As we’ve stated in recent emails and on our website, the resolution of the RNC 8 case means that we have no further fundraising needs and, thus, that we are no longer accepting donations. However, this leaves us with a sum of unused money, much of which had been set aside to cover anticipated costs at trial. We have already made final payments to attorneys who worked on the case, and have set aside money for Erik’s commissary and support expenses while he serves his jail sentence. We’re also taking the time to make sure that all remaining defense-related expenses are covered, but we still expect to have funds left when all is said and done.

We believe that this money was donated to us for a specific purpose (supporting defendants through a trial and covering any related costs) that no longer applies, and we feel an obligation to donate it elsewhere in a manner reflective of the intentions of our supporters. However, knowing that we cannot promise to meet the wishes of every single donor, we have decided to return individual donations upon request. For logistical reasons, we do have to put some limitation on this, and so we’re asking that anybody who has donated in the past year and who wants a refund please email us at info@rnc8.org before November 15, 2010. Please include the form (cash, check, Paypal), date and amount of the donation, as well as a name and address.

After lengthy discussion and a lot of thought, defendants and members of the defense committee, together, have come up with the following plan for handling of the remaining money. We will be meeting once more before making final commitments and may make adjustments at that point, but our intentions as portrayed below will remain consistent.

So, here goes. We have donated:

*$1000 to Scott DeMuth’s support fund*
This will cover the last of his legal expenses and enable his support committee to focus on raising commissary funds for his impending prison term. (http://davenportgrandjury.wordpress.com)

*$1000 to Walker Community Church*
Walker is where we’ve had an office and innumerable meetings and events for two years, and has long been a welcoming and accessible space for countless social justice organizations in the Twin Cities. (http://www.wesac.org/walker/)

*$1000 to the Riseup Collective*
Riseup has hosted our numerous and heavily-used listservs, as well as personal email accounts, for 4 years. (https://riseup.net)

Whatever remains after refunds and final legal expenses will be split as follows:

*15% to the Asheville 11*
The Asheville 11 are facing ridiculously trumped-up charges related to vandalism at a protest in Asheville, NC. (http://asheville11defense.com)

*15% to G20 Toronto Legal Defense*
Reminiscent of the RNC 8 case, organizers in Toronto have been harassed, arrested, and charged in relation to recent anti-G20 protests. Their conditions of release are much worse than ours ever were, including house arrest and “no contact” orders. (http://g20.torontomobilize.org)

*15% to targets of recent FBI raids and grand jury subpoenas*
In September, the FBI conducted a sweep of raids, harassment and subpoenas around the country targeting activists engaged in anti-imperialist, anti-war and international solidarity work, citing a law banning “material aid to Foreign Terror Organizations.” All those subpoenaed, the majority of whom live here in Minneapolis, have refused to testify. (http://www.stopfbi.net)

*15% for political prisoner commissary funds*
We will come up with a list of a number of US political prisoners in need of financial support, and send money for their commissary or other support needs. (http://www.thejerichomovement.com)

*40% to Communities United Against Police Brutality*
CUAPB does invaluable work supporting and advocating for people facing police violence, abuse, and repression, all over the Twin Cities metro area, focusing on the communities most affected by the injustices of the court and police systems. They’ve also been an integral part of our support campaign. (http://www.cuapb.org)

Upcoming events that were designated as fundraisers for the RNC 8 will still go forward as scheduled, with the funds raised going to other groups. We invite you to come out if you can!

In Solidarity,
the RNC 8/Defense Committee

October 19, 2010

I was a member of the RNC Welcoming Committee for 18 months, and I am proud to have worked with all of the defendants who are now known as the RNC 8 during that time. I would have been a witness for them, had they gone to trial, and I want to outline a few of the things I might have told their jury.

Back to the beginning. The RNC Welcoming Committee was one of many groups who organized protests of the Republican National Convention in 2008. The Coalition to March on the RNC and Stop the War (which included several major national anti-war groups), the Poor People’s Economic Human Rights Campaign, Students for a Democratic Society, the Minnesota Immigrant Rights Action Coalition, and the Twin Cities Anti-War Committee were some of the groups who worked closely with the RNC Welcoming Committee. Their politics ran the range from liberal to socialist, while Welcoming Committee members identified as anarchists and anti-authoritarians.

In my own opinion, organizing against the RNC was a matter of real necessity. Think back to the widespread outrage around the world due to actions of the Bush Administration: the illegal invasion of two countries (Afghanistan and Iraq), the complete bungling of the response to Hurricane Katrina, the criminalization of impoverished people who move to the US from Mexico and Central America looking for work, the maintenance of torture camps around the world, the ridiculous denial that global climate change was even happening, the support for corrupt and oppressive governments in many other countries ….! My friends in other countries kept asking me, “Why aren’t the people of the United States out in the streets? Why do you let George Bush get away with this? Don’t you understand how much damage he’s doing?” And of course, the damage kept mounting up at home, as well, with mortgage foreclosures, the loss of well-paying union jobs, the de-funding of public education, and the imprisonment of more than 2.3 million citizens.

And here came the Republican National Convention, the war criminals and the power mongers, to my very own city. Here was my chance to respond to the question of my friends: “Why aren’t the people of the United States out in the streets?” We could be in the streets, we would be in the streets. Some of us would confine our protests to legally-permitted marches; some of us were too upset to do that. The RNC Welcoming Committee provided the logistical support for protesters from around the country who wanted to actually interfere with the running of the convention, through preventing the delegates from arriving at the convention on time on the first day. We wanted to show the power elite and show ordinary people around the world that people in the US did not support our government’s actions. The struggle against US imperialism is our struggle; we are in it with the rest of the world; and we would confront the power brokers. In this instance, we would crash their convention.

