WEBVTT

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First we fight the battle,

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Then we fight the battle of summation

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This is our contribution to the battle of
summation

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Telling a reliving the collective story of the

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Of the republican national convention

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Is fundamentally important for resistance movements in the US

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By remembering these huge sparks in activity

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We remind our selves that we can confront the state in all its might

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And all of a sudden another world seems so
much closer

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And so much more real

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But just as important as telling our collective
stories

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Is learning from our collective experiences.

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In this election, there is something happening in America

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l know these a are tough times for many of you

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You're worried about kee... (interrupted)

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My friends, my dear friends

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Please, please don't be diverted by the ground noise and the static

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(Laughs)

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The RNC Welcoming Committee

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The Anarchist, Anti-Athoritatirian body
organizing for the protests

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Started publicly organizing a full year and a half before the convention

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This amount of lead time is something that hasn't be prevalent

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in the north american protest movement since the summit protest era

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at the height of the the global justice movement

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On labor day weekend 2007

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Exactly a year before the convention

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the RNC Welcoming Committee held a weekend long planning

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and training meeting, attended by hundreds of activists

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Representing organizations from around the country

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What kinds of activities are expected

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for the protests?

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Well, something that came out of the first Pre-N.C. was

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that we were going to blockade the streets

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And try to prevent the delegates from reaching

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the Xcel Energy Center

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in the Welcoming Committee's words, crash the convention

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the RNC Welcoming Committee is not planning any actions or protests

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Ourselves, we are more or less creating the clearinghouse

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for people to come through us to have those actions happen.

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We plan to provide you with over 300 buses

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And hundreds of private cars to transport you

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From your lodgings to the Xcel Energy Center

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All four days of the convention

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With more than several freeway entrances

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Into Downtown Saint Paul

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Including the l-94 Kellogg exit

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The l-94 fifth street exit

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The 35E Eleventh street exit

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The 35 E University exit

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The l-94 Tenth street exit

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And the l-94 12th Street exit

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Getting to the Xcel Energy Center might be half the adventure

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Awesome

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No blood for oil, U.S. off Iraqi soil

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With the Coalition to march on the RNC and
Stop the War

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Scheduled to march on the Xcel center same day as the

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RNC Welcoming Committee's Crash the Conventions Blockade

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Organizers for both groups worried about how the two actions will play out together

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on the streets, but in February '07, organizers from both groups came together

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To establish the Saint Paul Principles

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What it was, was a way make sure that all the work that the local organizers

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Wouldn't get pushed aside when the national groups came in

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We've had a lot of success having other groups sign on

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to the Saint Paul Principles, and it's actually pretty historic

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First we mentioned, our solidarity will be based on diversity of tactics

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And the plans of other groups, meaning while

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people might disagree with tactics, we all recognize

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which side of the barricades we're on

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There will be a separation of time and space for actions

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And what that means, we're going to make sure that

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lf someone is having an action in an area that nobody is going

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be bringing their actions down on that one that's already going on

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The third one which is a pretty new agreement for people to sign on to

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for a march or an action like this is

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Any criticisms or debates of tactics, individuals, they will be kept internal

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We're not going to go to the media and

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denounce this group that has different tactics than us

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The last one is that we oppose any state repression of dissent

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Including surveillance, infiltration, disruption and violence

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We agree not to assist law enforcement in actions against activist and others

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lt's pretty nice to see that people seem to be coming around to the idea

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that when it comes to protests the police very firmly on one side

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This is your final warning, you will be subject to chemical irritants

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If you do not disperse and clear the streets

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ln some sense the battle of the RNC was kicked off on Thursday August 28th

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with the erection of Bushville, a tent city modeled after the Hoovervilles

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of the great depression. This encampment on Harriet Island, will serve as a home

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for the poor and homeless arriving in the Twin Cities

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to protest the Republican National Convention.

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Homeless people sleep every single night
across Saint Paul

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The only difference between myself and other homeless people

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That would be here in Saint Paul, is the fact that they don't have signs up

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ls that the difference? Is that we're saying something about what's happening

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In this country

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We know our families don't have the kind of health care that they need

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They don't have the kind of housing that they need

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We live in a rich country and none of us should have to be

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Dealing with 9,000 police officers

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Just to talk about what's wrong in this country

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On Friday, August 29th and Saturday, August 30th,

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police make a series of preemptive strikes against the movement.

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Armed with a search warrant, police kicked in the door of

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the RNC Welcoming Center, a convergence space for protesters.

