RNC ‘08 interviews
I am blogging now from what can only be called “The Occupied Twin Cities”. As the Minnesota National Guard marches through the streets of downtown St. Paul tonight in a display reminiscent of the old Soviet May Day parades, those who made it past the mass arrests of the day try to find a place to rest their weary heads and scrub the pepper spray off. Some of these, possibly last remaining, American heroes released a statement today before setting out to impede and resist, as best they could, that which is monstrous — the parasitic political class and the state that serves it.
“Fellow Americans & Freedom Fighters, Every attendee of the Republican National Convention, from politicians to their cheerleaders, are actively complicit in the violence of state power… Those planning civil disobedience to impede the warmongers descending upon our city are acting in self-defense to re-secure the liberties of all Americans.”
The events of their day today are told on Twitter posts and elsewhere by those who were there, trying to make a stand for what is right. At an undisclosed location, I spoke with some of them.
—
The young man we’ll call Rocko said his group of around 8 activists started looking for a way to the area they had chosen to do civil disobedience work in at around 10 AM this morning. They decided to follow the SDS march from Macalester College at first along that groups route before then heading off on their toward their objective. They then realized two bicycle police were following them. Those then became two bike police plus three or four police minivans full of riot police following them on the ground and a police helicopter following them in the sky above.
This went on for about an hour and a half as they walked from Macalester to the MN state capitol. There, they thought they were not being pursued any more and stopped to rest, drink water and discuss the route to their objective. They decided to get back into the SDS march, which they understood was now heading to (roughly) their area anyway. According to Rocko, they kept marching with SDS for a while with their banners as more and more kids joined them.
Eventually, Rocko said, 10 or 15 minutes into the March a line of about 10 police tried to block the marchers path. Police started a shoving match that escalated into a massive, prolonged use of pepper spray. The confusion in this small scene would later, according to Rocko’s description of events, be absorbed into the wider conflict associated with the police attack on the Funk the War march.
—
The fellow who wants to be known as “Redcloud” left Macalester with the SDS march when he and another broke off on their own down Shepard Road and joined others setting up a blockade done with lockboxes. The lockbox devices commonly used in civil disobedience actions usually involve some large PVC and other parts put together to lock people’s arms to each other, making them more difficult to be moved. For a while they shut down Shepard Road completely — a major artery and important approach route for RNC delegates going to the convention center.
When word was received that another area needed reinforcements for their section of the blockade, Redcloud and others not needed to hold the Shepard Road intersection then started heading out to where they were needed. Redcloud bicycled ahead down Shepard to Jackson, acting as a scout for his group. He found several people were in street at Sibley blocking bus traffic to the convention center and joined them, linking arms in the middle of the street.
There, things then quickly became brutal. According to Redcloud, police at Sibley were indiscriminately pepper spraying everyone, with amounts of pepper spray comparable to the water that a garden hose left on at full blast would spray. As that battle was slowly being lost, he left in search of aplace to be more useful.
Getting word that mounted police on Wabasha Street were “running over kids” using their horses, Redcloud headed there. When he arrived, he said he found (in addition to police) about 200 National Guard troops in riot gear. They seemed pretty nervous by his estimate. Others present nodded and said you could tell “by the looks on their faces”. At that point, the National Guard were staying behind police lines at that location. Sensing there was little he could do there, he continued down Kellogg from Wabasha where he found the (blackish) “ad hoc bloc” remnants of the Funk the War march.
While some had been dispersed by this point, the remainder held on, retreating with vinegar soaked bandanas over their faces to protect them from the mix of both tear gas and pepper spray they had to deal with while being shot with rubber bullets. Linking arms, they backed up under the relentless police assault. At one point, police threw a flash-bang grenade at one point. Desperately searching for anything in the area to use as obstacles to protect themselves from the police, people pulled stuff into the street including newspaper boxes and road construction barricades.
He said the group backed up all the way down Kellogg, retreating to Mears Park before heading north with police lines still advancing on them. At the park, things changed from a retreat into a walking rout. When they reached 8th or 9th Street, police had them cornered on three sides, leaving only a westward route open. They headed west, still throwing whatever they could find up as obstacles as they went. After about about three more blocks, Redcloud said, police were beginning to box them in again on two sides. Knowing that getting fully surrounded was to risk serious injury, the group split in half and he went with the half that peeled off and dispersed. He knows nothing of those who stayed behind.
Comments
not heroes
I'm sorry, but this is blatant propaganda. I was there, and it would be a far stretch to say that the "ad hoc bloc" or whatever you want to call them were merely defending themselves against the attacking police. They were out to break stuff and provoke the cops. There was nothing noble about their actions, and they detracted from the other peaceful protest. Someone else wrote a contrasting view of these "heroes".
Agreed - this is complete
Agreed - this is complete crap. I've seen the videos from uptake and mainstream media from the incidents described in this story - the instigation was being done by the marchers, not by law enforcement.
you call this journalism?
Fuck off, trolls. You're old
Fuck off, trolls. You're old school ideology is worthless. Solidarity with all those in St. Paul, bringing the pressure to the crooks assembled in the Xcel center!
That's New?
Is that the best you can come up with? Government = criminals. Talk about old school.
yeah
you fucking reactionaries are simply parroting what you heard on cnn, from the police dept., and from your local neo-nazi right-wing radio hosts, some of whom were on the air advocating armed vigilantism and even machine-gunning of these poor demonstrators.
we aren't scared, and we aren't intimidated. say whatever the fuck you want, but this shit will only strengthen our movement.
Great
You need strengthening...300 skinny white kids that knock shit over and then run. Who's wearing the boots tough guy? Who's following the guy with the megaphone? What's wrong with the vigilante solution? Isn't that what you want, no one in charge? Afraid the cops won't keep you safe? I have a feeling there will be more vigilantes out tomorrow, like the one that clocked one of you poor fools today. See you on the streets.
not all anarchists are white
people needs to stop assuming anarchists are all white. they're not! my anarchist of color friends get offended by this shit. we're not all skinny, either.
Don't Worry
We know who you are.