Well, our plans set off big alarm bells with the city and the county law enforcement agencies. While the city refused to grant a permit and a march route to the Coalition to March on the RNC, the sheriff’s department and the FBI sent paid agents into the Welcoming Committee to spy on us. It makes perfect sense to me that they would take these actions: as the guardians of the power structure, they recognize what happens when enough people get upset enough to stop behaving themselves! They know that governments fall, and corporations collapse, when citizens and workers withdraw their cooperation. They know that their power depends entirely on our willingness to let them have it, and when enough of us say “NO!” and really mean it, they don’t have enough weapons to force us back into line. As striking textile workers said in the early part of the 20th Century, “You can’t weave cloth with a bayonet.” As all of us clearly anticipated, you can’t put on a convention if the streets are full of people blocking the buses.

That’s what the RNC 8 (and I, and many people here) tried to make happen. We talked with people around the country who might want to confront this convention; we found housing for them; we arranged free meals; we collected and repaired bicycles for them to ride around on; we gave them information about the geography of the Twin Cities so that they could make their plans; we looked for information about the schedule of the convention, and where the delegates would be staying; we set up a legal support structure for people who might be arrested; and we recruited and trained health care workers to take care of people injured by the police. We talked and networked and e-mailed and talked some more.

We also put our plans right on our web site! I personally described our plans in front of Erin Dady, the city of St. Paul’s point person on the convention! Does this sound like a conspiracy? Does this sound like some underhanded plot?

The underhanded ones were the law enforcement agents. They were the ones in disguise; they were the ones who kept asking, “When are we going to make the Molotov cocktails?” They were the ones who made the rest of us nervous with their barely-concealed anger and their misogynist comments. We tolerated them in spite of our misgivings about them because we were trying to be inclusive and open-minded. Our mistake, evidently.

And that illustrates something else about the RNC Welcoming Committee. We wanted to show that we have a different idea of how the society and the economy can be structured – a more ecologically-responsible, community-minded, egalitarian way, called anarchism. We tried to work according to those values, and to value every person who said they wanted to work with us.

The Welcoming Committee approached its enormous organizing job with creativity, humor, and idealism. From the ironic name of the group (Welcoming Committee – riiiiight!) to the satirical video with which we announced our presence, to the cheeky press releases which drove the mainstream reporters (and some of our collaborators) wild, to the periodic statements of solidarity, there was an engaging light-heartedness to much of what we did. We were serious about our task, and we loved to poke fun at the stereotypes of anarchists. Meanwhile, we consciously tried to build a new world out of the ashes of the old, and practiced the skills we’ll need to create a future that we actually want to live in.

Sheriff Bob Fletcher asked me, on the first evening of the convention (when he got done threatening to arrest me,) what anarchism is all about. I refused to answer him then, knowing that he was baiting me. I’ll explain it now. (Hope you’re listening, Sheriff!) It’s about democracy. It’s a direct, participatory way of governing ourselves, of working out problems with one another instead of delegating that power to anyone else. It’s a way of settling our differences without reverting to the rules of courts; it’s about responsibility to one another rather than submission to laws. It’s about economic structures that provide for people’s needs equally, and it doesn’t reward greed. It’s about respect for the planet and all the beings on it and in it.
Between the sheriff’s investigation into the RNC Welcoming Committee and the prosecution of the case against the RNC 8, the state has spent probably half a million dollars trying to repress these ideas. It’s spent a lot more on the weapons and chemical agents which are supposed to discourage “we the people” from taking our own lives and our futures into our own hands.

Recently, the state has raided the homes of our colleagues and friends in the Twin Cities Anti-War Committee, and is threatening them with a legal nightmare like we’ve just come through. It’s silly to think that any of this is really going to stop us from organizing, from building strong community institutions, from calling out injustice, from trying to get in the way of oppression, from acting in solidarity with the people around the world who are experiencing the hard heel of US imperialism.

And if the Democrats think that we’re going to give them a pass on their convention, if they bring it to Minneapolis in 2012, they’d better think again!

–Betsy Raasch-Gilman

All the fundraisers we had scheduled will still happen as planned, but now all the funds will be going to other great causes around the nation (no proceeds
will be going to the RNC 8 Defense Committee). Mark your calendars now!

* When: Thursday, October 28, 7-9pm
* Where: Walker Community Church, 3104 16th Ave S, Minneapolis
* What: “We the People” Benefit Concert, featuring Jerry Rau, Larry Long, Louis Alemayehu, Van Nixon, Barb Tilsen, Tim Sparks, Papa John Kolstad, Patches & Gretchen, Tou Saiko Lee, “Cadillac” Kolstad, Eskit, Joe Savage, Kathy & Leo Lara, McDonald Sisters, Melvin James, Tom Lieberman, and Doug Lohman. With special guests: Marv Davidov, Karen Clark, Ken Tilsen, Polly Mann, Laura Waterman Wittstock, Ed Felien, Cheryl Fields, Shayna Berkowitz, David Tilsen, Peter Rachelff, Mordecai Specktor and representatives from the RNC 8.

Suggested donation of $20. Proceeds will go to establish the RNC 8/In the Heart of the Beast Puppet and Mask Theatre Youth Social Justice Internship.