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They ended up breaking through the door, all of us were in there

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They had us get down on our stomachs as we were watching a movie

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We were both terrified, the cops went in and started cuffing everybody

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For our safety and theirs, supposedly as he is crying and in hysterics

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The Ramsey County Sheriff's department and the Saint Paul Police

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Raided the RNC Convergence space and detained over 50 people

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ln an attempt to preempt planned protest on the RNC on Monday

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Looking for items in any Twin Cities house like jars, paints and rags

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This attempt to portray us as criminals and destroy our credibility

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Has already backfired as evidenced as the masses of people who have come

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to support us

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Frank is Gena, there's two more house raids going on in Minneapolis

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One's at 2301 twenty third avenue south and
the other is at

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3240 seventeenth avenue south, just thought
you might want to know

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Me and my partner were sleeping and l was
naked and officers came and

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separated us, made me lay on the floor naked for about an hour

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By the time the first wave of raids ended,

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At least three houses had been invaded and

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Eight RNC WC organizers had been arrested on felony conspiracy to riot charges

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In response, the legal, communications, and community outreach structures

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Jumped into high gear, legally contesting the arrests and the searches

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Providing solid, accurate information and running rumor control

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and generating a widespread expression of
community outrage.

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Private First Class Shane Penley, Age 19 Sauk Village Illinois

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Died in Iraq, April 6th, 2008

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We will remember you

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August 31st. We remember, say the Veterans For Peace

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as they march on the Xcel Center to read out the names of US soldiers

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and Iraqi civilians killed in the war.

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Unknown Iraqi child, bloody face and loss of right eye, we will remember you

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Let them in, they have served their country, let them in

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Nine are arrested for breaching the security perimeter.

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Monday, opening day for the RNC

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At the State Capitol, the people assemble, preparing to march

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in peaceful protest to the Xcel center.

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Estimates vary on the size of the crowd, between 10 and 30,000 people.

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The police are armed with extended batons, pepper spray, tasers,

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tear gas guns, automatic rifles, and guns firing less lethal projectiles

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Today, public order will be kept by 3,700 police from across Minnesota

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with the help of thousands more from over 30 agencies

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The RNC Welcoming Committee had divided Saint Paul into 7 sectors

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So that organizing groups throughout the country can coordinate their actions

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and blockade as many access points as possible.

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Each group created a unique blockade, independent, yet collaborative

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Major entrance and travel points in each Sector, from highway on-ramps,

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to busy intersections, to hotel shuttle bus loading spaces,

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were claimed by the affinity groups.

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Traffic was blocked for several hours in downtown St. Paul

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and during the chaotic scene the swarm of protesters was able to disable

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at least two buses by slashing their tires and smashing their windows.

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Delegates were delayed in getting to the Xcel Center and hundreds of America's

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political elite were directly and personally confronted

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by an energetic declaration of opposition.

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l'm shutting down, they are getting ready to spray down here

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l said the riot, the protesters have come down, the police are on their way down

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Here and l am going to shut down before they spray

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The police reacted aggressively, strategically and methodically

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working to force protesters out of key
intersections and off of main thoroughfares.

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They use blunt object force, chemical weapons, and concussion grenades

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in an attempt to disperse, or at least push back crowds.

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And when their numbers allowed it, police surrounded and arrested

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entire groups of protesters, reporters, and bystanders.

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Put your hands behind your back

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You're under arrest

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Get down

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from that day on, the Saint Paul police held a constant assault

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against all RNC protesters, regardless of their affiliation, or permit status

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We remember the US tank that fired on the Palestine Hotel in Baghdad,

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killing Spanish journalist Jose Couso,

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and the US missile attacks on the offices of Al-Jazeera in both Iraq and

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Afghanistan shortly after the US invaded those two countries.

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Altogether at least 217 journalists and media assistants have been killed in Iraq

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since the start of the US-led invasion, according to Reporters Without Borders.

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Recently, Indymedia journalist Sally Grace Eiler was raped and murdered in

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Oaxaca, Mexico, in a case linked to political repression, much like the case of

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Indymedia videographer Brad Will, who in 2006 was gunned down in Oaxaca

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while covering the teachers strike. Journalists serve as the eyes and ears of

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democracy. Without free access to the story,

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there can be no freedom of the press.

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ln St. Paul, the police escalated their usual heavy-handed attack on

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media activists by first detaining, nearly a week before the convention began,

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members of the Glass Bead Collective

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They confiscated our cameras, they confiscated our notes

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They confiscated our computers. What they took away is our ability to report

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Later police raided i-witness video, a cop-watch group.

