Party crasher, continued

text and photos by Ben Geman

And the People's Action Camp will help effect this. The Ruckus Society trainers say the weekend tutorials were aimed at giving activists tools to keep working beyond the conventions. Similarly, the effectiveness of the convention protests themselves will be measured by whether groups that confront globalization can form lasting bonds with those working for domestic change.

Site seeing Protests, rallies, and a general ruckus will unfold alongside the Republican National Convention in Philadelphia and the Democratic National Convention in Los Angeles. Want to take part? The Web sites below will tell you what's going on. LOS ANGELES The D2K Network www.d2kla.org This is the umbrella site for the various protests and rallies -- you'll find everything you need, whether you're looking for reasons to protest or for help finding a crash pad when you get to LA to fight the power. (323) 660-3249 Los Angeles Independent Media Center www.la.indymedia.org Go here to see the activists creating their own coverage of the protests -- photos and stories from the ground up. PHILADELPHIA The R2K Network www.r2kphilly.org An umbrella site for the activism surrounding the Republican Convention. A good jumping-off point. The Philadelphia Independent Media Center www.phillyimc.org Independent Media Centers, which offer a freewheeling array of activist news and views about different events, are springing up all over the place. If you think, as many of the activists do, that corporate media can't be trusted, this is the place for you. (215) 627-0710 Unity 2000 www.unity2000.com On July 30, the day before the Republican convention opens, everyone from labor unions to pro-choice advocates to environmentalists will try to prove that the people, united, really cannot be defeated. Check this site out to learn more about what promises to be a large event -- and one with a permit, so you're not risking arrest. (215) 627-5007 The Philadelphia Direct Action Group www.thepartysover.org This site will get you going if you want to join in creative "direct action" protests in Philadelphia. If you liked what you saw at the Seattle demonstrations against the World Trade Organization, this will be your best jumping-off point for the GOP convention. (215) 574-7883 The Kensington Welfare Rights Union www.kwru.org This Philadelphia group is planning the March for Economic Human Rights on July 31, when it will demand -- on the convention's first day -- that the poor be heard too. Get more info here. (215) 203-1945 The Philadelphia Ad Hoc Committee to Defend Health Care www.phillyhealth.org Check this out and maybe you'll head to Philly early for this group's July 29 march and rally. These folks call health care a right. Does George W. Bush? (267) 253-5074 -- Ben Geman

That's not to say, however, that this movement consists of nothing but waiting around for the next big demonstration. For example, trade-policy activists recently forced Starbucks to start buying "fair trade" coffee. And the new movement is setting down roots. Case in point: the Direct Action Network, which has groups across the country (including the Philadelphia Direct Action Group) that help coordinate large nonviolent protests, is forging the Continental Direct Action Network, a nationwide superstructure linking the different organizations. In Pennsylvania, Unity 2000's Morrill says he and others are planning a conference to help the groups that come together for the Philadelphia protests remain connected, to create a "movement of movements." And about 30 people, including Henshaw-Plath, gathered July 2 in Boston to discuss transforming the Boston Independent Media Center, which sprang up to cover the March Biodevastation conference and protests, into a permanent institution.

In a sense, the "what next?" question is partially answered by the organizing methods themselves. A common theme is that the new activism shouldn't descend into what activists say the American political system has become: hierarchical, top-down, undemocratic. Activists are "really taking on the challenge of walking the walk," says Mike Prokosch, a veteran activist with Boston's United for a Fair Economy. "I have not seen a lot of power trips."

Cathie Berrey has just locked herself by the neck to a table in the Friends Center with a Kryptonite bike lock. "You can lock down to anything like this," she says. Berrey, 34, is a "blockade trainer" with the Ruckus Society. Aside from the aforementioned U-shaped lock, her teaching materials include steel chains and cables. Berrey is careful to note that she is training activists in tactics and not for specific events. "I just train people in hypothetical situations they may or may not engage in," she says. What "hypotheticals" will actually unfold beyond the already scheduled protests is anyone's guess.

That's where groups like Ruckus and the Philadelphia Direct Action Group come in, beyond their participation in the scheduled events. Though there is no explicit call to try to shut down the events -- as there was (successfully) in Seattle and (unsuccessfully) in DC -- activists say that "creative nonviolent direct action" will take several forms. The training that unfolded in the basement of the Friends Center, for example, featured "hassle line" role play, with people linking arms and pretending to blockade a National Rifle Association function.

There will probably be different, smaller-scale actions from several different groups. "A lot of people are interested in creating strategic disruptions to get the message out," says Kevin Rudiger of the Los Angeles Direct Action Network. "There are these high-priced fundraisers, $10,000-per-plate dinners, which are part of the problem, that are happening all over town, and I would not be surprised to see some of these targeted by protesters with nonviolent direct action. There are all sorts of other events, receptions sponsored by corporations, which we see as connected to this whole issue of corporate control. There are a lot of these types of events that are potential targets."

"All I have to say about the Direct Action strategy is that it will not be business as usual," adds Washington, DC, resident Adam Eidinger, an organizer of the DC protests who's helping to publicize the Philadelphia and LA demonstrations. "There will be people inside the convention halls," he vows. "Our people."

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Ben Geman can be reached at bgeman[a]phx.com.