* When: Friday, November 5, dinner at 6:30pm, content at 7pm
* Where: Waite House, 2529 13th Ave. S., Minneapolis
* What: Screening of the new documentary “COINTELPRO 101” and Q&A with former political prisoners Claude Marks and Ricardo Jiménez. Vegan and
gluten-free options available at dinner, and childcare will be provided.

$5-15 sliding scale, kids $2. Proceeds benefit soon-to-be political prisoner Scott DeMuth’s defense fund.

* When: Friday, November 12, dinner at 6:30pm, content at 7pm
* Where: Waite House, 2529 13th Ave. S., Minneapolis
* What: “No SB1070! No to anti-immigrant laws, from AZ to MN” slideshow and reflection on anti-SB1070 actions and organizing across the country with
organizer Isaac Martín. Vegan and gluten-free options available at dinner, and childcare will be provided.

$5-15 sliding scale, kids $2. Proceeds benefit MIRAc (Minnesota Immigrant Rights Action Committee).

* When: Saturday, November 13, 7-10pm
* Where: TC Friends Meeting House, 1725 Grand Ave, St. Paul
* What: Irish céili dance with live music by the Blackbirds. Dances taught and called by Mike Whalen, long-time Twin Cities activist. Snacks and drinks will be available.

$5-$15 sliding scale. Proceeds benefit the anti-war activists recently raided and subpoenaed by the FBI in Minneapolis and Chicago and the IWW General Defense Committee.

* When: Friday, November 19, dinner at 6:30pm, content at 7pm
* Where: Waite House, 2529 13th Ave. S., Minneapolis
* What: “We Are Not Alone” panel discussion on the history (and future) of Twin Cities radical spaces. Vegan and gluten-free options available at dinner,
and childcare will be provided.

$5-15 sliding scale, kids $2. Proceeds benefit MARS (Minneapolis Autonomous Radical Space).

* When: Friday, December 3, dinner at 6:30pm, content at 7pm
* Where: Waite House, 2529 13th Ave. S., Minneapolis
* What: “TC Indymedia 2010 Resistance in Review” videos, slideshows and reflection on Midwest resistance in 2010. Co-sponsored by Twin Cities
Indymedia. Vegan and gluten-free options available at dinner, and childcare will be provided.

$5-15 sliding scale, kids $2. Proceeds benefit TC Indymedia and resistance to mountain top removal in Appalachia.

* When: Friday, December 10, dinner at 6:30pm, content at 7pm
* Where: Waite House, 2529 13th Ave. S., Minneapolis
* What: Music by Shannon Murray and screening of “The Forest for the Trees,” a documentary about radical environmental and labor organizer Judi
Bari’s fight back against FBI attempts to defame and assassinate her. Co-sponsored by Twin Cities Industrial Workers of the World (IWW). Vegan and gluten-free options available at dinner, and childcare will be provided.

$5-15 sliding scale, kids $2. Proceeds benefit Green Scare political prisoners.

* When: Friday, December 17, dinner at 6:30pm, content at 7pm
* Where: Waite House, 2529 13th Ave. S., Minneapolis
* What: Music by Metapeninsula, Midwestern gay country band from Chicago, and information about Avenues for Youth, which provides shelter and support for homeless youth in the Twin Cities. Vegan and gluten-free options available at dinner, and childcare will be provided.

$5-15 sliding scale, kids $2. Proceeds benefit Avenues for Youth.

More than two years after the 2008 Republican National Convention, it appears that the last legal and political defense work is finally reaching a conclusion. Two years of standing together, not always in agreement, but bound by our outrage against a state which systematically destroys our supposed rights. Two years of coming to understand that we are not exceptional and that these rights do not actually exist for anyone except the richest of the rich. Two years of standing and fighting together anyway, retaining our dignity and our strength in our own separate ways.

Earlier today (October 19, 2010), Max Specktor and Rob Czernik pled guilty to gross misdemeanor Conspiracy to Riot, and Garrett Fitzgerald and Nathanael Secor pled guilty to gross misdemeanor Conspiracy to Damage Property. These are all non-cooperating plea agreements; they will not be called upon to testify against anyone else. All of them received 100 hours of community service to be served over 10 months, no jail time or restitution, and a $200 fine. Max and Nathanael were sentenced to one year supervised probation; Garrett and Rob, two years. We recognize that the plea deal may come as a surprising development to supporters, especially considering that the prosecution originally branded the RNC 8 “terrorists” and was still committed to securing felony convictions for certain defendants only two weeks ago.

This is not a rallying cry or a desire to spin a victory from this development in the case. There is no value now in spin, no worth in declaring victory when the situation is more complicated. Rather, this is a moment for reflection upon all the tensions and trade-offs of these last years, and a call for renewed dedication to our highest ideals.

This reflection comes a day before Erik Oseland will turn himself in to serve the time to which he was sentenced when he accepted a plea agreement on August 27th. We encourage everyone to support him by writing him letters:

Erik Oseland
Ramsey County Correctional Facility
297 Century Ave S.
Maplewood, MN 55119

You can find out more about how to support him by visiting http://supporterik.wordpress.com or emailing exitpanopticon@yahoo.com. The Defense Committee will be sending some funds that had been donated for trial expenses to support Erik during his time in captivity. We are glad that the funds are available to help support him since they are no longer needed for their original intention. In the near future, we will send a more detailed message about the remaining funds that have been donated to us and our plan to be transparent and accountable to all of you concerning them. In the meantime, we are no longer accepting donations for legal defense, and encourage you to donate to others facing charges who need it.

