The 2008 Republican National Convention in St. Paul, Minnesota, like other political conventions in recent years, has seen mass-protests against the RNC on a variety of issues and violent responses from police and other authorities.

The police violence began the weekend before the RNC began, when convergence spaces in the Twin Cities were raided to intimidate counter-convention attendees. Chicagoans were among those arrestees amid the raids, and other Chicagoans called for solidarity and decried the violent crackdown. [See Chicago Independent Television coverage of Chicago press conference: Video 1 | Video 2 ]

When the convention began, a massive march and a host of smaller actions enveloped the Twin Cities. Activists faced down a massive police presence, further repression, and hundreds of arrests. The additional repression extended beyond protesters and activists but also to journalists; Amy Goodman, host of Democracy Now!, was among the arrestees.

Photos from RNC: Photo Set 1 | Photo Set 2 | Photo Set 3 | Photo Set 4

Additional Indymedia Coverage: Twin Cities Indymedia | Indymedia US: RNC Day 1 | Indymedia US: RNC Day 2

Additional Chicago-related coverage: Marching on the RNC | Statement of Solidarity with NO RNC Organizers in the Twin Cities | Superanne Twitter Feed at the RNC | Chi-town Daily News: Police Targetting Journalists at RNC

Additional Coverage: RNC 08 Twitter Feed | CodePINK Liveblogging | Radical Reference: RNC Raids | Democracy Now! | Coldsnap Legal Collective

From the newswire: "In a brazen move against freedom of speech and against the Chicago peace movement, Chicago Police held peace activists at the 2008 Chicago Air and Water Show inside a fenced-off 'free speech zone', as one police officer termed it. The 'free speech zone', surrounded by a three-and-a-half-foot-high impromptu metal barrier serving as a makeshift fence, sat just south of eastern base of the North Avenue foot bridge, near the intersection of North Avenue and Lake Shore Drive.

"Until recently, activists who assembled at the Air And Water Show could assemble and interact with other attendees unimpeded. However, in the 2008 Show, activists were ordered to remain within the confines of the 'free speech zone', roughly eight feet away from the sidewalk and on a hard-to-walk-on sandy surface. Police said that individuals who left the 'free speech zone' would be arrested." Read more | See photos

Selected previous Chicago "free speech zone" incidents: McCormick Place, 2003 | Taste of Chicago, 2006 | CIMC Video: Taste of Chicago, 2006 | AFSC free speech restricted

On August 2, 2008, more than two hundred protesters assembled in downtown Chicago to rally outside the State of Illinois Building, and marched against a possible bombing of Iran — in the face of belligerent policy remarks by the U.S. government and strong hints of possible future military actions.

After the half-hour-long rally, the participants marched from the State of Illinois Building. They headed first to a nearby Republican campaign office. The marchers then headed north on Wells Street up to Wacker, then East just past Michigan Avenue to the Israeli Consulate. The marchers then proceeded south on Michigan Avenue to Randolph Street to a nearby Democratic Party campaign office, to join up with a second protest already underway on behalf of single-payer health care.

Read account | Watch video | See Photos

Additional Resources: Stop War on Iran | No War on Iran Coalition — Chicago

A new article by Chicago Indymedia contributor Jessica Pupovac posted originally on Alternet details the ongoing injustice of still-jailed victims of the infamous Jon Burge police torture regime.

Among the highlights of the article:

* "At least 24 African-American men that the People's Law Office in Chicago claims are still serving sentences for crimes they say they confessed to only after enduring hours of torture at the hands of Chicago police officers under Commander Jon Burge between 1972 and 1992."

* "Almost 20 years later, not a single police officer has been made to face charges in the massive scandal."

* "On July 18…members of the Campaign to End the Death Penalty, lawyers from the People's Law Office, religious and community leaders and relatives of the wrongfully imprisoned rallied in front of [Illinois Attorney General Lisa] Madigan's office", calling for prosecution against guilty parties and reparations for victims.

