Disrupt The Democratic National Convention! Anti-DNC Anarchists "Unconventional Action" Releases Tentative Schedule

Targeting Democrat delegates, hotels, banks, military recruitment centers, and governmental and police offices
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"Unconventional Action will target a variety of the 1,500 proposed fundraisers, countless delegate hotels, and designated institutions perpetuating global injustice. Using space reclamation, street theatre, direct confrontation, positive action, and a broad array of other tactics, we will force the national media to question the Democratic Party’s failures, hold Democratic candidates accountable for their abuses of power, and engage in direct actions that reflect our ultimate goals of joy and liberation through creativity and confrontation"



The Anarchists have listed their targets beyond the Pepsi Center, including hotels, banks, military recruitment centers, and governmental and police offices (click to enlarge):





The plan--developed in association with local groups like Recreate '68:

Anarchists and Anti-Authoritarians: join us in Denver, Colorado, August 24th-28th as we engage in coordinated Direct Actions against the Democratic National Convention, its corporate sponsors, and the military/police occupation of public space. Respecting diverse tactics and the autonomy of affinity groups and individuals, Unconventional Action has created the following framework to maximize our impact as we disrupt the DNC.

Unconventional Action’s strategy at the Democratic National Convention will hold the Democratic Party accountable for promoting unjust policies: environmental degradation, the enforcement of arbitrary borders, attacks on the poor, complacency in war, and racist policing. We will expose to the nation that the Democrats and Republicans are two sides of the same coin, both parties funded by the same corporations and upholding the same unjust political system which fails to meet the needs of the vast majority of people. Anarchists and Anti-Authoritarians are urged to engage in a broad variety of tactics to disrupt fundraising events and prevent Democratic delegates from voting for no-choice candidates. Unconventional Action will honor and support autonomous actions while coordinating a highly publicized assault on the pageantry, violence, and abuses of the Democrats and the two-party capitalist system.

Unconventional Action will target a variety of the 1,500 proposed fundraisers, countless delegate hotels, and designated institutions perpetuating global injustice. Using space reclamation, street theatre, direct confrontation, positive action, and a broad array of other tactics, we will force the national media to question the Democratic Party’s failures, hold Democratic candidates accountable for their abuses of power, and engage in direct actions that reflect our ultimate goals of joy and liberation through creativity and confrontation.

The tentative schedule:

**SUNDAY AUG 24: Anti-War Occupation Day

AM: All are encouraged to participate in an Anti-War/Anti-Occupation March and related actions.

PM: Directly following the march, Unconventional Action Denver will plan for a low to medium risk reclamation of space somewhere in the city, as yet to be determined. This action will be widely publicized, although the location may be revealed only in the lead up week or two, and will be designed to show our strength and ability to create our own systems of organization. After our reclamation, we will PARTY ALL NIGHT LONG!!! From this party, affinity groups will be encouraged to depart and engage in autonomous actions targeting those who profit from wars and our oversized military.

**MONDAY AUG 25: Free Political Prisoners/Human Rights Day

AM: Participate in a Free Peltier/All Political Prisoners march ending at the
capitol across from civic center park. Because Peltier has a vital hearing
later in the week that could free him from his long illegal imprisonment,
Unconventional Denver encourages all to attend this march.

PM: SHUTDOWN THE FUNDRAISERS!!! The DNC/Democrats are hosting a giant party to raise as much money as they can. On this night, we will interrupt this flow of capital and disrupt the fundraisers. Our theme: no business as usual. The Democrats and their corporate backers will be unable to continue their celebrations of environmental, economic, and social destruction, political corruption, and failed policy. UD will provide more information about events/locations.

**TUESDAY AUG 26: Environmental Issues/ No Global Warming Day

AM: STOP THE VOTE!!! WE VOTE NO!! Tuesday is the day when all the delegates put in their vote for who will represent the Democrats in the election, BUT THEY ONLY HAVE UNTIL 6PM TO VOTE and it is a long, arduous process. We encourage people to focus on ways to stop the delegates from getting to the Pepsi center to vote. Our targets: hotels, intersections, and transportation systems. Special attention will be given to keeping the so called “super-delegates” (what funny comic book characters they would be…) from being able to attend the vote. ALL TACTICS WELCOME AND ENCOURAGED!!! Come prepared with a plan and
ready to make a stand with your affinity group and friends.

PM: Tonight, we’ll target fundraisers of corporations profiting from and
furthering global warming. We will also shut down actual sources of
environmental degradation and greenhouse gas emissions. Get creative and use a diversity of tactics.

**WEDNESDAY AUG 27: No Borders Day

AM: A NO BORDERS march will be planned by other groups. Unconventional Action hopes to see no actions during the time of this march that compromise the safety of march participants. Our goal is to ensure that the march is safe for all people, regardless of documentation status.

AFTERNOON/PM: At the People’s Feast we will share food around Denver with as many people as we can, especially those negatively affected by the DNC’s presence in town. Focus on food liberation. Do the delegates really need that much food?

PM: Concrete decentralized actions. Guerrilla gardening, free school/workshops, gentrification reclamation, informational bike rides, helping negatively impacted communities, impromptu dance parties, and anything else you creative people out there can think of. Thematically, we call for people to engage in actions targeting corporations and individuals profiting from the criminalization of immigration and contractors in Denver working on the border-fence.

