More dispatches...
Sep. 1st, 2008 07:03 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
catherineldfWe went to the peace rally and march in St. Paul today as intended. There was a good turnout - AP is putting out some crap about 8000 people and every other corporate news station is taking that as gospel. I was at the immigrant rights rally in 2006 and this was comparable, if a tad smaller. Since that was estimated at 35,000, figure this came in closer to 15-20,000, give or take people getting added on and off. We met up with a couple of friends, one of whom had her toddler in tow and saw a few amusing signs (on the Dubliner Pib - "Protestors need beer and Irish music too!",at the rally and march - "Who would Jesus Waterboard?", "McCain: Maverick in love but not in war" - with a photo showing him hugging Bush).
There were a number of immigrant rights groups, groups focusing on political events in Oromia,Somalia Palestine, Tibet and elsewhere, college and high school students, peace activists, church groups, poverty rights activists, women's rights groups, various socialist groups, Obama and Ron Paul supporters, the unaffiliated and yes, even anarchists. Gasp. By any estimate, it was one of the most diverse protests I've ever attended, which was a lovely thing to see.
We marched through downtown past cordons of heavily armed police on bikes, riot police, squad cars and the occasional National Guardsman.I looked for the FBI but they must have been off raiding someone's home and 'detaining' 5 year olds since they weren't in evidence. We got herded through the 'peace cage' in front of the Excel Center where the Republicans are congregating, then out the other side. There was much chanting, our friend (wo)manifested her mom superpowers and somehow nursed her kid while chanting, walking and talking to us, and it was quite hot. The organizers did a fine job and other than the threatening atmosphere, it was a perfectly good peace march. We ran into more friends and did not get tear gassed. This was particularly good both in general and in specific since I have chemical allergies and probably would have required hospitalization.
We dropped one friend off with other friends and took the remaining member of our party home.
So we missed the following: vast numbers of (or any) Red and Black Bloc Anarchists smashing windows and blocking streets; the arrest of a number of journalists including Amy Goodman from Democracy Now on charges to 'incite riot'; the tear gassing, pepper spraying and arrest of families with children, more journalists and other noncombatants down by the river; the sealing off of the bridges so people couldn't get to the concert at Harriet Island; and the press conference in which Mayor Chris Coleman and St. Paul Police Chief John Harrington bragged about how 'restrained' they were.
In the meantime, Goodman and the other journalists are still being held, one of the activists arrested this weekend who was practically a terrorist 2 days is out without charges, and a whole bunch of people have been arrested with and without actual charges.
I have sent thank you emails to Coleman and Rybak (Mayor of Minneapolis where many of the raids took place) thanking them for the following: making me ashamed to live here, making the Cities an international laughing stock at best and an advertisement for fascism at worst, their efforts to repress civil liberties and of course, the fact that as a city resident and tax payer, I'll be paying off on the law suits over this forever. I'll post if this actually bring the jackbooted thugs to our door (and posting is an option). It is dissent after all, and that must be stopped. http://www.salon.com/opinion/greenwald/, http://twitter.com/coldsnaplegal, http://tcdailyplanet.com/.
If you'd like to do the same, here's the contact info:
St. Paul Mayor Chris Coleman
651-266-8510
Minneapolis Mayor RT Rybak
(612) 673-2100
(612) 673-3000 outside Minneapolis
Or you can use the email contacts off the mayoral sites.
Other useful things:
These are the 'dangerous' permaculture activists whose bus was seized. Make a call to Rybak and throw them a dime or two to help them get their bus back -
http://permibus.livejournal.com/
These are the folks on the ground doing legal counseling; a couple of their folks got picked up the sweeps through downtown so now they have to get them out too in addition to everyone else -
http://coldsnaplegal.wordpress.com/
If you do nothing else, call the Mayor's office and call your city councilperson if you live here. If they'll teargas and arrest Amy Goodman on trumped up charges, ain't none of us safe.
There were a number of immigrant rights groups, groups focusing on political events in Oromia,Somalia Palestine, Tibet and elsewhere, college and high school students, peace activists, church groups, poverty rights activists, women's rights groups, various socialist groups, Obama and Ron Paul supporters, the unaffiliated and yes, even anarchists. Gasp. By any estimate, it was one of the most diverse protests I've ever attended, which was a lovely thing to see.
We marched through downtown past cordons of heavily armed police on bikes, riot police, squad cars and the occasional National Guardsman.I looked for the FBI but they must have been off raiding someone's home and 'detaining' 5 year olds since they weren't in evidence. We got herded through the 'peace cage' in front of the Excel Center where the Republicans are congregating, then out the other side. There was much chanting, our friend (wo)manifested her mom superpowers and somehow nursed her kid while chanting, walking and talking to us, and it was quite hot. The organizers did a fine job and other than the threatening atmosphere, it was a perfectly good peace march. We ran into more friends and did not get tear gassed. This was particularly good both in general and in specific since I have chemical allergies and probably would have required hospitalization.
We dropped one friend off with other friends and took the remaining member of our party home.
So we missed the following: vast numbers of (or any) Red and Black Bloc Anarchists smashing windows and blocking streets; the arrest of a number of journalists including Amy Goodman from Democracy Now on charges to 'incite riot'; the tear gassing, pepper spraying and arrest of families with children, more journalists and other noncombatants down by the river; the sealing off of the bridges so people couldn't get to the concert at Harriet Island; and the press conference in which Mayor Chris Coleman and St. Paul Police Chief John Harrington bragged about how 'restrained' they were.
In the meantime, Goodman and the other journalists are still being held, one of the activists arrested this weekend who was practically a terrorist 2 days is out without charges, and a whole bunch of people have been arrested with and without actual charges.
I have sent thank you emails to Coleman and Rybak (Mayor of Minneapolis where many of the raids took place) thanking them for the following: making me ashamed to live here, making the Cities an international laughing stock at best and an advertisement for fascism at worst, their efforts to repress civil liberties and of course, the fact that as a city resident and tax payer, I'll be paying off on the law suits over this forever. I'll post if this actually bring the jackbooted thugs to our door (and posting is an option). It is dissent after all, and that must be stopped. http://www.salon.com/opinion/greenwald/, http://twitter.com/coldsnaplegal, http://tcdailyplanet.com/.
If you'd like to do the same, here's the contact info:
St. Paul Mayor Chris Coleman
651-266-8510
Minneapolis Mayor RT Rybak
(612) 673-2100
(612) 673-3000 outside Minneapolis
Or you can use the email contacts off the mayoral sites.
Other useful things:
These are the 'dangerous' permaculture activists whose bus was seized. Make a call to Rybak and throw them a dime or two to help them get their bus back -
http://permibus.livejournal.com/
These are the folks on the ground doing legal counseling; a couple of their folks got picked up the sweeps through downtown so now they have to get them out too in addition to everyone else -
http://coldsnaplegal.wordpress.com/
If you do nothing else, call the Mayor's office and call your city councilperson if you live here. If they'll teargas and arrest Amy Goodman on trumped up charges, ain't none of us safe.