight, celebrating with the rest of the planet, enjoying a rare, sweet moment of unity with (almost) all of humankind as we join together and look forward to the brighter day coming.
The gist: After CNN announces the US election result tonight, make your way over to Dundas Square for a big party.
We will be there doing what we do best.
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From Spacing: http://spacing.ca/wire
http://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=31607817887
If the rest of the planet could vote, Barack Obama would win the American 2008 election in an unprecedented landslide. It’s safe to say that much of the world is waiting anxiously for the Obama victory — think of the 200,000 people that saw Obama speak in Berlin last July.
The United States has lost moral support and sympathy around the world over the last eight years. The Obama win is a chance for a new start and to patch up both its reputation and its international relationships. We need to send a big fun signal of good faith that we’re ready to have them back. Let’s do that by gathering together in our public squares to celebrate this new era and show our American friends they are not alone in the world.
Here’s how it will work: When CNN declares victory (since it’s the news organization most internationally available) head to your city or town’s main square where public celebrations usually take place. If it’s a square with a big video screen maybe they’ll broadcast results so you can go early, or watch the victory speech after. Like when your sports team wins, it’s better to celebrate in public with everybody else.
In Toronto, head to Dundas Square. It’s got the space, those big TVs, and after every hockey championship, it is naturally filled with people.
See you there!
<3 Newmindspace
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November 4th, 2008
Welcome Back America — bring your iPhones, transistor radios and maybe a boom box
Posted by Shawn Micallef
Love them or hate them, Yonge-Dundas Square is surrounded by giant TV screens. Though we have debated the pros and cons of their existence (mostly con here from many of our readers, with a few lone voices of qualified pro, including yours truly) it’s at times like tonight’s US election that the screens could perform a public good by broadcasting events live for all to see together, just as many Torontonians did during the Beijing Olympics. The folks at Yonge-Dundas Square do not have control over the Jumbotrons on surrounding buildings or even the screen hanging in the square. We assume/hope some of those screens will be broadcasting a news channel or feed (some of us recall that “the news” has been on in between ads from time to time in CP24 style).
We’ve sent a notice to each company encouraging them to broadcast a newsfeed, but in the event they choose not to participate in this historic evening, we encourage folks heading to the Square tonight to bring your portable mobile devices that can stream or pick up radio broadcasts in order to hear some sound. One reason we set the time for after the election winner has been called was because we didn’t know if the screens would be broadcasting live or not. It might be neat to to have Obama’s speech coming over hundreds of small devices, like the sound old-time drive-in theatre’s made. At any rate, Obama’s victory speech (knock on wood) will be widely available on the internet afterwards, so there is no fear in missing out. This morning CNN was reporting that 500,000 were expected to converge on Grant Park in Chicago to hear Obama’s speech, with up to a million spread along Lake Michigan. We hope the gathering in Toronto captures, in a smaller way, that optomistic communal excitement.
Photo by Ian Muttoo.
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Palm Trees > Pine Trees , Sand > Snow
Last edited by dEsidEL on Nov-05-2008 at 00:47
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