RNC 8 Upcoming Events: June 8th Free Meal, June 9th Court Hearing and the US Social Forum in Det

June 8: Free Community Meal with the RNC 8 Defense Committee
June 9: Court Hearing
June 22-26: US Social Forum, Detroit, MI June 8: Free Community Meal with the RNC 8 Defense Committee
June 9: Court Hearing
June 22-26: US Social Forum, Detroit, MI

-----

June 8th Free Community Meal with the RNC 8 Defense Committee
When: Tuesday, June 8th
Time: 6:30pm - 8:00pm
Location: Walker Community Church (in the basement)
Street: 3104 16th Ave S
City/Town: Minneapolis, MN

The RNC 8 will be back in court to finish the probable cause hearing this Wednesday (June 9th). To help the experience be a little bit easier, the Defense Committee is cooking them dinner. And you're invited too!

This dinner will be in solidarity with the people murdered by Israel when soldiers attacked the Freedom Flotilla that was attempting to deliver humanitarian aid to Gaza.

Vegan, vegetarian, and gluten-free options will be available.

------

June 9th Court Hearing

Come join us for our next court hearing on Wednesday, June 9th, 9 a.m. at the Ramsey County Courthouse, 15 Kellogg Blvd W, in downtown St. Paul. The hearing should last the entire day so please plan to attend and show your support.

According to the court's calendar, we will be in Courtroom 1080. This hearing will be a continuation of the probable cause hearings in May. There are also other outstanding motions that will likely be addressed. For a summary of what happened during the last round of hearings read the press releases and court notes on our website at rnc8.org.

During the lunch break, free lunch will also be served to supporters usually around noon. If the weather is nice, we'll have it outside at the park across the street on Kellogg Blvd.

For last minute updates, follow our twitter account @defendthernc8

-----

RNC 8 Events at the 2010 United States Social Forum in Detroit, MI, June 22 - 26

June 23rd USSF RNC 8 Workshop!
Resisting State Repression, Defending the RNC 8 Workshop

Wed, 06/23/2010 - 1:00pm - 3:00pm
Event Location:
WSU Old Main: 1129
Detroit, MI

This workshop will include background and an update on the case of the RNC 8, as well as a strategizing session to help create a movement response to their October trial. We seek to support their struggle and connect repression locally to the crackdown on dissent and resistance nationwide. A movement is only as strong as the defense of its arrestees and prisoners, and its challenge to the structures that allow the state and the prison industrial complex to operate. Thus, the desired outcome of this workshop is to create concrete plans for both supporting the RNC 8 during trial and defending everyone's ability to organize towards a world based on justice and liberation for all.

http://organize.ussf2010.org/workshops


June 24th Prison Justice Movement Assembly

1:00pm
Cobo Hall Room O3-45
U.S. Social Forum, Detroit, MI

The United States is a prison empire: racist mass incarceration and widespread criminalization, torture and the targeting of political dissidents. From policing to the prison, state repression disrupts families, destroys lives, and debilitates movements. This repression impacts the grassroots: people of color, the poor, immigrant communities (including Latinos and Arab and Muslim people), women, queer and transgender people, and radical organizers from many communities and movements.

A number of vibrant and diverse organizations and networks are struggling to end this state violence by resisting the drug war and new modes of criminalization; challenging the incarceration of youth, women and queer and trans people; fighting against prison expansion, solitary confinement, torture, and the death penalty; and working to free political prisoners and establish civil and human rights for formerly incarcerated people. But we have been limited by geographic isolation, generational gaps and the sheer amount of work to be done on both sides of prison walls.

Although we face particular challenges by region or circumstance, we share a vision of justice and solidarity against confinement and control. We need to make our work more national in scope and more coordinated in action. The U.S. Social Forum and the Prison Justice Movement Assembly is our time to build greater coordination in regional campaigns around shared issues and develop a national strategy of action that unites our diverse campaigns against imprisonment and repression.

Sponsored/endorsed by (list in formation): California Coalition for Women in Prison, California Prison Moratorium Project, Free Mumia Abu Jamal Coalition, Freedom Archives, Human Rights Coalition, International Concerned Friends and Family of Mumia Abu-Jamal, Jericho Amnesty Movement, Malcolm X Grassroots Movement, Resistance in Brooklyn, RNC8 Defense Committee, Scott and Carrie Support Committee, The Ordinary People's Society, War Resisters League, Grand Jury Resistance Project

---

Thanks for all the support, y'all. Come out and pass it on!

In solidarity,
RNC 8 Defense Committee