RNC

Counter It!
Minnesota’s antiwar youth training camp

Last summer the Pentagon was busy preparing for an ambitious “surge” in military recruitment to meet the bipartisan plan to expand the military by 92,000 troops. At the same time, young people in Minnesota were also busy preparing our response.
Twenty two young activists – high school and college students as well as several trainers – gathered for four days in August at Garden Farme in Ramsey, MN to develop our skills and strategy. Organized by Youth Against War & Racism in partnership with the Fellowship of Reconciliation, the Ruckus Society, and others, the “Counter It! Training” was a great success.

Police repression and unjust arrests in the Twin Cities related to the Republican National Convention have caused concern among nonviolent organizers.  

Youth Against War and Racism (YAWR), a partner organization of FOR, has asked us to mobilize our members and networks to support the rights of youth to resist militarism in their schools and in our country through a nonviolent student walk-out on the last day of the RNC.  

On Tuesday 9/2, some households in the St. Paul school district received a pre-recorded phone call warning parents that the streets would be unsafe for their children on Thursday, and to please urge their children not to attend the student strike.  

YAWR has called on our support for these solidarity actions: 

The Twin Cities have seen "No WAR, No RNC" sprayed across bus stops, public trashcans, light posts, and sidewalks for months now.  Downtown Minneapolis has been beautified by a hosts of murals on large buildings and electric boxes and flyers for RNC festivities are placed all over the state.  Well, it seems that the beautifying is over.

A number of convergence spaces have been raided throughout the metro and near metro area.  It is true that many organizations plan to March on the RNC and we've hit the point where spaces are being raided.  At this time, there are a number of neighbors who have been detained.  Here is the latest information from Minnesota's presses, IndyMedia, and the UpTake:

From MN IndyMedia:  Click headline for full story.