One year after the fact, much of the corporate media has unsurprisingly looked to the official RNC narrative of the events of August and September, 2008. As one letter to the Minneapolis Star Tribune rebutted:

Last year’s Republican National Convention may have given the Twin Cities a [supposed] $168 million economic boost (Star Tribune, Sept. 2), but you can’t buy the kind of publicity St. Paul and Minneapolis received when horrified TV viewers around the world saw law enforcement officers out of control and violating the constitutional and civil rights of numerous citizens.

Other sources provided more context. For example, check out the two-part investigative report by MinnPost (Part 1, Part 2):

But the raid [on 627 Smith Ave] by its end didn’t net a weapons cache as the warrant described. There was a traffic barrel with an anarchist symbol on it, two flares, one slingshot, “glass jar with unknown substance” and maps with entrances to the city allegedly color-coded to assist in blockading downtown St. Paul. The findings were enough for police to justify seizing laptops and cell phones, cameras, supplies for making banners and signs, bus-route maps handed out to visitors from out-of-town, piles of political pamphlets and other items. No one in the building was arrested during the raid.

Activist Garrett Fitzgerald, 26, was watching the front door of the theater when the raid occurred and didn’t get to his home south of downtown Minneapolis until 4 or 5 a.m. after police let everyone go. He set the alarm for 8 a.m., but before it went off, Fitzgerald heard the back door being broken down and the sound of police filling the house with commands — “Get on the floor! On your stomach!”

He was frightened and thought, “Well, I’d sure like to be wearing pants when they come in.” Fitzgerald dressed quickly and called a legal aid number before setting the live phone nearby as he lay down on the floor.

And in the Twin Cities Daily Planet, reflections from two of the RNC 8:

“The weight of the state feels less and less over time,” [Nathanael] Secor said. “This is not something that’s going to stop me from organizing.”

But that’s not to say the RNC 8 is halting its efforts to build on its support network. Fundraising events to cover legal expenses and free monthly dinners hosted by the activists offer supporters a chance to connect and talk about strategies to stay in the public eye and keep pressure on prosecutors to drop the charges.

And a retrospective from the Minnesota Independent:

Attorney Larry Leventhal, who is representing [Max] Specktor, argues that the terrorism designation has already damaged the reputations of the defendants. “Everybody’s against terrorism,” he notes. “You use words like that for inflammatory purposes.”

The cases were slated for a hearing last month, but it got postponed owing to a scheduling conflict. Two thorny issues must be settled before they can proceed to trial: whether all the defendants will be tried together and exactly what evidence will be deemed admissable. No trial date has been set. The defendants have stated repeatedly that they intend to fight the charges.

“I am not going to take a plea bargain,” says Rob Czernik. “I want to fight this. I want to see it through to the end. If I get found guilty I get found guilty. I’m not going to go down without a fight.”

For more coverage, including news about civil suits filed on the first anniversary check out the RNC ’08 Report and information from our friends in CRASS.

Tags: Bob Fletcher, Garrett Fitzgerald, larry leventhal, Max Specktor, Minneapolis, Minnesota Independent, minnpost, Nathanael Secor, rnc 2008, RNC 8, rob czernik, St. Paul, Star Tribune