Welcome to NYC orientation

DEAR MASS MOBILIZATION ACTIVISTS:
Welcome to New York City and the Republican National Convention
protests.
This letter comes out of organizing efforts in NYC to make opposition to
the Republican National Convention (RNC) a lasting success. In planning
your protests we think it's important that you have a general lay of the
land. We tried to address issues of repression, police, prisons, and the
media, as well as some ideas about the way New York is set up
geographically.
We hope you find this useful for planning your protests of the
RNC.

I Location
If you're coming in from out of town, you'll probably be
staying
somewhere outside of the Madison Square Garden area. You'll notice that
the area around the RNC is different from the rest of the city. Less
than
20,000 people live in the area surrounding the Garden and the vast
majority of them are white. Compare this with most of the neighborhoods
uptown and in Brooklyn, Queens, and the Bronx, where 40,000 to 60,000
people live in a comparably sized area, and most of them are Black,
Latina/o and Asian. Many studies show incredible gaps between rich and
poor in this city: 5% of New Yorkers have incomes 10 times higher than
the poverty line, while about 30% of New Yorkers live below the poverty
line. That's about twice the national average. Thousands of homeless
people who usually find refuge in the area of Madison Square Garden have
been displaced by the increased security.

II Background of NYC
New Yorkers have been planning protests against the RNC for over a year.
Various groups organizing protests have tried to emulate successes and
address mistakes of the past. There will be people with a range of
experience at protests against the RNC, from the newly active to the
extremely experienced. This could be a moment to help unify radicals
nationally, but especially in NYC.
There have been intentional efforts to build relationships,
coalitions, and collaborations between mass mobilization, community
based, and union activists. There remains a lot of work to do on
this. We hope that whatever happens during the RNC will help
contribute to that effort.
There are many opportunities for groups to support each other's

work. We
hope that you will join and support the actions planned by the different
groups: United for Peace and Justice March on August 29, the Poor
People's Still We Rise March on NY: Still We Rise on August 30, the
August 31 Day of Direct Action, and the Labor Day Protest on September
1.

III Media and Messaging
In NYC there is a media campaign that aims to put New Yorkers at odds
with
out-of-town protestors and to criminalize dissent expressed against the
RNC. It attempts to portray dissent as being from out-of-town and the
fringe as opposed to local and mainstream. This diversion marginalizes
or
completely erases the issues. It puts the protester, instead of the
policies we are trying to critique, on the defensive.
Despite media attempts at criminalizing dissent, many people in

NYC are
pissed that the RNC is coming here. You will hear folks talking about it
on the subway, in the corner deli, on stoops, and on busses. Listen to
what they have to say. Everyone has their own reason to be angry with
the
Republicans. While there is a crackdown on dissent, the Republicans are
leading an ongoing attack on oppressed communities, which include:
people
of color, poor people, queer folks, non-citizens, transgender people and
women. The RNC presents an opportunity to build dissent in alliance with
those most affected by these oppressive policies. To be effective we
should focus on four or five concrete messages. For example we could
focus
on the violation of civil and human rights pertaining to the detention
and
deportation of immigrants, the diversion of domestic spending to a
military budget, and economic draft of poor people into the army.
How could our message be proactive, critical and demanding? Does our
message build the movement or does it alienate people? How does it push
a
progressive politic debate beyond the election?
The same local media is also engaged in a white-out* of local
opposition
to Bush. There is a vast grassroots movement challenging the daily
enactment of Bush's policies in NYC. This movement is made up of those
bearing the brunt of these policies. They are oppressed communities
including poor people, people of color, women, queer people,
non-citizens
and transgender people. Not only does the mainstream media white-out the
dissent coming from these communities, it criminalizes them daily. This
reality doesn't end when the protests are over. How can we challenge the
media-led criminalization of dissent? How can we challenge the white-out
around local opposition to Bush and the criminalization of communities?
These are questions we should always keep in mind when doing media work.

