Voices from the protest

These are statements from some of the many people who will protest against the Republican National Convention in St. Paul, MN on September 1-4, 2008.

Fight Back News Service is circulating the following greeting from Freedom Road Socialist Organization to demonstrators at the Republican National Convention.

St. Paul, MN – A picket line and press conference took place here Nov. 1, at the office of the police community service unit, to announce that the Coalition to March on the RNC and Stop the War has submitted another application to demonstrate at the Republican National Convention. Permits for protests and demonstrations in Saint Paul are submitted to this office.

St. Paul, MN – As the head of the Saint Paul City Council banged her gavel, Deb Konechne, of the Coalition to March on the RNC & Stop the War and the Welfare Rights Committee, stood up and demanded that council members listen to statements on why permits should be granted now for a massive anti-war march at the Republican National Convention. When the Council refused to hear the statements, protesters chanted, “We need the permits,” and marched out of the meeting.

St. Paul, MN – Standing in front to the Xcel Center, Sept. 1, the site of next year’s Republican National Convention, organizers of the massive protest planned against the war on Iraq pressed their demand for permits. The city of Saint Paul has refused to issue permits and is having subcommittees of the city’s so-called Free Speech Committee meeting in secret. Speakers – including members of Women Against Military Madness, the Welfare Rights Committee and the Anti-War Committee – made it clear that would fight any attempt to restrict their right to protest against the Iraq war at the Republican National Convention.

Minneapolis, MN – Activists planning protests at the Republican National Convention packed a city hall conference room here, Aug. 8, to blast a proposed ordinance that would place big restrictions on the right to demonstrate. Deb Konechne of the Welfare Rights Committee told members of the city government’s ‘Free Speech Working Group’ that the proposal was trash.

St. Paul, MN – Individuals and organizations gathered here for what is likely to the be the first of many community meetings to make plans in response to the Republican National Convention (RNC) which will take place in Saint Paul in Sept. 2008. The event, called “Resisting the RNC: Minnesota Town Hall Organizing Meeting,” was co-hosted by the Protest RNC 2008 Coalition (www.protestrnc2008.org) and the RNC Welcoming Committee. (www.rncwelcomingcommittee.org).

Minneapolis, MN – The Welfare Rights Committee held a celebration and organizing event Aug. 9 to get low-income families geared up for the Sept. 1 march on the Republican National Convention (RNC). Low-income women and their familes filled the Sibley Park Community Center where the event took place.

St. Paul, MN – On September 1, the opening day of the Republican National Convention, 30,000 people rallied at the Minnesota State Capitol and marched against the war. It was the largest anti-war march in the U.S. this year.

Fight Back News Service has posted a podcast of Jess Sundin, a member of Freedom Road Socialist Organization and one of the leading organizers of the Sept. 1 and Sept. 4 anti-war demonstrations at the Republican National Convention. Sundin speaks on the lessons that can be learned from the protests at the RNC.