Walker Church to Host Peace Team Trainings

by Burt Berlowe
published August 4 '08

Student Strike in Chicago

Forty years ago this summer the streets of Chicago were filled with chaos. While the Democratic Party nominated Hubert Humphrey for president inside the convention hall, anti-war protestors and police clashed outside in one of the most violent incidents of an extremely turbulent year.

Once again next month a national nominating convention—this time the GOP in downtown St. Paul—will be staged during a time of unpopular war and thousands of demonstrators will be out in force. Several demonstrations are planned but the largest and potentially most volatile one takes place on day 1 of the convention with at least 50,000 people from around the country expected to participate.

Given the anger over the war and the long-standing animosities between activists and law enforcement, some people are asking: "will it be 1968 all over again?

There are danger signs. Conflicts over the permit to march have ended up in the courtroom and are still not resolved. A small but determined group of radical protestors has been talking about disrupting traffic going to the center and generally causing havoc for the Republican delegates. In response, Twin Cities police, while pledging discipline and restraint, have ordered hundreds of tasers and beefed up their numbers. Coverage in the mainstream press has focused primarily on the probability of militancy and violence at the convention.

But there is another thus far underreported part of this story. In Twin Cities church and community organization meeting rooms, local peacemakers have been meeting for months to find ways to counteract and reduce the threat of violence during the RNC. Some are planning alternative events, such as the Peace Island conference to be held during the convention at Concordia College, a Peace Island picnic at Harriet Island and the Unconvention, an artist-organized event in Minneapolis.

Meanwhile, others are w orking on direct action peacemaking. The Coalition to March on the RNC and Stop the War in Iraq, the main organizer of the opening day march has pledged a commitment to nonviolence and is providing trained marshals to keep the peace along the demonstration route.

Perhaps the most ambitious effort along these lines has emerged from a merging of several Twin Cities peace and justice organizations (under the auspices of the Minnesota Alliance of Peacemakers), who have formed an ad hoc group called the Minnesota Peace Team (MPT) that will intervene in potentially dangerous conflicts during the march and the entire convention. Members of MPT are being trained by representatives of the Michigan Peace Team, which has previous experience in mediating political demonstrations. The first trainings are being held over the last three weekends in August. The first one on the 9th and 10th will be at Walker United Methodist Church in Minneapolis. Locations for subsequent trainings are being determined and will be posted on the Minnesota Alliance of Peacemakers website at MAPM.org.

Peace team members will be "on the ground" during the marches and demonstrations at the RNC prepared to intervene in any confrontation that threatens to endanger human life or civil rights. They will work in small affinity groups scattered throughout the convention area and will wear distinctive "peace team" clothing during any public event. "Our role is not to take sides in the protests but to protect people from getting hurt, whether it's a demonstrator, a delegate or a police officer," says Katherine Wojtan, a peace team leader who attended a week-long Michigan training.

Minnesota Peace Team organizers are seeking 50 to 150 volunteers to work during the Republican convention. They also plan to keep the peace team together after the convention to be available as needed. Anyone interested in taking the training to become a peace team member or to learn more about the team can contact Wojtan at 612-483-6041 or email minnesotapeaceteam@gmail.com.