Impact, an activist with the Tin Can Comms Collective, provided logistical communications support for the RNC demonstrations of September 2008 in St. Paul. As local authorities did in conjunction with a number of federal agencies against other activists at the time, from independent media journalists to I-Witness Video to the RNC Welcoming Committee, the working space of the Tin Can Comms collective was pre-emptively raided. Everyone inside was arrested on a flimsy pretext, detained for days, and later released without charge, in effect illegally taking them out of the game.
In this video, Impact speaks of the work Tin Can was doing to facilitate communications in the streets through text messages, his arrest on September 1st, the first day of the Republican National Convention, conditions while being detained, and his release two days later as a jail solidarity effort was under way in front of the Ramsey County Jail. Targeting infrastructure and public relations seemed to be the goals of police.
Interview with Impact, Tin Can Comms Collective, RNC, St. Paul, September 2008 |