Crashing the Party: Legacies and Lessons from the RNC 2000

by Kris Hermes, Marina Sitrin (Foreword), Heidi Boghosian (Afterword)

Over the past 15 years, people in the United States—and dissidents in particular—have witnessed a steady escalation of the National Security State, including invasive surveillance and infiltration, indiscriminate police violence, and unlawful arrests. These concerted efforts to spy on Americans and undermine meaningful social change are greatly enhanced by the coordination of numerous local, state, and federal agencies often operating at the behest of private corporations.  Crashing the Party shows how these developments—normally associated with the realities of a post–9/11 world—were already being set in motion during the Republican National Convention protests in 2000. It also documents how, in response, dissidents confronted new forms of political repression by pushing legal boundaries and establishing new models of collective resistance. Crashing the Party explains how the events of 2000 acted as a testing ground in which Philadelphia Police Commissioner John Timoney was able to develop repressive methods of policing that have been used extensively across the U.S. ever since. At the same time, these events also provided a laboratory for the radical, innovative, and confrontational forms of legal support carried out by R2K Legal, a defendant-led collective that raised unprecedented amounts of money for legal defense, used a unique form of court solidarity to overcome hundreds of serious charges, and implemented a PR campaign that turned the tide of public opinion in favor of dissidents. While much has been written about the global-justice era of struggle, little attention has been paid to the legal struggles of the period or the renewed use of solidarity tactics in jail and the courtroom that made them possible. By analyzing the successes and failures of these tactics, Crashing the Party offers rare insight into the mechanics and concrete effects of such resistance. In this way, it is an invaluable resource for those seeking to confront today’s renewed counterintelligence tactics.

Genres: Activism

352 pages, Paperback

First published July 1, 2015

Reviews

[Spicy T AKA Mr. Tea · Rating 5 out of 5]

Despite the cover of the book, this books ABSOLUTELY gets five stars, not three!

There was so much amazing information here: legal work and collectives, jail solidarity, court solidarity, media strategy, outing horrible judges on their cop biases, and a detailed lead up to and what happened at the Republican National Convention in 2000.

Part of the collective work I am currently engaged in is figuring out how to balance legal work and policy work regarding police in Rochester, NY. Getting caught up on individual cases can burn you out and at the same time focusing solely on legal and police policy can be very abstract. In addition to this, the tension that goes along with with working with a legal community that wants to mitigate harm, get defendants out of the system as fast as possible, and absolutely refuses to politicize cases.

Aside from the awesome and specific detail Hermes goes into regarding the RNC in 2000, there are plenty–PLENTY–of parallels between that period and now, that political gathering then (and coming up), and the day to day of a horribly punitive and racist system of so called justice.

My interest in the book was looking at the parallel tensions and situations and how they repeat themselves everyday. I'm so glad Hermes took the time to write this book. It was an eye-opener and has so many tactical and strategic lessons to be learned. Wonderful.

[Kevin · Rating 5 out of 5]

Hermes makes a compelling case for how the Republican National Convention in 2000 shaped police tactics and other tactics used by government officials to stifle dissent. He chronicles the movements, which were disrupted by undercover officers in Philadelphia, and targeted in the days before the convention, and how the activists showed solidarity and fought back. The activists went on to obtain help from the R2K Legal Collective. This collective helped them challenge their political prosecutions in court, and this resulted in many charges being dismissed and reduced. Hermes details how the campaign for public opinion was won against the city and the police. Altogether, Hermes' book is a comprehensive presentation of the different tactics and strategies activists can use to defend and protect dissent.