“Members of the Welcoming Committee were used as a part of the Saint Paul police’s campaign to scare people from coming out to protest on Sept. 1 and to keep people from taking militant action during the convention,” said Jessica Sundin, a member of the Anti-War Committee and spokesperson for the Coalition to March on the RNC and Stop the War. “But protesters refused to be bullied into silence, were militant, and came out in thousands to oppose the war on Iraq.”

Members of the RNC Welcoming Committee were targeted for their work as open anarchists who were organizing awareness of anti-RNC events and for planning support such as housing, food, etc. for anti-RNC activist sponsored activities. They each face the potential of five years in prison and a $10,000 fine according to Garrett Fitzgerald, one of the RNC 8. Fitzgerald asked “Are we guilty of a crime? I don’t believe so. I don’t believe we did anything criminal. Ultimately when we go to trial the jury is going to have to decide at what point is feeding someone a felony offense?”

The RNC 8 were originally charged with the felony offense of conspiracy to riot in the second degree in furtherance of terrorism. This was the first ever use of Minnesota’s PATRIOT Act. In December, Ramsey County Attorney Susan Gaertner added three more felony charges: second degree conspiracy to riot, first degree conspiracy to commit criminal damage to property in furtherance of terrorism and first degree conspiracy to commit criminal damage to property.

Supporters organized to pressure Gaertner, who is also running for governor of Minnesota as a Democrat, to not prosecute the RNC 8. She has been plagued with pickets at fundraising and campaign events throughout Minnesota and even in Chicago. On April 9, due to political pressure Gaertner’s office dropped the two terrorism enhancement charges but she plans to still prosecute the RNC 8 on the remaining two counts of conspiracy.

Luce Guillen-Given, one of the RNC 8, explained, “Dropping the terrorism enhancements was definitely a victory for grassroots organizing. It wasn’t a victory achieved through litigation but something that came from mobilizing all sorts of different people and communicating to Susan Gaertner’s office what the people of the Twin Cities want to see happen.”

Rob Czernik, another of the RNC 8, explained why they have received so much support, “One of the amazing things...was with the Duluth Board of Trades and Labor who put out a statement of solidarity with us asking Susan Gaertner to drop the charges. There have been a couple of other unions that have recognized that while they didn’t agree with our tactics and didn’t agree necessarily with our ideology they saw that what was happening was something that could happen to them.”

Guillen-Given also addressed the diversity of their support, “We have the support of people’s families, the friends that they bring along, different political groups and communities that each of the eight have worked in, and a lot of people we don’t know who have heard of the case and can recognize that there is something significant, not just for the eight of us, but for everyone.”

Guillen-Givins theorized about reasons for this broad base of support. “This could be anybody. We’re really being targeted for open public organizing. There are a lot of people who engage in that sort of activity and every time there is a political prosecution and they succeed with that it lays the ground work to continue that and to broaden the targets.”

Guillen-Givens added, “We’re at a moment where anarchism is considered inherently criminal. You can see that in the first press release that (Sheriff) Bob Fletcher released the morning after the Convergence Center raid and right after the house raids where he referred to the RNC Welcoming Committee as a ‘known criminal enterprise.’ I guess it’s just really threatening to think of anarchists working across ideological lines. They’re [the government] really afraid of that sort of solidarity in building resistance. So I feel like they think they have a lot to lose if movements for social change are strong enough to cross those lines and like they have a lot to gain if they can zero in on the anarchists and kind of isolate us and cut us off from the movement – which I don’t think they’ve been successful at.”

The RNC 8 were supposed to have a hearing on August 19 but it was postponed. At their future hearing they urge their supporters to come to a pre-hearing rally and as much of the trial as possible. In the meantime, the RNC 8’s defense committee is planning to keep up their pressure on the Ramsey County Attorney’s office. There is currently no trial scheduled but it could start as late as spring of 2010.

Go to rnc8.org for more information about their case and to get involved.

#StPaulMN #AntiwarMovement #InJusticeSystem #RepublicanNationalConvention2008 #CoalitionToMarchOnTheRNCAndStopTheWar #PatriotAct #RNC8 #RNCWelcomingCommittee

A statement from the Twin Cities based Anti-War Committee noted, “The proposed ordinance claims to have two purposes: to protect the rights of freedom of expression; and to protect public safety and access to public spaces. It fails on both fronts and reads more like a PATRIOT Act for Minneapolis.”

The Anti-War Committee letter also stated, “The ordinance does nothing to expand our rights as they exist and has no provisions to protect these rights, nor does it curb infringements on these rights by local law enforcement, city park officials or restrictive sound ordinances. On the contrary, the ordinance separates out political speech and applies special regulations to that, while other speech remains governed by existing laws. Most dangerously, the ordinance criminalizes non-permitted political speech.”