Also
What private college you attend, where you work, etc.
bullshit
so you know some of our identities, what's that going to accomplish?
there's many more of us than you think, and our number is growing daily across the globe. you cannot stop us with your fascist stereotypes, media distortion, violence, or ANYTHING for that matter.
You can kill the protester, you can't kill the protest.
part of that is true
"You can kill a revolutionary but you can't kill the revolution."
I heard Fred Hampton, chairman of the Illinois Black Panther Party, say those very words. "We are too proletarian-intoxicated to be astronomically intimidated!"
This was in a speech where he was also denouncing the Weatherman SDS for the first actions in the "Days of Rage." Fred Hampton saw nothing revolutionary about such actions---they looked like self-indulgent posturing to him. I went with Weatherman anyway, for my own clueless reasons.
Less than two months later, the pigs murdered Fred Hampton.
We owe it to ourselves, and to the revolutionaries of whom the Haymarket martyrs, Sacco and Vanzetti, Joe Hill, Carlo Tresca, and Fred Hampton were only a few, to learn to think clearly and communicate honestly. Name calling doesn't help. Getting killed is beyond our control---as a citizen of this city, I warned the Mayor of St. Paul months ago that the police-state approach was wrong, and I warned that some protester or bystander could very well become a fatal casualty of such an approach.
It may happen. Don't be too quick to risk injury or death, young people, we have more than enough martyrs already. Try not to be intimidated---but keep some perspective on what's happening. Your skirmishes really do play into the hands of the enemy. I'm no troll, if you saw my rap sheet you'd know!
support our troops; the people in the streets!
Strategically speaking, it seems lots of reckless activity went on today. Lots of people were filmed doing things that might carry long sentences, and for very little gain.
Fred Hampton had to be killed because he was doing real revolutionary organizing, many historians of the movement say, and they should be listened to. His educational and nutrition programs were of real immediate tangible benefit to a community, which was great!
Breaking things may provide a catharsis, or embody a political message, but lead to many months of time behind bars.
Blockade techniques are well worth employing, should one have sufficient cause to believe that they will be fruitful. Last minute willy-nilly stuff could seem silly in retrospect.
Let's all stay safe, and learn from our experiences. The most important thing may be that whenever we organize and look out for eachother, it is a revolutionary act of great power. Solidarity forever!
Wrong forum
Concerns about what went down recently should be heard and discussed in a fair and open way, but a publicly readable and anonymous forum is not the way to do that. That will likely play into the hands of the police and others, by starting or making worse arguments between different people opposed to the RNC. Hashing out these concerns is an in-house thing that should happen at meetings of movement people with the goal being to build solidarity and create more opposition to the world as it is. This is not likely to happen by discussion back and forth here, even between people who have legitimate points.
Many many many people in the
Many many many people in the streets engaging in what some of you think to be juvenile tactics are full-time organizers/revolutionaries. We spend 364 days a year organizing against mass incarceration, working through various reformist channels to win small victories in our communities, operate free health clinics, run community centers, tend community gardens, organize our neighbors to stand up for new sidewalks or better bussing - so yes, a day of catharsis can be nice sometimes. A royal fuck you to the power structure that we confront in so many ways every single goddamned day even trying to win meager and self-evident concessions.
Whether I agree with it or not, I'm not going to shed crocodile tears over a few busted up police cruisers in a country that systematically incarcerates its poor, its african-americans, and its mentally ill. Let's be honest here anonymous former-weatherman - if people were honestly and urgently concerned with stopping the war, with actually stopping it, not just assuaging their guilt/impotence at feeling unable to do anything, the tactics would look a lot more like blockading military supply trains, trashing army recruitment centers, and taking over infrastructure and saying there will be no business as usual, none, in this country until it stops this murderous war than waving signs on bridges and writing letters to congress.
I'll give you anonymous
I'm not a former Weatherman in organizational terms; I was busted with the Weathermen in Chicago in the Days of Rage and therefore the FBI listed me with that category (SDS) until they later decided I was closer to the Yippies. Here's my name and FBI-certified alias. My prison number was 41031-A and you won't find it hard to establish which state that was in. I deliberately sacrifice my anonymity to demonstrate that your put-down is pointless. If there is anything about what I do or say that is of so much interest to the agents of the power structure that giving up my anonymity imperils me, I'll find out I suppose.
I am not impressed with the hostility and ad hominem crap that is uttered here by putative anarchists; I am even less impressed by the vicious threats and vile epithets sent in by the antagonists---do any of you have the nads to use YOUR own name, as you taunt and threaten other people who, for all their mistakes, at least WANT to do something to oppose the killers and despoilers and crooks who run this country. No, I thought not. So get the hell off this thread and get some therapy.
I never shed crocodile tears or any kind of tears over busted up police cruisers. I never blocked a military supply train but certainly did trash draft boards and recruitment centers repeatedly (which I can say now that the statute of limitations is behind me.) What does "taking over infrastructure" mean, specifically? It doesn't take long at all for the pigs to re-take any infrastructure you take over---unless you are backed by a general strike.
How do you propose to gain the necessary popular support to stage a general strike? San Francisco and Seattle attempted general strikes in the early 20th century, starting with far more advanced organization of industrial workers than any present-day American city can claim---and in both cases, the workers could not hold out long. Minneapolis had the Teamsters' strikes in the 1930's, and if you want to repeat that, quit calling me names and go back to your community organizing and good luck to you.
The Vietnam war ended because Congress cut off the money for it. Getting Congress to do so took too long. Demonstrations and confrontations in the street; raids on draft boards; destruction of military targets and state property---all these things were done by those who were impatient and skeptical that Congress would ever do its duty. There is no way and never will be any way to prove whether the direct actions of that era sped up or impeded the end of that war. I won't try to say. We did what we did. Certainly the indiscriminate trashing in the streets was the least effective disruptive tactic even as it was the most common.
But writing letters to Congress, and beyond that getting actively involved in Congressional and other electoral campaigns, was the course that did finally end the funding for that war---leaving it up to the Vietnamese armed forces to finish the job. If you want to know how that previous imperialist adventure ended, that's the long and the short of it. And now of course you or your fellow full-time organizers/revolutionaries can buy running shoes made in Vietnam by exploited workers in sweatshop factories. Point me a moral, please.