The plea agreements that Erik, Max, Nathanael, Rob and Garrett have accepted are an indication of the realities of the judicial system and our limitations in fighting back against its repressive maneuvers. We regret that the RNC 8, while better positioned than most to fight against this tide, still succumbed to it. The RNC 8 never asked to be placed at the center of this issue, but worked to make the best of the legal battle that they were thrust into. The 8, even at the times of greatest solidarity, had differing analyses, backgrounds, and perspectives on their positions in (or outside of) movements for revolutionary change. They brought different privileges, needs, strengths, and weaknesses to the battle. Some may see this as a tension between the personal and political–that is, what is best for the movement might not be best for their life journeys. Others see themselves so tied to the revolutionary movement that the two are indistinguishable. The only certain truth is that there is not now nor has there ever been absolute agreement amongst the defendants in this case (or their supporters, for that matter).

There are several factors that contributed to how things ultimately played out in this case. Not everyone is in agreement on these factors, but there are clearly some tensions we can identify.

Amongst the defendants there was a tension between solidarity and autonomy. This tension is not unique to the RNC 8 case and, while there were breakdowns in the feelings of solidarity at times, there were also things gained when co-defendants stood together and when the broader movement came together to support them. While the defendants can’t claim full responsibility for the State dropping the charges against three of the eight, the majority of the defendants standing strong together certainly contributed to this outcome. But there were times when some of the co-defendants saw themselves as being in different positions based on numerous actual differences. Individual defendants’ relationships to the RNC Welcoming Committee, their relationship to the State’s evidence, and their differing political analyses and varying commitments to a trial made it even more difficult to navigate the already treacherous terrain with a sense of togetherness. In light of this, how can we ensure that an individual’s autonomy is secure while building the strongest base of solidarity possible? When is it appropriate for an individual to remove themselves from a group? For some of us, these are lingering questions.

Our experiences also lead us to ask: What is solidarity? How can we avoid “lip service solidarity” that covers up using the group to serve individual ends? How can we practice solidarity in a way that it supports both our revolutionary movement and the individual revolutionaries in our movement?

There were tensions pulling on the defendants from the outside as well. One of the most significant was the tension between political support and legal support. The political support around the RNC 8 case has been some of the most phenomenal in recent history. Part of this is because, with the hard work and at least small successes of the RNC Welcoming Committee, the RNC 8 seemed like the best anarchist pony in the race. Many, if not most of the 8 believed this case was going to go to trial. That’s what the 8 and the Defense Committee told all of you, and part of the reason we received so much support was that people believed us. And many people dedicated a lot of their time and energy to making this political support as strong and effective as it has been. We are deeply sorry for those who feel deceived or as if their pony gave up the race.

There is another component, however, that is less visible–the legal support. The official stance of the United States judicial system is that all defendants have the right to trial and to have counsel represent them at trial. However, this is rarely the case. The use of trumped up charges, economic hardship, isolation of defendants, and fear are great tools used to bully and coerce defendants into plea deals. Part of what we have learned is that this coercion doesn’t just come from the State. It’s true that the State would rather folks take plea deals, but for many of the same reasons, defense lawyers also prefer them and work towards them. Lawyers at both tables are ultimately officers of the court. This situation creates a sort of Judicial-Industrial Complex, in which all the suits often have a vested interest in efficiency, expediency, and getting the most amount of money for the least amount of work.

Defense attorneys’ sacred mantra is to work in the best interests of their clients, but they usually perceive “best interests” in very different ways than their clients, especially political clients. When a client puts as much or more weight on the best interests of a revolutionary movement, or makes those revolutionary interests their own, lawyers whose home turf is the system against which their client struggles can have a difficult time understanding.

The court system is also well adept at isolating defendants, even when they receive vocal and active support outside the courtroom. Defense attorneys are able to leverage defendants’ need for lawyers and their specialized knowledge to separate the defendants from other people who care about them and the outcome of their cases. This is a sort of backwards way for lawyers to grab power and attempt to control defendants who are positioned at the center of the political campaign. As such, our movement needs defense attorneys who can recognize this reality and use their skills and privileges not to work out the least painful resolution but to further the struggle in dismantling the system that forces these resolutions.

We have also learned that our movement needs people who are committed to retaining their own agency as defendants and to furthering their political goals through their legal battles. Defendants must be able to set firm boundaries with their legal defense teams, support each other through the legal proceedings, and listen to and hear the advice of their friends and closest political allies as they work to make the best decisions for the movement and themselves–even if these decisions are counter to the advice they received.

Between the defendants and others working on their case/campaign, there was also a tension between support and accountability. Those of us who are anarchists (and even some who aren’t) believe that, in decision making, the most weight should be given to the opinions of those who are most affected. In cases like this, it makes sense that the defendants be allowed to guide their own defense as best they are able. Affectedness, however, is a spectrum. One need not be the most affected to have a stake in a choice. If the case was more straightforward–say, the 8 were all charged with an actual act of property destruction–the political ramifications would not be as great and so political supporters (or the movement) would have less at stake. But, because this case has been about taking a stand and resisting the state’s ability to throw people in jail for thoughtcrime, people beyond the defendants have something to lose. As the Defense Committee has been saying from the beginning, they are coming for the anarchists today; tomorrow it could be any of us.

