I-Witness Video From DNC/RNC Protests
Emily Forman

Emily Forman here, writing from Chicago, finally having escaped from the police-state vortex of the Denver and St Paul presidential conventions. I traveled to Denver and St Paul to work as a member of the amazing I-Witness video collective:
http://www.iwitnessvideo.info/news/index.html

In both cities I-Witness was met with intense surveillance and police intimidation. Our work was almost completely derailed in St. Paul by a series of raids and false arrests. We were forced to leave our homes and office multiple times due to these police intimidation tactics. Below follows video footage and a short account of some the context of the St Paul RNC convention, a Patriot Act-enabled environment of preemptive arrests of activists, journalists, medics, and legal observers. People were not only kept from exercising their first amendment rights here, but they were additionally charged with various kinds of thought crimes such as felony 'conspiracy to riot'. A federal hand has guided operations in both cities, with homeland security, national guard, and police details having been shipped in from states as far away as Arizona.

I will update you all after I catch my breath for a moment. Please be in touch, as these stories need to be getting out!

Violence and cruel treatment directed at protesters by police;
Journalists targeted for arrest, harassment, intimidation and surveillance

Police Violence in the Streets

The members of I-Witness Video have been appalled to see a high level of
violence directed against peaceful demonstrators, medics, legal observers
and journalists at the Republican National Convention in St. Paul,
Minnesota.

Concussion grenades, smoke bombs, CS gas (tear gas), rubber bullets and
pepper spray were used to attack and herd demonstrators.

Gathering Storms: A Team Colors Statement on the Upcoming 2008 Convention Protests
Conor Cash, Craig Hughes, Stevie Peace & Kevin Van Meter | Team Colors Collective

On the eve of this year’s Democratic National Convention in Denver, and mere days before the Republican National Convention in St. Paul, we have borne witness to a number of narratives unfolding in the political landscape. We see an election year play out before us; we see an astonishing upsurge of activism and participation, much of it connected to the campaign of Senator Obama; we see organizations and individuals planning a wide array of protests, mobilizations, and direct actions. Many of these intertwining strands will converge into massive storms of activity and interaction at the upcoming conventions. We at Team Colors sought to examine narratives such as these, and over the past several months, have collected articles, interviews, discussions, essays - any and all evidence we could dredge up, recording the ways and means of today’s movements. We uncovered a lot - some problematic, some confusing, some even deplorable - but thankfully, enough whirlwinds of promise and potential emerged before our eyes to lend credence to a feeling of change, of gathering storms.

Yet despite these discoveries – or rather, primarily because of them - we feel compelled to state that the storms that intrigue us the most will not show themselves at the convention protests. We don’t disallow the potential for new wrinkles and exciting surprises as the actions unfold - indeed, we’d welcome them - but we also can’t ignore the honest circumstances of where we are at: these protests, overwhelmingly, do not come out of substantial movements, and will not generate substantial movements.

This deficiency necessarily clouds over any ‘successes’ and ‘gains’ from the protests, a gloomy yet heartening prospect; after all, we may see ourselves better without the dazzling sun that inadvertently blinds us.

And we know those sunlit moments all too well: skill-sharing, long-term institutions, creating spaces, increasing morale among radicals, tapping into larger networks, diversity of tactics frameworks, solidarity between causes, better planning, better communication - the list of ‘betters’ is seemingly endless when it comes to these protests. As a collective, we have heard even more pronounced claims than these - that this will be “one of the largest actions at a convention in history,” that this won’t be “the same old ritualized protest,” that “we’ll be a stronger movement afterwards” by “bringing the struggles home.” Behind these rejuvenating words lies a vacuum, an inability to understand or discuss movements; specifically, where (if anywhere) are the convention protests situated in the flow of movements, and how do all the ‘betters’ contribute to movements, if at all. The notion of “bringing the struggles home” as a key to movement, while comforting, is especially dangerous when unquestioned; for we may define ‘home’ as a very small ‘radical community’ marked by regression and fear, rather than a larger field of growth, openness and genuine encounter - the basic ingredients of movements.

ANTIWAR ACTIVISTS WIN $2 MILLION SETTLEMENT FROM NEW YORK CITY

A group of 52 local activists today announced a $2 million settlement in their lawsuit against the City of New York. The activists were illegally arrested on April 7, 2003 while protesting against the Iraq war in front of a military contractor's offices in midtown. The settlement in Kunstler et al v. New York City follows the dismissal in 2003 of all criminal charges brought against these individuals and four costly years of delays by the City in negotiating an end to the civil lawsuit.

“The New York Police Department violated core constitutional rights when it arrested a group of peaceful demonstrators who were lawfully protesting against the commencement of the Iraq war and those who stood to profit from it,” notes Sarah Netburn, attorney with Emery Celli Brinkerhoff Abady LLP, which handled the civil rights case along with the Center for Constitutional Rights. “We are gratified by the City’s decision to compensate these individuals whose targeted arrests were without probable cause and intended to quell future protest in New York City. This lawsuit, and this settlement, vindicates our clients’ rights to assemble and speak their mind free from the fear that they will be punished for their views.”

