Legal Defense Fund for the RNC Welcoming Committee

I posted this information yesterday as a reply on another topic, but decided it would be more effective to post it as an OP. It is vitally important not to allow the outrageous assaults on our civil liberties that occurred during the recent RNC hatefest in the Twin Cities to go unchallenged.

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=389x3933091

Some DUers have PM'd me asking how they could contribute to the defense fund for the RNC Welcoming Committee and other protesters, but I didn't have an answer for them until now. This is from an e-mail from Starhawk, the well-known activist and witch, and leader of the Pagan Cluster at the RNC protest. As some of you already know, my daughter and her partner are also members of the Pagan Cluster and were arrested in one of the "sweeps."

UPDATE: All our cluster is out of jail, the bus is back on the street, and I’m home in my own bed! But some of the young organizers who put together food, housing, and meeting spaces for the direct actions are facing trumped up charges of conspiracy to riot and ‘terrorism’ under Minnesota’s version of the Patriot Act. This is one of the clearest uses of this post 911 legislation to target dissent. The Welcoming Committee members are not accused of actually doing any rioting—indeed, they were all in jail during the convention, nor was any physical evidence found to corroborate the fabricated statements of the paid informants who infiltrated meetings.

It’s vitally important for progressives to stand behind these young people who have been targeted mostly because they proclaim themselves ‘anarchists.’ If they can be targeted for their beliefs, so can any of us. If they can be held responsible for the actions of people over whom they have no control, so can anyone who organizes a march, a rally, a civil disobedience, or a protest where a provocateur breaks a window. The lawyers are estimating that to fight their charges may take $250,000 over the next several years. Hey, that’s only 1000 people who can donate $250 each. I’ll be one of them, will you? To donate any amount, go to:
http://www.nornc.org /

Edited to add a link to the topic where I originally posted this.