Many of us draw a hard boundary on withdrawing support from snitches–folks who cooperate with the state to hurt their “friends”. (Luckily, this didn’t become a concern in this case.) Many of us have come to believe that there is also some grey area wherein we can ask and expect those whom we support to handle themselves with integrity and be mindful of the movement that stands behind them. This doesn’t mean that support will be withdrawn or that defense committees get to make defendants’ choices for them. It simply means that it is legitimate for supporters to have thoughts and feelings about the campaign they are working on and to ask that those thoughts and feelings be heard. And it means that the defendants have the responsibility to be accountable to the people supporting them.

As the cases are being resolved, we are focused on being accountable to everyone who has supported the defendants and the work of the Defense Committee. Thank you for being there. Thank you for your donations, for your time spent in the kitchen at our community meals, for organizing and participating in rallies, fundraisers and other events. Thank you for continuing the fight around the issues that led us to resist the Republican National Convention in the first place, and thank you for raising the next generation of rebels and revolutionaries while keeping the struggle going. Thank you for standing not just with the RNC 8, but with all the RNC arrestees and with all targets of state repression. Thank you for remembering the St. Paul Principles–that despite our differences and misgivings, we are strongest when working together as one movement united for radical social change and determined to win.

Thank you for taking the high road, speaking up for true justice and liberation through the good times and the bad, demonstrating the world we will see rise from the ashes of the old. Thank you for the work you will continue to do against politics as usual, against the farce of the criminal injustice system, and against the police and prison industrial complex. And thank you for the work you will continue to do to take direct control over our lives, to fight for social and environmental justice, and to create organized dissent everywhere.

In solidarity,

The RNC 8 and the RNC 8 Defense Committee

These halls are advertised as a house of justice. In reality, this is a catacomb, where cries for justice come to die. I am still strong, standing here before you, because I never simply called for justice. I knew this call would go unanswered. I demand justice, yes, but I know the courts better than to believe they would or could grant it. That is why when I stand here now I say, “I stand for justice,” and I say this regardless of the courts position on the matter.

I look around this city and everything I see is made or controlled by people. Even the great river is channeled by concrete. People could have created anything, none of it is absolute, yet this is what was fabricated. This is what has been constructed and a new world will not be built upon its rotten foundation. Instead, the bricks and mortar, the ideas, the systems, all must be deconstructed.

Expressions of unrest come not from one person, or even one group of people alone, but from tumult in the social fabric. War, economic crisis, environmental devastation – that annoying boss at work – that’s what brings people out into the street. And, out in the streets of St. Paul on September 1st, 2008, for a brief moment, authority lost control.

In their absence, real people began to remake the world. There were dance parties, debates, cries of pain and protest, and raw deconstruction of the old, all together in one voice rejecting this fabrication. I was in jail for those two hours when authority lost control, but if anything I did helped to bring them about – I couldn’t be more proud and I would do it again in a heartbeat.

In a heartbeat because my heart still beats, and until the day that it stops, I will fight for true freedom and an end to all oppression.

To quote 80′s pop sensation Pat Benatar:

We can’t afford to be innocent
Stand up and face the enemy
It’s a do or die situation
We will be invincible.

Contact: Jude Ortiz (RNC 8 Defense Committee), 612.886.4565,
press@rnc8.org

REMAINING RNC 8 DEFENDANTS ACCEPT PLEA AGREEMENTS FOR GROSS MISDEMEANORS
Case Resolves with Community Service Sentence but No Jail Time

St. Paul, Minn. — The remaining four RNC 8 defendants announced today that they will accept plea agreements to resolve their over two-year legal and political felony battle. Rob Czernik and Max Specktor plead to one count each of gross misdemeanor conspiracy to riot. Garrett Fitzgerald and Nathanael Secor plead to one count each of gross misdemeanor conspiracy to destroy property.

The agreements specify that the defendants will complete 100 hours of community service, will have probation for one to two years, and will be fined $200 each. However, the plea agreements do not call for jail time or restitution. Additionally, the defendants will not be required to testify against anyone else in any other criminal case arising from their cases.

“This plea must be embarrassing for Susan Gaertner and Bob Fletcher. Their case was so weak from the beginning that through political pressure, they have been forced from pursuing felony terrorism charges into settling on a plea with no jail time,” said Jaime Hokanson of the RNC 8 Defense Committee. Hokanson expounded on the circumstances that led to the plea:
“The way the criminal justice system actually works is to wear down defendants through grueling proceedings, not to honor the supposed right to trial by jury in which guilt must be proven in open court. What the state calls ‘justice’ is just more of the coercion and force that the defendants and thousands of other people were organizing against in the first place.”

The resolution of the case marks the end result of a wide-ranging campaign to defend the RNC 8. Since September 2008, fundraisers and other events in support of the defendants have been held in dozens of cities nationwide, and as far away as Russia and New Zealand. In spite of efforts by the state to vilify the defendants for their openly anarchist politics, monetary donations to the RNC 8 Defense Committee surged. Thousands of people signed a petition that was delivered to Ramsey County Attorney Gaertner shortly before the original terrorism enhancement charges were dropped in April 2009. Supporters continued to demand that all charges be dropped and, as a result, defendants Monica Bicking, Luce Guillén-Givins and Eryn Trimmer saw their charges dropped completely.

“We have long held that the charges against the RNC 8 were politically motivated, as the defendants were openly organizing resistance to the Republican National Convention as anarchists,” said Hokanson. “Police intimidation, harassment and slander of activists in the lead up to the RNC was part of a broader strategy of criminalizing political organizing, and this view is now widely accepted in the Twin Cities. Many of us are disappointed we will not have the chance to further expose the criminalization of dissent at trial, but we are pleased the state did not succeed in sending eight respected activists to prison.”