"Saying there will be no business as usual" is an empty rhetorical threat unless it is really possible to create the condition of "no business as usual." That takes a mass base. A mass base is what you don't have and will never win with stunts like what happened on Labor Day. Calling me names won't alter that fact.
You now know my identity; the spy agencies can re-open their files on me; the sick rightie lunatics who patrol this space can hatch their plots of harassment or terrorism against me if they wish; and so forth.
If after 364 days of serving the people, you want to take a day off for catharsis, then go to the woods or the lakes or the mountains and get close to nature. It will do you and the people you serve a hell of a lot more good than getting your skulls split and sending months or years behind bars---just for the fleeting pleasure of busting a business' insured window or denting a shiny new squad car.
Did you know that several Americans deliberately set fire to themselves and burned themselves to death in protest of the Vietnam War? The tactic was first used over in Vietnam by Buddhist monks, then replicated here. Literal self-immolation didn't stop that war. Figurative self-immolation is unlikely to stop this one.
I realize that you are going to do what you decide to do, and no voice of caution or restraint will have any effect until it's too late. You say your confrontations with the power structure are so frustrating that you just have to break something, as a "royal fuck you," and you have just provided a casebook instance of a juvenile tactic springing from an immature attitude. I say that not to be insulting, but you said "let's be honest" and therefore that's an honest analysis.
Really? Who am I? Unless
Really? Who am I? Unless Indymedia isn't as honest as they claim you have nothing on me.
What a bunch of windbags.
What a bunch of windbags. All of you. You are a bunch of punks that get together in your parents basements (If they have not kicked you out yet) and whine about things, then go break other peoples stuff and go back to your parents basement and talk about how much GOOD you did for the cause. While some people are actually putting effort into doing something good.
Every anarchist I've ever
Every anarchist I've ever seen has been skinny. You need to get more fatties in your movement. Then maybe you'd get more done when push comes to shove.
Typical
Typical anarchist. No ability to discuss the issues. Just empty rhetoric. Just tell people to fuck off and all is well. Keep drinking that acid-laced kool-aid.
Thank You
Thanks for posting an account that makes sense. That's been hard to come by lately. It paints a more accurate picture of those that are the real criminals. Completely clueless. Just out for the mayhem, with no idea what they're truly out there for. Spouting the same rhetoric the rest of them regurgitate. How about some critical thinking, a little self-awareness, and a sense of irony?
Punch and Judy
Shills agreeing with shills, or maybe it's the same person replying to his/her own posts... It's an old tactic, divide the protestors into different groups - when all protestors are the target. The real criminals are the people who stole the election, who used controlled demolition to destroy the Twin Towers, who used the armed forces to conduct a criminal and illegal invasion and occupation of Iraq, with over 100,000 dead on both sides, and many US veterans maimed, brain-injured, homeless and deserted by the country which deceived them into thinking that they were fighting for freedom rather than oil and profits for Halliburton and Kellogg, Brown and Root.
Faux Anarchists
These people make a mockery of the real freedom fighters across the globe. Shame on those that only go through the motions pretending to be revolutionary. Self defense, what a load of merda. They use the lingo of the struggle but don't have any right to compare their actions to compassionate actions in the real world. The whole world is laughing, the whole world is laughing...
your tax dollars at work...
paid corporate/government shills - people like you said the same crap 233 years ago. Spewing this nonsense on Indymedia - you should be ashamed of yourself, if you were capable of shame. Go back to the Pioneer Press and the Freepers, troll.
what an idiot
Instead of trying to learn from mistakes, you resort to calling troll. You have no idea. You must be one of the jokes we are laughing at by your meaningless actions. Go cry to mommy and tell her that a real revolutionary kicked your ass.
You really should be ashamed for pretending to be something you will never be.
Who do you speak for? Who
Who do you speak for? Who are the Real Anarchists?
Sorry, this is not what a revolution looks like
I thought I was having a flashback to the Weatherman Days of Rage in Chicago in 1969. The whole notion that breaking windows or blocking traffic will accomplish anything other than minor annoyance is pathetic. Also pathetic is how tough it is for anyone to learn anything from someone else's mistakes. I sure hope the Ramsey county jail is more endurable for the victims of todays excesses, than the Cook County jail was for me.
Excesses on both sides, of course. Young people driven berserk by a criminal-political mafia running this country and ruining the world; cops driven berserk by training, temperament, prejudices, and standing in 90 degree heat while cocooned in stormtrooper riot outfits and bulletproof armor. I only hope they were as uncomfortable and miserable as an ordinary person would be in one of those outfits.
I thought there was a weird mirroring going on between the black-clad "anarchists" and the black-clad Gestapo they thought they would try to confront. Problem is, those pigs have clubs, tasers, mace, tear gas, rubber bullets, real bullets, and handcuffs. (They may even have badges and names and work for actual law enforcement agencies, but there was no way to tell THAT by looking at them.)
So, the popular chant today was "This is what democracy looks like." Ironic, of course, because every inch of the way along that march, "democracy" looked pretty damn much like fascism! The small band of heavily infiltrated, semi-masked troublemakers had it right when they chanted, "This is what a police looks like."
And they had it wrong when they pumped up their adrenaline and kicked off their paltry civil disturbance by chanting "This is what revolution looks like." No, I don't think so . . . although forty years ago I was enough of a romantic to make exactly the same mistake. I think that now, is this technologically strangled society, revolution isn't achievable by anything short of a near-unanimous general strike. That seems to have worked in some nations in recent decades, although not when the rulers really are willing to massacre the citizens, as in China and Burma . . . and probably here.
Even Alexander Berkman reconsidered and eventually questioned the merits of "the deed" as a tool for bringing on the revolution. If one IS committed to "the deed," then think more carefully about which deed is the right deed. Nonviolence is ALWAYS the first tactical choice---and there is so much one can accomplish, with a little imagination. Best performance today was by the "Lobbyists for McCain" street theater troupe. Those guys, with the same t.v. exposure as the kids getting themselves pepper-sprayed and beaten bloody, would have CONNECTED with the public in a way that scraggly street fighters ain't never gonna. Use brains before hormones.
