February 15, 2009
Our first Know Your Rights training through our series of EXCO workshops was a success. If you’ve already been to one of our trainings, come out to our next workshop to learn how to help us conduct them and otherwise spread this basic legal information around!
Got to www.excotc.org for more information and to register for a series of workshops. And don’t forget that we’re offering the series of workshops in March and April as well!
February 5, 2009
You’re all invited to a fantastic series of FREE workshops on…
Knowing your rights and protecting your communities from police violence and state repression!
Have you heard about the beating of a community activist who was documenting police abuse of homeless people? The preemptive house raids before the RNC last September? The mass arrests during the RNC? The person tasered to death during a traffic stop?
All of these happened in our communities last year. And many more incidents of police violence that we never hear about!
We must fight back! Coldsnap is dedicated to spreading basic legal knowledge to help people protect their rights and fight against repression in all forms, in all locations.
Join us at one of our series of workshops in February, March or April, which we’re excited about hosting in conjunction with the Experimental College (EXCO). The first is an interactive Know Your Rights training, the second focuses on teaching you to spread this knowledge within your
community, and the third covers advanced topics to help you protect yourself and your allies as you exercise your right to dissent. More detailed info is at the end of this post.
Register for the workshops online at http://www.excotc.org (the link to each series is provided below).
Workshop Schedule
FEBRUARY
Macalester University, Carnegie Hall, room 06A
1600 Grand Avenue, St. Paul, MN 55105
Saturday, February 14, 1-4pm: Know Your Rights Training
Saturday, February 21, 1-4pm: Trainers’ Training
Saturday, February 28, 1-4pm: Advanced Legal Support Training
http://www.excotc.org/node/329
MARCH
Nokomis Library meeting room
5100 34th Ave. S., Minneapolis MN 55417
Saturday, March 7, 12-3pm: Know Your Rights Training
Saturday, March 14, 12-3pm: Trainers’ Training
Saturday, March 21, 12-3pm: Advanced Legal Support Training
http://www.excotc.org/node/341
APRIL
Place & time TBD
Saturday, April 4: Know Your Rights Training
Saturday, April 11: Trainers’ Training
Saturday, April 18: Advanced Legal Support Training
http://www.excotc.org/node/342
About the Workshops
This is a series of three workshops that build off each other to give you the knowledge you need to protect your rights, help others learn how to do the same, and create the legal support structures for your activist group that you need to do your work as safely as possible. The first workshop is a Know Your Rights training, in which you’ll learn about your constitutional rights from experienced trainers. This workshop is highly interactive since it uses role play scenarios that require audience members to join us in the front of the room with our awesome props and prompt cards. After the training, you’ll have a chance to talk through how it went so you can start mastering the knowledge and prepare yourself to teach it to others.
In the second workshop, the trainers’ training, you’ll learn how to conduct the Know Your Rights workshops on your own or with Coldsnap at future events.
In the final workshop, you’ll learn all about building off the basic Know Your Rights information to create legal support structures within your activist organizations. Some of these structures include designating a legal support coordinator, planning for jail and court solidarity strategies in advance of actions, using good Security Culture practices to protect the members of your group, and using copwatching and legal observing techniques to help prevent police abuse and brutality and to provide evidence for criminal and civil suits that arise from any violations of your rights.
Because the topics we cover in these workshops can create intense, emotional situations, we use consensus-based facilitation in an attempt to create a safer space where we challenge oppression and hierarchy and that is conducive to learning and growing as a community. We operate through informed consent, so we will always explain what is entailed in the various activities in the workshops so you can decide your comfort level in participating. In turn, we ask that all participants agree to interact with each other in ways that empower everyone present to engage in the activities without fear of condemnation and to respect others’ experiences and choices of activist tactics and strategies, even when someone doesn’t understand or agree with someone else.
Class size: Minimum – 5ish; Maximum – 25ish
February 5, 2009
Hello lovelies! Coldsnap collective members have been busy with RNC support work since the RNC, but the new year is bringing wonderful new adventures for us. One of the first things you’ll see is our newsletter from 2008. The print version will be out soon!
Until that happens, we wanted to give you all a sneak preview of the awesomeness that is about to ensue. Here goes…
We Turned One!
January 2009 marks the one-year anniversary of the founding of the Coldsnap Legal Collective. Our mission statement, to “educate, empower and support the radical community by sharing knowledge, raising awareness, and developing a network of legal support and solidarity” remains the guiding focus of our work in the Twin Cities.
Our first year in existence provided us with ample opportunity to enact our vision of solidarity and empowerment. The arrival and subsequent fall-out from the Republican National Convention in the Twin Cities has kept our small collective working in high gear to respond to the intense police violence and state repression that accompanied the Republican delegates to Minnesota. Both prior to and following the convention, Coldsnap has endeavored to remain proactive in our efforts towards community education and alliance-building through our Know Your Rights trainings, legal primer, jail support work, and close working relationships with a variety of local community justice organizations. We are particularly proud of our coalition efforts with the Community RNC Arrestee Support Network (CRASS), which is an arrestee-lead organization that provides legal, logistical, and political support to the 800+ RNC arrestees.
As we move into our second year, we are looking to expand our collective and enhance the work we accomplish. New collective members, input, donations, and volunteers are always welcome. More information about our efforts and future plans can be found in our first ever Coldsnap newsletter (coming soon!).