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Their footage of police arrests at the RNC 4 years ago in New York resulted in

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hundreds of arrested demonstrators getting off since the i-witness video footage

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showed time and again that the police were lying about the circumstances

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of the arrests.

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gentleman in the house had cameras and we were videotaping

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and photographing as we heard the police bust through an attic door

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Yell 'Police' come down the stairs and enter the living room with a hand gun

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Drawn on us.

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Put them on top your head please, on top of your head please

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Two members of the PepperSpray Collective, Lambert Rochfort and Joe LaSac

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were arrested in St. Paul while covering the protests. They were both held for

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days and their cameras were not released until after the story they traveled from

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Seattle to cover was over. It was a serious blow

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which put the lens cap on their reports.

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Hold it right here. Ma'am, sidewalk

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Release the accredited journalists now!

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l'm coming from the convention floor.

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Sidewalk, now

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Sir l want to talk to...

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Authorities picked up a rock only to drop it on their own feet with the arrest of

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Democracy Now's popular host Amy Goodman, and her crew.

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The police quickly let Amy out of jail as they were inundated with a storm of calls

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and other pressure demanding her release.

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independent Filmmaker Flux Rostrom operates Mobile Broadcast News

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a school bus that serves as video production facility, roaming the country

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to cover underground news.

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Throughout the RNC the Saint Paul Police attempted to break in numerous times

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without a warrant, forcing the mobile broadcast news crew to keep watch on 24l7

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Get out of here!

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l can't see, ahhhh! Press! Press!

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Get down on your face!

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On your face!

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Get down on your face!

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Domestic preemptive raids and arrests against protest organizers and the press

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marks a big escalation by the authorities. They clearly wanted to cripple the

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movement and or ability to report on it, and certainly did not want the unblinking

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eye ofthe camera trained at them while they did their dirty work.

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These tactics raise political questions around the constitutional right

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Of freedom of the press, and exposes the ugly face of the police state

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You alright Flux?

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Yeah, l'm all right. They only got one eye, l still got one left

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Good morning slaves and welcome to

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part two of ground noise and static, by now you probably thought....

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Wait a minute, where's my mother fuckin eye?

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thanks.

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OK, so you suckers though we were just going

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to grill the Republicans and let the Democrats off the hook, didn't you?

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My selecta, rewind that shit

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Our team of video ninjas went to Denver for the same reasons we covered the

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protests in St. Paulice. There is a resistance movement growing throughout the

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land and all around the world. A movement that is bigger than elections.

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A movement that broadly unites people across a diversity of class, social, political,

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economic, racial, and gender lines. A movement that in the spirit of the St. Paul

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principles can live with its many differences,
because we are all united

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against against a common enemy. We know there is something fundamentally

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wrong and even suicidal as a species, with the corporate vision of the future.

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So the movement went to Denver, just like St. Paul, to proclaim mutiny,

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to stand up and be counted on the better world that is possible.

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When things like these happening, somebody better recreate some struggle

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Our immigrant sisters and brothers, are being rounded up by the thousands

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Dragged out like slaves, dragged out of plants and factories, dragged out

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of their homes, thrown in prisons, some of them are dying in prison for lack of

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Medical attention, deported, some of them are being beaten to death, lynched

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Somebody better recreate some struggle

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Somebody better recreate some militancy, some unity

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What occupation do we oppose? What war do we oppose?

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All war? Any war? This war? That war?

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How about the war that's right here in occupied Denver?

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With the DNC coming to town, it's like Santa Claus has dropped off gifts

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For the Denver Police Department, only these gifts are in the form of

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new riot shields, new security cameras, and gas canisters to use on protesters

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Have you notice that with all this talk of stopping terrorists and Bin Laden all

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that stuff and all this militarization and homeland security,

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that it all comes down to the government's guns are pointing at us?

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This is what happens in a Nazi country, not what happens in America

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You can't even walk down the street, without them coming out

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with their war gear on.

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-Protester.. Help!

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-Police.. Camera, camera

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-Protester.. Help!

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-Protester.. l'm shot

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You're in charge?

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and you're instructing these officers to hold me here?

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Under what freaking authority?

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While its no doubt true that some people who were righteously interested

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in bumping chests with Republicans skipped Denver, to avoid making the

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Democrats mad. Its safe to say that those who showed up in Denver,

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and there were a lot's of them, were clearly sick of the two party,

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corporate-police-state system.