I am interested in the allegation that police provocateurs initiated the violence. This is very consistent with our experience in the 60's and early 70's. It should tell you that the tactics of disruption and trashing are counterproductive---because the cops WANT them to happen. Instead of, "Isn't it a beautiful day for a riot," I would prefer "What if they gave a riot and nobody came?"
Naturally, as explained in the Declaration of Independence, a long train of abuses and usurpations may force people to attempt to change their government. This may necessitate revolution. MOST revolutions are LOST; and as Lenin or somebody pointed out, the invention of the machine gun lengthened the odds against the downtrodden quite a bit. So don't be deluded into thinking that taking a beating in a one-sided street fight has any remote resemblance to an actual revolution. Been there, done that. You get medical bills, legal bills, and with bad luck, lengthy incarceration.
You know what? The cops and the people who tell the cops what to do, are NOT afraid of the anti-capitalists and the anarchists. They are somewhat---but not yet seriously---afraid of the potential of the other 20,000 people who were in the street today. The anarchists have no mass base and will never have one with the style and approach they employ now. The 20,000, though, COULD be the nucleus of a movement and therefore the purpose of the repression against the isolated and pretty much defenseless anarchists, is to intimidate the general public from any degree of dissent.
If the anarchists realized they weren't going to ever really impede the RNC, as any one could have told them were they willing to listen, and that obstructive and destructive behavior makes other people less sympathetic, and less tolerant---then they might reflect. The goal of economic and social justice, if it ever is to be approached, truly does need popular comprehension and support. Tactics for an event like RNC should be judged with respect to whether they'll build or detract from support from the general public. To resist the police state, and bring war and corporate criminals to justice, first build broad public support. The Weatherpeople wanted to "bring the war home"---but the people really just wanted to end the war, not relocate it. I see now what I didn't then---both the arrogance and futility of hormonally- and anger-driven sports like trashing and street fighting. The cops ARE the enemy because they work for the enemy---but they're truly the lowest level of the system of oppression.
I can't tell you what a revolution does look like, or will look like, but it will require a lot more preparation, money, organization, and popular sympathy than the anarchists now have in their present incarnation.
I agree to an extent. If the
I agree to an extent. If the actions aren't on a large enough scale and don't have the appearance of spontaneity, it just looks like angry people looking for trouble, or people trying to recreate a moment they missed (1999-2001 or 1968).
On the other hand, if people aren't coming willing to try more, then we end up with the endless, predictable lefty-protest show...show up for a few hours with a mass manufactured sign and then head back home to debate amongst yourselves about how much of an impact it had/didn't have on the population, when nothing has changed.
I think a successful, interesting and diverse protest is the best advertisement, but that must include seemingly chaotic moments. Without, it looks boring, and maybe truly is for those who end up going. Of course such scenes on TV upset the upright citizens brigade who would never attend a protest anyway. Again, why are 1968 and 1999-2001 so well remembered, but no one says shit about the massive anti-war demonstrations in DC and New York that happened more recently? Why was each anti-globalization protest growing in numbers and intensity across the Americas and Europe? Not comparing today's protest to those, but I also know the fire must start somewhere.
i'm sick and
tired of you goddamn idiots trying to marginalize our tactics and say "just broke a few windows and slash a few tires" -- These are the only things they could do with cops and the army wherever they went, and most of these actions were in response to previous police brutality.
Furthermore, our actions are effective because we have refused to be silenced. Even though the corporate media may demonize and incriminate us, they can no longer pretend that we don't exist. Using the word "Anarchist" in quotes or in front of the phrase "self-described" is not a tactic that will work forever. Though we know that many will react with fear, others who have a more critically-thinking mentality will, perhaps, look up Anarchism on Wikipedia, read it like any independent mind, and make their own judgments. Who knows? maybe they'll re-evaluate their own political bent.
In any event, the point is that we, the anarchists, have been completely silenced by this so-called "democracy". That is why we are attempting to make our voices heard. And we have succeeded.
Images of massive police brutality will be all over the internet, now, and in the coming weeks. You can't suppress it. No one can.
(A)(A)(A)(A)(A)(A)(A)(A)(A)(A)(A)(A)(A)(A)(A)(A)(A)(A)(A)(A)(A)(A)(A)(A)(A)(A)(A)(A)(A)(A)
Now You Can Be Seen and Heard
Found this yesterday:
To all you good people,
These "protesters" and self-proclaimed anarchists making asses of themselves in our streets by senselessly breaking windows, parking cars in intersections, and assaulting police officers that risk their lives providing the freedom they take for granted HIDE behind the anonymity of the internet!
Why don't they tell us who they are? Aren't you curious? I was. So, I spent a little time tracking a few down. Didn't take long at all! Stop posting here and start calling them, call their parents, call their work, call their ministers, or send them an email! Many points of contact can be found through just a LITTLE Googling. I've posted a few of the losers here, but there are many many more and I encourage you to out them.
Here are a few of the so-called "leaders":
Lacey Prpic Hedtke
A student at the College of St. Catherine! Shocking! It's a spoiled rich kid! You can see a picture of her here:
http://www.bobcatsss2008.org/programme/speakers/240.en.html
Her personal email address: polkaostrich@gmail.com
Send her an email... let her know what you think of her work in St. Paul.
Anne Mostad-Jensen
Circulation Assistant at University of St. Thomas library
(that's an awfully nice school for an Anarchist... hope that's not her capitalist parent's money paying for that higher education)
Email her at work at acmostadjens@stthomas.edu
...or call her at work at (651)962-5494.
And with a name like this, I imagine you could find her parents fairly easily. Perhaps a call to mommy and daddy would cut off funding for this little brat. My money is on her embracing capitalism once her allowance runs out.
Wanda Marsolek
Originally from small town Whitehall, Wisconsin
Once (and maybe still) a clerk at Woodbury Library. Try her there at 651-731-1320. Or, call and leave a message for her at her job at the University of Minnesota at (612)626-0585.
