No to Intimidation, No to State Repression
By David Zlutnick, of the Friendly Fire Collective
(This is the beginning of a longer piece that will ultimately be an analysis of the police repression in St. Paul and its implications. Check back later at FriendlyFireCollective.info to see the final product.)
As many have probably now heard, eight members of the RNC Welcoming Committee (WC) have been charged with “Conspiracy to Riot in Furtherance of Terrorism.” The WC was a group of primarily anarchists that has been operating for a couple years now in organizing logistics and infrastructure to support the protests against the Republican National Convention, which occurred last week in St. Paul, MN. These activists are now being charged with terrorism-related crimes under Minnesota’s version of the PATRIOT Act, facing up to 7 ½ years in prison if convicted on all counts.
These charges arrive in a certain context, which should briefly be explored. The WC and affiliated groups across the country had been calling for direct action against the RNC (and the DNC in Denver) in an effort to significantly disrupt its proceedings to draw attention to various issues: the ongoing wars and occupations in Iraq and Afghanistan, continued expansion of free trade at the expense of the global poor, the charade of democracy generally characterizing the upcoming elections, continued attacks on the environment, and so on and so forth. This possibility became a very real threat for the two parties who were then required to significantly beef up security at both conventions.
While in Denver there was a massive show of force in the months leading up to the DNC and of course on the streets themselves during the convention (including National Guard deployments, massive caged protest zones, general police shows of force, etc.), St. Paul’s police department seemed to be much less prepared to handle the demonstrations. They publicly admitted that they were having trouble securing the 3,500 officers they were hoping to have at their disposal. They said they were going to break from previous models of police action at similar summits, not busting heads but simply maintaining order, yet were also admitting that they were worried about being able to do so.
However looking back on the past couple weeks, if you’d like an example of an iron fist in a velvet glove this is it. Maybe this was going along with their plan all along, or maybe they improvised because they really were dealing with a shortage of bodies, but what they lacked in police presence on the street they made up with underhanded tactics of suppression, harassment, and intimidation. From their perspective it makes a lot of sense. Why worry about having to engage protesters on the street if you can try and crush the protests before they start? Either for reasons of a lack of resources or merely the development of a new strategy, their methods were very effective. When the St. Paul police chief said several months ago that they would diverge from the “Miami Model” and the “New York Model” (referring to police repression during the 2003 FTAA protests and the 2004 RNC, respectively), they were right. What we saw here was more a convergence of the two: heavy (although limited) police action on the streets and in raids, like in Miami, mixed with infiltration and spying, like in New York.
This “St. Paul Model” as we might as well start calling it started with the raiding of the WC’s Convergence Center—a rented church event center being used for meetings, free dinners, film screenings, etc.—after which police began a series of house raids, where the eight members of the WC were arrested as being organizers of the “violence” and “mayhem” that police insisted would occur in the coming days. Warrants had been issued and served for Monica Bicking, Eryn Trimmer, Luce Guillen Givins, Erik Oseland, Nathanael Secor, Robert Czernik, Garrett Fitzgerald, and Max Spector, now known as the RNC 8.
It has now been made public that these individuals were targeted after long police investigations where evidence was obtained mostly through the use of paid informants who infiltrated the WC. The informants made allegations that WC-members sought to kidnap delegates to the RNC, assault police officers with firebombs and explosives, and sabotage airports in St. Paul, although so far none of the evidence that has been provided by police corroborates any of this. In addition, the fact that police informants have a clear incentive to lie and exaggerate crimes (or potential crimes) or act as provocateurs—and history has shown that this is often the case—should be taken into account.
Needless to say, this is a dangerous precedent being set—the manipulation of a perceived public fear to enhance the repression of political opposition. Labeling these organizers as terrorists quickly galvanizes support for heavy-handed police action and offers justification, especially when filtered through the lens of the not-so-anarchist-friendly media.
“These charges are an effort to equate publicly stated plans to blockade traffic and disrupt the RNC as being the same as acts of terrorism. This both trivializes real violence and attempts to place the stated political views of the Defendants on trial,” said Bruce Nestor, President of the Minnesota Chapter of the National Lawyers Guild. “The charges represent an abuse of the criminal justice system and seek to intimidate any person organizing large scale public demonstrations potentially involving civil disobedience.”
The RNC 8 are, of course, only a few of those who are facing the hard hand of the “justice” system. Almost 300 were arrested on the RNC’s first day alone, amounting to almost 130 facing felony charges. Almost all of the felonies were “Felony Conspiracy to Riot,” another bogus charge that means basically they were arrested in an area where there possibly could have been a riot in which they might have engaged in if it had happened.
From those who have been witness to similar situations before, you’ll know that felony charges almost never stick and it’s another tactic often used by police and prosecutors to attempt to harass protesters and stifle resistance. Filing felony charges increases bail and usually means a longer initial stay in jail. Felony charges often get dragged through the court system and therefore tie up individuals for long periods of time, sometimes even years before being dropped. (Not to mention the fact that out-of-staters will most likely have to fly back and forth for court appearances if it comes to that.) And of course it’s a huge drain on a movement’s typically limited resources to have to provide legal defense, especially on such a mass scale.
From house raids to mass arrests, from the PATRIOT Act to mass felony charges, and of course the police brutality on the streets which I have not addressed here, the repression against protesters during the RNC was all-encompassing and should be examined on a closer level. As mentioned earlier, the precedent this type of subjugation could set if it is not strongly countered and defeated is grave to say the least.
As activists and organizers we should take this very seriously and take this very personally. This could really be any one of us. Imagine if the RNC (or DNC) came to your city, would you not organize to set up housing, meeting spaces, transportation, legal and medical support? Would you not try and get others from across the country to come to your city and help you stop or disrupt the convention? And would you ever have believed you’d be charged with being a terrorist for doing so?
It’s our responsibility to fight with our friends from the WC and demand these charges be dropped, both for the RNC 8 and for the hundreds of others facing criminal charges. It’s our responsibility to make sure this sort of repression doesn’t stand, from out in St. Paul to here in San Francisco to wherever you may be.
The immediate need is for funds to increase legal resources. Those in St. Paul are asking for people to donate money or set up benefits in their own communities. You can donate by going to www.nornc.org and clicking on the “Donate to RNC Welcoming Committee Legal Support” button.
David Zlutnick just returned from St. Paul where he was participating in the protests against the RNC. He is a member and contributor of the Friendly Fire Collective
