Dear Friends, Family, and Comrades:

We are the RNC 8: individuals targeted because of our political beliefs and work organizing for protests at the 2008 Republican National Convention, in what appears to be the first use of Minnesota’s version of the US Patriot Act. The 8 of us are currently charged with Conspiracy to Commit Riot in Furtherance of Terrorism, a 2nd degree felony that carries the possibility of several years in prison. We are writing to let you know about our situation, to ask for support, and to offer words of hope.

A little background: the RNC Welcoming Committee was a group formed in late 2006 upon hearing that the 2008 Republican National Convention would be descending on Minneapolis-St. Paul where we live, work, and build community. The Welcoming Committee’s purpose was to serve as an anarchist/anti-authoritarian organizing body, creating an informational and logistical framework for radical resistance to the RNC. We spent more than a year and a half doing outreach, facilitating meetings throughout the country, and networking folks of all political persuasions who shared a common interest in voicing dissent in the streets of St. Paul while the GOP’s machine chugged away inside the convention.

In mid-August the Welcoming Committee opened a “Convergence Center,” a space for protesters to gather, eat, share resources, and build networks of solidarity. On Friday, August 29th, 2008, as folks were finishing dinner and sitting down to a movie the Ramsey County Sheriff’s Department stormed in, guns drawn, ordering everyone to the ground. This evening raid resulted in seized property (mostly literature), and after being cuffed, searched, and IDed, the 60+ individual inside were released.

The next morning, on Saturday, August 30th, the Sheriff’s department executed search warrants on three houses, seizing personal and common household items and arresting the first 5 of us- Monica Bicking, Garrett Fitzgerald, Erik Oseland, Nathanael Secor, and Eryn Trimmer. Later that day Luce Guillen-Givins was arrested leaving a public meeting at a park. Rob Czernik and Max Specktor were arrested on Monday, September 1, bringing the number to its present 8. All were held on probable cause and released on $10,000 bail on Thursday, September 4, the last day of the RNC.

These arrests were preemptive, targeting known organizers in an attempt to derail anti-RNC protests before the convention had even begun. Conspiracy charges expand upon the traditional notion of crime. Instead of condemning action, the very concept of conspiracy criminalizes thought and camaraderie, the development of relationships, the willingness to hope that our world might change and the realization that we can be agents of that change.

Conspiracy charges serve a very particular purpose- to criminalize dissent. They create a convenient method for incapacitating activists, with the potential for diverting limited resources towards protracted legal battles and terrorizing entire communities into silence and inaction. Though not the first conspiracy case against organizers- not even the first in recent memory- our case may be precedent-setting. Minnesota’s terrorism statutes have never been enacted in this way before, and if they win their case against us, they will only be strengthened as they continue their crusade on ever more widespread fronts. We view our case as an opportunity to demonstrate community solidarity in the face of repression, to establish a precedent of successful resistance to the government’s attempts to destroy our movements.

Right now we are in the very early stages of a legal battle that will require large sums of money and enormous personal resources. We have already been overwhelmed by the outpouring of support locally and throughout the country, and are grateful for everything that people have done for us. We now have a Twin Cities-based support committee and are developing a national support network that we feel confident will help us through the coming months. For more information on the case and how to support us, or to donate, go to http://RNC8.org.

We have been humbled by such an immense initial show of solidarity and are inspired to turn our attention back to the very issues that motivated us to organize against the RNC in the first place. What’s happening to us is part of a much broader and very serious problem. The fact is that we live in a police state- some people first realized this in the streets of St. Paul during the convention, but many others live with that reality their whole lives. People of color, poor and working class people, immigrants, are targeted and criminalized on a daily basis, and we understand what that context suggests about the repression the 8 of us face now. Because we are political organizers who have built solid relationships through our work, because we have various forms of privilege- some of us through our skin, some through our class, some through our education- and because we have the resources to invoke a national network of support, we are lucky, even as we are being targeted.

And so, while we ask for support in whatever form you are able to offer it, and while we need that support to stay free, we also ask that you think of our case as a late indicator of the oppressive climate in which we live. The best solidarity is to keep the struggle going, and we hope that supporting us can be a small part of broader movements for social change.

