[Marxism] Cops prevent Rage Against the Machine from playing free show at RNC

["Danny DiMaggio" <dan.dimaggio@xxxxxxxxx>]

Hi everyone,

I just got back from a day-long concert at the State Capitol in St. Paul
called Ripple Effect, featuring political music from Dead Prez, Michael
Franti, Anti-Flag, and more.

After Anti-Flag closed their set at around 6:15 or so, there was a surprise
guest set to perform: *Rage Against the Machine!!!* Radio stations had been
announcing this in the hours before and thousands of mainly youth showed up
to the Capitol to hear them.

As their roadies tuned up and they were all set to go on, however, the
fascist police occupation that now rules the Twin Cities during the RNC
refused to allow them to take the stage.  They even cut the power to the
event, though organizers had a permit for it to go until 7pm, well after
Rage would have played. They claim that since Rage wasn't on the permit,
somehow they had the right to prevent them from playing, which is, well,
ridiculous police state nonsense.

I can honestly say this was one of the most disgusting displays of police
bullshit I have seen.  Preventing thousands of young people from hearing one
of the world's best political bands is some serious bullshit.

The whole crowd even sang the Star Spangled Banner, highlighting the
contradiction between America, the supposed "land of the free" (we drew out
this line for a while), and the bullshit repression of democratic rights
being carried out by the cops around here (with the help now of the National
Guard).

Rage did come out and lead an a capella version of Bulls on Parade, which
was interesting, and then they said, "Let's take this to the streets." So as
they did at the DNC, they helped lead a march of several thousand, mainly
youth, through the streets of St. Paul. It linked up with the Poor People's
March that was going on. The march went for the most part without hassle
although the cops did use tear gas at least once and they were out in force
with their giant Robo Cop gorilla suits on.

My friend Ryan, who had just come out of a taping of The Daily Show, claims
that many ordinary people on the streets were yelling at the cops, blaming
them for the violence, telling them not to attack the demonstration.

Eventually we reached the "protest cage," where people just sort of hung
around. After a while, people began to disperse on their own. But the cops
began to mass in huge numbers all over the city, including bringing in
dumptrucks to blockade streets and protesters. We escaped literally at the
last possible second before they began herding people god knows where else.
Basically St. Paul is occupied territory, occupied by a massive police army.
If you look like you might be a protester, it's not safe to walk around.
Many of the people are the demo hung around for "too long" afterwards
(remember also that many of these people were just trying to see Rage play,
and then marched afterwards, new to the movement), and the cops attacked
them with tear gas, etc.  You can see video below.

I will say that the RNC has been full of important political lessons for the
people of the Twin Cities, including the role of the police, the ends to
which the government is willing to go to prevent us from effectively
protesting, and the serious gap between the myth of democracy in this
country and the reality.

It is clear that the U.S. government uses these big political conventions as
a means to beef up the armed forces of the state, to protect corporate rule
in this country in anticipation of any social movements that may be on the
horizon, given the mass anger that is building up in U.S. society. The
massive police presence on the streets of St. Paul is meant to cow us into
fear, telling us that it's not possible to resist the police or attempt to
change society, because these are the odds we're up against - thousands of
muscle-bound, Robo Cop-outfitted, pig dickwads armed to the teeth with
rubber bullets, tear gas, flash grenades, pepper spray, mace, tasers,
batons, firehoses, guns, etc.  This is the lesson the cops seek to impart
into African-American and Latino communities on a daily basis via their
occupations of the inner cities and terrorization of these communities.

But I'm pretty sure that's not gonna be enough to stop us, just like it
wasn't enough to stop the civil rights movement in the '60s, or the labor
movement in the '30s ... cuz as we've been chanting on the streets of the
Twin Cities, "There ain't no power like the power of the people cuz the
power of the people don't stop" (although tonight I feel more like chanting
"No justice, no peace - Fuck the police!").

Some Video footage:
http://www.twincities.com/video?bcpid=1653590799&bclid=1755456983&bctid=1770059945
http://kstp.com/article/stories/S565108.shtml?cat=1

Dan

p.s. "Some of those that work forces, are the same that burn crosses... Some
of those that hold office, are the same that burn crosses ..." - Killing in
the Name Of, Rage Against the Machine
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