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When it came to the constitution, the democratic leadership showed us

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that aiding and abetting illegal spying on us, was more important to them

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than protecting our civil liberties. When it came to war and occupation,

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the Democratic leadership showed us, that financing an illegal immoral war

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based on lies, was more important to them, than the peoples desire for peace

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And when the people, hurting from the financial mismanagement

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of this country, called for accountability, for the crimes that have been committed

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Against the people here, against the global community, against nature itself

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The Democratic leadership took impeachment off the table.

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And even greater use of clean coal technology

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We need to have clean coal technology

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And that's why we have to invest in clean coal technologies

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The DNC was also being billed as the greenest convention ever by the Democrats

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and a need to seriously confront green capitalism was seen as a necessary

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component to the protests.

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One of the most common things that we see every day, is this thing

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called green washing, and it's when corporations try to say they're a part

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of this environmental movement, they're part of this sustainable paradigm,

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that we all want, because we see how unsustainable our current lifestyles are

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The problem with that is that these companies, aren't part of our sustainable

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future, and the sooner that we realize that, the sooner that we're going to get rid

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the best. Let them die, and start building something that's truly sustainable.

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The clean coal lobby was out in force at the DNC passing out fans

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and buttons touting the virtues of clean coal without even explaining what it is.

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Overall the anti green capitalism mach was a success in causing a spectacle to

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counteract the dem's green image and got into the heads of unsuspecting political

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tourists. This was a powerful victory as normal folks become disillusioned with the

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political system and look for real alternatives beyond the democratic leadership

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One of the best indicators of how shaky things are for the rich is the role

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of Iraq Vets Against the War. Fresh back from the killing fields, these mutineers

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are driven by their own experiences to confront democrats and republicans alike.

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l think people need to get out on the streets, l think it has to be a real movement

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Gl's have to stop fighting the war, that's how it ends. And they need the support

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They need to see people in the streets that are supporting them.

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When they actually resist, when they go AWOL that the people are there for them

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More and more vets--and now active duty military--are joining IVAW to stand

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and confront their masters. Ron Kovic paralyzed Viet Nam Veteran,

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whose story is detailed in Oliver Stone's movie 'Born on the 4th of July,

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and who in real life rode his wheelchair in to disrupt the Republican convention

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in 1972 never stood so tall as when he wheeled out of this year's

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Democratic convention to stand with IVAW as they faced off the cops and

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their political handlers.

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When l have to go inside of a cage, to dissent to question authority. Is that the

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freedom that l sacrificed my body for? In the next couple of days, we are going to

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find that freedom. We are going to allow the American people to know that we are

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not going to be silenced. That's what being an American is all about.

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We refuse to be silent. They will not take us. We will not go silently into

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this dark American night.

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This was a photo op moment, rank and file, disciplined, silver bugle and all,

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standing against the masters of war. Here's how it all came down..

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Just a victim of the in house drive by...

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Rage Against the Machine rocked out a free concert in front of thousands of fans.

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immediately following the show, RAGE instructed the crowd to march behind the

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vets to the Pepsi Center for five freakin miles. The plan worked,

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and about ten thousand amped up peeps walked towards the DNC

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in an unpermitted march.

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We have come here to hold the Democratic Party accountable

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We want to talk to Senator Obama, we do not want to hurt you

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We don't want you to hurt us.

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They stood in mutiny, and the cops, who would immediately attack a similar

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crowd lead by protest groups, punked out. At one point the cops started suiting

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up, preparing for the order to atttack. The vets stood unwavering,

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the crowd on edge. The authorities tried to stall, but the vets determinedly held their ground.

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-We are! -We are!

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-Awaiting negotiation! - Awaiting negotiation!

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-With Senator Obama!! -With Senator Obama!!

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-The Democratic Party! - The Democratic Party!

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-ls scared shitless right now! -ls scared shitless right now!

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Finally the police blinked and it felt like a decisive battle had been won.

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The veteran's liaison is coming out to set up a meeting to talk about when

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We can read our letter to the delegates

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Your voices have been heard!

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Senator Barack Obama is going to meet with us.

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No doubt the ranks of IVAW will continue to grow with volunteers,

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stepping up to the battle. Their actions reach those unreachable by other means.

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And by example they call out to all Americans to exceed the limits

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to break ranks, and join the revolution.

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In conclusion, the republicrat rebellions of 2008 succeeded in bringing

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people from around the country together, and cementing strong bonds which

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will carry on beyond the conventions.

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See you in the streets

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They tried to use me, but l am not a tool.

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They tried to lie to me but l will not be fooled

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They tried to bribe but l could not be bought

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And they tried to stop me but l cannot be stopped

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Because we are unbeatable

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And we are unstoppable