For better times and with love,

the RNC 8: Luce Guillen-Givins, Max Spector, Nathanael Secor, Eryn Timmer, Monica Bicking, Erik Oseland, Robert Czernik, Garrett Fitzgerald

Upcoming arrestee meeting this Sunday!  Please note the time and location change.  Sorry for any confusion or inconvenience!

When: Sunday, September 14th, *2pm
*Where: *Hosmer Library *(347 E 36th St., Minneapolis)**

This meeting will be a good opportunity to meet with other arrestees to discuss and strategize, as well as plan future meetings as needed. This will also be a chance for you to talk to lawyers, organize your legal defense, and receive information about court solidarity plans. Bring your citation if you have it.

Coldsnap Legal Collective*
*
http://coldsnaplegal.org/

Legal

The first arrestee meeting was held on Saturday, September 6th, at 11 AM. Another meeting will be held on Sunday, September 14 at 4pm at Walker Church, 3104 16th Ave. S., Minneapolis. CORRECTION: The 2nd arrestee meeting will be held on Sunday, September 14 at 2pm (not 4pm), at Hosmer Library, 347 E. 36th Street, Minneapolis.  This is a meeting for everyone who was arrested, harassed, or brutalized by the military/police (everyone who is not being imprisoned right now). It will be a chance for you to talk to lawyers and organize your legal defense, as well as receive information about court solidarity plans. Bring your citation.

Also, there will be a discussion/meeting specifically about court solidarity tomorrow, Sunday, Sept. 7th at 11am at the Convergence Space (627 Smith Ave., St. Paul).

For the latest legal updates visit http://www.coldsnaplegal.org

Food

Seeds of Peace is serving their last meal at the convergence space tonight (Saturday). Another meal will be served on Sunday at 7:30 before the David Rovics fundraiser at 8:30 at the convergence space.

Bikes

No more bikes are available; bikes that were borrowed can be returned to Arise! Bookstore (2441 Lyndale Ave S., Minneapolis) as well as the Convergence Space (St Paul) so that they can be used for the local community for years to come. Convergence space open hours will be 11am-8pm ending on Monday (so Arise! is your best bet). Bikes will be used for a community bike shop.

Convergence Center

Open hours will end on Monday; after that there will not be regular hours, but the space will be available to hold events at until September 15th. Please get in touch by emailing us at rnc08 riseup.net if you are interested in having one here!

Stay tuned to the interwebs for more ways to stay plugged in.

See you in the streets, the courts, the jails, the community centers, the infoshops, the gardens, the forests…
Because we still live here,

Your friends and lovers formerly known as the RNC Welcoming Committee

7:30 dinner
8:30 DAVID ROVICS

$10-25 suggested donation/nobody turned away

* 1/2 price with proof of arrest! *

Folks need your money - for real!

The remainder of the press conference with comments from the Poor People’s Economic and Human Rights Campaign can be found here:
http://www.indybay.org/newsitems/2008/09/05/18533352.php

(In order to have an atmosphere of respect and greater safety, media and law enforcement will not be permitted inside)

Contact: rncwcmedia@riseup.net, 202-277-5262

In light of the massive police and military violence playing out each day of the Republican National Convention, the targeting, entrapment, and persecution of protest logistics organizers, the inhumane conditions that continue for the hundreds of people in the Ramsey County Jail, and the harassment of supporters outside the jail, we in the RNC Welcoming Committee are not backing down from our organizing. The Welcoming Committee is working harder than ever to ensure that our friends and comrades are safe and that protesters who are speaking their minds in the face of repression have access to food, housing, bicycles, a meeting space, workshops, legal/jail support, and medical care.

The St Paul Police Department, the City of St Paul, and particularly Bob Fletcher with the Ramsey County Sheriff’s Department have labeled us a “criminal enterprise”, painting a picture of us and other anti-RNC organizers as faceless terrorists. On Thursday, September 4th at 10 AM on the 2nd floor of the RNC Convergence Space at 627 Smith Ave S., we will show the true faces and stories of the RNC Welcoming Committee.

We will show the 2nd floor of the convergence center as it was arranged at the time of the police raid last Friday night. We will give the latest information on the RNC 8, and we will take and answer questions. Afterwards, several members of the Welcoming Committee will be available for interview and photo opportunities.

