RNC's Monday may be off, but the protests are still on
While the Republican national committee treads on thin ice in an attempt to balance politics and hurricanes, the extensive protests scheduled for tomorrow are going ahead as planned. The RNC delegates weren't the only ones with hotel reservations and plane tickets they didn't want to cancel: in the words of a spokesman for the ad-hoc coalition of anti-war and social-justice planning a massive Sept 1 rally, "We expect that tens of thousands will join us in the march on the RNC and say no
to the war on Iraq. We have heard from people around the country that they are
coming to St Paul. Buses have been chartered, Vans rented, and car pools
organized from cities and towns across the Midwest.” Among the groups who'll be represented are Iraq Veterans Against the War, Voices for Creative Nonviolence, CODEPINK: Women for Peace, the American Indian Movement, Latinos Against War, the Chicago Teamsters, Students for a Democratic Society, the Poor People's Economic Human Rights Campaign, the Minnesota Immigrant Rights Action Coalition, and the Minnesota-based Somali Institute for Peace and Justice. Like everyone else this convention season -- ourselves included -- they're broadcasting late-breaking developments on Twitter.
If you're in the neighborhood, remember: the prohibited-items list includes "puppets, bicycles, and motorized vehicles." Which means Kermit the Frog is out of luck . . . and probably these guys too.