**THURSDAY AUG 28: End Racism/Imperialism Day

AM-PM: Today we will engage in visually stunning, media attracting actions targeting the Democrats’ complicity in racism in Denver and nationally through gentrification, police brutality, criminal injustice, the prison industrial complex, etc. We will target institutions and corporations that bring US imperialism and racism to the rest of the world and inflict it upon us.

Late PM-Friday AM: Tonight we will party, sleep, and support our comrades before heading to Minneapolis to disrupt the RNC…

There are also plans for St. Paul, though still in the early planning stage:

On the penultimate day of the pReNC, a national planning consulta a year in advance of the Republican National Convention, over a hundred anti-authoritarians from around the country gathered to distill a formal strategy for disrupting the convention. Smaller working groups focused on nationwide communications, food/medical/legal infrastructure, media, coalition building, and action planning. Pouring over maps, timetables, and photographs of the city, the action working group hammered out this plan.

On the first day of the convention, participants will employ a three-tiered direct action strategy to disrupt the RNC. The tiers are organized in order of priority according to the number of participants; if a small number of participants show up, only the first tier will be carried out, but if the numbers are on hand, all three tiers will be in effect.

Tier One: Establish 15-20 blockades, utilizing a diversity of tactics, creating an inner and outer ring around St. Paul’s Excel Center, where the RNC is to take place.

Tier Two: Immobilize the delegates’ transportation infrastructure, including the busses that are to convey them.

Tier Three: Block the five western bridges connecting the Twin Cities.

Those plugging into this strategy will be free to shape their actions as they see fit, using the tactics they consider appropriate. As the specific blockade sites are established, there may be a system of delegating some sites as “red zones” (prepared for self-defense), “yellow zones” (peaceful but assertive), and “green zones” (aiming to avoid any risk of arrest) so as to accommodate a wide variety of creative tactics and involve individuals with differing needs and talents.

Over the coming months, locals will identify the most strategic blockade sites and will be available to answer questions about the terrain. If you want to participate, get your comrades together, discuss your capabilities, look over maps, and start thinking about which sites you might cover. It will soon be time for groups to adopt specific intersections, streets, on-ramps, and bridges as their own.

The nationwide communications working group is calling for local and regional groups to organize their own planning consultas over the next months, so as to be ready to reconvene in Minneapolis in summer 2008. They are also calling for a series of local actions against oppression and electoral politics leading up to and building momentum and experience for the RNC and DNC.

CRASH THE CONVENTIONS!
strategy endorsed by

ACTIVATE (Grand Rapids, MI Students for a Democratic Society - SDS) ♦ Anarchist Black Cross Para-Legal Services (twitchon@hotmail.com) ♦ Animas SDS (Colorado) ♦ Anti-Authoritarians Anonymous (Milwaukee) ♦ Asheville Rising Tide ♦ Athens, OH SDS ♦ Attentat Collective ♦ Bash Back! ♦ Brainerd Anarchists (georgewchrist@hushmail.com) ♦ Chicago Anarchist Black Cross (PO Box 1544, Chicago, IL 60690) ♦ CrimethInc. Far East ♦ Delaware SDS ♦ End to Apathy ♦ Frederick Progressive Action Coalition ♦ HammerHard MediaWorks ♦ Industrial Workers of the World - NYC GMB Branch ♦ International Solidarity Movement - Chicago Chapter ♦ Iowa Organizing Against the RNC ♦ MKE to RNC ♦ Milwaukee Anarchist Black Cross ♦ Milwaukee Anti-Racist Action ♦ NC State SDS ♦ Northeast Anarchist Network ♦ Northwest Indiana Anarchist Black Cross (PO Box 1511, Portage, IN 46368) ♦ People's Networking Convention Organizing Committee ♦ Potomac Earth First! ♦ Queer Action Network ♦ Rising Tide North America ♦ RNC Welcoming Committee ♦ Rolling Thunder magazine ♦ Sabot Infosquat ♦ Shepherdstown Progressive Action Committee ♦ Tacoma SDS - UPS Chapte ♦ Talking Tree Infoshop ♦ Tuscarora High SDS ♦ UA Central NC ♦ UA in the Bay ♦ UCLA SDS ♦ Unconventional Denver

The Westword spent some time with the anarchists in January as they cased Denver for their planned activities:

But this tour group consists of anarchists from around the country, and this guided trip of the Mile High City is designed to help them plan how to disrupt the DNC come August.
. . .
This excursion is just part of a weekend-long planning conference put together by local members of Unconventional Action, a nationwide outfit of self-proclaimed anarchists and anti-authoritarians who've made it their mission to disturb the pomp and circumstance surrounding the political conventions this year. Unlike protest groups that gear their actions toward influencing the Democratic and Republican platforms, anarchists say they'd like to take down the entire two-party political system that "piloted us into unwinnable wars, ecological catastrophes and grievous imbalances of wealth and power," according to an Unconventional Action strategies newsletter.

Though you might assume that being an anarchist is all about confronting fascists and smashing capitalism, it's also about meetings. Very long meetings. So far, regional "consultas" have been held in North Carolina, Minneapolis, New York and Maryland. The Denver gathering began on January 19, the morning of the tour, with a general anti-DNC meeting organized by the protest-organizing group Recreate 68 ("Taking It to the Streets," October 25, 2007). Some seventy proud leftists crammed into the basement of a Lincoln Park church, enduring more than two hours of speeches and privately speculating as to who among them might be undercover cops or federal agents (a tip-off: Their mustaches were un-ironic).

The also have a magazine (click to enlarge):