Via the Stimulator. For more information on that ‘poor, unarmored’ police officer shown being ‘harassed’ dragging an unresisting protester along the ground, see here, with multiple videos of the citizens’ unarrest.
Independent media has begun releasing longer, more in-depth accounts of what went down here in September, when they – along with tens of thousands of peaceful citizens – suddenly found themselves in a repressive police state that resembled fabled Minnesota Nice not at all. Independent media was specifically targeted, along with folks from the RNC Welcoming Committee.
Sometime today, the good folks from Twin Cities Indymedia and the Glass Bead Collective will release a hi-definition downloadable (and burnable to dvd) version of their documentary, “Terrorizing Dissent.” There will be public showings in various locations [check the web site]. In the meantime, here’s the trailer.
Tom Hayden, one of the Chicago 8 forty years ago, has been a good egg, making the parallels explicit. He was on Macalester’s campus last week, talking up this point, the fact that police adhere to a ’scare the sh*t out of the public’ script in these cases, and that
As long as the pubic is dumb and the politicians cowardly, they won’t have to send out agents. But I don’t see how this pulling the wool over the eyes of people can go on forever.
OCTOBER 22 NATIONAL DAY OF PROTEST AGAINST POLICE BRUTALITY,
REPRESSION AND THE CRIMINALIZATION OF A GENERATION
PROTEST AGAINST POLICE BRUTALITY
WEDNESDAY, OCTOBER 22
4:30 p.m.
KELLOGG PARK, KELLOGG & WABASHA, ST. PAUL
From mass police brutality during the RNC to the
everyday brutality against people of color and
poor people in the streets and in the jails,
something has got to be done to end the reign of terror.
Come out and demand REAL solutions:
Phone-in against Phony charges (Monday, October 13)
RNC Arrestees Call-In Day of Action
Monday October 13th, 2008 (9am- 5pm)
6 of the RNC 8 are attending court on Monday Oct 13th. In solidarity with them and the 800+ other RNC arrestees, we are asking folks to take 5 minutes to call Ramsey County Attorney Susan Gaertner’s office, St. Paul
Mayor Chris Coleman and St. Paul City Attorney John Choi and demand that ALL CHARGES BE DROPPED.
Call (651)266-8510 and tell Mayor Chris Coleman’s office that the city of St. Paul must hold police accountable for their actions and brutality during the RNC and that all charges against protesters be dropped.
Call (651)266-3222 and demand that Ramsey County Attorney Susan Gaertner drop the Felony charges against almost 2 dozen RNC protesters and that you are watching the “RNC8” case very closely. Demand that her office
not prosecute protest organizers as “terrorists”.
Call City Attorney John Choi at (651)266-8710 and demand that all misdemeanor charges be dropped now! He has referred to RNC protesters as outsiders who wanted to “create mayhem.” Let him know the hundreds Twin Cities residents arrested during the convention would probably disagree.
Please be polite, but firm. Remember that what you say will have an impact on everybody facing charges, and it could very easily have a negative impact if you are not careful.
1 half hour long documentary from our comrades the Stimulator and Pepper Spray Media, on the recent police repression at the Saint Paul Republican National Convention. Too long to embed via Vodpod, apparently, can be downloaded directly via this link. It’s about 363 MB.
via Ground Noise And Static at subMedia.
And hey – wanna support these folks? Buy a copy of the disc for 15 clams.
Or watch it below, here:
This would appear to be the first documentary (rather than news piece or raw footage) based on the Republican National Convention and the police crackdown on peaceful protests, from less than a month ago. Locally produced, and well worth a watch. Videos embedded after the jump… Read the rest of this entry »
USA: Use of Force Against RNC Protesters “Disproportionate,” Charges Amnesty International.
Yep. I’ve been at a number of these things, including Seattle in 1999, where I was a graduate student who was gassed out of my apartment. While I’ve seen evidence of worse individual actions by police (and I have not seen all of the evidence from this action yet, and it gets worse every day), I have never seen such planned, provoked, and intentional violence from the police.
I mentioned in a previous post that I hold two positions that some may consider somewhat difficult to reconcile: my support of the protests and actions taken by protesters in the streets of Saint Paul during the ongoing Republican National Convention here, and my disdain for and criticism of the massive protests and occupation of government offices by the People’s Alliance for Democracy in Bangkok. How, my imaginary interlocutor asks, can I reconcile these two opinions? Read the rest of this entry »
I have been awfully busy the past few days, dealing with the invasion of my community and the severe police repression on the streets, directed against my friends and fellow workers. There are better places than this to read and watch about what is going on.
I find myself in the position – confusing to some – of supporting the supposed uprising here in Saint Paul, and opposing the current, massive uprising in Bangkok. Maybe I’ll have a moment to discuss this soon, but it’s possible I will not. In the meantime, check out this short film (6.5 min) from Big Noise Films of last night’s attack on the Poor People’s Economic and Human Rights Campaign’s March For Our Lives, after the jump… Read the rest of this entry »
|
Recent Comments