Forums building pressure on authorities; important RNC Forum tonight; St. Paul City Hall RNC hearing Wednesday

Tonight (Wednesday) at 5:30: St. Paul City Council hearing on the RNC. The hearing is open to the public but speakers have been hand-picked by the council. Nonetheless, many Twin Cities residents will want to speak anyway. Come on down! 15 Kellogg Blvd W., Room 300.

UPDATE: click Read More to see the agenda of speakers for the hearing, below.

AGENDA

A. Dave Thune, Welcome and Opening Comments

B. Business Impacts
1) Nancy Goldman, President, Local 17, UNITE HERE, 3 minutes
2) Pat Mancini, Mancini's Char House, 3 minutes
3) John Wolf, Dixie's on Grand, 3 minutes
4) Sara Remke, Black Dog Café, 3 minutes
5) Karolyn Kirschgesler, Rivercentre Convention & Visitors Bureau, 3 minutes
6) Kay Baker, St. Joseph's Hospital, 3 minutes

C. Media Impacts
1) Nancy Brown, Twin Cities Media Alliance, 5 minutes
2) Art Hughes, Society for Professional Journalists, 5 minutes
3) Mike Bucsko, Newspaper Guild, 5 minutes
4) Andy Driscoll, KFAI Radio, 3 minutes
5) Maxine McCormick, West 7th Community Reporter, 3 minutes
6) Seth Rowe, Sun Newspaper, 3 minutes

D. Pre-Emptive Strikes, Impacts of Minnesota's Mini-Patriot Act
1) Mike Whalen, landlord at 949 Iglehart, 5 minutes
2) Video, 3 minutes
3) Sara Coffey, legal advocate and house guest with I Witness Video

staff, 5 minutes

4) Eric Angell, guest at Smith Avenue convergence center, 5 minutes

E. Free Speech Advocacy Organizations Impacts
1) Bruce Nestor, National Lawyers Guild, 5 minutes
2) Cheri Honkala, Poor People's Economic Human Rights Campaign, 5

minutes, Video to run concurrently with remarks

3) Jess Sundin, March on the RNC, 5 minutes
4) Laurie Radovsky, physician and volunteer medic through Seeds of Peace,

5 minutes

F. Community/Protester Impacts
1) Video "I Love You Protester", 3 minutes
2) Leah Lane, Wisconsin resident and protester, 8 minutes
3) Chuck Lentz, West Side resident, 3 minutes
4) Patty Guerrero, West End resident and peace activist, 3 minutes
5) Chloe Davidson, West End resident, 3 minutes
6) Larry Grewatch, Summit Hill resident, 3 minutes
7) Tate' Weston, Highland Park resident, 3 minutes
8) Elliot Hughes, Mac-Groveland resident, 3 minutes
9) Colleen & Ross Rowley, Peace Island picnic organizers, 3 minutes
10) Dan Dobson, Summit Hill resident and National Lawyers Guild observer,

3 minutes

11) Rich Neumeister, Downtown resident and privacy advocate, 3 minutes
12) Steve Hirsch, West Side resident, 3 minutes
13) Bruce McMahon, Summit-University resident, 3 minutes
14) Larry McDonough, Highland Park resident and Nat'l Lawyers Guild

observer, 3 min

15) Diane Gerth, West End resident, 3 minutes

G. Elected Officials, Closing Comments and Announcements

---
It's clear that an increasingly broad slice of the Twin Cities community is beginning to realize that the RNC brought an unprecedented, totally unjustified wave of police abuse and intimidation. The police abuse cut across such a broad spectrum that the whole event has catalyzed many segments of activists around the Cities; rather than divide us, the RNC has created a broad movement towards unity and strength.

This week, a series of public forums are addressing the ugly impact of the RNC, and at every turn people are sharing new details and building more momentum towards holding the authorities accountable. Tonight at 7:30 at the Walker Church in Minneapolis (31st Street & 16th Avenue in Powderhorn) there will be a panel on police tactics. Event here, details below too. There will be a public hearing of the St. Paul City Council tomorrow evening about the RNC, which should be highly significant. (Daily Planet story)

Last night at the U of M's Coffman Memorial Union Theater, the Minnesota chapter of the Society of Professional Journalists held a panel, "Your Credentials, Please: The Media and Law Enforcement at the RNC -- What went wrong, what went right?" Corporate media, the alternative media, Assistant St. Paul Police Chief Matt Bostrom and various community activists sparred over the definition of what constitutes a journalist (which the emcee tried to maintain as the main thrust of the discussion). TheUptake.org was on the scene, broadcasting live. Useful liveblog notes from MPR's Bob Collins too.

