RNC protesters agree to a diversity of tactics
“Come join a discussion of past experiences, concerns and plans for how to make the RNC demonstrations powerful,” read an email in my inbox. My interest was immediately piqued.
The RNC Welcoming Committee, whose goal is to “Crash the Convention,” hosted the gathering. The RNC-WC describes itself as an “anarchist and anti-authoritarian organizing body” created to protest the Republican National Convention (RNC), which will be held in St. Paul in September.
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In tightly packed room, more than 70 mostly anti-war and civil rights activists shared their past protesting experiences. The informal meeting was called to create a space for different protesting groups to work together in what was referred to as “diversity of tactics.”
Simply put, “diversity of tactics” means that activists will respect each others’ methods of protesting, allowing each other time and space in which to conduct their protests. Many cited the World Trade Organization demonstrations in Seattle as a successful protest from which lessons on mass mobilization should be drawn. Others spoke of their experience as anti-war activists during the Vietnam War.
Perhaps it was a fear of the unknown in a large meeting that made it impossible for participants to discuss the different tactics that would be used to protest the RNC. Or maybe it was the stories of the past and present told by some in the room: undercover police dressed as young activists, FBI investigators who were already “snooping” on activists, arrests made of non-violent protestors, among many others.
High energy, however, was evident as group shared a common goal—“let the Republican Party know that the American people are against the war in Iraq.”
The RNC-WC has agreed on four principles for effective protests: solidarity based on respect for a diversity of tactics, these different actions and tactics will be organized to maintain a separation of time and space, letting internal conflicts among the groups, if any, stay internal, and an agreement not to assist law enforcement actions against activists and others.
On May 16, several groups interested in protesting the convention will meet at the Federal Courts in Minneapolis seeking an injunction that will make the City of St. Paul to issue permits for different anti-war march on the RNC in September.
Nekessa Opoti is the publisher of kenyaimagine.com, a Kenyan online magazine and newspaper.
workaround
Comments
Nice story, but give URLs
This story did a good job providing information and avoiding the fear-mongering so typical of the mainstream media when it comes to such topics.
However, it would have been very useful to provide the URL of the RNC-WC:
http://www.nornc.org/
To be clear...
...it’s not just the Welcoming Committee that has agreed to those four principles (called the St. Paul Principles). They came out of a national organizers conference in February and in addition to us, the Coalition to March on the RNC and Stop the War (which we’re a part of and includes the Antiwar Committee, CUAPB, Welfare Rights Committee and others, and national antiwar groups), and many other groups locally and nationally have also signed on.
here’s more info – http://www.nornc.org/2008/04/16/st-paul-principles/
thanks for the great article!!
a few clarifications
I’d like to correct and clarify a few statements from this article. First, the discussion was co-sponsored by the RNC Welcoming Committee and the Anti-War Committee.
Secondly, I don’t think “fear of the unknown” was the reason it was “impossible for people to discuss different tactics.” There was, in fact, a sustantial discussion about tactics. But since it was the first time members of so many different groups came together for a tactics-related discussion, comments were sometimes more general and theoretical than specific. This is natural for 3 reasons:
1. Groups and individuals are still in the process of deciding what they plan to do specifically and how it will coordinate with the actions of others.
2. There are several unknown factors at work. When this discussion took place, the City had not yet announced a march route and we still don’t know what the security perimeter will be.
3. Lastly, talking about specific tactics that will be used at given place and time could violate security culture which groups who are planning illegal or high risk activities try to abide by. This is especially important in large groups where not all participants are known. There may be undercover police or members of the media who have not identified themselves and who may report something that was meant to be kept internal. It would be preferable if someone planning on writing an article would identify themselves at some point (preferably before the discussion) in the future.
And finally, the four principles referred to in this article were drafted by members of the Protest RNC 2008 Coalition which includes members of the RNC Welcoming Committee, the Coalition to March on the RNC and Stop the War, the Anti-War Committee, Communities United Against Police Brutality, and others.
They May 16 rally at the federal courthouse was organized by the Coalition to March on the RNC and Stop the War – a group that is locally led but national in scope. The Coalition is organizing a national demonstration for September 1 and is still planning to sue the City of St. Paul over unreasonable restrictions on the recently issued march permit.
inaccurate reporting
This report contains many factual errors, as well as tons of the reporter’s personal guesses about motivations for event participants. This reporter never identified herself to the group (unethical), and never asked organizers or participants any questions (lazy).
She is wrong about who hosted the event, what principles folks are committed to, who is committed to them, and what is going on in Federal Court and with who.
This article should be taken off-line. If the Daily Planet wants to discuss how groups are working together, it should ask groups. Not send reporters to secretly attend community meetings and distort the facts.
Finally, if we want our conversations reported, we will send out a press release and openly invite reporters to be there.
ridiculous.
I am against the policies of our current, executive branch members and the Republican Party, too.
That said, protests of the GOP Convention in Saint Paul will not “let the Republican Party know that the American people are against the war in Iraq.”
If people want to “let them know”, then they should support anti-war candidates in primaries and support the Democratic nominee in the general election.
But the protesters in Saint Paul – as proven by the protests of every convention until now – will only serve to marginalize themselves and the opinions on public policy that they claim to represent.
Instead, we should welcome the Republicans, encourage them to spend their money in our Twin Cities, tell them we think they’re grossly off target as comes to public and foreign policy, and then send them on their way to defeat in November.
And it’s funny how caught-up the protesters get in whose group is named what and credited with what and such (as evidenced by above posts). It’s like role playing games for many of them (and life and death policy for others, I know – but role playing fun for the vast majority – I know this from experience, believe me).
ciao,
Mr. Anonymous
RNC Protests
Words of Wisdom: I’m glad to hear someone out there with a mature point of view. If only more were so wise.
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