February 5, 2009
Coldsnap is an open collective, so we’re reaching out to the radical activist community to join us in providing legal support and education to help protect us from police violence and state oppression.
When: TODAY, Thursday, Feb. 5th, 5:30-7pm
Where: Common Roots Cafe community room, 26th St. & Lyndale Ave S, Mpls
Who: You and your friends and comrades!
Why: Because you want to help educate, empower, and support your communities by helping decentralize knowledge of basic legal rights, run our jail support hotline, do copwatching at political actions, and much more!
If you have any questions, email coldsnap@riseup.net.
Our jail support hotline number is 651.356.8635.
December 7, 2008
If you’re still floating around after the RNC and wanting to reconnect, please check out the Community RNC Arrestee Support Structure (CRASS) for information, arrestee/court updates, and to get involved! Coldsnap Legal Collective is proud to be part of this broad coalition of support for RNC arrestees.
For some reflections on the RNC and a few perspectives that have been missing in mainstream media as of late, here’s an article from In The Fray magazine published after the RNC that we haven’t yet posted on our blog. It is well-written and inspiring, and includes several quotes from members of Coldsnap.
Check out the article at http://inthefray.org/content/view/3013/288/ or read the full text after the jump.
September 25, 2008
There will be another arrestee support meeting this Sunday! Please attend to get updates on the legal work being done and to get involved in the process!
When: Sunday, September 28th from 1-3 pm
Where: Bedlam Theatre (1501 S. 6th St., Cedar-Riverside Light Rail Station on the West Bank, Mpls)
Arrestee meetings aren’t just for arrestees! This is the chance for local folks in the Twin Cities and the families and friends of those arrested to become involved in arrestee solidarity and contribute to the
important work of supporting those who were attacked by the police in St. Paul and are now facing serious charges. There will be a lot of work to be done in the upcoming months fighting the legal charges that have been leveled against the survivors of police brutality.
Attention working group bottomliners: Please show up at 12 noon for a meeting before the larger general meeting at 1pm. If you can’t make it personally, please arrange from someone else from your committee to be there so that the day can run more smoothly. Thank you for taking on coordination in your committee!
See you there!
*******
Please see http://rnc08arrestees.wordpress.com/ for future updates, additional arrestee resources, etc. Please also contact rnc08arrestees(a)riseup.net with any questions related to arrestee support.
To subscribe to the arrestee support announcement listserv, send an e-mail to rnc08arrestees-announce-subscribe@lists.riseup.net
To subscribe to the arrestee support discussion listserv, send an e-mail to rnc08arrestees-discuss-subscribe@lists.riseup.net
September 18, 2008
We at Coldsnap Legal Collective have received many reports recently of police harassment and attempted interrogation at the homes of many area residents regarding supposed involvement with the RNC. We would just like to make a friendly reminder that you NEVER have to answer a cop’s questions (or the questions of any level of law enforcement, including federal agents). The legally safest thing to say is always “I’m going to remain silent. I want to speak to a lawyer.”
So that you can be prepared if the cops stop in for a visit at your residence, some information regarding common interrogation tactics is here:
September 13, 2008
St. Paul, MN – Local and national organizations issued an open letter today to Congressional Members Betty McCollum (D-MN) and Keith Ellison (D-MN), urging them to call for independent investigations into police misconduct during the Republican National Convention (RNC) recently held in the Twin Cities. The letter, signed by twelve groups, is seeking accountability for the police abuse and over 800 arrests that occurred during the convention.
Before the RNC, local and federal law enforcement conducted numerous preemptive raids on people’s homes and a public meeting space. During the convention, police indiscriminately used tear gas, pepper spray, rubber bullets, concussion grenades, and tasers against non-violent demonstrations, harming hundreds of protesters, journalists, medical personnel, legal observers, and bystanders.
“The widespread level of political repression has so far occurred with impunity,” said Kris Hermes, working with the Coldsnap Legal Collective, providing legal support people arrested and brutalized by police. “It’s crucial that the disproportionate police response be scrutinized by an independent investigation that includes the voices of people injured and other community members from the Twin Cities.”
St. Paul Mayor Chris Coleman has hired two former federal prosecutors – former U.S. Attorney Tom Heffelfinger and former assistant U.S. Attorney Andy Luger – to review the city’s security plan for the RNC. However, according to the Minneapolis Star-Tribune, the investigation “will not be a fact-finding mission to explore allegations of police wrongdoing or violations of people’s rights.”
“The Mayor’s so-called investigation sounds like a whitewash of law enforcement’s orchestrated effort to suppress dissent in the Twin Cities from the outset,” said Rick Kelley, another Coldsnap member. “If the intimidation and unprovoked police violence is not scrutinized, what’s the point of an investigation?” The federal government provided a grant of $50 million to law enforcement during the RNC. Much of it was used to purchase weapons that the police then used against non-violent demonstrators. “These weapons will continue to be used by local police in the Twin Cities for years to come, unless we’re able to hold them accountable for their actions,” continued Kelley. “We owe it not only to the protesters and others harmed during the convention, but to the people of St. Paul and Minneapolis.”
Further information:
September 6, 2008
A couple things we’re working on right now:
September 3, 2008
Here are some government offices in the Twin Cities you can contact regarding the police brutality, mass arrests, and illegitimate charges that our community has faced during the RNC:
