Twin Cities Indymedia - minneapolis - st. paul

Coming to the Twin Cities to Crash the RNC? This final organizing update from the RNC Welcoming Committee contains (we hope!) information that you'll need as you make your way to Minnesota. In this email, you'll find the following information:

1.Convergence Center 2.Spokescouncils 3.Advisories 4.Legal 5.Comms 6.Trainings 7.Medic 8.Sexual Violence Advocacy 9.Food 10.Housing 11.Bikes 12.Childcare 13.Arise! Infoline

1. ::::CONVERGENCE CENTER::::

Last night we payed a visit to the Wells Fargo bank on West Lake and attacked it with stones. Two windows were smashed.

We did this because it is a bank, specifically because of this banks involvement with the Democratic Party. We wish to show solidarity to those resisting and those arrested in Denver. We hope lead up actions continue here in the Twin Cities.

Break Things At Night.

-some rebels

UPDATE 8/27:

Three video artists/journalists associated with Glass Bead Collective who were subject to an unconstitutional stop and seizure of their video equipment, personal property, notebooks, and phones in the early morning hours of August 26th, 2008, in Minneapolis, had all of their equipment and personal property returned in the morning of August 27th. Police obtained a search warrant on August 26th, presumably viewed all pictures and video pursuant to the warrant,and then released the property. The stated purpose of the warrant was to seek photographic evidence in support of an investigation of "criminal trespass." No charges have been filed or are expected.

A time to dialogue, a time to demand

Coalition and compromise are important tools in building diverse mass movement for social justice, but there are times to dialogue and there are times to demand.

The upcoming RNC protests in St. Paul are an example of when it’s time to throw down and fuck shit up.

* * * Forward Far & Wide * * *

Support the Right to Organize

SOLIDARITY WITH STARBUCKS WORKERS!

Sunday August 31st 2008

Rally 1:00 pm Lake & Hiawatha
Solidarity Action 1:45 pm

Sponsored by the Industrial Workers of the World (I.W.W.)

TwinCities@iww.org * 612-339-1266 *
http://www.iww.org/branches/US/MN/twincities

article from local weekly CITY PAGES on the Starbucks workers union drive:
http://www.citypages.com/2008-07-30/news/starbucks-baristas-union-drive-...

The Twin Cities I.W.W. has endorsed a series of ANTI-CAPITALIST BLOC

Gathering Storms:
A Team Colors Statement on the Upcoming 2008 Convention Protests

Conor Cash, Craig Hughes, Stevie Peace & Kevin Van Meter
| Team Colors Collective

Even the corporate media seems to be gearing up for direct actions. City Pages just posted 5 Things You Must Have For the Convention, and two of them are gas masks and handkerchiefs covered in vinegar. The guy who wrote it was at WTO, and there's a story about a clash with cops at the bottom.

http://blogs.citypages.com/gop/2008/08/five_musthave_i.php

We were walking down the street in the industrial section of Saint Paul at 6 pm on Saturday, August 23, 2008. We turned to the right as one of us turned left on his bike. We saw a police car roll by him and stop and pull him over. He was getting patted down, and his belongings were being searched and photographed. 4 more cars gradually pulled in, one strategically placed to block our view of their interactions and another strategically placed towards us so we were in shot of their police camera. We sat down on the curb about a block and a half away to keep an eye on the situation.

From Infoshop.org

In the early hours of Sunday August 24th, the first day of action against the Democratic National Convention in Denver, a Barack Obama campaign office was attacked in St. Paul.