Made in Pittsburgh within five days of the G20 summit by a team from Pittsburgh Indymedia, Twin Cities Indymedia, Glassbead Collective, and Mobile Broadcast News, a new documentary: “Democracy 101 (Rough Cut)”. Democracy 101 is a look at the policing and pattern of issues that arise during National Special Security Events. Made with footage from the recent repression of dissent in Pittsburgh, salvaged from the broken cameras, stolen video and arrested reporters, and independent journalists from around the country.
Posts Tagged ‘posse comitatus’
The Beating of Derryl Jenkins
Wednesday, August 19th, 2009Derryl Jenkins, 43, was cruising about 15 mph over the speed limit last February in North Minneapolis where he was pulled over by a single officer, Richard Walker.
Walker’s squad car was equipped with a dashboard camera which captured the brutality and violence that followed.
As seen on the video, Jenkins and Walker become involved in a scuffle.
Going simply by what the raw video shows, Jenkins simply stepped out of his car and it was Walker that made the initial attack and was clearly the aggressor from the beginning of the incident.
Although Jenkins had plenty of opportunity to resist and fight back, he seems more interested in defending himself from the irrational attack by the pig oppressor.
Walker is seen calling for backup (2:30) before he effectively subdues Jenkins by bringing him to the ground and sitting atop him while awaiting the responding pigs.
While Walker might have been acting like a total asshole, he was mostly acting to restrain Jenkins, the half dozen pigs that responded to his distress call reacted with the violence that the oppressive institution known as the Minneapolis Police regularly dish out to our citizens.
Transcripts obtained by Jenkins lawyer, Paul Edlund, showed that one of the responding pigs called this “a good fight” ….
North Star Republic will attempt to find names and photos of these officers so we can expose them as enforcers of class oppression and brutal enemies of the people.
If you have any information concerning this incident or similar stories of police brutality, coercion, or wanton violence we want to hear from you.
RNC8 Charges Dropped
Sunday, April 19th, 2009Great news, activists!
Less than 2 weeks after receiving a strongly-worded condemnation from the Duluth Central Labor Body, Ramsey County Attorney Susan Gaertner dropped all terrorism-related charges against the RNC8 (press release below).
Thanks to everyone who donated cash, educated their unions, signed petitions… solidarity from the north country helped make this possible. But it’s only a partial victory - the 8 are still facing serious and unfounded conspiracy charges and years in prison. To find out how you can help, visit rnc
GAERTNER DROPS TERRORISM ENHANCEMENTS, CONTINUES CRIMINALIZATION OF DISSENT
RNC 8, FRIENDS OF THE RNC 8 SPEAK ABOUT POLITICAL MANEUVERING
April 9, 2009 Contact: Celia Kutz, press@…, 612-886-4565
In the surest sign yet of the power of post-RNC court solidarity, Ramsey County Attorney Susan Gaertner has dropped two of four unfounded charges against the RNC 8. Caving to months and months of public pressure, Gaertner dropped one count of Conspiracy to Commit Riot in Furtherance of Terrorism, and one count of Conspiracy to Commit Criminal Damage to Property in Furtherance of Terrorism.
“We are heartened by the fact that our supporters have won this concession,” said defendant Nathanael Secor. “It’s taken a tremendous show of strength and solidarity over the past seven months.”
Originally facing a single charge–Conspiracy to Riot in Furtherance of Terrorism–Gaertner’s office added three additional charges against the eight defendants in December of last year. Now, two of those charges have been dropped, clearly demonstrating that all the charges are a matter of political maneuvering, not a reasoned look at the evidence.
On March 28, supporters delivered to Susan Gaertner’s office a stack of over 3,000 petitions urging her to drop all four charges. Among other statements, a resolution from the 17,000-member Duluth Central Labor Body in support of the RNC 8 was also delivered. National media attention, including an appearance on MSNBC on Wednesday morning, has drawn significant attention to the case at the same time as Gaertner is accelerating her campaign for Governor–having just hired full-time staffers, opened an office on University Avenue, and planned appearances at several DFL events in the next month. Additionally, the broad-based RNC 8 Defense Committee has succeeded in calling widespread attention to the Minnesota PATRIOT Act, and played an instrumental role in applying the pressure that led to this reduction of charges.
In removing the controversial MN PATRIOT Act from the debate at this moment, Susan Gaertner obviously hopes to defray the costs of this unprecedented prosecution on her campaign for Governor, and to mitigate the overwhelmingly negative public opinion of Ramsey County’s repressive behavior during and since the RNC.
“Make no mistake,” said defendant Luce Guillen-Givins, “This change to the complaint against us is a token gesture meant to placate our supporters and bolster a floundering political prosecution.”
As defendant Eryn Trimmer pointed out, “This move only focuses attention more acutely on the outrageous nature of the two remaining charges, Conspiracy to Commit Riot and Conspiracy to Commit Criminal Damage to Property.”
In the months leading up to the RNC, the defendants were involved in open, public organizing with a broad coalition of Twin Cities activists and community members. We continue to assert that the only “conspiracy” committed by the RNC 8 was to provide basic and necessary infrastructure for people who wished to engage in their fundamental right to dissent.
“We’re relieved and gratified that the most sensational part of the charges has been dropped,” said St. Paul peace and justice activist Betsy Raasch-Gilman, member of Friends of the RNC 8. She continued, “We hope that the conspiracy charges will also be dropped. If planning a protest can be called conspiracy, the right to free speech is in real danger.”
Friends of the RNC 8 asks Susan Gaertner to continue in the direction of justice by dropping all the remaining charges, thereby saving enormous financial resources for the people of Minnesota in this time of rampant foreclosures, unemployment and economic turmoil. We also remind supporters that while we should rightly celebrate this small victory, the time for increased action to defend the RNC 8 is now. Political organizing is not conspiracy. Dissent is not a crime.
Slap on Wrist for Cop Who Rammed Minivan Full of Kids
Sunday, March 22nd, 2009So here is the scenario, Sargent Carrie Rindal of the Minnesota Highway Patrol is flying down Interstate 94, blasting her rock music, when she notices a minivan switch lanes without using a turn signal. The officer proceeds to put on her sirens and the minivan promptly slows down looking for a safe spot to pull over. However this being Minnesota, a particularly icy and snow filled wonderland, the driver of the minivan was unable to find a safe spot to stop and proceeded at a sluggish pace to the nearest ramp. This apparently wasn’t good enough for Sargent Rindal, who proceeded to ram the minivan, not once but twice!
so why was the driver of the minivan concerned about pulling over on an icy shoulder, well besides the risk he himself would have undertaken, he also happened to have his three young children (2, 3 and 6 years old) in the car.
After ramming the minivan, Rindal goes ahead and whips her gun out, handcuffs the man, arrests him in front of his kids, and impounds the damaged vehicle (1500$ damage). On top of that he gets 37 hours in jail and a 130$ ticket in the mail, even though the prosecutors didn’t end up charging him with a crime.
ok, so what happened to Sargent Carrie Rindal …. well she was made to appear before an internal review board and surprise, surprise, what do you know, the board agreed with her decisions to both ram the minivan and shove her gun in the guys face for trying to protect his family (in a related matter the board disproved of her butch dyke haircut).
any punishment for the cop? nope, merely a note in her police file that mentions the incident for future refrence.
the whole incident took less then a minute, but it will be a minute the family never forgets.
Fears of Class Conflict and US Troops on the Street
Friday, February 27th, 2009The following is a collection of recent news items, some more reputable then others, concerning the revolutionary aspects of the economic crisis.
