Terrorizing Dissent: Election Cut - 2008 RNC Documentary on Political Repression in St. Paul

"Terrorizing Dissent [the Election Cut], crudely cut together just two months from the RNC '08, will leave you speechless.... I urge anyone who cares about the future of our democracy to begin by watching Terrorizing Dissent"
Jerry Weinstein, huffingtonpost.com, November 4, 2008

Watch This Movie Online Now

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Catch or Host a Screening

Check out our Screenings Page for show times across the US. Note that this website is an online screening kit. If you would like to host a screening in your area, check out the Downloads Page for documentary versions to download and burn to DVD. Then check out the Artwork Page for poster blanks for your screening.

2009 Update!

Currently, editing for the final version of the documentary is on hold pending the outcome of the trial of the RNC8. Filmakers continue to document events as they happen in the unfolding trials of RNC protesters. On an related note, 17 minutes of Terrorizing Dissent was shown in a St. Paul courtroom on 3/18/09, forcing St. Paul police Senior Cmdr. Joseph Neuberger to admit that police had used used pepper spray inappropriately during the convention.

Terrorizing Dissent

The Election Cut

Glass Bead Collective, Twin Cities Indymedia, and other independent media activists have released a new film, 'Terrorizing Dissent', 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.

"If civil disobedience becomes framed as 'terrorism' ... that's baloney. And the reason they're waving the T-word around, there's one reason and one reason only, because they want to squash dissent and they want to justify what the police do in the effort of squashing that dissent."
Michelle Gross, Communities United Against Police Brutality

'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.

"We have unlawful search and seizure. We have unlawful arrest without probably cause.... Mass arrest and detention without probable cause.... Then you have excessive force. Spraying people point blank range with mace who aren't resisting and who are peaceful is excessive force. Beating people in jail is excessive force... Those all should be criminal complaints. They'll never be charged as such by any prosecutor."
Bruce Nestor, National Lawyers Guild

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 like 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" 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. More video releases are planned; stay tuned to this website for updates.

Glassbead Collective (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 (twincities.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.'