The NorthEast Anarchist Network has endorsed the Pittsburgh Organizing Group’s call to action for “Sector 1″ in St. Paul on the first day of the Republican National Convention.

As the United States slides into recession, depression, and general despair, the stagnant illusion of representation by our so-called “two-party system” continues. The decadent excesses of the Republicans and Democrats will be on full display in Denver, St. Paul, and Minneapolis this fall. Millions of dollars wasted on celebrations and parties, despite the global carnage of the “War on Terror”, ballooning foreclosures at home, and runaway climate change decimating the Midwest, West Coast, and scores of other places around the planet.

In response to the RNC Welcoming Committee’s “Swarm, Seize, Stay” strategy of dividing St. Paul into sectors to facilitate coordination of blockades and other creative resistance to the RNC, the Pittsburgh Organizing Group has released a Call to Action. POG has adopted “Sector 1″, and is calling for a blockade at 7th and Wall Streets in the downtown area. NEAN is made up of many groups with different focuses and priorities, but all affiliates agree on our points of unity and support each others’ various campaigns and resistances. We feel it is critical to stand in solidarity with our comrades who have called for direct action and revolutionary cooperation in the face of the inevitable police repression and skewed mass media coverage at the RNC in September. It is only by supporting each others’ campaigns that we can truly cooperate and strike effective, resounding blows against this archaic political system that seems bent on little more than consumption and destruction.

Effective resistance to the conventions in Denver and the Twin Cities could well turn out to be an integral part of the NEAN “Anti Election Campaign”, a two-tiered assault on the legitimacy and relevance of American elections and the electoral system in general. By undermining the credibility of the current political system, we can create space to discuss and create alternatives to representative democracy such as local autonomy, neighborhood assemblies, and other forms of direct democracy by giving people the tools and freedom to organize and govern themselves.

We, the NorthEast Anarchist Network, wholeheartedly support the coming resistance against the conventions and all those who decide to stand up and take part. Our members will be participating in many places and capacities: as medics, cooking food, in the streets, or bringing expressions of resistance and solidarity to other communities far removed from Denver and the Twin Cities. The DNC and RNC may only be hosted in two places, but the decisions made in those elitist arenas will affect us all no matter where we live.

Let’s come out with passion and intensity on September 1st, and show these self-described “politicians” around the country what we mean when we speak of autonomy and cooperation. Let’s make September 1st unforgettable.

With Love and Solidarity,
The NorthEast Anarchist Network