Nancy goes to Crawford

This is a link to a video of protesters inside the RNC.  Thanks to Gwen for this link and this dramatic story.

This link is to an article in TruthDig in which Amy Goodman discusses her experiences of being arrested with her colleagues at the RNC.  She thinks that the police targeted journalists.

“The attack on and arrest of me and the “Democracy Now!” producers was not an isolated event. A video group called I-Witness Video was raided two days earlier. Another video documentary group, the Glass Bead Collective, was detained, with its computers and video cameras confiscated. On Wednesday, I-Witness Video was again raided, forced out of its office location. When I asked St. Paul Police Chief John Harrington how reporters are to operate in this atmosphere, he suggested, ‘By embedding reporters in our mobile field force.’”  Read the rest here.

The corporate media established a dreadful precedent by allowing reporters to be embedded with the military during the invasion of Iraq and since.  The image of Ted Koppell in fatigues and helmet lives in my mind.  How can a reporter do his job when he looks like a soldier?  The only viewpoint he or she can have is the one the Bush regime wanted US citizens to have.  Those who rely on traditional media here still don’t know what the situation is there.

  Do journalists and protestors require suppressing with poison gasses?

Is it really credible that all those plastic handcuffs are intended for anyone other than US citizens engaged in either protest or reporting on protest?  Do we Americans really believe that a serious enemy of the United States would present itself in a way that would require these forces? Would they parachute in?  Drive up in armed trucks?  Is it not obvious that these armed police were there to initmidate and if possible stop protest and reporting?

I cannot escape the thought that the police repression at the RNC is about more attack on American liberties.

What can we do about this?

Paula forwarded photographs of Code Pink activity in Denver.  Do local and federal governments really find that the threat of these women in pink necessitates police in riot gear.  Do we citizens really think that the regime is protecting us or that such protection is worth the loss of liberty?  This was at the DNC, which, by comparison was not so brutally and violently policed as the RNC, but a look at posts below shows that many violations of police procedure occurred there as well.

Is she really scary?

Code Pink has serious fun at the DNC.

Peaceful protest is hard work!

Is this appropriate response of a democratic free country during a political convention?

Why is this level of force used against its own citizens by a democratic country?  What is the government afraid of?  What is really the aim of this level of force?
Gas masks on and ready to spray peaceful demonstrators with pepper spray and tear gas.

A news producer from Tennessee just having been sprayed

Police in riot gear arresting journalists doing their job, spraying pepper spray on peaceful demonstrators, after a weekend of raids on private homes?  I call this a police state and the work of a totalitarian government which has managed to render our constitutional rights null and void and to replace a constitutionally guaranteed free press with a propaganda machine.  Most US citizens have no idea what is going on.  Regrettably few of them, after years of propaganda and scare tactics, even know what the Constitution guarantees.

There was some vandalism by groups that splintered off after the big march on Monday.  What would appropriate response to that have looked like?  Is it possible to hold the offenders responsible without rounding up indiscriminately huge numbers of people?  Of course it is.  I think that the police deployed in this event were not trying to keep order but to intimidate and suppress lawful dissent and that this repression is of a piece with the raids in advance of the convention.
Here is a link to a report of Amy Goodman’s arrest and release.  It includes contact information for Minnesota offcials to whom we can protest these arrests and illegal tactics.

And here is another link to an article by Marjorie Cohn, president of the National Lawyers Guild which is working on the scene to protect people there and our right to dissent, to speak out against the government, to assemble, and to have a free press.

The coverage of this story in minor media and alternative media is gratifying.  Patrice suggests going to Google News and searching for  “national convention protests.”  A wealth of sites comes up.  Here is a link to a story about student journalists from the University of Kentucky that caught my attention among many others.

David, however, has expressed my own view that this should be the lead story on the front page of the New York Times and the Washington Post.

Things are still breaking fast.  Please do keep checking with sites on previous posts, especially Democracy Now and the Minnesota Independent which is on the spot.  The photographs above are from the latter.

Amy Goodman herself was arrested today.  Patrice telephoned me with the news and then forwarded the press release of the information from the Democracy Now website.

When I telephoned the jail at the number listed on the site, the woman who answered said Goodman had been released, but the only confirmation I have of that at this time, 23:43ED on September 1 is this story from RawStory.

Please do call the numbers on the Democracy Now website to protest this breach of the Constitutional right to a free press and to the rights of all citizens to free speech, assembly, etc. 

Here is a link to Amy Goodman’s coverge of the raids ahead of the convention. The attacks on persons recording and filming police activity are discussed at length.