IV Prison and Jail Solidarity
Safety from police, prisons, and surveillance will be a concern for us
all
during the RNC. We should be prepared to keep others and ourselves safe.
We have to be responsible and communicate our concerns and needs.
The RNC will bring a heightened police repression of dissent.
It will
amplify the already overwhelming impact of policing and prisons on
oppressed communities in the city. There will be way more cops on the
street in midtown than is usual for any neighborhood, but in areas like
Crown Heights and Bed-Stuy in Brooklyn, neighborhoods targeted by the
NYPD's Operation Impact, it's not unusual to see 8-10 cops on every
block, every day of the year. Manhattan D.A. Robert Morganthau
announced
that the city is anticipating up to 1,000 daily arrests during the RNC.
He did not mention that daily citywide arrest rates of almost 1,000
adults per day are business as usual for the NYPD.
Police will try to pit arrested protesters and their cellmates
against
each other. We can't let this happen. Solidarity means more than
supporting folks who share your political agenda. It means standing with
all people who are surviving the violence of police, jails, and prisons.
This means staying attuned to the needs of everyone who is being held in
police custody. If you get arrested, you can expect that the officers
won't always act according to the law. They will privilege white folks,
traditionally gendered folks, citizens, and the rich and middle class.
During the RNC, many activists will have access to media attention,
legal
support, and financial resources. We have to recognize the privileges
that
activists can have within the system, and support other folks inside
with
the resources we can access.
When you consider the actions you take, please remember that
the
NYPD has
a history of using unbridled force against protesters. An arrest in NYC
could mean a night in jail or more and return visits to court for months
to come.

V Repression and Aftermath
The city has already spent $25 million on security for the RNC.

There was
no public process, no discussion and no parameters put on what that
security will entail and certainly no limit on the future use of
whatever
new toys this money will buy the NYPD.
In the run-up to the WTO protests in Seattle, the police force
contracted
with a local club-maker to outfit the entire force with new, improved
clubs. All of these clubs are still in use. The SPD was also supplied
with a modified street tank with tear gas and pepper spray cannons,
which
are also still in use. And that's just Seattle, with a police force less
than 1/10th the size of NYC's.
Protesters are coming and the city is using this to justify
flooding the
NYPD with numerous new repressive tools (while not offering them a
contract).** Here in NYC, the police force is more like an army. The
cops will not just be out in force for us. They're sweeping the streets
right now, just as they did yesterday, and the day before. Now they use
new equipment.
We will only experience a fraction of this use at the RNC.
Oppressed
communities will see them from now on. We can't take action to change
this on the streets, but we can use this information when we're talking
to the media.

VI. Tying It All Together.
In our organizing efforts around the RNC we are trying to fit
the
protests into a long- term strategy for change. We feel we can do this
is
by supporting the organizing efforts of oppressed communities through
out
the RNC and after. We plan to: participate in demos organized by
community based groups, make links between Republican led international,
national and local policies, and lend skills learned at past
mobilizations to support the organizing efforts of oppressed
communities.
We are also trying to not dominate oppressed community-led initiatives
through silencing and marginalizing their continued efforts. We hope
that the radical movement, locally and nationally, is stronger after the
RNC protests because of the bonds created by grassroots, labor and mass
mobilization activists. The RNC is one event in the long fight for a new
society. We hope to continue to learn from the success and mistakes in
order to build a larger, stronger, and smarter movement.

We hope this letter helps spark discussion and raise ideas. We
look
forward to seeing you all at the RNC.

Good luck, and stay safe,
The Basement Cluster
basement-cluster [at] riseup.net

P.S.
Thanks to the various folks outside of the Basement Cluster who put time
and energy into giving feedback for this letter.

The Basement Cluster is currently a cluster of white identified affinity
groups and individuals. We have come together around the RNC to engage
in
movement-wide conversations of mass mobilizations, long-term strategy,
and
racism; and to take action against the RNC.

*We use the term white outbecause the media often shows only white
people when it covers stories about protests.

** The police and fire departments and teachers union are all fighting
for
new labor contracts. It is likely that if you're protesting in front of
an
RNC event, there will be cops, firefighters and teachers protesting next
to you.




"Can't start a fire without a spark."
-Bruce Springsteen