Political dissent as terrorism: “Minnesota Patriot Act” charges filed against RNC Eight

[Hannah Bell]

By Tom Eley
11 September 2008

The charges of terrorism leveled against the eight youth who had sought to organize protests and civil disobedience against the Republican National Convention (RNC) in Minnesota last week sound an alarm that political opposition in the US is on its way toward being criminalized.

In what may be the first case of its kind, American citizens have been arrested and charged as terrorists for no other act than planning to protest and obstruct a political event...

More alarming than the case itself, however, is the fact that it has gone virtually unnoted by the national news media. This reporter could also find no mention of the case on the web sites of left-liberal publications such as the Nation, the Progressive, or In These Times. No major politician from either party has commented on the case, including Minnesota’s Democratic Senator Amy Klobuchar. Attempts to contact the campaign and Senate office of Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama revealed that the nominee has no media contact phone number and that he had not released a statement on the arrests.

This silence on the case is no indication of its lack of importance. In essence, the terrorism charges against the RNC 8 show what the World Socialist Web Site has long warned: that anti-terrorism laws like the Patriot Act—enthusiastically supported by both major parties—have never been about protecting the American people from terrorism. They were put into place to create the legal framework for the suppression of basic constitutional and democratic rights of the population.

http://www.wsws.org/articles/2008/sep2008/minn-s11.shtml

[eshfemme]

1. Kick and Rec because this shit is important.

It's the little stuff like this that is the canary in the mine shaft for democracy.

[TechBear_Seattle]

2. Can we call it fascism yet?

This kind of crap is getting harder and harder to ignore but, somehow, the media manages to do just that.

[Raksha]

3. K & R

[sudopod]

4. Bamp

what the hell?
K n R

[Cessna Invesco Palin]

17. The WSWS article leaves out some critical information.

MINNEAPOLIS - Sabotaging the Xcel Energy Center or the Downtown St. Paul Airport. Leaving stalled vehicles and stretching metal chains across freeways. Even kidnapping delegates. All were tactics discussed by anarchists as ways to disrupt the Republican National Convention, according to police documents.

Groups planning to disrupt this week’s convention also held an "action camp" in Minnesota this summer to teach "direct action techniques" using mock Molotov cocktails and a simulated RNC delegate vehicle that was targeted for rocks and tire-slashing, the documents say, citing information gathered by undercover investigators.

<snip>

According to the documents, the RNC Welcoming Committee and Unconventional Action Midwest hosted an "action camp" from July 31-Aug. 3, 2008, at Lake Geneva in Minnesota, attended by about 50 people from across the U.S. An informant said a raised platform stage labeled "Xcel Center" was the target of most of the training.

At the camp, someone discussed using large street puppets to conceal and transport Molotov cocktails, bricks and shields, and using the puppets’ large bamboo poles as spears to drive back police.

http://news.bostonherald.com/news/national/politics/2008/view/2008_09_03_Search_warrant_filing_details_anarchists__RNC_disruption_plans/srvc=home&position=recent

[Fumesucker]

25. From your post/link above..

At the camp, someone discussed using large street puppets to conceal and transport Molotov cocktails, bricks and shields, and using the puppets’ large bamboo poles as spears to drive back police.

Notice the word "someone", not "people"....

One thing we learned back in the sixties and seventies was that the person most enthusiastic about conducting illegal activities had a very good chance of being an agent provocateur.

[Kaleko]

5. K & R

[barbtries]

6. gawd, this makes me so sad

it's so wrong. hell in a handbasket and i gotta stop looking and reading a bit. is the aclu on the case? it will never stand. do they have good civil lawyers for their case against the run-amok police at the convention? they must be scared shitless. this is so wrong.

[knitter4democracy]

7. Damn. We knew this could happen, but it hurts to see.

It's not like we wanted to be right about that. It's time to man up and get them a kick-ass legal fund going!

[FlyingSquirrel]

8. It's happening

Be afraid, be very afraid....

Fuck, I'm fuckin' scared. I would never participate in a protest now, I have too much to lose.

And that's what they want.

[Hannah Bell]

9. bump

[ColbertWatcher]

10. The GOP will not let up. They cannot allowed to steal this election.

[Mandate My Ass]

11. Nailed it!

K & R.

[tbyg52]

12. Morning K&R

:kick:

[paparush]

13. We are quickly becoming Germany in the early 1930's. nt

[malaise]

14. Is it fascism yet?

Imagine what they're planning for the elections!

