RNC DIY!

I was killing time on a back bench of an 8th floor Ramsey County courtroom Wednesday, waiting with about 50 others for something to happen (all the action in the RNC8 case that day took place behind closed doors, as it turned out), when a person with a familiar face took a seat in the next row. Could it be Coleen Rowley, famed FBI whistleblower, TIME magazine 2002 person of the year and the DFL Party’s 2006 candidate in Minnesota’s Second Congressional District? Indeed it was.

Nigel Parry wasn’t arrested, harassed or gassed during the RNC. But he was affected.

At the Tilsner Artists’ Cooperative, where he’s lived on and off over the years, he shared a room a friend was renting out to people working for Indy Media and the Glass Bead Collective. “I spent the week with extremely freaked out and justifiably paranoid independent media people.”

He was getting “fog of war” reports all week. It was difficult to get the big picture — it still is.

So Parry — a songwriter, photojournalist, and web designer — started a paper archive of everything that happened outside the Xcel. “I printed everything from Star Tribune reports to St. Paul City Council minutes.”

“We want tits! We want tits!” came the chant from the floor before last night’s Rage Against the Machine concert at the Target Center. While Funk the War and other groups gave out radical literature from tables in the halls, young men voiced their simpler demand inside, and a young woman in the stands obliged them, as well as the rows behind her and to her right. Like any rock crowd, the Rage audience can quickly become the Jerry Springer audience. Yet some of the band’s appeal lies in the promise that this equation works in reverse.

It wasn’t long before the nearly sold-out crowd was cheering those about to hop the barrier to the floor, a bit of authority-bucking that swelled the mosh pits. And when a female fan flashed openers Anti-Flag, bassist Chris #2 stopped the music to quip that there was probably a Blink-182 show down the street for that kind of thing.

At St. Paul’s Mears Park Tuesday afternoon, shortly after police rounded up protesters and with the din of helicopters hovering overhead, I ran into Buddy O’Bush and Johnny Notindebt of Lobbyists for McCain (formerly Billionaires for Bush). Here, we discuss Ferragamo loafers, their desire to run Halliburton as a candidate for public office (”because corporations are people too”), and their hopes for “Four More Years” of the same.

Mos Def at Take Back Labor Day (photo: Tony Nelson)

“They look like Ninja Turtles,” said one bystander as St. Paul police in full riot gear advanced toward protesters Monday in the early afternoon. But as conflict ensued on 7th Street, the novelty wore off, and rumors of tear gas and violence spread across the river [...]

While surly riot cops and window-smashing protesters got many of yesterday’s headlines, here’s one RNC protest participant who has a gentler message: Jacques, according to his owner, came out simply to “bring a smile to everyone’s face, so if you’re feeling a little tense, take a minute, look at the dog and I guarantee you’ll smile.” According to his owner, Jacques gets his color from an organic hair stain that’s not harmful to the dog.

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The lighter side: A protester serenades mounted police in riot gear… with the theme song of the television show “Mr. Ed.”

Polar bear puppets, zombies and Ron Paul supporters carrying a giant copy of the Constitution were among the marchers down Nicollet Mall in Minneapolis today as part of the nonpartisan Liberty Parade, a demonstration “for freedom of expression” that nonetheless received heckles as it passed RNC-packed hotels. “Assholes,” shouted one serious-faced onlooker while puppets of [...]

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This morning, a group of journalists and activists held a press conference to raise awareness of what they see as a frightening trend: police, in the run-up to the Republican National Convention, increasingly targeting journalists. I’ll have video of the conference later today, but here’s a quick video on Vlad Teichberg, a member of the Glass Bead Collective, a New York new-media art group. He and two colleagues were detained by Minneapolis police this week without charge and searched. Police confiscated notes, computers and videocameras, exposing the film in one camera and finally returning the equipment days later. He says we’re at a cultural tipping point: With so many citizens toting cameras to events like RNC protests, police have little choice but to follow strict police protocols — or run the risk of being outted on YouTube.