Republican National Convention 2008 Open Thread

This blog is based in Minneapolis, MN, near where the Republican Party is having its convention. I attended the legal demonstration the first day.

**I didn't know until I returned home, that Amy Goodman was arrested and several others. Most who attended and took part in the legal route, were unaware of arrests. I saw the police shoot some type of ammunition on a side street. From my viewpoint I didn't see demonstrators.

**My comrades disagreed with the organizers vague slogans that fronted for support for the Democratic Party. Tactically they made an agreement with the anarchist organizers to respect "diversity of tactics." In addition they agreed to not to make public criticism.

I think everyone involved should have been allowed to discuss tactics, and come to consensus. Once the consensus is agreed to, anybody who violates the agreement is on their own. The anarchists seem to think unified slogans and tactics is authoritarian.

**I stayed with the agreed to route, like most involved, didn't know of arrests.

**Private homes and one anarchist meeting place was raided this weekend by the sheriff's department. Some of the arrests were viewed by journalists. They had the effect of lowering turnout. Those arrested feel they'll be vindicated in court. There is a case of a warrant with an incorrect address. I'm sure it scared some from attending.

**There were arrests the weekend before the march. The sheriff's office raided anarchist headquarters and various private homes. Some of the raids were observed by journalists as Amy Goodman.

**If you are dressed in all black, wearing a mask or bandana to cover your face, and go away from the legal route, what can you expect to happen? They had no speaker on the platform to explain what they were about. They were irresponsible and made no political point. Somebody said, "The anarchists don't recognize the state, but the state recognizes them."

**Obama coopted the slogans as from the immigrant rights movement as Sí Se Puede (Yes We Can), and "Power To The People."

**The police allowed rightist protesters to get too close for my comfort, to the main demo. They obviously wanted rightist martyrs. The rightists would be the martyrs, by numbers alone.

**Most of the groups fronted for Obama and the Democratic Party. Most of the speakers only attacked Republicans. Another category is the adventurous groups who mistake militant tactics for principled politics. In addition there was supporters of narrow nationalism (insert country here) and even Islamism. This mess can be straightened out with a movement led by revolutionary socialists, armed with theory and practice, so as to create history and react to it. When the RNC is over, and the delegates and protesters go home. The question is what do you do next?
RENEGADE EYE