Published on Tuesday, October 14, 2008 by Minnesota Daily
University Student To Plead Not Guilty To Terrorism Charges
by Jon Collins and Alex Robinson

A University student arrested preemptively before the Republican National Convention will be one of the first people prosecuted under a terrorism clause in the Minnesota Patriot Act since it was passed in 2002.

Cultural studies junior Max Specktor smiles Monday after a hearing for the RNC 8 at the Ramsey County Law Enforcement Center in St. Paul. Specktor, along with the rest of the eight, plans to plead not guilty to unprecedented terrorism charges. (Photo: Minnesota Daily)Cultural studies junior Max Specktor is charged with conspiracy to riot in furtherance of terrorism.
Monday, Specktor's hearing was postponed until at least November.

Specktor and seven other defendants facing the same charge will be heard together, and face a maximum of seven and a half years of jail time.

The eight suspects, calling themselves the RNC 8, plan to plead not guilty to the charges, defendant Nathanael Secor said.
Max Specktor

As a housemate fried long strips of sweet potato in the kitchen, Specktor sat on the front stairs of his Minneapolis house and dwelled on the prospect of seven-and-a-half years in jail, and the guarantee of cost and worry from a yearlong trial.

Specktor, a graduate of Minneapolis South High School, got involved with activism by planning protests against the Iraq War.

"After doing that kind of work in high school, I was kind of burned out on trying to change something with a big protest," Specktor said. "I was getting into local community work."
He got involved with a now-closed Jackpine Community Center on Lake Street in Minneapolis, where many people were planning protests with the RNC Welcoming Committee, an anti-authoritarian activist group.

"The RNC, obviously I didn't want it to come to my town," he said. "I thought, ‘Wow, maybe this is a chance to learn some skills and build community.' "

The group, which typically fluctuated between 20 and 30 people, took inspiration from mass mobilizations from the "anti-globalization movement" of the late 1990s, like the protests that helped shut down the World Trade Organization's conference in Seattle in 1999.

"I got a lot of inspiration from that," he said. "Our movement, especially the radical anti-war and social justice, needs a big event to keep it going."

The RNC Welcoming Committee wasn't planning any illegal actions, Specktor said; instead they set up housing, meals and legal support for other protesters, some of whom might engage in civil disobedience.

"Basically, we provided the infrastructure for people to survive in the city while they're protesting," he said.

But authorities pointed to the group's website, which urged a strategy called "swarm, seize, and stay" that used civil disobedience to try to shut down the convention.

Civil disobedience, while illegal, can be traced back to the foundation of the United States and is very different from terrorism, Specktor said.

"[Civil disobedience is] consciously making a decision to disobey for a higher purpose," he said. "It's a time-honored tradition that we celebrate in our history books, the people in the civil rights era who sat in at the lunch counters and wouldn't get out of their seats."
Preemptive raids

The weekend before the protests, activists' houses, including Specktor's, were raided by the Ramsey County Sheriff's Department and other law enforcement agencies.

Six members of the RNC Welcoming Committee were arrested Saturday, Aug. 30, while Specktor and another man were arrested the following Monday morning - Sept. 1, the first day of the RNC. Protesters had yet to unfurl the first banner during protests in St. Paul.

During raids, police said they found throwing-style knives, fireworks, a box containing gas masks and lock picking kits, according to the criminal complaint. They also seized activist literature concerning the RNC, maps of St. Paul, paint and electronics, the complaint stated.

After Specktor's arrest, police found a backpack containing a plastic bottle of Mylanta, black gloves, and a paper entitled: "St. Paul and the RNC burn 9/1/08."

In Specktor's vehicle, police found a pry bar, two boxes of firecrackers, five assorted black helmets and a roll of unused caution tape, the police complaint stated. The actions police and authorities took were ridiculous, said Ted Dooley , one of the lawyers representing the RNC 8.

"Anything is a weapon if it is used as a weapon," he said.


The Ramsey County Sheriff's department spokesperson did not return multiple phone calls requesting comment.

After the raids, Specktor was the only one of the RNC 8 who was held in the psychiatric ward of the Ramsey County Law Enforcement Center, he said.

"I was in a cell by myself; the whole time I was only released for an hour to walk along this short hallway and make a few phone calls," he said. "I felt powerless, but I didn't feel threatened."


After three days, he was released after being charged with conspiracy to riot in furtherance of terrorism.

read the rest at Common Dreams http://www.commondreams.org/headline/2008/10/14-0