The silence of the fawning corporate media is frightening.

[bvar22]

15. It is no longer about Democrat vs Republican....

It IS about complete control BY the Ownership Class represented by BOTH political parties.

Those expecting REAL change in 2009 are going to be seriously disappointed.

Never-the less, it is critically important that we elect Obama and as many Democrats as possible.
The Democrats will be kinder, gentler slave owners.

[Cessna Invesco Palin]

16. Molotov cocktails != political dissent.

http://www.ajc.com/news/content/news/stories/2008/09/02/anarchists_republican_convention.html

Not sure I'd go so far as to call it terrorism, but these were NOT peaceful protesters.

[EFerrari]

18. Allegations by the Bush Justice Department. n/t

[Cessna Invesco Palin]

19. No.

Allegations by the Ramsey County cops.

[EFerrari]

20. Ramsey Co. Sherrif worked with the Feds. n/t

[Cessna Invesco Palin]

21. You can't seriously be defending what these people intended to do, can you? n/t

[alarimer]

22. I certainly don't think we can defend the tactics of the police based on what someone MIGHT do.

There is certainly no evidence of actual "terrorism". Now there is a word that is used far too much these days.

[EFerrari]

24. You don't know what they intended to do. n/t

[Dogtown]

26. You can't seriously be believing

every RW propaganda piece aired, can you?

The whole point of this thread is the obvious hiding of this ground-breaking case. If they've done nothing wrong, then what have they to fear? They clearly want this legal precedent firmly chambered before the proles notice.




I could find a wine-bottle, a rag, and beaucoup gasoline within reach just about anywhere people gather. So can the police.

[Cessna Invesco Palin]

27. What hiding?

I've linked to two articles in two major newspapers detailing what happened. The only interesting thing about this case is that the idjits are being charged under Minnesota's terrorism statute. But the WSWS is full of shit. The acts they are accused of attempting to carry out are specific criminal acts, not "political dissent."


I could find a wine-bottle, a rag, and beaucoup gasoline within reach just about anywhere people gather. So can the police.

What about a bucket of urine? I know I keep one of those around the house, just in case.

[Hannah Bell]

28. A bucket of urine: clearly terrorism. Yuk yuk.

"The eight members of the anarchist group RNCWC were arrested the weekend before the RNC began and charged with the felony “conspiracy to commit riot in the second degree in furtherance of terrorism.” ...If convicted the RNC Eight could each face five years in prison plus a $10,000 fine.

...The charges are predicated on an a priori assumption of guilt; not on what actually happened, but what might have happened had no arrest been made....Furthermore, the charges are almost entirely based upon the evidence of two confidential paid informants.

.... “the most outrageous allegations made by the authorities are not supported by any evidence other than the statement of the confidential informants. They’re not supported by the evidence seized.”

The physical evidence ...was even more threadbare than the purchased testimony of informants. “We have the sheriff displaying a single plastic item that he claims was a shield,” Nestor said, “as if one shield was going to protect demonstrators from 3,500 armed riot police who have projectile-tear-gas weapons.”

In addition, police seized a rusty hatchet, nails, lighters and other common household items as evidence, and rather ludicrously reported discovering “weaponized urine.”

This is the same method the Federal Bureau of Investigation has used in its attacks on Muslim organizations and other “terrorism” suspects. In such scenarios, anonymous police infiltrators enter an organization, create a provocation or even a crime itself, and then turn over uncorroborated testimony, thereby implicating an entire group of people.

Lawyers for the RNCWC members have also pointed to the climate of fear created... “All they do is they label people as terrorists and anarchists, and at that point what people are actually saying and the content of their views has no meaning anymore,” said attorney Jordan Kushner.

Nestor told the WSWS that the arrests are “part of an overall law enforcement strategy to intimidate people from exercising political rights in the streets and to intimidate people from political organizations, to put citizens outside of the realm of acceptable behavior, to limit acceptable protest to voting and writing letters, and anything else is dangerous and potentially criminal.”

The arrests are based on a 2002 law enacted with overwhelming bipartisan support in response to 9/11 and the adoption of the national USA Patriot Act.

According to the law, “a crime is committed to ‘further terrorism’ if the crime is a felony and is a premeditated act involving violence to persons or property that is intended to:

(1) terrorize, intimidate, or coerce a considerable number of members of the public in addition to the direct victims of the act; and

(2) significantly disrupt or interfere with the lawful exercise, operation, or conduct of government, lawful commerce, or the right of lawful assembly” (emphasis added).



