Direct Action

http://socialistworker.org/2008/09/17/direct-action-in-st-paul

Taking direct action in St. Paul

September 17, 2008

STREET BLOCKADES are a common form of nonviolent protest in Europe and Latin America, and over a dozen members of the University of Iowa Antiwar Committee (UIAC), a chapter of the Campus Antiwar Network (CAN), traveled to St. Paul, Minn., on September 1 to implement the tactic during a peace march on the first day of the Republican National Convention.

The results were mixed, but on the whole, moderately successful.

GBBS Mankato has been birthed to provide an outreach for stranded 18+ young adults needing food, a place to sleep, or someone to help them plan for college. We will work to pair desperate young adults with community members in several ways. Peer to peer contact, Mentor to youth contact, and a list of places in Mankato to stay for some time. Contact gbbsmankato@gmail.com if you are interested in being a Mentor or you need help.

Here is an article from the mainstream Slate magazine about the RNC protests. Its not a perfect article, there are plenty of things to take exception with, but its more nuanced than most MSM accounts. I was wondering what people thought of it in that context?

http://www.slate.com/id/2199060/

This is a tool people can use if they need info on their comrades locked up behind the fence:

http://ww3.startribune.com/dynamic/jailbookings/search.php?from_date=08/...

Someone posted on Indymedia yesterday suggesting that activists consider the mainstream media as targets during the DNC and RNC. This is a good idea. According to reports, a group of protesters ran up on Chris Matthews and MSNBC and got their platforms heard before a national audience. That same tactic could work with every news outlet around.

Last night we payed a visit to the Wells Fargo bank on West Lake and attacked it with stones. Two windows were smashed.

We did this because it is a bank, specifically because of this banks involvement with the Democratic Party. We wish to show solidarity to those resisting and those arrested in Denver. We hope lead up actions continue here in the Twin Cities.

Break Things At Night.

-some rebels

From the Colorado Springs Gazette:

http://www.gazette.com/articles/small_39822___article.html/denver_dnc.html

...a group of about 40 Iraq war veterans, clad in their tan camouflage battle dress uniforms, briefly halted traffic on the 16th Street Mall.

"This is Operation First Casualty because the first casualty of war is the truth," said Aaron Hughes, 26, of Chicago.

He said the group wanted to show the people of Denver what it was like to have an "occupying force" in town and what it was like to have a "combat patrol go through their neighborhood."

The Republicans have conveniently decided to hold their convention during the first week of school. So to take advantage of the amazing learning opportunity, CAN wants students and youth to converge on Sector 6 of the RNC Welcoming Committee's map to receive an alternate education in a wide array of topics:

Politics: What happens when a large amount of committed young people act as a catalyst for change?

History: Living History on September 1, 2008: The day the Republican National Convention was shut down

Even the corporate media seems to be gearing up for direct actions. City Pages just posted 5 Things You Must Have For the Convention, and two of them are gas masks and handkerchiefs covered in vinegar. The guy who wrote it was at WTO, and there's a story about a clash with cops at the bottom.

http://blogs.citypages.com/gop/2008/08/five_musthave_i.php