Attorneys and plaintiffs noted, however, that the City's decision to drag the case out is part of a long and disturbing pattern by which it attempts to “wear down” plaintiffs to avoid political damage, even at huge expense of tax dollars and City resources. “My question is, why did the NYPD send over 100 police in riot gear, along with vehicles to block the street and disrupt the flow of morning rush hour traffic, all to stop a legal, peaceful protest, when there are far more important matters they could be pursuing? And, why did they fight us in court so doggedly when they knew the evidence proved that we were arrested without any police orders to leave?” asked Ahmad Shirazi, a film editor and grandfather and one of the plaintiffs in the case.

Among all the buzz surrounding the upcoming convention protests in the United States has been a palpable silence surrounding the question we will inevitably face: after the delegates are blockaded from the conventions, after the tear gas, the arrests, the media spectacle, trauma and recovery, what will happen next? I am writing this essay with the hope that we begin trying to answer this question now and through discussion over the coming months, rather than wait for the day after expecting that momentum will carry us forward.

"Resistance from the Other South Africa"
Neha Nimmagudda

"Leaders are meant to lead and to be led [by those who elected them]" — Lindela Figlan, Abahlali baseMjondolo movement

Fourteen years since the transition to democracy, leadership in South Africa is in a state of flux—and South Africans know a thing or two about leaders. For every Mandela, after all, there is an Mbeki. In his seven years of presidency, Mbeki has mistaken denialism for leadership and appeasement for diplomacy. The liberation victors in the ANC have tied up the ruling party in its own historical mythologizing, determined to hold its grasp on the state. Now, for every Mbeki, there is the possibility of a Zuma.

*Private Equity Sucks!*

*Take action against KKR - Thursday July 17*
*1pm, Trafalgar Square, under the lions*

http://www.privateequitysucks.com

*Join the Global Day of Action against one of the oldest and largest private equity firms in the world: KKR (Kohlberg, Kravitz and Roberts)*

Private equity companies have gained massive influence, power and obscene wealth because they’ve stayed invisible to public attention and scrutiny. It is time for that to change!

On Thursday 17 July 2008, thousands of trade unions, community organisations, environmentalists, workers and activists will be taking part in a global day of action against KKR - actions are planned in 100 cities in 25 countries. These actions will send a loud and clear message to private equity firms like KKR that we are sick and tired of a few people getting even richer and ruining our lives and the planet in the process.

In London on July 17, the Private Equity Creative Action Network (PECAN) will be bringing a creative and strong message to the executives of KKR, including the delivery a giant invoice that makes it clear that KKR has a long overdue debt to our community and world. To help make this action a success and to kick off a summer of actions against private equity, we are inviting people to participate and to get involved on the day (in particular we are looking for: video artists, anti-capitalist cheerleaders, independent media makers, musicians, DJ's, clowns and of course - activists).

Homeless People Shut Out of Sapporo Bus Terminal in Run-up to G8 Summit

Article found at Mainichi Daily News:

http://mdn.mainichi.jp/national/news/20080613p2a00m0na008000c.html

Against Social Exclusion and Neoliberalism at Japanese G8 Summit

ACTION AGAINST SOCIAL EXCLUSION AND CALL FOR FAIR LABOR
JOIN US IN THE MOVEMENT AGAINST G8

The G8 Summit will be held at Toyako in Hokkaido from July 7-9. We
believe that this is an arbitrary meeting of the governments which lead
neoliberalism. The world's eight most powerful economies have imposed
neoliberalism onto other nations, while dominating the global financial
market with the World Trade Organization and the Free Trade Agreement.
The developing nations are forced to accept the free trade in exchange
of ODA. Privatizations, labor market flexibility, and deregulations are
introduced not only in the developing nations but also in the
industrialized counterparts. Inequality and poverty are accelerating.
Social welfare is reduced. Socially disadvantaged people are excluded
and their fundamental rights are violated. Also in Japan, working poor
are also victims of neoliberalism since the early 2000s under the Prime
Minister Junichiro Koizumi's government.

Japanese Police Raid Anti-G8 Kyoto Union Office

http://www.gipfelsoli.org/Home/Hokkaido_2008/5181.html

10th of June before 9 in the morning, 19 police men from Kyoto Prefecture Police Security 3rd department (so called public safety dep.) raided and searched the union office which is used by Rakunan Union, Rakunan Workers Network, Asia Joint Action (Asia Kyodokodo) , (and ) also an house of ‘A’ who is a member of Rakunan Union for the suspect of “fraud related incident” (with an arrest warrant), which is an apparent excuse to crush the movement against the summit.

[ JUST RELEASED >>> INTERVENTIONS Number One ]]]

http://uppingtheanti.org/node/3070

ROUNDTABLE ON G8 RESISTANCE
Perspectives for the Next Phase of
Global Anti-Capitalist Uprisings

Moderated by Kriss Sol (Amsterdam);
with Hanne Jobst (Germany), Sabu & Go
(Japan), Miranda (Italy), and Jaggi
Singh (Montreal)

The G8 is more than a place where neoliberal
trade agreements are authored. It is also a
space where the legitimacy of global governance
is reproduced. In 2005, 300,000 people took to
the streets in Edinburgh to ask the G8 for a
solution to poverty. By 2007, antagonism and
dissent prevailed once again. We are entering
a period that could mark the resurgence of positive
dynamics from the earlier phase of global
uprisings. But have we learned from the past?
Can we build our interventions on new and more
stable ground?