Twin Cities Indymedia feeds

Anti-Capitalist Bloc @ the RNC: An I.W.W. Report

Sat, 04 Oct 2008 16:58:13 -0400

During the first week of September 2008, Republican Party delegates gathered in St. Paul, Minnesota for the Republican National Convention (RNC) - the media spectacle and corporate sleaze-fest that completes their nominating process. An army of armor-clad riot police, National Guard, and private security with their humvees, rubber bullets, and tear gas protected them. FBI-assisted sheriff's raids at more than a half-dozen activist homes and organizing centers in Minneapolis-St. Paul sought to hinder opposition.

September Deadly for Bicyclists; Memorial Ride Begins Saturday Morning

haloka — Fri, 03 Oct 2008 18:47:51 -0400

Between September 11 and September 27, at least four bicyclists were killed on Twin Cities streets. On Saturday, riders are invited to take part in a memorial ride visiting the sites of these recent crashes, leaving from Saint Paul in the morning and traveling to Uptown and Downtown Minneapolis, followed by an afternoon ride to Blaine. The stepped-up assault of car culture on cyclists is not limited to the Twin Cities; activists in the Midwest are also mourning the apparent loss of a participant in August's PNC2RNC bike ride after a car struck her bike.

Memorial Ride to Honor Fallen Bicyclists: meet 10:30am Saturday at Summit and Snelling in St. Paul
Route | Ghost Bike MPLS | TC Streets For People

Maintaining Momentum and Unleashing Evil: Call for post-RNC consulta

Wed, 01 Oct 2008 01:14:02 -0400

Calling All Anarchists Throughout the Great Lakes and the Midwest,

Ya'll are invited to a Midwest and Great Lakes anarchist consulta in Milwaukee, this Halloween weekend (October 31st - November 2nd).

In early November of 2007, anarchists from across the Midwest gathered in Milwaukee to network and to plan some havoc for the Republican National Convention. Almost a year later, we in Milwaukee are excited to invite our friends of dubious intension back to our city. The purpose being to strategize and network for increased conflict with capitalism and the state in the coming months, and of course to cause some old-fashioned, ghoulish mischief on Halloween. Oh, and of course good food and warm places to stay.

Anti-War March Organizers Express Solidarity and Respect for Diverse Tactics

krplotz — Thu, 25 Sep 2008 01:27:03 -0400

Shortly after the RNC, Francisco Gonzalez, a guest blogger for Engage Minnesota wrote an article called “March organizers failed to protect message.” http://www.tcdailyplanet.net/article/2008/09/08/march-organizers-failed-...

This article was later posted on the Twin Cities Daily Planet website. As a member of the Coalition to March on the RNC and Stop the War, I felt compelled to respond. Gonzalez suggested that those who organized the permitted anti-war march on the opening day of the RNC should have tried to prevent “unruly elements” from engaging in direct action or should have denounced those who did the next day. He suggested that our message was stolen by “a few who acted mindlessly” and that we should have stood “side by side with police” to denounce them.

Video- Fight for Your Right to Shop: Riot Cops Detain IWW Starbucks Workers Union Supporters in Train at Mall of America

daveid — Tue, 23 Sep 2008 16:50:08 -0400

IWW Starbucks Workers Union supporters are sealed into a train by riot cops en route to the first union shop in the Mall of America.

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

Tue, 23 Sep 2008 13:26:39 -0400

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.

CUAPB News: RNC, Raids, Increased Military Powers

Sun, 21 Sep 2008 21:52:54 -0400

Communities United Against Police Brutality
EMAIL NEWSLETTER
September 21, 2008
**********************************************
It has been a month since our last newsletter and very much has happened in that month. On a rather personal note, this editor has had some difficulty summing up all that has happened and getting to the point of being able to write about it. It's also just plain difficult to be in the middle of action and write about it at the same time.

While police brutality is the daily reality of people of color, homeless, low income people and others, the sheer coordination and repressive conduct of police during the RNC harkens a new level efforts to crush dissent. No free speech was tolerated during the RNC and new levels of terror and brutality were rained down on community activists just for opposing the Republican agenda. This conduct was supported and aided by elected officials including mayors and council members on both sides of the river. Now some are trying to worm out of what they unleashed by holding bogus "public" hearings (with hand-picked speakers), naming partisans to phony "independent" investigations, or calling for investigations they know will never materialize.

Both mayors have been effusive in their praise of police conduct--the same conduct that has left many activists bruised and battered and facing serious criminal charges. In this new climate, all police need do is invoke the "terrorism" word and they get a free pass to raid, beat, bomb, gas and arrest, with the grinning assent of elected officials. In the run-up to the annual October 22 National Day of Protest Against Police Brutality, CUAPB will examine this new climate, what it means for all activists (not just those opposed to the current administration), and how it is likely to spill over toward people already feeling the boot of police oppression.

Organizing Resistance -- A retrospective on the 2008 Republican National Convention

Sun, 21 Sep 2008 02:19:04 -0400

What follows is a strategic assessment of some of the organizing process leading up to the RNC protests in St. Paul. I participated in the actions but I am not a member of the RNC Welcoming Committee and do not purport to speak on their behalf. This document is purely for the purposes of discussion and debate within the anarchist community. The information contained in this analysis comes from first person observation, as well as a study of various documents put out by the RNC WC, independent and corporate news accounts of the actions, and other strategic reportbacks on the action.

Urgent Community Meeting! Responding to Police Harassment in the Twin Cities

Sat, 20 Sep 2008 16:58:36 -0400

There have been at least eight visits by police to the homes of targeted individuals in the Twin Cities this week, where they have attempted to ask these people questions about their involvement with anti-RNC organizing. The government is doing this in an attempt to intimidate and harass, as well as conduct a fishing expedition to gather intelligence. This will not stand!

Buried tape reveals use of force and an unwarranted mass arrest of bystanders during RNC

Fri, 19 Sep 2008 17:10:47 -0400

BURIED TAPE REVEALS USE OF FORCE AND AN UNWARRANTED MASS ARREST OF BYSTANDERS DURING THE REPUBLICAN NATIONAL CONVENTION

ST. PAUL, Minnesota (September 18, 2008) ? Video released today shows the indiscriminate arrest of a crowd of two hundred at the waterfront across from a concert on Harriet Island Regional Park during this month?s Republican National Convention in St. Paul. The video includes multiple angles of the event as well as an interview with the cameraman who buried his footage and was one of almost two hundred people arrested for rioting without probable cause.

More than eight hundred people were arrested in St. Paul during the Republican National Convention. This video shows that at least twenty percent of the eight hundred plus arrested were seized without due cause.

To view the video: http://blip.tv/file/1274115
or: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TmQrWTRAZmA&fmt=6
Broadcast quality h264: http://glassbeadcollective.org/rnc/LaborDayInThePark_sd.mov
(Also featured @ firedoglake & Minnesota Independent)

--Video produced by Glassbead Collective w. support from Twin Cities Indymedia--