Bjorn Against

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Tue Sep-02-08 10:45 PM
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The most intense night of my entire life - Pics from day two of the RNC protests

After a long day of marches and rallies yesterday I was exhausted, and I thought that I would be taking it easy today. That didn't happen. Instead tonight turned into the most intense experience of my entire life, it was an amazing night and it was a night that I will never forget for as long as I live.

Today there was a concert on the State Capitol lawn called the Ripple Effect which featured performances by Michael Franti and Anti-Flag. My plan was to listen to the music and go home, but things got far more exciting than I expected them to. Anti-Flag was scheduled to be the final performance of the evening, but as they finished up they told the crowd “Don't go anywhere because in a few minutes everyone is going to go fucking crazy”. That turned out to be an enormous understatement.

As Anti-Flag left the stage members of Rage Against the Machine were spotted in the area behind the stage. Rage had shown up completely unannounced and to the surprise of just about everyone, including the police. As soon as the police saw them they told them that they were not allowed to play, and they cut off power to the stage. Of course the crowd was not happy with the police and we all started chanting “Let them play! Let them play!” and “Free speech! Free speech!”.

As some people here may know I am more than just a huge Rage Against the Machine fan, in fact they have probably had more influence on my political beliefs than anyone else. They are the people who helped me to discover leftist politics, I don't use the word “heroes” lightly, but they are personal heroes of mine because they played such a large role in shaping my beliefs when I was young. I am going to be seeing them in concert tomorrow, but of course I really wanted to hear them tonight and I was as riled up as anyone in the crowd that the police were denying their right to free speech. They could not be completely silenced however, and after about twenty minutes of the crowd chanting to try to get the police to let them play the band walked into the crowd of protesters and stood just five feet away from me with bullhorn in hand. While they didn't have their instruments, they decided to sing a couple songs through their bullhorn and they got the crowd to sing along to “Bulls on Parade” and “Killing in the Name of”. Those of you who know the unedited version of “Killing in the Name of” know it ends with the repeated chant of the words “Fuck you I won't do what you tell me! Fuck you I won't do what you tell me!” This was a battle cry, and the whole crowd sang along with their middle fingers up to express their displeasure with the police. When the song was over we all got up and ran towards the street and started marching towards the Xcel Center chanting “Whose streets! Our Streets!”

There were police in riot gear all over the place and people were getting tear gassed, but we didn't let that stop us. We were all riled up and ready to send the Republicans a message, and the police were not going to stop us the same way they stopped Rage. It was a very intense march, but aside from the police spraying tear gas at some of the protesters things were peaceful. Believe me though, there was a lot of adrenaline running through my veins, I was really scared that they were going to start arresting all of us but thankfully that didn't happen. I made it through the night without going to jail, but it was the most intense protest experience that I have ever had. Now I am more motivated than ever to speak out against the right-wing and everything that it stands for.

Here are a few pictures from today's happenings.

Some war criminals escaped from prison to perform at the Ripple Effect

Michael Franti invites members of Iraq Veterans Against the War onstage

Anti-Flag puts on a great performance

Rage Against the Machine enters the crowd

And the crowd takes over the streets

The most intense night of my entire life - Pics from day two of the RNC protests

FUCK YOU I WON'T DO WHAT YOU TELL ME