Read more

Additional coverage — Progress Illinois: Burge Torture Victims Still Behind Bars | Gapers Block: Burge Victims Remain in Legal Limbo

Additional Resources: Police Torture in Chicago: The Chicago Reader's John Conroy Archive | Human Rights at Home: The Chicago Police Torture Archive | Summary of Amnesty International's Concerns on Police Abuse in Chicago

Besides the more famous connection, Chicago has forged another connection to the 2008 presidential election — hosting the 2008 National Convention of the Green Party of the United States, where former Georgia representative Cynthia McKinney won the 2008 Green Party presidential nomination.

McKinney chose New-York-based activist and journalist Rosa Clemente for vice-president; Clemente accepted the nomination. The McKinney / Clemente ticket has become the first all-female-of-color ticket in US history.

Additional Coverage: Chicago Defender: Cynthia McKinney runs for president | The Ministry of Truth: Interview with Cynthia McKinney | Democracy Now!

Hundreds of people from Chicago labor unions, social justice groups, and religious communities all gathered in front of the Congress Hotel in downtown Chicago on June 12, 2008.

They expressed their solidarity with UNITE HERE Local 1, the labor union local which marked the fifth anniversary of their strike against hotel owners who froze employee wages and cut employee benefits.

The strike, which began on Father's Day 2003, stands as the longest-active labor strike in America.

Coverage: Press Release | Video Dispatch | Labor Beat: Congress Hotel 08

Additional Resources: Congress Hotel Strike website | Progress Illinois Coverage

Past CIMC Features: 2003 | Civil Disobedience on Labor Day | First Anniversary | Second Anniversary

May 1, 2008 saw tens of thousands of people participate in Chicago Mayday events. The flagship action was a large march starting from Union Park, and marching across Chicago to a rally in Federal Plaza, though many other events were also held.

Two main threads of the march and of the holiday — immigrant rights and labor rights — were more explicitly connected in 2008. The scale of the protest evokes the massive marches and rallies in 2006 and 2007.

Videos: Video posted of Immigrant Rights March | Mayday March for Immigrant and Labor Rights | Video Flyer

Photos: Pics of LGBT contingent in Immigrant Rights March | Photos of May Day March Day Laborer Contingent

28 April 2008 - The 7th annual Chicago Palestine Film Festival kicked off on Friday, 25 March at the Gene Siskel Film Center with director Jackie Salloum at the screening of her film Slingshot Hip Hop. The PFF began in 2001 as a student project. The festival was founded by Danya Qato. It exists exist today because of the huge contributions from Danya and the other "alumni" commitee members: Widad Al Bassam, Rena Barakat, Christopher Khoury, Stacy Goldate, Jenny Gheith, Farris Wahbeh, Dwan Kaoukji, Mona Aburmishan, and others.

This year's selection includes filmmakers from Palestine, Norway, USA and Japan presenting motion pictures covering the Palestinian experience in the Palestine, Israel, the US and even Cuba. The program has a mix of features and documentaries, including shorts, that are screening until 8 May when it closes with Mohammad Alatar's Jerusalem: The East Side Story.

According to festival director Benjamin Doherty, the PFF exists "to share new views of Palestine with Chicago audiences." Houston festival organizer Sousan Hammad says the "festival hasn't been around very long but we have a small pool of great filmmakers so we definitely have the potential to get on the international cinema circuit," and compares the Palestinian filmmaking situation to that of Iran in that with concentrated support from abroad, the profile of Iranian films has risen steadily despite an oppressive government. In addition to supporting films about Palestine and by Palestinians, Hammad states that it can help advance the cause of Palestinian liberation as "the camera can be used as a tool to reveal the conflict," and can help dispel "notions or assumptions that have polluted the understanding of Palestine and the wider region."Read more

Interview with Susan Hammad & Benjamin Doherty | PFF reviews by CIMC