HANDS OFF OUR CONSTITUTION
Rally Sept 28th at State Capitol
Vote NO! to Constitutional Convention on Nov 4th
Special Interest Groups are rallying for a Vote YES to Constitutional Convention in order to bring Ballot Initiatives to Connecticut. They tell us Ballot Initiatives will promote direct democracy and “neutralize the power of special interests.” In fact the opposite will happen. Ballot Initiatives will create Open Season on the Rights of Women, African-Americans, Latinos, Immigrants, Transgender, Gender Non-conforming, Lesbian, Gay, and Bisexual people. Slick media campaigns with Hidden Agendas will attempt to Manipulate Public Opinion and dictate what Civil Rights you will keep and LOSE. Don’t be Conned by the Con Con!
Join the many grass roots organizations that are raising their voices to these Special Interest Groups and SAY:
Hands Off Our Constitution!
Vote NO on the Constitutional Convention
Rally at the State Capitol
South Side Overlooking Capitol Avenue
Sunday, September 28, 2008
Gather: 1:30 PM
Kicks off: 2:00 PM
(allow 30 minutes to park and walk to the Capitol as there are 2 other events in the area.)
Connecticut Civil Rights Defense Coalition currently comprises the following organizations:
A Better Way Foundation, American Friends Service Committee CT, A.N.S.W.E.R CT, Bright Star Vision, Clean Slate Committee, Connecticut Coalition for Peace & Justice, Connecticut TransAdvocacy Coalition, International Socialist Organization New Haven, Metropolitan Community Church Hartford, NARAL Pro-Choice Connecticut , National Lawyers Guild - CT Chapter, Network of Spiritual Progressives (CT), People of Faith CT, Queers Without Borders, The Socialist Party Central/Eastern CT Local, West Hartford Citizens for Peace & Justice
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I am posting, below, an email that I just received through colleagues in the National Lawyers Guild. It relates to the attacks by Ramsey County police on peaceful protesters and journalists at the Republican National Convention in Minneapolis, and reflects a shocking revelation of the state’s “legal theory” justifying these attacks:
In what appears to be the first recorded charge under the 2002 Minnesota version of the Federal Patriot Act, Ramsey County Prosecutors have formally charged 8 alleged leaders of the RNC Welcoming Committee with Conspiracy to Riot in Furtherance of Terrorism. Monica Bicking, Eryn Trimmer, Luce Guillen Givins, Erik Oseland, Nathanael Secor, Robert Czernik, Garrett Fitzgerald, and Max Spector, face up to 7 1/2 years in prison under the terrorism enhancement charge which allows for a
50% increase in the maximum penalty. Affidavits filed in support of the search warrants executed in raids over the weekend, and used to support probable cause for the arrest warrants, are based on paid, confidential informants who infiltrated the RNCWC on behalf of law enforcement. They allege that members of the group sought to kidnap delegates to the RNC, assault police officers with firebombs and explosives, and sabotage airports in St. Paul. These allegations appears to be uncorroborated by any evidence other than the claims of the informants. These charges wrongly turn stated public plans to blockade traffic and disrupt the RNC into acts of terrorism. The charges represent an abuse of the criminal justice system and seek to intimidate any person organizing large scale public demonstrations potentially involving civil disobedience. It is likely that the expressed “anarchist” political views of the defendants will be a major issue in any future legal proceedings. The last time such charges were brought in Minnesota was in 1918, against labor union organizers charged with “criminal syndicalism.”
Bruce D. Nestor,
President
Minnesota Chapter National
Lawyers Guild 3547 Cedar Avenue South
Minneapolis, MN
55407
612-659-9019 - Phone
612-436-3664 - Fax
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http://www.counterpunch.org/
September 2, 2008
Preemptive Strikes Against Protests at RNC
Raiding Democracy in St. Paul
By MARJORIE COHN
In the months leading up to the Republican National Convention, the FBI-led Minneapolis Joint Terrorist Task Force actively recruited people to infiltrate vegan groups and other leftist organizations and report back about their activities. On May 21, the Minneapolis City Pages ran a recruiting story called “Moles Wanted.” Law enforcement sought to preempt lawful protest against the policies of the Bush administration during the convention.
Since Friday, local police and sheriffs, working with the FBI, conducted preemptive searches, seizures and arrests. Glenn Greenwald described the targeting of protestors by “teams of 25-30 officers in riot gear, with semi-automatic weapons drawn, entering homes of those suspected of planning protests, handcuffing and forcing them to lay on the floor, while law enforcement officers searched the homes, seizing computers, journals, and political pamphlets.” Journalists were detained at gunpoint and lawyers representing detainees were handcuffed at the scene.
“I was personally present and saw officers with riot gear and assault rifles, pump action shotguns,” said Bruce Nestor, the President of the Minnesota chapter of the National Lawyers Guild, who is representing several of the protestors. “The neighbor of one of the houses had a gun pointed in her face when she walked out on her back porch to see what was going on. There were children in all of these houses, and children were held at gunpoint.” (more…)
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