At the Aug. 8 meeting a modified ordinance was introduced. That was also rejected by Twin Cities progressives. “We see this as a direct attack on our day-to-day organizing. We don’t want any new rules that limit our right to protest. We will not apply for permits to protest in Minneapolis,” said Jess Sundin of the Anti-War Committee.

The groups condemned the ‘Free Speech’ Working Group for considering the ordinance and for failing to alert community organizers about the attack. They called on the committee to disband, if it cannot take positive action to improve conditions for local protesters.

Organizers believe that in light of strong community opposition, the ‘Free Speech’ Working Group will not support the proposed ordinance, but it may move forward through another City Council committee. Activists vow to keep a close eye on any city council committees that consider regulations that limit the right to demonstrate.

#StPaulMN #SaintPaulMN #News #RepublicanNationalConvention2008 #AntiWarCommittee #PatriotAct #FreeSpeechWorkingGroup

Protesters said that the response to the attacks on 9/11 has cost too much. Jessica Sundin, Anti-War Committee member, explained, “Five years after Sept. 11, 2001, at least 114,000 people have been killed, and 9.6 million people have been made refugees in the name of fighting terror. The ‘war on terror’ has U.S. troops occupying Iraq and Afghanistan, Israel on the offensive in Lebanon and Palestine, war with Iran is looming, and the Colombian civil war continues to be fueled by U.S. dollars. We need to say no to this state of unending war.”

Protesters also pointed out the costs at home. They were critical of policies such as the USA-PATRIOT Act, which they say racially profiles Arabs, Muslims and other immigrants, who are discriminated against, criminalized, and in at least 83,000 cases, detained. Moreover, demonstrators said the money spent in the war on terror – some $586 billion – could have been better spent meeting human needs here at home.

Protesters got louder when Minneapolis police threatened to shut down the protest if demonstrators “used amplified sound.” Palestinian American activist Sabry Wazwaz was joined on the bullhorn by Erika Zurawski of the University of Minnesota Anti-War Organizing League. They energized the crowd with chants of, “Who is a terrorist? Bush is a terrorist!” On the five-year anniversary of 9/11, protesters wanted to confront the patriotic fervor that dominated mainstream media, and refused to be silenced in the face of police intimidation.

The impact of the U.S. war on terror was beautifully demonstrated by the Anti-War Committee’s guerilla theater. Actors recreated the U.S. attacks on Iraq and U.S. support for state terror in Israel and Colombia. At the end of the skit, military members joined with taxpayers in refusing to help George W. Bush lift his giant bomb and the war on terror was over because Bush could not do it alone. As actor Thistle Parker-Hartog said in the skit, “When soldiers refuse to fight, when taxpayers refuse to pay for war, our government cannot continue to terrorize the people of the world. The people of the world are under attack. What do we do? Stand up, fight back!”

Anh Pham spoke at the demonstration and explained what 9/11 should mean, “In the face of this grim reality, the people of Iraq, Palestine, Lebanon, Colombia and the world continue to resist. We are doing the same. Let’s stand up to reclaim 9/11 and make it a day of international solidarity with the people of the world!”

The Anti-War Committee and other groups are building for the Iraq Peace Action Coalition’s upcoming demonstration on Saturday, Sept. 23 at noon at Library Plaza at the intersection of Hennepin and Lagoon Avenues in the Uptown neighborhood in Minneapolis. The demonstration will be a part of a national call for action by United for Peace and Justice.

#MinneapolisMN #AntiwarMovement #News #Protest #AntiWarCommittee #911 #PatriotAct #guerillaTheater

Fadi Saba, a member of the Coalition for Civil Liberties, said that the attacks on Arabs and Muslims today echo the Palmer Raids of the 1920's, where the U.S. government rounded up and deported thousands of immigrants suspected of being communists. Mark Schlosberg, of the American Civil Liberties Union, warned the audience about the USA Patriot Act, which expands police powers, labels civil disobedience as terrorism, and targets immigrants. Maha El Genaidi, of the Islamic Network Group, raised the question, “Is Islam taking the place of communism in a new cold war?” She also called on individuals to educate themselves and for the community to speak out as a group.

After the panel presentation, members of the audience shared web sites on civil liberties, the concentration camps for Japanese Americans during World War II, and anti-war information. There was a discussion about the Arab Americans who had been fired by Cadence Designs and Macy's. Towards the end of the discussion, Masao Suzuki, a member of the Nihonmachi Outreach Committee, said there was a need to “build a base in the Japanese American community, build ties with Arab, Muslim, and South Asian Americans, and criticize U.S. foreign policy.”

#SanJoseCA #AntiwarMovement #ImmigrantRights #News #Afghanistan #AsianNationalities #911 #NihonmachiOutreachCommittee #civilLiberties #PatriotAct