Academy Award-winning filmmaker Michael Moore came to SF State University and spoke in front of more than 2500 people on October 20.

Moore, famous for his last movie about gun violence in America, “Bowling for Columbine,” and his acceptance speech for that documentary at the Academy Awards where he said, “Shame on you, Mr. Bush!” criticized current American politics.

During the speech, Moore condemned democrats for their republican leanings and called the current democrats “imitation republicans.” He strongly emphasized the importance of the next presidential election in November 2004. “We have to hijack this (the Democratic party) for ourselves,” he said, stressing the need for finding the right candidate to oppose Bush.

“The country will really be doomed if Bush gets four more years,” Moore continued.

To avoid this, he stressed that people should be more active and aware of current politics. He pointed out the fact that people have been shifting their political views to be against the war and appreciated that the anti-war view is now becoming the mainstream of the country.

Moore didn’t forget to comment on this year’s recall election, saying that this was the first time he witnessed republicans having to run to the left in order to get elected. “ Arnold could not have gotten elected, had he not been liberal on the social issues,” he said. “Whether he is or not is another issue, though.”

Moore has been on tour, visiting 33 cities in 23 days. Moore is visiting schools in different cites, and wherever he goes, the venue is packed; in Baltimore over 4000 people couldn’t get in after the auditorium with a maximum capacity of 7000 was filled. Over 6000 people were left out in Minneapolis and 7000 in Denver.

Here in San Francisco, the 1,700-person capacity of the SF State gymnasium couldn’t handle every one of those who came to see Moore directly with their own eyes.

The Associated Students Performing Arts and Lecture, the organization that hosted the event, opened up the McKenna Theatre to show a live webcast to those who couldn’t get a ticket before it was sold out. Those with tickets lined up at 2:00 p.m., five hours before the event started, to get front-row seats. “What I have had the privilege of seeing in the last two weeks is that the country is really pissed off!” Moore proclaimed about the huge turnout. Enthusiastic applause and cheering followed and overwhelmed the gym for some time.

Interaction between Moore and the audience was frequent. One of the highlights of the evening was when Moore asked the audience who he should call on the phone to give a strict comment to. Many people at the event immediately started to shout one name: “President Corrigan!”

Moore wanted to deliver the audience’s message, “lower the parking fees and tuition,” but he was given a wrong number and ended up calling the wrong Robert Corrigan.

At the request of the audience, Moore also called Gavin Newsom, a candidate for the mayoral election who was behind last year's successful homeless proposition, “Care Not Cash."

Seeing the reaction of the people at the event, Moore left a voice message when Newsom didn’t pick up saying, “ It seems like there are a lot of people in this town who won’t be voting for you. Thank you.”

Matt Gonzalez, another mayoral candidate was at the event, and he was actually the one who gave Moore Newsom’s number. “This is an Academy Award-winning filmmaker trying to have a good time,” said Gonzalez after the event, referring to the phone calls Moore made. “If someone were to call from the republican national committee to make fun of me, I would just laugh at it.”

A large crowd remained in the gym even after the speech. People lined up to get their books signed, many of which were bought at the event, and some people had to wait for more than an hour.

Some confusion arose due to security reasons when those who did not have tickets and did not attend the actual event weren’t allowed to enter the gym and line up for Moore’s autograph. Janelle Metz, a staff of the career center who rushed from the McKenna Theatre to the gym for an autograph after the event was over, but she was stopped at the door. “Is there any craziness going on here? No, it’s peaceful here, but I just want an autograph!” After some talks, however, most everyone who wanted an autograph got one.

Small confusions aside, Metz added, “It was great, both funny and thoughtful. He made good points.” She showed her appreciation for Moore who actually went to McKenna Theatre before the event started and spoke for 15 minutes to those who couldn’t get tickets.

Moore believes that this tour and his past criticism of President Bush and the war in Iraq has made an impact on the people of America. "If a person like me, the Dixie Chicks and few others hadn’t taken a risk to say what was needed to be said out loud when everyone was afraid to say it, would the rest of the country have come along as quick as they did in being open to the fact that they’ve been lied to?" questioned Moore during a press conference.

“If I, you and others don’t take these risks when they are unpopular, things don’t move forward.”