RNC 8 supporters had been planning an array of solidarity activities during the expected trial, including a series of six joint fundraisers with other social justice organizations (http://rnc8.org/events/). Those events will go on as planned, demonstrating a continuing bond with Twin Cities social justice causes. This solidarity has helped strengthen the
activist community against repression from the state, as evidenced in the broad support of anti-war activists in the wake of FBI raids last month.

“Supporting the RNC 8 through their ordeal has made our community and our movement stronger in many ways,” said Melissa Hill of the RNC 8 Defense Committee. “The judicial system always exerts pressure on everyone, and activists are not exceptional in this. Now our struggle against state repression moves into a new phase. The continued FBI harassment of
activists in our community calls on us to stand together in solidarity to fight back against attempts to destroy our movement. We will meet this call.”

For more information, visit http://www.RNC8.org. Also follow us on Twitter: @defendthernc8.

###

I accept total responsibility for my actions in this case, but this conspiracy is only part of the story, so I would like to share some other thoughts and plans of mine, to provide some context for these actions.

I refuse to participate in the spectacle of democracy; the idea that two parties, or 3, or 100 parties, can represent all the opinions in this country. Instead, I believe in self-determination and autonomy. In practice, this means that I alone make decisions about things that only affect me. And in a group setting, we make our decisions together.

I refuse to accept the logic that our world is for sale. I don’t believe that everything can be bought and sold, or that appearing happy is more important than true happiness. Instead, I choose a world that is free. In practice, this means decentralizing the power and wealth that is so concentrated in the hands of a few, and prioritizing real needs over conspicuous consumption.

I refuse to sleepwalk through life. Instead, I’ve chosen to celebrate life and fight to defend it. In practice, this means I am an active participant in my community, and work to provide resources to assist in supporting that community. In these hard times, I believe that communities need to learn how to support themselves and I am committed to furthering that goal.

I accept the fact that I have a lot of privilege in being able to explain my motivations today. I also owe a lot to the hard work of others for supporting me throughout this process. However, there are too many people who do not share this privilege; they lack a proscribed channel for articulating their demands. Instead, their desires and frustrations explode out of them: in the streets, on their jobs, in their homes. My only hope is that out of this chaos, we can maintain the wisdom and foresight to build the world we wish to see. These are my motivations.

–Max Specktor

1.

Judge, I have pleaded guilty to Conspiracy to Damage Property and you are preparing to judge and sentence me. Acting in your official capacity on behalf of this system, you will stand opposed to any law being broken. But as you pass judgment, by your own rules, you are encouraged to consider my motives and character. While I’m sure I have done things in my life that you would look down on and have ideas in my head that you would disagree with, I can’t help but wonder if beyond the veil of slander hung by the prosecutors and the Ramsey County Sheriff’s Office, there aren’t actions I have taken and paths I have chosen in my life that you may not only agree are good, but–dare I postulate–you may even find noble.

I have dedicated my life to the service of my community. As has been said often already, I work as a preschool teacher. One of the schools I teach at is for at-risk children – kids from families with histories of abuse. Children suffering from the effects of environmental racism: poisoned as infants, and even before, by lead or arsenic. Many of them lack positive male role models in their lives. I teach them that not all men hit when they’re angry. I teach them that they can work out their problems together if they cooperate. I teach them to be proud of themselves and respectful of each other. As part of teaching these things, I must model them. And I promise that if any of the other teachers I work with were called upon, they would say that I do this with great commitment and integrity.

Along with working with kids, I have a long history of working in horizontally organized groups and have recently begun teaching workshops to adults in how to better share power and responsibility when working collectively.

I was back in your chambers, judge, about a year and a half ago while volunteering as a legal assistant on another RNC case. I hadn’t known the defendants before the RNC, but they were in need of help and I was capable of helping them–so I did. It wasn’t a question. I wasn’t paid or traded or promised anything. It was simply the right thing to do.

Throughout my life, I have lived in voluntary poverty in order to spend more time working to better the lives of others around me. In the past year alone, I have been a part of serving free meals to all who would want them, raising funds to provide midwives for pregnant women in prison, and speaking out against racism in my community. I am committed to a life of sobriety; I don’t drink alcohol, smoke or do any drugs. I come from a small family, and over the past months I have been the closest family member in proximity to my Grandmother and have been her primary support.

I broke the law and will serve the sentence you impose. Know, however, that my breaking of the law was not wanton or unprincipled; rather, it is a result of my principles and work for a better world.

2.

Throughout this case, there has been a lot of talk on behalf of the state. From the very first reports coming out of the Ramsey County Sheriff’s Office, the approach to this case has been exaggerated and overblown. Personally, I have never claimed there was no illegal activity, but the state’s response is the equivalent of staking out a street corner for a week to catch a jaywalker or setting up an FBI sting to catch a teenage shoplifter. We openly questioned and debated the authority of the state, and they had 50 million dollars in federal funding to find a way to burn us. That is what makes this case political. It’s not that we didn’t break the law. It’s that we were specifically targeted for investigation because of our political beliefs.

We filed a Franks motion to draw attention to the exaggeration in the story as told by the state and I hope that, in spite of your not granting the motion, some bit of truth was revealed. I have told you in the factual basis for my plea what I am guilty of. That does not mean I am guilty of every slanderous accusation that the state and Ramsey County Sheriff’s Office have heaped upon me.

3.