Click here to go to the story.

Patrice sent this link to a story of a march by veterans and Code Pink that led to several arrests. It appears that the raids on protest groups are not stopping the demonstrations.

I just saw on TruthOut an article from the San Francisco Chronicle about the raids, too.  Maybe the protests will get some traditional media coverage.  Where are the New York Times, LA Times, and Washington Post?  Where is the network news?

There are a number of reports of raids on groups who might protest the RNC. The repression is not waiting on events here. Thanks to Bonnie for some of these.

This story orginally on the Twin Cities Daily Planet about a night raid was reproduced on TruthOut. The Daily Planet continuing coverage of numerous raids by fully armed swat teams on private houses where protestors are guests is impossible to update fast enough. Please check that site and go back as things develop.
I was really glad to see their article covering the fearless reporting by Amy Goodman and her team from Democracy Now. I look forward to Goodman’s reporting of the targeting of journalists including some from her organization.

Amy Goodman at work in the twin cities.

The hypocrisy of the US dictator rebuking China for police detention of activists ahead of the Olympic games is unspeakable. These raids are clearly meant to stifle freedom of speech and assembly. On one of the videos on FireDogLake, Bruce Nestor, a legal observer and past president of the National Lawyers Guild, states eloquently what these raids are about.

Bruce Nestor, past president of National Lawyers Guild and Legal Observer

I plan to continue to check both the Twin Cities Daily Planet and the FireDogLake sites as things continue.

September 1, 2008

Bruce Nestor and other members of National Lawyers Guild are hard at work to stop the harassment of protest, having filed a motion for a temporary restraining order.  They are hard at work to retrieve material confiscated from journalists and others.  Read more here…

What I don’t know how to do is stop this repression of our rights and freedoms and the continuing abrogation of our Constitution.

Here is a link to the Democracy Now coverage of what observers say was an illegal mass arrest of protesters in Denver.  They report serious violations of police procedure.  As someone who has participated in demonstrations, I am grateful to the legal observers who often attend with cameras and video equipment to record events.  It is chilling to me that most Americans are unaware of these things.  I have the greatest appreciation of Democracy Now, which, unlike the corporate media,  works tirelessly to let the public know the truth.

  Democracy Now: Juan Gonzales and Amy Goodman

If one only saw the traditional media coverage of the DNC, one would have no idea that the police state now emerging in this country was operating to suppress Constitutional rights at the time.

When will we Americans see that repression of dissent is only the first step?  Already many steps toward a totalitarian state have been taken here.

Click here if you missed the link above.

Hey everybody, this is Jonathan Williams, I’m the Student Peace Action Network coordinator writing to you from Denver.  I’m here with SPAN activists, war veterans, grandmothers, teachers, and union workers gathered outside the Pepsi Center.  I wanted to reach out to you to tell you the stories you won’t hear on CNN about the Democratic National Convention - the stories of activists.  They are trying to contain us in a “freedom cage,” harassing activists while we sleep, and trying to suppress our power.  But we’re fighting their military state with the highest form of patriotism - dissent.

The thousands of protestors at the DNC are here for many reasons.  There are activists performing water boarding demonstrations, some others are focused on the anniversary of Hurricane Katrina. More still are fed-up with elected leaders who cater to corporate interests while ignoring citizens’ demands.

The number one issue on the minds of protestors is Iraq.  Regardless of party affiliation (or lack of it), the American people are sick of this war.  I spoke with a mother who took all her vacation time to come out to both conventions in protest.  She blamed Republicans and Democrats alike for our failing economy, the quagmire in Iraq, and high gas prices.

Yesterday, I joined the Iraq Veteran’s Against the War (IVAW) for Operation First Causality.  Watch the video of them in action in DC.  In a flurry of activity these former and current GI’s show what kind of work they did in Iraq - securing the area, interrogating civilians, forcefully detaining bystanders.  This is the real deal - and it’s the picture of Iraq the American people never see.

Today, we’ll march from the convergence space to the Pepsi center to deliver a letter to the presumptive nominee, Barack Obama, demanding we end the occupation in Iraq, take care of vets when they return, and provide reparations to Iraqis for the damage we’ve inflicted on their country.

The next stop is the Republican National Convention.  I’ll be meeting up with Peace Action affiliate groups there from Maine, Wisconsin, and California - we’ll send an update to you when we get there.  If the reaction to the Democrats is any indication the Republicans will meet serious resistance in St. Paul - and it’s about time.

Sincerely,

Jonathan Williams

SPAN Coordinator
Peace Action