However, as the evening unfolded, more and more people spoke up on the police violence, the horrible treatment of the media, and how the "embedding" farce worked. Longtime alt media folks like Ed Felien and Lydia Howell spoke up on how the corporate types didn't really convey the messages of protesters, as well as the strings that seem to be attached to corporate media lackeys. Accounts of the huge collision of media and police derailed an apparent attempt to pigeonhole the independent media, and what seemed an effort to discredit our colleagues at Submedia.TV and Pepperspray Productions (the emcee tried to draw a corny line between "pepperspray journalists" and citizen journalists.)

This brought out an interesting defensive reaction from the establishment types, including Jason DeRusha and a WCCO producer, who revealed new details about secret rules restricting embedded reporters' product, which Bostrom was forced to admit existed. We learned that corrupt Ramsey County Sheriff Bob Fletcher personally selected which journalists to release from the Marion Street Bridge fiasco based upon whether they had Xcel Center credentials (get out of jail free cards!). St. Paul Police spokesman (copflack?) Tom Walsh also apparently personally selected a U of M photo journalist to fish out of jail after everyone got "dispersed" to the Marion Street bridge.

Interestingly, some lady from WCCO who is a 'sworn officer' as well as a journalist was used by the event emcee as a foil to let Bostrom avoid answering harsh questions, such as whether it was acceptable for the police to attack dispersing crowds, as happened on a great many occasions. Bostrom also could not explain how the (defective) warrant leading to the preemptive raid against iWitness Video on Iglehart Avenue occurred - a signal event indicating some kind of policy of creating prior restraint and chilling effects against journalists.

The community effort to expose every detail of police abuse and the politicians' obscene lapses in judgment continues, and at every turn we are learning more and more. Twin Cities Indymedia stands with our colleagues at Twin Cities Daily Planet, Minnesota Independent, The Uptake, and even, increasingly, the troubled mainstream old guys in exposing everything that happened, as well as the ongoing, covert and inept harassment still unfolding. Details about upcoming events below.

Subject: RNC/police/forum 9.23 7:30pm

A panel forum sponsored by the North East Suburban Greens regarding the police tactics during the RNC in the Twin Cities will be held on September 23, 2008, beginning at 7:30 PM at the Walker Church in Mpls. The presenters on the panel are people directly involved in the peace marches and who had direct contact with the police during that time.

Members of the panel:

Dave Bicking is a member of the Civilian Police Review Board of Minneapolis. He is a former and future Green Party candidate for Minneapolis City Council, representing Ward 9 in south Minneapolis. His daughter, Monica Bicking, is one of the RNC 8, a group of activists charged with felony "conspiracy to riot in furtherance of terrorism"--the first ever charges under Minnesota's Patriot Act. He will discuss the significance of that case and the preemptive raids on homes and the Convergence Center.

Michelle Gross is cofounder and president of Communities United Against Police Brutality, which works to increase police accountability and reduce police misconduct while advocating for people dealing with the effects of police brutality. A resident of Minneapolis, she helped to plan protest activities around the RNC and documented police misconduct during the protests. She will show some of her video footage and discuss policing tactics toward RNC protesters and their impact on the ability of protesters to convey their message.

Charley Underwood publishes the Peace Calendar on the internet. He is a Quaker, a progressive Democrat and a kindergarten teacher with the St Paul Public Schools. He was a street medic, volunteering with the North Star Health Collective for most of the convention. He will give observations and describe events from one street medic's perspective.

From Charley Underwood's Peace Calendar:

Tuesday, 9/23, 7:30, NE Suburban Greens host panel on police tactics during the RNC, with Communities United Against Police Brutality president Michelle Gross, Civilian Police Review Board member and also father on woman arrested Dave Bicking and Charley Underwood (yes, that guy), Walker Church, 3104 - 16th Ave S, Mpls.

St. Paul council member to hear from public on RNC impact
by Tim Nelson, Minnesota Public Radio
September 10, 2008
http://minnesota.publicradio.org/display/web/2008/09/10/rnc_hearing/

St. Paul, Minn. ­ A St. Paul City Council member will hold a hearing in two weeks to assess the impact of the Republican National Convention on the city.

City Council member Dave Thune is calling the meeting for Sept. 24 in the Council chambers.

He says city officials and convention organizers have had a chance to weigh in, and he would like to hear what the public thought of the convention.

"The whole RNC experience left such a bad taste in so many people's mouths. There were so many experiences that were not good. It's not good to leave this on that kind of a note," said Thune. "Hopefully we're going to start moving toward healing the city, and bringing our police and our citizens and our peaceful war protesters all back together again. There were just too many things that happened that shouldn't have, and too many questions unanswered."

The meeting is scheduled for Sept. 24 at 5:30 p.m., and is open to the public.