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September 3, 2008 RNC: police, police everywhere. by moe. Riot cops. Riot cops in full riot gear. Cops on bikes, pedalling in formation. Cops on rooftops with sniper scopes. Cops knocking on your bus in the early hours of the morning. It's a logistical maelstrom to produce eny event, and so mad props to the organizers of Ripple Effect, who pulled it off on the St. Paul Capitol Lawn during the RNC, with riot cops everywhere and Michael Franti, no less. The day itself was a warmy-windy-overcast day, both stages poppin' with amazing music, our big red Morroccan Tent all-full-up with workshops, the carnival in full effect. Lots of young folks this time, interested in debating GMOs, not just thrilled to be knocking stuff over like five-year-olds. The day begins winding down, and suddenly the rumors fly: Rage Against the Machine will be giving a performance. Zach and Jonathan were in the thick of the crowd that amassed, as were many of the other roadshow crew members. From my vantage point-- at a distance, breaking down the carnival-- the events that followed looked like the movements of one giant amoeba. Large crowd amoeba in front of mainstage. Amoeba yells and cheers. Amoeba says "Let them play!" and chants words from RATM songs. Huddled pauses, yells and hushed silences. Amoeba converges on itself as RATM step off the stage for an acoustic performance. Suddenly, a suge of energy from the street. Another organism, a march and protest, has arrived, with a flurry of press and photograpers in tow. The tension of the unexpected. This many people. Surely something will be happening. Rage Against the Machine led the charge-- back to their vehicles, giving a salute before ducking inside, flash bulbs popping. After that everything dispersed quickly-- the march turned down another street, the crowd amoeba dissolved, our crew reappeared to break down the carnival and make riot jokes. The word from lead organizer Jim is this: that despite the fact that it was well before 7pm, when the permit ended, and despite the fact that no bands were listed on said permit, the cops pulled the plug on the sound (literally), claiming that the permit did not include RATM. It was legally unfounded. Jim says they had legal observers and several folks filming, in preparation for another (legal) battle to come. The event has ended, and we had a few hours of merry packing. Then: cops again. We're loading our trailer, and a line of riot cops has formed in front of the Capitol Building. The are expecting the march to return to this spot, and a preparing to sweep the lawn. Our group bounces back and forth between calm and alarm. What's the best way to retrieve our generator, which is sitting, bomb-like, in front of the riot line? Should we be packing in all urgency, or unharried? What is all of this, really? In the end, we got packed up and moved out with no drama-- the riot line was sitting down and drinking from their camelbacks when we left. The only real incident was the next morning, when the local patrol knocked on Julia's door. Some of the neighbors were concerned that the two coach buses were camped out permanently. We introduced them to our hosts and verified that we had permission to park in the area. Since our site is relatively low-impact, the cops left without incident. They even took some fliers and suggested places we could post them. As usual, we're just here to spread the good green word. More Blog Entries: |
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