I am just about finished with my remarks, but to better illustrate my position, I would like to read from one of my favorite books. I read this book with the young people I work with and I believe it is fitting for this situation. The book is The Lorax by Dr. Suess. To set it up briefly, a child has walked to a desolate wasteland on the outskirts of town to meet the Once-ler and hear the story of what happened to the Lorax. The Once-ler begins:

It all started way back…
such a long, long time back…

Way back in the days when the grass was still green
and the pond was still wet
and the clouds were still clean,
and the song of the Swomee-Swans rang out in space…
one morning, I came to this glorious place.
And I first saw the trees!
The Truffula Trees!
The bright-colored tufts of the Truffula Trees!
Mile after mile in the fresh morning breeze.

And, under the trees, I saw Brown Bar-ba-loots
frisking about in their Bar-ba-loot suits
as they played in the shade and ate Truffula Fruits.

From the rippulous pond
came the comfortable sound
of the Humming-Fish humming
while splashing around.

But those trees! Those trees!
Those Truffula Trees!
All my life I’d been searching
for trees such as these.
The touch of their tufts
was much softer than silk.
And they had the sweet smell
of fresh butterfly milk.

I felt a great leaping
of joy in my heart.
I knew just what I’d do!
I unloaded my cart.

In no time at all, I had built a small shop.
Then I chopped down a Truffula Tree with one chop.
And with great skillful skill and with great speedy speed,
I took the soft tuft. And I knitted a Thneed!

The instant I’d finished, I heard a ga-Zump!
I looked.
I saw something pop out of the stump
of the tree I’d chopped down. It was sort of a man.
Describe him?…That’s hard. I don’t know if I can.

He was shortish. And oldish.
And brownish. And mossy.
And he spoke with a voice
that was sharpish and bossy.

“Mister!” he said with a sawdusty sneeze,
“I am the Lorax. I speak for the trees.
I speak for the trees, for the trees have no tongues.
and I’m asking you, sir, at the top of my lungs”–
he was very upset as he shouted and puffed–
“What’s that THING you’ve made out of my Truffula tuft?”

“Look, Lorax,” I said. “There’s no cause for alarm.
I chopped just one tree. I am doing no harm.
I’m being quite useful. This thing is a Thneed.
A Thneed’s a Fine-Something-That-All-People-Need!
It’s a shirt. It’s a sock. It’s a glove. It’s a hat.
But it has other uses. Yes, far beyond that.
You can use it for carpets. For pillows! For sheets!
Or curtains! Or covers for bicycle seats!”

The Lorax said,
“Sir! You are crazy with greed.
There is no one on earth
who would buy that fool Thneed!”

But the very next minute I proved he was wrong.
For, just at that minute, a chap came along,
and he thought that the Thneed I had knitted was great.
He happily bought it for three ninety-eight.

I laughed at the Lorax, “You poor stupid guy!
You never can tell what some people will buy.”

“I repeat,” cried the Lorax,
“I speak for the trees!”

“I’m busy,” I told him.
“Shut up, if you please.”

I rushed ‘cross the room, and in no time at all,
built a radio-phone. I put in a quick call.
I called all my brothers and uncles and aunts
and I said, “Listen here! Here’s a wonderful chance
for the whole Once-ler Family to get mighty rich!
Get over here fast! Take the road to North Nitch.
Turn left a Weehawken. Sharp right at South Stitch.”

And, in no time at all,
in the factory I built,
the whole Once-ler Family
was working full tilt.
We were all knitting Thneeds
just as busy as bees,
to the sound of the chopping of Truffula Trees.

Then…
Oh! Baby! Oh!
How my business did grow!
Now, chopping one tree
at a time
was too slow.

So I quickly invented my Super-Axe-Hacker
which whacked off four Truffula Trees at one smacker.
We were making Thneeds
four times as fast as before!
And that Lorax?…
He didn’t show up any more.

But the next week
he knocked
on my new office door.

He snapped, “I’m the Lorax who speaks for the trees
which you seem to be chopping as fast as you please.
But I’m also in charge of the Brown Bar-ba-loots
who played in the shade in their Bar-ba-loot suits
and happily lived, eating Truffula Fruits.

“NOW…thanks to your hacking my trees to the ground,
there’s not enough Truffula Fruit to go ’round.
And my poor Bar-ba-loots are all getting the crummies
because they have gas, and no food, in their tummies!

“They loved living here. But I can’t let them stay.
They’ll have to find food. And I hope that they may.
Good luck, boys,” he cried. And he sent them away.

I, the Once-ler, felt sad
as I watched them all go.
BUT…
business is business!
And business must grow
regardless of crummies in tummies, you know.

I meant no harm. I most truly did not.
But I had to grow bigger. So bigger I got.
I biggered my factory. I biggered my roads.
I biggered my wagons. I biggered the loads
of the Thneeds I shipped out. I was shipping them forth
to the South! To the East! To the West! To the North!
I went right on biggering…selling more Thneeds.
and I biggered my money, which everyone needs.

Then again he came back! I was fixing some pipes
when that old-nuisance Lorax came back with more gripes.

“I am the Lorax,” he coughed and he whiffed.
He sneezed and he snuffled. He snarggled. He sniffed.
“Once-ler!” he cried with a cruffulous croak.
“Once-ler! You’re making such smogulous smoke!
My poor Swomee-Swans…why, they can’t sing a note!
No one can sing who has smog in his throat.

“And so,” said the Lorax,
“–please pardon my cough–
they cannot live here.
So I’m sending them off.

