Naif Joins Re-Create 68, Claims Media Misrepresents Group's Troublemaking Ways

The author of today’s Rocky Mountain News Speakout piece, Ryan Voss, is a new member of Re-Create 68, the anarchist group planning protests at the Democratic National Convention:

I only recently started attending Re-create 68 meetings, wanting to find out for myself what the group was like and if what they were doing merited support.

What I've seen has been worlds apart from how the group has been portrayed in the Rocky Mountain News and elsewhere; a wide variety of people from many different backgrounds, coming together to find an effective way to voice their opposition to, among other things, the complicity of the Democratic Party in the Bush administration's war and other wretched policies, and all totally committed to nonviolence in doing so.

I haven't seen any trace of the violent, destructive troublemakers that the group has been made out to be. Just the opposite; much of the organizing I've witnessed has revolved around such "troublemaking" activities as feeding the displaced homeless, training first-aid responders in case other groups or police become violent, arranging speakers and bands, and the like.

This is a prime example of naivety on display. Glenn Spagnuolo, head of Re-Create 68, is well known for his previous Columbus Day protests:

[ Glenn ] Spagnuolo, who is of Italian heritage, and Glenn Morris, an organizer and an American Indian, said they have invited a large number of sympathizers to help disrupt Saturday's parade.

"There will be a large action Saturday morning to confront this parade," Spagnuolo said. "This holiday is going to die here. The time for talk is over."

In January, the Post reported the results of the “nonviolent” protest:

A jury found three protesters who tried to block a Columbus Day parade in October guilty today in Denver District Court.

The three were charged misdemeanor offenses involving blocking the street, interfering with a parade and and resisting arrest. They were among more than 80 protesters who delayed Denver's parade by sitting down on 15th Street and pouring fake blood on the street to represent the plight of Indians since Columbus landed.

Glenn Spagnuolo explicitly told Jon Caldara on Independent Thinking that his group would break laws if the group could not camp in Civic Center Park in Denver during the Democratic National Convention.

The difficulty with anarchist groups is that there is no clear chain-of-command. The author states that “other groups or police” may become violent. Therefore, whomever is arrested can claim he or she is acting alone, not with Re-Create 68.

Perhaps, one day Ryan Voss will write a Speakout piece apologizing once the Democratic National Convention shenanigans cease. Until that day, he is just another useful idiot for the cause.

by Civil Sense

Comments

[Ryan Voss]

Hey there. Found your blog trying to track down the URL of my piece.

Interesting take on the situation, but there is a major flaw in your reasoning that you should really consider. I'm familiar with Glen's Columbus Day activism, as well as the tensions that do (and almost undoubtedly will) arise between police and protesters during conventions. I wasn't born yesterday, and I would wager I have a more biting and nuanced critique of anarchist organizations than your own. The problem is, you seem to conflate "law-breaking" and "confrontational" with "violent." Violence is people actually doing harm to one another, not being angry and confrontational nor even disrupting parades or resisting arrest (unless such is done by doing harm to people, of course). If you conflate the two, which you appear to do in your blog, you condemn virtually every action that an individual can take to protest or change the state of things.

I maintain the belief that the members of Recreate '68 (who, by the way, will constitute an extreme minority of the actual protesters) are committed to nonviolent action. If, however, they were committed to only nonconfrontational action, there would be no point whatsoever.

I would, of course, have loved to address issues like this in my piece, but the 250-word limit forced me to keep a very narow focus.