The first amendment guarantees "the right of the people peaceably to assemble".
As long as no one was physically doing anything to provoke attack, arrest, or even disbandment of the protest, you are in the right.

However, as one of the few non-liberals at this school (and in fact, a "mild Republican") it bothers me that the only reason a Uni student would go to the Republican National Convention is to protest.

Stef Senior

P.S. I leave you all with the thought that I am now terrified out of my mind that all the other zealously political minds and voices in the school will publicly and by every means possible blatantly criticize me for saying this, to which I will also remark that I go to a school where that shouldn't happen.
Cheers,
Stefanie Senior

It's truly amazing how the Online Gargoyle allows Uni to showcase the proactive students it produces. When I attended Uni, some students protested at various anti-globalization events, but there was never this kind of publicity for their efforts.

The Minnesota Daily (the student newspaper of the Golden Gophers?) had some interesting coverage of the protests. From their coverage, and other things I've read, it sounds like protesters went beyond the (somewhat restrictive) permits they were issued, and the police reacted to that.

It's debatable whether police went beyond justifiable force in their arrests, given that the protesters were clearly attempting to protest illegally. (In the words of the Supreme Court in The Hague Case “The privilege of a citizen of the United States to use the streets and parks for communication of views on national questions may be regulated in the interest of all; it is not absolute, but relative, and must be exercised in subordination to the general comfort and convenience, and in consonance with peace and good order..." Blocking city streets is definitely not included in that.) In any case, it's clear to me that many of the protesters intended to commit civil disobedience, so we shouldn't be surprised that they got arrested (that's the point, after all); we should instead be proud that people in the US still have the backbone to commit civil disobedience for what they believe in!

What seems relatively clear is that the police treatment of Democracy Now! and other journalists was beyond the pale of acceptable police behavior. Hopefully the fines levied on the police when Democracy Now! wins their lawsuits will be big enough to discourage police from committing these unamerican acts (and insurance companies from protecting them).

Yes, it would bother me if someone went to the DNC just to protest, however, I was merely commenting on how Will went to the DNC and covered every day of it with glowing reviews while Shara goes to the RNC and the only press we receive of it is negative; it is rather the political lack of diversity that draws comment from me. Thank you for noticing my mistake.
Cheers.

P.S. Please don't kill me.

Although I sympathize with being upset with the Republican party, especially the Bush administration, I really do not think protests of this type are effective: I think they're an utter waste of time and energy. I personally find it entirely annoying and a turn-off, and it reinforces negative stereotypes about liberals. And don't get me wrong-- it's not just liberals-- conservatives do the same thing to, like say, talk radio.

For many people, picking who you're going to vote for is like picking a favorite sports time– it's based on emotion and loyalty. Most Republicans will vote for the Republican candidate because that's who they identify with, likewise for Democrats, regardless of wether or not the way they are voting is actually in their best interest. As part of that loyalty comes inherently negative views about the other party, just like the loyalty for your home sports team comes with negative views about their rivals. This kind of obnoxious and disruptive protesting just drives the people apart. What are you expecting to happen? Republicans are going to see the protest and suddenly drop to their knees proclaiming that they've been wrong this whole time, and they agree?

Isaac-

I think you may have misunderstood the point of the protests at the RNC. No one I was protesting with was a Democrat. Although I am sure there were Democrats and Obama-ites among the permitted protest, those participating in civil disobedience were for the most part groups that are not protesting on a partisan basis, but rather they are trying to call attention to the imperial role the U.S. is playing in todays world and how wrong and harmful that is to all of us. We were protesting the loss of civil rights that began with the Bush administration and we were protesting the war in Iraq. We were not merely disagreeing with the Republicans, we were pointing out (quite clearly to those who paid attention) that the Democrats have allowed this war to happen as well, and are as much to blame. Have you heard about the protests at the Democratic National COnvention? Cuz there were lots there as well, although not as many people as at the Twin Cities.

My point is that these protests are beyond the scope of Dem party vs. Repub party, in fact we are protesting the very idea that these two parties represent the extent of political thought in the U.S. and calling attention to the harmfulness of choosing a candidate based on personality, to the fact that the debate between the two mainstream parties imprisons us in this narrow box of very shallow debate and allows us to ignore the fact that we are still killing people daily and that not one of the politicians that we end up with as president next year will really put an end to that because they are all the same in their support for the "War on Terror" and for globalized capitalism and for a continued international, often forceful, fight for "U.S. interests" (corporate profit).

Regardless of who one votes for, we need to recognize that politics is so much more than choosing between two very similar choices every four years. the protest at the RNC was about calling other AMERICANS, not only those inside the Xcel Center, to take on that responsibility and hound our preisdent-to-be to end this war or provide free health care or regulate these corrupt corporations or whatever your issue may be because they wont do it without our pushes and prods. if you are not pushing and prodding, you are being supportive of the status quo. neutrality does not exist. you are either accepting or resisting. and you can choose to see it as a waste of time or you can choose to recognize the fact that you just participated in a discussion about it. already that protest was worth it for me. - the coverage of the RNC protests that you have been seeing all week did, in fact, spur discussion, inspire anger, reveal some things about our police state. no, no one among us was the naive child that expects the republican party to suddenly change their minds. in fact we are exactly the opposite -strong people that are in it for the long haul and recognize that change will take years and years and decades but it must be fought for because the alternative, the way things are happening right now, is far too scary.

thanks for watching the video! love,

Shara

While Obama may have spoken out against the war in Iraq, he still refuses to completely remove the troops from Iraq within the next year and honestly, Obama is a straight-up war-mongerer when it comes to say the war on Afghanistan. Those of us participating in civil disobedience, as I attempted to explain, perhaps not very well, were protesting the system of corporatism and imperialism that makes our country participate in wars and occupations in general, not just the Iraq war, because it is ignorant to look at it as an isolated event. We tend to feel that the reason civil disobedience tactics and disruptive actions like blocking streets are necessary is because writing articles, blogs, and letters to newspapers, making films, writing to our politicians, participating in the government-approved marches, all of these activities that we are all doing at the same time as we plan such protests as the civil disobedience at the RNC, have been completely ignored by our representatives in the White House and Congress. This is why disruptive actions are necessary- to remind them that they (our government) DEPEND upon the obedience of us citizens and show them that we will not obey their wishes for submissiveness to their violent and oppressive policies. I really reccommend this short book by Francis Fox Piven entitled "Challeging Authority: How Ordinary People Change America" which is about the very strong tradition in American history of using disruptive tactics to get the government or that company, or whoever the authority may be in a given case, to listen to the demands of the people when all else has failed. So I guess I want to ask what kind of actions you would advocate for in terms of achieving change, since, as you say, you agree with me about the need for it.