In other words, the statute lays out a legal framework for the categorization of protest as “furthering terrorism.”

[Dogtown]

29. Pee-hoarder, huh?

If you failed to understand how easy it is to fabricate evidence in this case, your plain butt-stupid. I'll assume you're being difficult on purpose to block discourse.

I never feed trolls.

[Hannah Bell]

31. not to mention that throwing pee on someone isn't terrorism. malicious mischief, assault -

plenty of possible charges - had anyone actually done it.

which they didn't. but they're up for 5 years on charges of conspiracy terrorism.

sheesh, how could anyone defend it? a bucket of pee? even if such bucket of pee actually exists - TERRORISM?

WTF is wrong with people, that they'd take the part of the police & talk up a bucket of pee as if it were a nuclear bomb?

[Cessna Invesco Palin]

33. I wasn't talking up the bucket of pee as a nuclear bomb.

This was in response to the "all of these are items that might be found in any household" line. My point is that prosecuting these people under the terrorism statute IS stupid, but to pretend that they were simply protesters exercising their rights to free speech is bullshit.

[Hannah Bell]

34. oh, have they held the trial? i didn't realize the case had been proven already.

the police say they found pee, matches, etc.

this sets them apart from "protesters exercising their rights"?

i don't know what you're talking about.

[Cessna Invesco Palin]

36. Uhh...

The idjits are demanding that everyone arrested during the RNC be freed immediately regardless of what they've been charged with.

Here's hoping that one day you get a bucket of piss poured over your head by some freeper exercising their right to free speech.

[Hannah Bell]

43. uhhh - that would be assault or malicious mischief. not "terrorism". Were it to happen.

WHICH IT DIDN'T.

[Bjorn Against]

35. A bucket of pee might be common in homes that don't have bathrooms...

And it just so happens that the bucket of pee was found in a home that didn't have a bathroom, but of course the police don't emphasize that fact.

[Cessna Invesco Palin]

37. Fine.,

By your accounting it's cool for the cops to pour a bucket of pee on your head. Good luck to you.

[Bjorn Against]

38. What the hell are you talking about?

No one had a bucket of pee poured on their head, what the hell are you blabbering about? They found a bucket of pee in an apartment that did not have a bathroom, that pee was not dumped on anyone.

[Hannah Bell]

44. but according to him, they were "plotting" to dump it on someone, their lousy bucket of pee.

TERROR!!!!

[cliffordu]

47. I like sooo much espresso MY pee should be considered weaponized

[Hannah Bell]

45. the cops? no, they beat you, taze you, tear gas you. i'll take the pee, alex.

[Hannah Bell]

32. molotov = a bottle, a rag, & a flammable liquid. all found in everyone's home.

in fact, the group in question made a video spoofing anarchist stereotypes. that's what brought them to the attention of the police, & yes, they were peaceful: they were arrested prior to committing any act whatsoever, before the convention even started.

good little germans, some folks.

[Dogtown]

23. K&R n/t

[sudopod]

30. Remember that time Richard Jewel bombed the Atlanta Olympics?

That was great.

See how well it pays to trust the media to keep us all informed?

[justiceischeap]

39. Don't pick on poor Richard! He's gotten a bad shake. n/t

[cliffordu]

48. He died, I believe, of the stress of his ordeal. From the Wickipedia:

"Jewell suffered from diabetes, severe heart disease and kidney disease, which contributed to his death on August 29, 2007 from natural causes, aged 44."

[tannybogus]

40. This is why they pushed for terrorism acts.

It wasn't to stop real terrorism. It was to quash their opponents. If you look at what they found, lots of people could be charged

with terrorism if that is the standard. In addition, they lie so much that if they told me the sky was blue I would check.

[1Hippiechick]

41. This is HUGH (huge) and needs to be followed closely. Serious implications. n/t

[G_j]

42. man, this has been SO obviously coming

the train has been careening down the tracks toward police state, fascism for a while now.
How many "Democrats have voiced concern over the oppression of dissent at the RNC?
How many "liberals"?
It is simply time to weep for the death of real Democracy!

[cliffordu]

46. Amerika uber alles

Welcome to October 24, 1929, Oct. 14, 1933, January 1939.......

All wrapped into one brilliantly fucked up package.

IF the collapse comes tomorrow, will they start rounding up liberals in January???