Printable Version

Story originally printed in the Winona Daily News or online at www.winonadailynews.com

Published - Monday, August 04, 2008

Protesters at RNC will be a varied bunch

By Amy Forliti

The Associated Press

ST. PAUL — A 73-year-old retired surgeon plans to march in silence, carrying a tombstone picturing a soldier killed in Iraq.

A philosophy professor will call for a new investigation into the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks.

A long-haul trucker from Texas will protest the price of oil.

They’ll join a 4-year-old girl with a pink megaphone, a self-proclaimed anarchist, immigrants, stilt-walkers, advocates for the poor, puppeteers, and tens of thousands of others who will use the streets outside the Republican National Convention as a national podium, transforming downtown St. Paul into a literal marketplace of ideas.

“There are some groups that are going to be here just because this is a big stage,” said Chuck Samuelson, executive director of the American Civil Liberties Union of Minnesota. “But I think the majority of groups are here because they really want to demonstrate to the delegates that they want to see some sort of changes in the party platform.” The same, he said, is expected in Denver, where the Democratic National Convention opens Aug. 25.

The Republican convention runs Sept. 1-4 at the Xcel Energy Center in downtown St. Paul.

See RNC, page 3A

Convention spokeswoman Joanna Burgos said: “I think the city is giving the protesters a forum to express their First Amendment rights. And inside of the Xcel Center, we, as in the Republican Party, will be doing the same.”

Outside the arena, protesters and police expect the first day to be the biggest — with tens of thousands planning to march from the state Capitol to the convention site and back. The march’s message: Stop the war in Iraq. But groups representing labor, immigrants, gays and lesbians, solidarity with Palestine, and many other causes have signed on to participate.

“I really think that speaks to the real impact of the Bush agenda,” said Meredith Aby, a member of the Coalition to March on the RNC and Stop the War. “The war affects lots of people in lots of different ways. People really do see the war as connected to the domestic issues.”

The ladies and men of CODEPINK will be among the participants, complete with pink “police” on in-line skates and the pink slip girls, who have been known to deliver their “pink slips” to politicians whom they believe aren’t doing enough to end the war in Iraq.

David Harris, of the Red Wing chapter of Veterans for Peace, said his group is planning a smaller event on Aug. 31, the day before the convention begins. The group will walk in silence, to a beating drum, with each person carrying a tombstone picturing a civilian or soldier killed in Iraq. Also participating will be a group with orange jumpsuits and masks, to represent the Guantanamo Bay prisoners.

“It’s not directed specifically against the Republicans, that’s for certain,” Harris said of his march. “It’s against the warmakers. But even people marching don’t necessarily have to see things as broadly as I do.”

Some of the messages converging in St. Paul are quite focused — and as diverse as the messengers themselves.

— Tom Burke, a coordinator for Colombia Action Network, said his group will speak out against Plan Colombia — the multibillion-dollar U.S. aid package to help Colombia fight its war on drugs. His group says the plan is hurting peasants. “We compare the war in Iraq with the growing war in Colombia,” he said.

— New York artist Sharon Hayes will gather 100 people from the Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual and Transgender community to read a text that uses metaphor to discuss the ideas of personal and political desire.

— The Poor People’s Economic Human Rights Campaign will host a “March for Our Lives” on Sept. 2. Cheri Honkala, the group’s national organizer, said the group is multiracial, intergenerational, urban and rural. Mothers from as far as Kentucky and Alabama will caravan or bus to St. Paul and march with their children. “People are just not surviving these economic times,” she said. Her group plans to walk to the front doors of the Xcel center to present a citizens’ arrest on those committing “crimes against humanity.”

— Michael “JB” Schaffner, a long-haul trucker from Texas, will protest fuel costs. “Drivers have cashed in their savings bonds and 401Ks to pay for operating a truck,” he said.

— Douglas Devorak, a member of Scholars for the 911 Truth, said his group will call for an independent investigation into the events of Sept. 11, 2001.

— Attorney Martha Ballou’s group, True Blue Minnesota, has rented two giant TV screens to bring “protest into the 21st century.” The large video screens will blare images all day and all night while the convention is in town, Ballou said. The 96-hours of programming will include Phil Donahue’s “Body of War,” a documentary on the war.

— A Wisconsin resident has received a handful of permits and plans to conduct “issue-based demonstrations” around town. Ben Plunkett’s events will include speeches and dramatic presentations on everything from education and the right to privacy to health care and the U.S. foreign policy on arms sales.

— The Genocide Intervention Network of Minnesota plans to set up a mock refugee camp to highlight violence in Darfur.

St. Paul police have said they are ready for the crowds. Between 3,000 and 3,500 police officers, sheriffs’ deputies and state patrol officers are scheduled to work during the convention. Federal security officials will also be present.

Still, some groups are aiming for chaos.

The RNC Welcoming Committee, on its Web site and e-mails to members, lays out strategies to block roads and use other methods to “crash the convention.” Group members contacted by The Associated Press declined to be interviewed.

Those plans have caused some unease among other groups that plan to demonstrate.

Harris, of Red Wing Veterans For Peace, said he’s opposed to groups that are promoting violence.

“I think that there’s lots of room for lots of different ways of doing things,” Harris said. “If certain groups choose to act out in ways that are breaking the law, if they do so violently, I’m opposed to it. But at the same time, I understand it.”