The upcoming protests against the Republican National Convention (RNC) in the Twin Cities are well-organized and differ from what has been done at recent political conventions in many important ways. Rather than repeat the mistakes of the past, organizers from across the country have organized an open and clear plan that incorporates a number of key lessons from the era of anti-globalization protests that spread across North America from 1999 to 2001.

At the RNC, protestors will have a variety of events to choose from, ranging from permitted marches to efforts aimed at disrupting the actual convention. While in the past, such diverse efforts have often been used by law enforcement officials to set protestors against each other and to draw artificial distinctions between protestors (for example, "law abiding vs. law breaking", "violent vs. non-violent"), organizers in the Twin Cities have reached an unprecedented agreement to respect differences in tactics on the basis that social movements have historically utilized a wide variety of approaches to achieve change. The agreement--formalized as "The St. Paul Principles"--reads:

1. Our solidarity will be based on respect for a diversity of tactics and the plans of other groups.

2. The actions and tactics used will be organized to maintain a separation of time or space.

3. Any debates or criticisms will stay internal to the movement, avoiding any public or media denunciations of fellow activists and events.

4. We oppose any state repression of dissent, including surveillance, infiltration, disruption and violence. We agree not to assist law enforcement actions against activists and others.

The agreement was made between the RNC Welcoming Committee and the Coalition to March on the RNC and Stop the War, the two organizations facilitating much of the organizing against the RNC (more groups have since signed on). The Coalition has planned a large permitted march for the first day of the convention (September 1) while the RNC Welcoming Committee (an explicitly anarchist and anti-authoritarian group) has bottom-lined a variety of logistical issues including housing, food, and a convergence center (a space for trainings, meetings, puppet making, etc) for the protests.

Moreover, the RNC Welcoming Committee has facilitated--through two national gatherings--a strategy agreed to by hundreds of groups across the country to "crash the conventions." The strategy--which has been publicized in two newspapers distributed by Unconventional Action and countless websites, discussions, film showings, and organizing events across the country--centers on a plan for blockading the convention on its opening day in an effort to shut it down. Anarchists, radicals, and others from across the country will be participating in the effort utilizing a variety of tactics. These tactics--which are decided in small groups of trusted friends to guard against state repression--will be varied, with everything possible from people sitting in the street forming human chains to people deciding to do yoga in an intersection. The plans are widely known and it is easy for groups to do research and jump right into the blockading strategy.

To many people not following the planning around the RNC protests, it might sound like a far-fetched goal. However, there are a number of key aspects that make the strategy viable. First, the geography of the Twin Cities. While the convention is being held in St. Paul, delegates are being housed in nearby Minneapolis and nearby suburbs, meaning that many delegates will have long (ex: 7 mile bus rides) to the convention. Moreover, St. Paul is a relatively small downtown area with few entrances, making it conducive for blockading. Additionally, the permitted march--unlike at the RNC in 2004 in New York City--is happening on the same day as the blockades, meaning that a larger number of people will be in the streets at the time of direct action than in the past. Whereas the day of direct action at the RNC occurred several days after the permitted march--allowing direct action protestors to be isolated--the blockading will happen on the same day as the permitted march. This will allow for a lot of crossover between the permitted march and the blockades.

In the months leading up to the RNC, there has been considerable support for the blockading strategy. In addition to nationwide planning meetings in the Twin Cities, city, statewide, and regional meetings have been held across the country to coordinate actions. Even in places like Grand Rapids--not exactly a hotbed for radical activity--groups of people have been organizing to plug into the blockading strategy. Additionally, locals in St. Paul divided the city into 7 different "sectors," six of which have groups coordinating actions in the sector.

Beyond the blockades on the first day, there isn't much else planned at this point for subsequent days--but additional actions will likely come out of regular "spokescouncil" meetings designed to coordinate activity between groups.