ACTIVATE/SDS has endorsed the following strategy for protests against the upcoming Republican National Convention (RNC). The RNC will be held September 1-4, 2008 in Minneapolis/St. Paul, Minnesota. We’ll have a lot more information about this soon, but we wanted to share this with other people. We’re very excited about the protest and the prospect of using the RNC (and the DNC) to build a stronger, more militant movement.

THE STRATEGY

On the penultimate day of the “pReNC,” a national planning consulta a year in advance of the Republican National Convention, over a hundred anti-authoritarians from around the country gathered to distill a formal strategy for disrupting the convention. Smaller working groups focused on nationwide communications, food/medical/legal infrastructure, media, coalition building, and action planning. Pouring over maps, timetables, and photographs of the city, the action working group hammered out this plan.

On the first day of the convention, participants will employ a three-tiered direct action strategy to disrupt the RNC. The tiers are organized in order of priority according to the number of participants; if a small number of participants show up, only the first tier will be carried out, but if the numbers are on hand, all three tiers will be in effect.

Tier One: Establish 15-20 blockades, utilizing a diversity of tactics, creating an inner and outer ring around St. Paul’s Excel Center, where the RNC is to take place.

Tier Two: Immobilize the delegates’ transportation infrastructure, including the busses that are to convey them.

Tier Three: Block the five western bridges connecting the Twin Cities.

Those plugging into this strategy will be free to shape their actions as they see fit, using the tactics they consider appropriate. As the specific blockade sites are established, there may be a system of delegating some sites as “red zones” (prepared for self-defense), “yellow zones” (peaceful but assertive), and “green zones” (aiming to avoid any risk of arrest) so as to accommodate a wide variety of creative tactics and involve individuals with differing needs and talents.

Over the coming months, locals will identify the most strategic blockade sites and will be available to answer questions about the terrain. If you want to participate, get your comrades together, discuss your capabilities, look over maps, and start thinking about which sites you might cover. It will soon be time for groups to adopt specific intersections, streets, on-ramps, and bridges as their own.

The nationwide communications working group is calling for local and regional groups to organize their own planning consultas over the next months, so as to be ready to reconvene in Minneapolis in summer 2008. They are also calling for a series of local actions against oppression and electoral politics leading up to and building momentum and experience for the RNC and DNC.

CRASH THE CONVENTIONS!

For more information, on the planning thus far, see:

RNC Welcoming Committee Call to Action
pReNC Report-back
RNC Welcoming Committee
Unconventional Action
Recreate 68