Kristina Darnell
Couldn't find any contact info for her directly, but she is on facebook and here's the contact info for her minister... perhaps we could encourage some divine intervention. Call or email Reverend Kendyl Gibbons at (612)377-6608 x116 or minister@firstunitariansociety.org
Sanden Totten
Assistant Producer for Minnesota Public Radio
Graduated from Oberlin College in psychology and English
That school's site lists cost of $40k per year.
Just another spoiled rich kid.
Email him at work! stotten@mpr.org
Paul Schmelzer
Graduate of St John's University. Anyone seeing a spoiled rich-kid trend?
You go to the source and comment on his blog here: http://eyeteeth.blogspot.com/
You can also see evidence of his involvement here:
http://twitter.com/schmelzenfreude
He has worked with Twin Cities Public Television. Call and let them know that pledging won't happen as long as they work with this head case. Reach them at (612)222-1717.
These groups really need to
These groups really need to stop getting infiltrated by scum.
Scum
http://kstp.com/kstpImages/givens_luce.jpg
The "Black Bloc" anarchists are getting twitchy and one can't seem to concentrate on her work - she fired off a Word doc from her work computer, threatening 2007 GOP convention delegates, ICE and Minneapolis police. The Word doc found its way to The Loyal Opposition Blog, who did some digging.
I received the following document in English and Spanish, and it's origin has been subsequently verified using two independent sources:
The RNC Welcoming Committee- a group of Twin Cities-based anarchists and anti-authoritarians formed to organize resistance to the 2008 Republican National Convention in St. Paul- stands firmly with immigrant communities in opposing the recent wave of nativist repression led by the Department of Homeland Security's Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) branch.
To those people impacted by the raids, to those people resisting this new wave of anti-immigrant activity: we would like to offer our bodies and our infrastructure in whatever way is most constructive. As community turnout on May 19th demonstrated, you are not alone. We are always ready and willing to support you in your struggle for justice; we maintain a politics of solidarity, and believe we have common ground with all targets of State and systemic repression.
To ICE and the Minneapolis Police Department: We want to make clear our opposition to the raids that occurred in South Minneapolis last weekend, to all raids, and to this system that denies certain people and their families their basic right to survival. We condemn the practices of both ICE and the MPD, recognizing that the raids weren't a break with policy so much as a continuation of the long-standing law enforcement tradition of terrorizing communities, for the sake of maintaining an unjust social order. Our communities have always been terrorized by law enforcement, whatever their initials; this terror is furthered daily, on the streets, in our workplaces, even in our homes. We know that it will continue- tomorrow, next week, at the RNC in 2008, and into the future- as long as our communities are not able to sustain and defend themselves. Thus, we are committed to building alternatives that render law enforcement agencies obsolete, and in the meantime to resisting State terror however it manifests itself, by whatever means are available to us.
www.nornc.org
rnc08 (at) riseup.net
After reading this Word doc, Loyal Opposition looked up the "properties."
This arrived both in text and as a Microsoft Word document. Microsoft Word embeds information in the document that identifies the source of the document. On a Mac, if you choose File>Properties… the Summary tab appears and you retrieve the Author and the Company.
In this case, the Author is Luce Guillen-Givins and the Company is RCTA, which are the initials for the Resource Center for The Americas. Miss Guillen-Givins appears to be an employee of the Center.
E-mail her at:
lucegg@americas.org
Scum
Betsy Raasch-Gilman, RNC Welcoming Committee
http://www.trainingforchange.org/images/stories/people/gilman.jpg
Betsy Raasch-Gilman provides training in a wide range of social change skills. She facilitates meetings and teaches groups about group process, consensus decision-making, and productive conflict. Training for boards of nonprofit organizations and cooperative businesses is a particular strong point for her. She helps organizations to develop their own strategic plans, and assists activists involved in campaigns to think strategically about their next moves. Her main love is preparing groups for direct action in the streets, and passing on the long and inspiring story of nonviolent struggles around the globe. All of her training is done with attention to the dynamics of gender identity, sexual orientation, class, race, age, religion, and physical ability in a group.
Betsy has worked primarily in the Midwest, though starting in 1999 she has trained for and participated in global justice mobilizations around North America. Farmers, neighborhood organizers, church-based activists, veterans, environmentalists, students, labor unionists, social service providers, and activists with developmental disabilities are some of the people Betsy has trained with.
Betsy has an undergraduate degree in history and Spanish from Grinnell College, and a Masters of Divinity from United Theological Seminary. She is a student of radical history, and has published several studies of 20th-Century radical women in Minnesota.
Contact Betsy at raaschgilman@gaiavoices.net
These "protesters" and
These "protesters" and self-proclaimed anarchists making asses of themselves in our streets by senselessly breaking windows, parking cars in intersections, and assaulting police officers that risk their lives providing the freedom they take for granted HIDE behind the anonymity of the internet!
The police provide you with freedom? Now that's funny!
depends on what kind of revolution you want:
you say: "I can't tell you what a revolution does look like, or will look like, but it will require a lot more preparation, money, organization, and popular sympathy than the anarchists now have in their present incarnation."
How about a revolution in which the Government is forced back to the limits prescribed by its own Constitution, in which standing armies are seen as the ultimate threat to liberty?
The original Revolutionaries comprised less than 5% of the colonial population. Sure, some of them had money, but most of the signers of the Declaration of Independence ended up penniless - even Thomas Jefferson who died bankrupt. What preparation did those Revolutionaries have? Many were veterans of the War of 1762, most all of them used rifles and pistols for sport and for dinner (Jefferson again:"Make the gun your companion on your daily walks...") They had little money, and the country was split in half, 5% for, 5% against, and the other 90% wishing they would all go away and stop causing such trouble so they could go on with life as usual, so popular sympathy really wasn't a big factor here. George Washington's Continental army was no glorious band, it was a group of people wearing rags for clothing, begging, borrowing, and stealing food wherever they could find it. His Army never won any fixed-piece engagement against the British Regulars; all his victories were hit-and-run attacks.
This isn't some sort of political campaign, where people have to raise hundreds of millions of dollars to put on an advertising blitz, to pay $5 million each to run for the US House of Representatives - the people out in the streets in the black blocs are probably penniless and homeless. Their clothes are ragged because they may be the only clothes they own. They look like what a lot of the patriots of long ago looked like.
