RE: FYI for those attending RNC protests

 
>The city will give members of registered protest groups buttons containing
a picture of >the Statue of Liberty holding a banner that reads "peaceful
political activists." People >who show the buttons at restaurants, hotels,
stores and museums will receive discounts. >The effort is part of a campaign
to keep the protests as peaceful as possible. Tens of
>thousands of protesters are expected in New York before and during the
convention, which
>runs from August 30 until September 2.

This kinda worries me (but I am pretty paranoid): So, everyone who's a
protester should register with the local government, right? If there is a
violent action at one of the protests, is that breach of contract? Could you
legally be prosecuted? Also, it would almost certainly go into some database
feeding the NSA, FBI, and our newest domestic intelligence group, the CIA,
right?

I dunno...I definitely feel as if there's a kind of similarity between
what's going on now in this country's corporate-run political and media
worlds and what went on in the Miltary-run Chile under Pinochet. Rather than
dumping people out of helicopters, though, it's much more subtle, and
neo-colonial: They are just made irrelevant (see: Howard Dean), or his name
is smeared (see: Ralph Nader). I mean, not that Dean was any Eugene Debbs,
but he wasn't toeing the line, either. A 3-second, modified sound-byte
ruined him, and an extended campaign against the "radical" Nader is on
full-force. It's not out of the range of possibility that through national
news coverage being skewed or not even THERE, the protests may wind up
looking really ugly to an American public, thus priming them for making the
protesters look guilty of treason, or assault, or resisting arrest, or
whatever. As long as Bush/Cheney/Halliburton Inc. keeps us foaming at the
mouth with fear, we as a nation are really vulnerable to reactionary
thinking, and I just hope that we protesters do not become a target.

I've been speaking with Jessie about going to the protests as a legal
observer. Basically, my understanding is that you can't be walking around
with a sign or visibly participating in the demonstration, but just watching
and documenting what goes on at a specific location. This information goes
into a cachet of legal documentation to be used to defend the protesters in
the case of any legal actions against them. I've asked Jessie and David to
send me the info about the training classes, but because they're a couple of
lazy commie bastards, they haven't sent it to me. If you could send it to
the list, I think that would be helpful for (hopefully) more than just me.
See you all there. Right?

-A(m)


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