“Where will they go?…
I don’t hopefully know.

“They may have to fly for a month…or a year…
To escape from the smog you’ve smogged-up around here.

“What’s more,” snapped the Lorax. (His dander was up.)
“Let me say a few words about Gluppity-Glupp.
Your machinery chugs on, day and night without stop
making Gluppity-Glupp. Also Schloppity-Schlopp.
And what do you do with this leftover goo?…
I’ll show you. You dirty old Once-ler man, you!

“You’re glumping the pond where the Humming-Fish hummed!
No more can they hum, for their gills are all gummed.
So I’m sending them off. Oh, their future is dreary.
They’ll walk on their fins and get woefully weary
in search of some water that isn’t so smeary.”

And then I got mad.
I got terribly mad.
I yelled at the Lorax, “Now listen here, Dad!
All you do is yap-yap and say, ‘Bad! Bad! Bad! Bad!’
Well, I have my rights, sir, and I’m telling you
I intend to go on doing just what I do!
And, for your information, you Lorax, I’m figgering
on biggering
and BIGGERING
and BIGGERING
and BIGGERING,
turning MORE Truffula Trees into Thneeds
which everyone, EVERYONE, EVERYONE needs!”

And at that very moment, we heard a loud whack!
From outside in the fields came a sickening smack
of an axe on a tree. Then we heard the tree fall.
The very last Truffula Tree of them all!

No more trees. No more Thneeds. No more work to be done.
So, in no time, my uncles and aunts, every one,
all waved me good-bye. They jumped into my cars
and drove away under the smoke-smuggered stars.

Now all that was left ‘neath the bad-smelling sky
was my big empty factory…
the Lorax…
and I.

The Lorax said nothing. Just gave me a glance…
just gave me a very sad, sad backward glance…
as he lifted himself by the seat of his pants.
And I’ll never forget the grim look on his face
when he heisted himself and took leave of this place,
through a hole in the smog, without leaving a trace.

And all that the Lorax left here in this mess
was a small pile of rocks, with the one word…
“UNLESS.”
Whatever that meant, well, I just couldn’t guess.

That was long, long ago.
Bur each day since that day
I’ve sat here and worried
and worried away.
Through the years, while my buildings
have fallen apart,
I’ve worried about it
with all of my heart.

“But now,” says the Once-ler,
“Now that you’re here,
the word of the Lorax seems perfectly clear.
UNLESS someone like you
cares a whole awful lot,
nothing is going to get better.
It’s not.

“SO…
Catch!” calls the Once-ler.
He lets something fall.
“It’s a Truffula Seed.
It’s the last one of all!
You’re in charge of the last of the Truffula Seeds.
And Truffula Trees are what everyone needs.
Plant a new Truffula. Treat it with care.
Give it clean water. And feed it fresh air.
Grow a forest. Protect it from axes that hack.
Then the Lorax
and all of his friends
may come back.”

4.

The Lorax voiced protest. He asked and pleaded with the Once-ler to stop chopping down the Truffula Trees. He appealed to the Once-ler’s sense of morality and ethics, but in the end, the last of the Truffula Trees still fell. The Bar-ba-loots, Swomee-Swans, and Humming-Fish all had to leave. Oh, but the Once-ler was just doing his job, making Thneeds. If the sky fills with “smogulous smoke” and the lake with Gluppity-Glup and Schloppity-Schlopp…well, it can’t be his concern. What we allow and what we don’t says a lot about who we are as a society. In the past few years, I have heard judges, politicians, police, and all the other Once-lers say that it isn’t their job to confront systemic injustice and I have to ask, “Then whose job is it?” It’s our job, and it’s my job, and it’s yours and yours and yours and unless someone out there cares a whole awful lot, nothing is going to get better. It’s not.

–Garrett Fitzgerald

While this case has always been about the criminalization of dissent, it would be disingenuous to characterize me as a victim of the state. I openly admit before the court and everyone assembled that I conspired to commit criminal damage to property. This decision was mine, and was not swayed by the blockading strategy of the RNC Welcoming Committee, a group of which I was part but which never advocated property destruction.

Others have been similarly charged in the resolution of their cases, but there are many people and departments who will never be held accountable for the actions they have actually carried out. The Ramsey County Sheriff’s Office and other cooperating agencies broke down unlocked doors and used violence and threats for the political purpose of repressing activists and agitators working to expose the injustices of colonial wars and environmental destruction. We are told this is called “keeping the peace” and was done in the name of “justice,” yet when other people find it necessary to go beyond the sanctioned means of protest, they are called “terrorists”. And the stakes are high – at the RNC we saw hundreds of protestors arrested and subsequent terrorism charges both used to justify a $50 million security budget and an absurd degree of social control on the part of the police.

The message is clear: there are those who make the decisions, those who enforce the rules, and if you fail to acknowledge this or if you work to change this inequitable distribution of power, there are consequences. And while some of us are able to walk away from this situation relatively unscathed, there are segments of the community and the world that the state deems it acceptable to harass and intimidate on a daily basis, who face severe consequences. For these people, survival is a political act and breaking the rules means risking routine physical violence or death. This is why struggling against this system of exploitation is so integral – because many of us as people of relative privilege are uniquely positioned to address the legacies of colonialism, hetero-patriarchy, and classism that are the sources of so much violence.

We must seize every opportunity to abolish these institutions of domination. We must be prepared to firmly face the politics of business-as-usual. And we must continue to work for nothing less than full liberation.

–Nathanael Secor