There is no preparation for this sort of thing, only principals to be held to and fought for. The protestors are against the Government which has abrogated and overturned the Constitution in so very many ways over the last 200 years, and if you asked them, they'd probably say the hated the Constitution and the people who brought it about, but quite frankly, they're the only ones out there who are upholding it.
Sam Adams would be in the Black Blocs today... they're the same sort of people, from the same backgrounds, as his Sons of Liberty. If the Revolutionaries of 1775 had lost, their leaders hanged at Portsmouth, the history of their failed effort would be described in the words which you use. You aren't on their side, even though you make vain pretense of it.
The revolutionaries fought
The revolutionaries fought against tyranny in favor of democracy. They believed in the rule of law rather than rule by royal decree. The kids on the street today believe in anarchy. They are against representative democracy, apparently. Maybe more people would respect them if they could articulate what exactly they're trying to accomplish. Instead, they reply with "fuck you!" and other incoherent retorts. I don't think Sam Adams would've been so glib.
Another difference between real revolutionaries and the ones who spout off about it today is that these modern anarchists will trash stuff on holidays and weekends but then go back to school the next day. There's no serious "movement" -- it's just an excuse to vent their anger on their days off.
Yes, they don't believe in
Yes, they don't believe in "representative democracy". They believe in "direct democracy" (see ). As for your other points, they have articulated what they're in favor of and what they seek to accomplish, and if you'd done the most cursory amount of research, you would have found that, by and large, they stand for the following:
(from http://www.nornc.org/who-we-arepoints-of-unity/)
Following are our points of unity. We invite all individuals and groups committed to these ideas to participate in the Welcoming Committee.
Those who work with the RNC Welcoming Committee must agree to:
1. A rejection of Capitalism, Imperialism, and the State;
2. Resist the commodification of our shared and living Earth;
3. Organize on the principles of decentralization, autonomy, sustainability, and mutual aid;
4. Work to end all relationships of domination and subjugation, including but not limited to those rooted in patriarchy, race, class, and homophobia;
5. Oppose the police and prison-industrial complex, and maintain solidarity with all targets of state repression;
6. Directly confront systems of oppression, and respect the need for a diversity of tactics.
Though the RNC-WC is focused on a specific event, we hope that our work transcends the convention by contributing to the development of anti-authoritarian movements and mutual aid networks both locally and globally. We are no more opposed to the Republican Party than we are to the Democratic Party. Affiliations and labels aside, we invite all who share our vision to join us in resistance.
===============================================
If you'll take the time and trouble to actually go to their page and check it out, you'll see that they define their terms. It's actually quite articulate and well thought out, but it's not something that lends itself to a five-second explanation whilst running on the streets.
==================================================
Another thing: my bet is that these aren't errant schoolchildren - and that there'll be lots of kids from schools skipping class and doing the right thing... (see http://www.yawr.org/strike/index.htm)
missing "direct democracy" link and comment
here's the link missing above: (See http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Direct_democracy)
On reflection, I don't really think that most of the protestors would agree totally with Direct Democracy, on the basis that 50% plus one person could force their choices on the other 50% minus one person. I think that they would stand against power in whatever form it was manifested (See http://www.nornc.org/75/ :"Systems of Oppression: Any of the numerous systems that take their strength from the domination and subjugation of others." and http://www.nornc.org/64/ :"Decentralization: The principle that we are happiest, healthiest, and most free, when we control our own local institutions. The principle of decentralization means that no one in Washington D.C. should be controlling folks in Saint Paul, or be controlled by them.")
good comeback
Nice rhetorical and historical retrospective. Some would go even further and question whether the Continentals really were the good guys as our national mythology requires us to believe . . . they were after the native peoples' lands and (some of them) were genocidal slavers wanting to annull any restraints on their criminal social order. No question the Bill of Rights is still worth paying attention to!
Do not romanticize revolution. You know what Malcolm X said about it: Revolutions are bloody. Also, remember that revolutions, even successful ones, have a way of devouring their own---often the best and most altruistic revolutionists are done in by their own comrades. You may have misunderstood my thoughts about the expense and other obstacles to revolution---these are problems encountered once the ship is launched, so to speak. Popular resentment can indeed crystallize and flash into an uprising---for instance in the form of a general strike---and this often happens when everyone least expects it.
Study the South African example. reflect on places like the Philippines and Ukraine and on what has transpired since their popular revolts. look at how the LACK of money almost sank the American revolution, as even the most adamant 5% can't fight on with NO food or pay. Lenin (not my favorite) took plenty of German gold to get the Bolsheviks in position for their coup. There may be more resemblance to an electoral political campaign than you think . . .
So you resort to the ad hominem attack: "You aren't on their side, even though you make vain pretense of it."
I don't think of it as being "on their side." It's just that I was IN THEIR SHOES in an earlier part of my lifetime. Street actions; barricades; "broken glass, broken glass, up the ass of the ruling class"; clubbed senseless; teargassed so often I got high from it---I still have a necklace made from old-fashioned tear-gas canister pull-rings; and on to "Revolution has come, time to pick up the gun!"
We did then what we thought we had to do to stop the evil empire. Now the evil empire makes tons of money off of exploited workers making tennis shoes for slave wages in the People's Republic of Vietnam. And the other radicals back then, out running in the streets--the ones who weren't undercover cops, that is--are almost all gainfully employed and some are even rich (those are the ones who don't answer my calls and letters.)
Not everyone made it. Abbie Hoffman, who said that a revolutionary's first task is to survive, took his own life. A comrade of mine was struck by a car on Collins Ave at the 1972 GOP convention--he suffered permanent brain damage.
When I got out of prison, I did not shut my mouth, either. And still haven't done so.
I believe you are mistaken in saying "there is no preparation for this sort of thing."
Being unprepared is suicidal, and even being prepared is no guarantee of success or even survival. And the other word you want is "principles" not "principals."
Do you still want to resort to the personal attacks?
Wow...
... how pretentious are you? You know what a revolution will take? Then why not start one?
