Terrorizing Dissent: Election Cut

One week before an historical presidential election, Twin Cities Indymedia and the Glass Bead Collective are releasing the first cut of their new documentary on political repression during the 2008 Republican National Convention: Terrorizing Dissent: Election Cut. Full press release >
Download: 4.2 GB DVD (.zip) or FTP here BitTorrent: Full DVD 4.17 GB available / 929 MB Quicktime	Watch it now online Watch the trailer
Screen it: Make your own flyers & posters Posters: Large / Small (Old flyer & quarter sheets) Credits / Contact Us	Part 1: The Fall in St Paul Part 2: The gassing of the Diner Part 3: And then they came for the anarchists Part 4: Then they bombed the peace march
Upcoming Screenings: November 11th, 2008 — Tuesday Baltimore, MD — Red Emma's Bookstore Coffeehouse, 7pm Red Emma's Bookstore Coffeehouse is at 800 St. Paul St., Baltimore, MD. Portland, OR — the Red and Black Cafe, 7pm Presented by Portland Anti-Imperialist Network. The Red and Black Cafe is at 411 SE 12th Ave, Portland, OR. November 15th, 2008 -- Saturday Seattle, WA -- The Mystery Spot! on Capitol Hill 7pm Email radicalseattle - at- yahoo -dot- com for address. November 19th, 2008 — Wednesday Spokane, WA — The Magic Lantern Theatre, 7pm The Magic Lantern Theatre is at 25 W Main, Spokane, WA. Olympia, WA — Media Island, 7pm Media Island is at 816 Adams St. SE (across the street from the library), Olympia, WA
This free film is CopyLeft / Creative Commons and we encourage everyone to mirror the video or process it - please leave comments for more mirrors, we will add them. We finally made it!

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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
OCTOBER 29, 2008

Independent Media Activists Release Documentary on Political Repression During the 2008 Republican National Convention

CONTACT: Vlad T, 917.650.2486;
Dan F, 651.503.5661 (Indymedia Dispatch Line);
info@terrorizingdissent.org, http://www.terrorizingdissent.org

MINNEAPOLIS - Glass Bead Collective, Twin Cities Indymedia, and other independent media activists have released a new film, "Terrorizing Dissent: Election Cut," an exposé of events at the 2008 Republican National Convention in St. Paul, Minnesota.

Featuring first-person accounts and footage from more than forty cameras on the streets, "Terrorizing Dissent" focuses on the story of dissent suppressed. People charged with "conspiracy to riot in furtherance of terrorism" speak out against the government's campaign to manipulate media coverage and label civil disobedience and community organizing as terrorism.

The film is free to view and download now (FLV/MOV) at http://www.terrorizingdissent.org/downloads.php Free screenings of the film will be offered throughout the nation before and immediately after the election. (See below for schedule.)

The 'Early Bird Premiere' is this Saturday, November 1st, 10:40 AM at Riverview Theater (3800 42nd Ave S., Minneapolis, MN). Doors open at 10:15 AM.

"Terrorizing Dissent" shows the results of the $50 million dollars the Department of Homeland Security gave to local authorities for security -- a large chunk of which went to weaponize the police -- and the $10 million insurance policy contract between the RNC Host Committee and the City of St. Paul, which shattered Minnesota's civil compact between protesters and police.

Effectively, the Republican National Committee provided financial cover for the widespread, organized suppression of dissent. The FBI and Secret Service coordinated with local police to raid homes and work spaces before the RNC even began. On the streets, the government's intimidation strategy shut down peaceful protests through the heavy use of tear gas, pepper spray, stun grenades, rubber bullets, and other projectiles. This excessive use of force followed months of harassment and surveillance of community activists. At every stage, local officials have refused to release the documentation behind what they did, from the origins of dubious search warrants to joint powers agreements.

The Republican Party's efforts to control the message and crush dissenting voices were led by one of the top local Republicans, troubled Ramsey County Sheriff Bob Fletcher, who personally spearheaded the "pre-emptive raid" strategy and spun the media by claiming captured household items were weapons (most notably, the buckets of recycled grey water he dubbed "urine"). At every stage, from fake urine to riot threats, messages of fear were distributed to chill Minnesotans from exercising their First Amendment rights.

Just days before Fletcher launched high-profile preemptive raids against protesters, two of his closest aides, Mark Naylon and Timothy Rehak, were found guilty on federal charges after they attempted to steal $6,000 in an FBI sting. To shore up his murky political future, Fletcher staged an authoritarian spectacle unparalleled in Minnesota history.

As local Democratic officials cautiously stepped back, Fletcher put himself in front of a classic "security theater" media campaign to create a non-existent enemy, equate civil disobedience with terrorism, and move in to attack peaceful protests. This plan culminated with the blocking and flashbang bombing of a peaceful march organized by anti-war activists on September 4th as John McCain delivered his acceptance speech at the Xcel Center.

Within weeks, John McCain's campaign turned to attacking Barack Obama on the same grounds as the RNC Welcoming Committee, a group that provided logistical help such as housing, food and a convergence center for demonstrators.

This rapidly produced "election cut" shows how the government--even in a liberal state such as Minnesota--easily rolled over to domestic militarization and criminal abandonment of Constitutional freedoms. As the Republican National Convention paved the way for a fall of terrifying national instability and financial chaos, Americans need to know about the techniques used to silence Minnesota.

Cut from hundreds of hours of donated footage, "Terrorizing Dissent: Election Cut" has been released for free on the Internet in HD, FLV and Quicktime formats, under the Creative Commons / CopyLeft license, and its producers encourage everyone to share this important film. A burnable DVD image will be released soon.

Visit http://www.terrorizingdissent.org to view the trailer, watch the full-length production, and sign up for updates on the project. Local information about the film can be found at http://twincities.indymedia.org .

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Glass Bead Collective -- http://www.glassbeadcollective.org -- based in New York City, brings together individuals from diverse academic and professional backgrounds including video art, film, theater, architecture, photography, music, mathematics, fine arts and philosophy to create works which re-contextualize culture and the world in which we find ourselves today.

Twin Cities Indymedia -- http://tc.indymedia.org -- is the local chapter of the international Indymedia network, a collective of independent media organizations and hundreds of journalists offering grassroots, non-corporate coverage. Indymedia is a democratic media outlet for the creation of radical, accurate, and passionate tellings of truth. Twin Cities Indymedia provided up-to-the-minute coverage of the St. Paul's Republican National Convention with news and media straight from the streets. As an entirely volunteer-run organization, the Tech Collective handles the Web platform, and the passionate observers of the Editorial Collective write stories and fend off spam. TC Indymedia plans to organize a new video project collective as an extension of the work behind producing "Terrorizing Dissent."