The joint press conference will also feature the Poor People’s Economic Human Rights Campaign.

###

RNC arrestees in Ramsey Co. Jail need your help!

The police brutalized everyone they came in contact with on the streets of St Paul and continue to hurt folks in jail and deny medication as well as access to phone calls and legal representation.

Call the following offices:

• St. Paul Mayor Chris Coleman (651.266.8510)
• Ramsey County Sheriff Bob Fletcher (651.266.9333)
• County Chief Judge Gearin (651.266.8266)
• Head of Ramsey County Jail Captain Ryan O’Neal (651.266.9350) (main #) extension 1

And demand the following:

• Immediate medical attention as needed for ALL arrestees;
• That the prisoners who haven’t given their names (Jane, John, and Jesse Does) have access to group meetings with a lawyer;
• Ensure trans folks have access to phones, attorneys, and are held in their gender group of choice;
• Dismissal of all charges; and
• Release of all minors.

There is also a 24/7 jail vigil outside the Ramsey County Jail (see map below). Your support can go beyond making a few simple phone calls to showing solidarity with your body. The more public pressure brought on the city, the county, the jail, and the courts, and the sheriff’s office the faster that we can get our friends out of jail. We are calling on everyone willing to take a stand against the severe police brutality to show up to express their support at the jail around the clock. You can also contact Lindsey to sign up for a specific shifts greeting folks and doing out-take when they get out at 763.913.6849 or by emailing rncjailvigil@riseup.net

View Larger Map

The RNC Welcoming Committee wants to say thank you to all who have stood with us through these challenging days, to all who have faced the brutal attacks and repressive intimidation of the police, and have still gone back to the streets.  Thanks to all who have made calls, sent emails, donated money, and expressed your outrage at these brutal attacks.

Yesterday, in spite of a climate of intense police intimidation, thousands of people took to the streets to march in solidarity with the Poor People’s March for Our Lives.  Many others attempted to attend a concert at the Capitol, only to have the permit pulled and squadrons of riot police and snipers called out on a peaceful crowd.

The police met this call for justice with riot gear, batons, and the full arsenal of their weaponry. ‘Snatch’ squads brutally arrested protestors who were beaten and tasered.  Police on horses, bikes and motorbikes rammed into crowds. Pepper spray, tear gas and flash bombs were used on peaceful crowds in situations that endangered protestors, the general public and included children, media, legal observers and medics.

We offer our support and solidarity to the organizers and participants of the Poor Peoples’ Movement.  We share their goals of a world based on justice, where resources are fairly shared and a life of dignity and beauty is available for all.

Over three hundred protestors are being held in the Ramsay and Hennepin County jails.  Yesterday, only a few have been arraigned.  Many are nearing the end of the time they can legally be held without being arraigned and charged.

In spite of all these efforts to suppress us, we remain strong and determined to actively voice our dissent.  The Bush Administration and Republican Party lies have lead us into an illegal war that has cost thousands of our own soldiers’ lives and hundreds of thousands of Iraqi lives. They have stolen from the poor to enrich their cronies and supporters.  They have failed to respond to the crisis of climate change and degraded the life support systems of the planet.  They have violated their own laws to deny civil rights and human rights, and built a police state that maintains its rule through force and violence, as we have seen in the streets over these three days.

The Democrats have failed to shift their policies or hold them to account.  But we will take our accounting into the streets, as we have this week.  We have succeeded in disrupting their meetings, and expressing directly our outrage at their destructive policies.  Yesterday, the meetings were again delayed because of our protests. Bush himself has not dared to show up in person.  We are still strong, in spite of all their efforts to stop us, and we still plan to remain in the streets, claiming public space for dissent and for our vision of a different world.

We demand the immediate end to the brutality of Sheriff Bob Fletcher – who has personally harassed our organizers both in jail and out.

We demand all politically motivated charges against our organizers and participants be dropped.

We demand the release of all RNC prisoners – OUR PEOPLE OUT OF JAIL!!!

some websites for donating include:
www.nornc.org
www.coldsnaplegal.wordpress.com