Photos by John Hoff
Tonight, each time a reporter from KSTP Channel 5 tried to record his little piece, a member of the RNC Welcoming Committee stood in the background and yelled "Free the RNC 6!" It happened at about 11 P.M. Saturday night, at the RNC's "convergence center" located at 627 Smith Street South, St. Paul...
...and I was there.
Hoping to provide independent media coverage, I biked to the location on Smith Street South. There is a spectacular view of the State Capitol Building visible along a portion of Smith Street South just after the RNC WC "convergence center." It kind of makes you want to march all the way down Smith Street to the Capitol.
The convergence center itself is in a small brick building bearing a "FOR SALE" sign. Numerous bikes are secured all around the entrance on every available street post and sign, with intense anarchist/nature child types milling about, smoking, leaning close to each other to have conversations. Every now and then, a few more bikers arrive, or a few more leave. At one point, a group of approximately 6 bikers were seen leaving, together, heading off on what appeared to be some kind of late night mission of mischief.
A "Security Culture"
A few hours before I arrived, some decision had apparently been made to allow no more media inside the building, including bloggers. Two women at the door asked for credentials in regard to who I was and what I was doing. Though they appeared satisfied I was somebody in sympathy with their general goals, one of the women said their "current protocol" was to allow no media inside the building. They said another self-described blogger had been made to leave a short while before. They were, however, willing to give me a drink of water, since I had biked very far and was thirsty. One of the women brought the water in a red plastic "kegger" style cup. While I waited, a young man asked if he could use my map of Minneapolis to check something.
The fun is on the other side of the street
A news crew from KSTP Channel 5 was across the street and appeared to be a source of annoyance to the RNC Welcoming Committee. The crew wasn't being allowed inside the building, but was determined to stand on the other side of the street, point their cameras at the anarchists, and say whatever they were going to say which (the RNC WC assumed) would be harsh, one-sided, and unfair.
One of the RNC WC seemed more focused on the Channel 5 camera crew than his comrades. It turned out he was plotting a spontaneous direct action of mainstream media disruption. This action seemed somewhat independent of his comrades, but apparently not opposed by them. The young man was a white male, appearing perhaps 16 or 17, and was wearing a cartoonish fake gray beard which made him appear like a youthful version of Jackie Broyles from Red State Update.
He first engaged the camera crew in conversation while they were off the air, conversing with the cameraman in particular. There seemed to be a disagreement over something the cameraman said, something about how if people are "up in the face" of police, "of course" the police are going to "retaliate." This didn't sit very well with the young man at all, I thought.
The news reporter was trying to record his piece, using the RNC WC convergence center across the street as his backdrop. He got more backdrop than he bargained for. Standing there in his cartoonish beard--which he accented with a pair of dark glasses--the young man was not stepping out of the camera shot. He just wasn't. The reporter asked him to get away, to get back. The young man stepped out into the street and a decent distance from the reporter's personal space, but he wasn't leaving the frame of the shot.
"It's his street, too," I said, because it was just the four of us--the young man, myself, and the KSTP 5 camera crew--and the young man needed some psychological support. This way it was even: two against two. That was more fair.
Waiting for his moment
The young man--I will call him "Lumberjack"--was savvy enough to wait until the lights were on, the camera was live, and the reporter was trying to record his little lines. Perfectly timing his action, he let out with a shout: FREE THE RNC SIX!
I was instantly swayed by this argument. In a heartbeat, I was informed and had made up my mind: what was the point of holding 6 anarchists on charges? Six anarchists can't agree on anything, not even which vegan co-op would be best for supper. Clearly, they weren't involved in a conspiracy because there were too many of them. The natural state of human beings is liberty: why were the laws of nature being trampled upon?
"FREE THE RNC 6!" I shouted, in agreement.
The reporter glared at me in reproach. He expected this kind of thing from the anarchists, but I was supposed to be some kind of blogger; a fellow member of the media.
"Sorry," I said. "I got caught up in the moment."
I didn't get the reporter's name, though he's pictured very clearly in these images. He sure is pretty. For a guy, I mean.
The repoter tried taping his little segment again. And the same thing happened again: FREE THE RNC SIX!!!!
Did I mention I was recording all this on video? Well, I was. I have to get that tape out in the world, somehow, before all this RNC stuff blows over like CS gas in a stiff breeze.
Am I going to be on TV? Huh, huh, huh?
The funniest part was when the camera crew was leaving. Lumberjack was asking if he would be on televison, if he would somehow be able to see the broadcast over the internet? He sounded like an excited teenager who wanted to get a copy of a picture from prom.
"Yeah," the reporter said, tiredly, "Check the website."
Well, I checked the website a moment ago. There's nothing there. Promises, promises. See, this is why the anarchists don't like the mainstream media. Because they open up their mouths and big whopping lies spill out.
Mysterious Man In The Red Pickup
After jumping in to support the Lumberjack's direct action of mainstream media disruption, I was sort of his friend. Lumberjack and another young man who came over from the direction of the convergence center had a concern. There was a creepy guy in an oversized red pickup truck. He was pointing the camera toward them, taping, and talking in a cell phone. Who was he? An undercover police officer? A republican operative?
Lumberjack boldly walked up to the guy's truck window to ask his business while I watched and managed to snap one picture; not a very good picture. There was a brief conversation, and then the headlights of the truck came on and the truck took off.
Lumberjack related what had happened. He'd asked the guy "who are you with?" The guy (a white male in his early 50s, with a tattoo of an eagle on one of his forearms) said, "I'm with me." Lumberjack pointed at the eagle tattoo and said, "What's that tattoo all about?" The man in the truck replied, "None of your (expletive) business," and that's when he took off.
The party is just getting started
It's still a full day until Monday, the day expected to have the most arrests, and the fun is already kicking off. Stop reading this history and go out and make your own mark on the course of human events.
All out!!!! All out!!! All out to protest RNC 2008!!!
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