You forget that we are in the technological age. It does not require a lot of money or popular sympathy for a bunch of hackers to bring down everything. There are so many people out there who are desperate to do something, to take action, and are just waiting for the right moment, for the spark that will start the blaze. That spark could come from these "kids" that you are condemning. What do people do when they are really angry? They fight, not march around holding signs. The actions of the anarchists show the "powers that be" just how angry we are.
I don't necessarily want to destroy property or act with violence myself, but I understand that there are many different groups approaching this from many different angles. Everyone has a role to play in this, all of which have value, all of which are "right". If we stop wasting energy fighting with each other, and start concentrating on what we feel compelled to do, we might get somewhere.
An observation: disillusionment by your own past perceived failures seems to be directing you to act and speak counter to your own heart (the heart underneath the bitterness) by keeping everyone else down, too. The generation before us paved the way to teach us what works and what doesn't work. Take pride in that role, and don't begrudge us our hope and will to fight.
don't abuse the disillusioned, they'll get over their dismay
Am I disillusioned? I remain an optimist, fueled by many things including advice given me by John T. Bernard: "Never lose faith in the people."
Your post shows insight. An attack on the technological vulnerabilities of the power structure could very well be a potentially liberating and revolutionary step in the struggle. I am not competent to perform such an action myself, but I sense that the tentacles of electronic totalitarianism are already spread so wide that even the vestiges of civil liberty are immediately imperiled.
So explain to me how busting windows and similar trashing fits into that scenario. Permit me to quote what you wrote: "The generation before us paved the way to teach us what works and what doesn't work." Thank you. I didn't try ahead of time to tell anyone NOT to blockade, disrupt, or damage stuff. Based on what we went thru 40 years ago, trashing DOESN'T work---it only plays into the pigs' hands, and strongly alienates the rest of society. But I think human nature is such that people have to learn that lesson, like so many others, the hard way.
Then we went on to "pick up the gun." That tactic IN ISOLATION from the people, was suicidal---if I were giving advice, I would strongly advise against it (but that's not to say any citizen should surrender 2nd Amendment rights!)
What do people do when they are really angry? They fight. Correct.
What happens when they fight with bare hands, adrenaline, and anger against the pigs? The pigs win. That's all I'm saying. To say that, which you in effect do,that ANY approach people decide on has value and is "right" sounds like a cop-out to me. I think if you take on the task of revolution, you take on the responsibility for trying to make sound judgments and smart decisions.
Anger flows through me. I seethe with anger against the racketeers and criminals and war lords--the inflicters of torture and murder; the profiteers on human suffering; the despoilers of the planet, for whom the pigs on the street are merely hired goons.
I suspect that I DO sound kind of pompous and pontifical. I know that detracts from the effectiveness of what I write. Believe me, I don't begrudge anyone their hope and their will to fight. I got a rush from the presence of (what I guess was) the black or the anti-cap element on Labor Day. I emotionally identified with them, even as I do deplore the counterproductive nature of their choices of direct action. As much as I can I am asserting that provocateurs and stool pigeons may be responsible for some of the error---which is NOT to make any blanket accusation, nor to deny authentic and idealistic motives to most of the participants---it is just what we found out 40 years ago was what happened. We GOT a look at the red squad files and FBI files, and compared notes. I see no reason to expect otherwise nowadays. It would be "safer" for me to write less personally or more vaguely, but one of my shortcomings, as the FBI noted, was "****** has the type of personality such that his superiors are unable to reason with him."
Will the spark for a social economic and political overturn come from the kind of street actions attempted here this week? I expect it is highly unlikely. Before the spark can catch fire, the tinder must be dry and combustible. When the masses don't even know who is screwing them at the gas pumps, they are not likely to perceive any path to utopia just because some one breaks Macy's window.
I don't begrudge, I applaud your hope and will to fight. And MY hope is that you will fight wisely and well---using the right tools for the job. Absent any evidence of mass support---and I know of none right now---those tools ought to be non-violent and persuasive. The element of coercion in violent tactics is debasing if not immoral. Violence in self-defense is justifiable if no other reasonable alternative exists---and that is a pretty tough test to meet, either in law or logic.
I have chosen my own form of protest against the Thugs. It has been verbal and quasi-theatrical, and has been aimed at the general public, and at my elected representatives here in St. Paul, and not at the Thug delegates or RNC minions. I do not write this for the easy fun of picking disputes or placing "blame," but with the hope of providing constructive input and some perspective gained from experience. I'm sure I can get used to being regarded as "old and in the way." Thanks for keeping the spirit of resistance burning.
Who is wrong here?
You are making the protestors seem like good guys here. The cops are trying to keep the peace and all i see all over every news channels are the people trying to riot (not doing a very good job of that either). You guys are major pussies compared to the hippies when they used to protest and riot and even they were bigtime pussies. Anyway you a bunch of you clowns got arrested like you deserve.
Bush's Amerika Just Like Saddam's Iraq
So Bush had chemical weapons used on his own people, just like Saddam was accused of. And torture, public beatings of nonviolent citizens, and so on. Kudos to ALL the protesters out there!
This is what democracy looks like under Bush and the Republicans.
Not Even Close
Life in Iraq under Saddam
On July 8, 1982 Saddam Hussein drove into the city of Dujail, Iraq. After six men attempted to ambush the dictator, thousands of Dujail residents were thrown in jail and tortured. At least 148 men and boys were executed on orders signed by Saddam Hussein. link video
Saddam pursued a long-term program of persecuting the Iraqi Kurds, including the use of chemical weapons. During the Iran/Iraq war, Saddam appointed his cousin, Ali Hassan al-Majid, as his deputy in the north. In 1987-88, al-Majid led the "Anfal" campaign of attacks on Kurdish villages. Amnesty International estimates that more than 100,000 Kurds were killed or disappeared during this period. link link
The Baath Party was the only legal political party in Iraq. It pervaded all aspects of Iraqi life. Membership, was necessary for self advancement and conferred benefits from the regime. link link
Army officers were an important part of the government's network of informers. Suspicion that officers had ambitions other than the service of the President led to immediate execution. It was routine for Saddam to take pre-emptive action against those who he believed might conspire against him. link link
As well as ensuring his absolute control inside Iraq, Saddam tried to make Iraq the dominant power of the region. In pursuit of these objectives he led Iraq into two wars of aggression against neighbors, the Iran-Iraq war and the invasion of Kuwait. link link
On June 27, 1993 Vice President Al Gore said, "But there's no question about the fact that he and his Baathist regime in Iraq rule by terror and atrocity, and they have intimidated the people of Iraq by imposing such suffering upon them to let him remain in power. He tortures people, kills people and so he has remained in power and that's unfortunate." link
Human rights abuses under Saddam:
4000 prisoners were executed at Abu Ghraib Prison in 1984.
3000 prisoners were executed at the Mahjar Prison between 1993 and 1998.
About 2500 prisoners were executed between 1997 and 1999 in a "prison cleansing" campaign.
122 male prisoners were executed at Abu Ghraib prison in February/ March 2000. A further 23 political prisoners were executed there in October 2001.
In October 2000, dozens of women accused of prostitution were beheaded without any judicial process. Some were accused for political reasons.
Women prisoners at Mahjar were routinely raped by their guards.
Methods of torture used in Iraqi jails include using electric drills to mutilate hands, pulling out fingernails, knife cuts, sexual attacks and 'official rape'.
Prisoners at the Qurtiyya Prison in Baghdad and elsewhere were kept in metal boxes the size of tea chests. If they did not confess they were left to die. link link link
Saddam issued a series of decrees establishing severe penalties for criminal offences. These include amputation, branding, cutting off ears, and other forms of mutilation. Those found guilty of slandering the President could have their tongue removed. video link
Saddam's son Udayy maintained a private torture chamber known as the Red Room in a building on the banks of the Tigris disguised as an electricity installation. He ordered the Iraq football team to be caned on the soles of the feet for losing a World Cup match. He created a militia in 1994 which used swords to execute victims outside their own homes. He has personally executed dissidents, for instance in the Shia uprising at Basra which followed the Gulf War. video video link
Members of Saddam's family were also subject to persecution. Some 40 of Saddam's relatives, including women and children, were killed. link link
The Fedayeen (Uday Hussein's militia) assassinated opposition figures, broke the backs of those accused of lying to the government and chopped off tongues, fingers, hands and heads. Sometimes victims were decapitated and the heads were delivered to their families. link link
On March 11, 2003 ABC's Nightline reported that thousands of Marsh Arabs were murdered by Saddam Hussein. Marsh Arabs live in an area along the southern border of Iran and Iraq believed by many to be biblical site of the Garden of Eden. During the 1990's the wetlands were drained for two primary reasons. Draining of the wetlands allowed Saddam to seize political control over the region and it also gave improved access for oil exploration. ABC reported that since 1991 an estimated 100,000 Iraqi Marsh Arabs had become refugees in Iran. video
On April 9, 2003 U.S. forces entered the city of Bagdad. CBS News reported, "With the regime's feared security forces nowhere to be seen, Iraqis dared to cheer U.S. troops and attack the symbols of Saddam's rule. They danced in the streets, waving rifles, palm fronds and flags, and defaced posters of the longtime Iraqi president..." link video
The Oil-for-Food Program was established by the United Nations in 1995 and it terminated in late 2003. Its intent was to allow Iraq to sell oil on the world market in exchange for food, medicine, and other humanitarian needs. The program was introduced as a response to arguments that ordinary Iraqi citizens were inordinately affected by the economic sanctions aimed at demilitarizing Saddam Hussein's Iraq, imposed in the wake of the first Gulf War. Under UN supervision, the Oil-for-Food program became a major financial scandal allowing Saddam to pocket billions of dollars through kickbacks and other illicit deals. In addition to the billions of dollars Saddam received illegally under Oil-for-Food, many more billions were gained by smuggling oil to neighboring countries outside of the program. During this period, the United States Navy searched thousands of ships bound for or departing Iraq as part of its Maritime Intercept Operations and the enforcement of U.N. economic sanctions. link link
Much of the recent controversy surrounding Abu Ghraib has made only vague reference to the prison's nightmarish past. Under Saddam Hussein, some thirty thousand people were executed there, and countless more were tortured and mutilated, returning to Iraqi society as visible evidence of the brutality of Baathist rule instead of being lost to the anonymity of mass graves.
video video link link
In October of 2003, an Iraqi torture tape was obtained by the media. On the tape, what appear to be Fedayeen Saddam members and Republican Guard troops are shown administering cruel punishments, including chopping off fingers, cutting off tongues, breaking a wrist with a heavy stick, and throwing people off a multi-story building. Also depicted is a beheading by sword, which takes several attempts to complete. video link link
In July of 2004, the Iraqi National Olympic Committee put on display torture devices which were used by Uday Hussein to punish soccer players who failed to perform to expectations. Journalists were shown medieval-style torture equipment, including an "iron maiden-like" casket with metal spikes fixed to the inside. Talip Mutan, an Olympic Committee official said, "There were torture camps of Uday Hussein where sportsmen and women had been murdered or tortured, beaten and left to rot. Your worst nightmares came true in those camps. Using an iron maiden, Uday used to punish not only athletes but also everyone who made him angry. Tortured people were kept in it for hours. When he was nearly dead, he would be brought out..." Also on display was a chain whip with steel barbs the size of a tennis ball attached to the end. Uday would also beat them with iron bars, tan the soles of their feet, and drag them on pavements until their backs became bloodied, then dunk them in sewage to ensure the wounds became infected. video link link
Please prove your assertion and be specific. Thank you.
Remember Guantanamo
Saddam is gone. Bush and Cheney are still at large. Thousands held and tortured by the U.S.A.without charges at Guantanamo, Abu Ghraib, and now Twin Cities.
Torture?
You're claiming torture of your felons in jail? Prove it. Nothing you could allege would ever remotely come close to what I've posted for you. Unfortunately for you, the UN Convention is quite murky and open to interpretation.
Yup, Not Even Close
Life in Iraq under Bush:
Over one million Iraqi civilians dead. An entire nation contaminated with depleted uranium. Electricity and running water still sporadic. Yup. Way worse than Saddam. Not even close.
False
Not over 1 million civilians. Do your homework before spitting out the rhetoric.