Among the Activists Plotting to Disrupt the DNC

CHICAGO — In a room full of 450 far-left activists, a leader with the Freedom Road Socialist Organization kicks off a chant: “Protest is a right—not just for the rich and white.”

“Have you heard that the Democratic National Convention is coming to Chicago?” Joe Iosbaker asks the crowd. “Are we going to let ’em come here without a protest? This is Chicago, goddamn it—we’ve got to give them a 1968 kind of welcome.”

In 1968, the Democratic Convention in Chicago was a bloodbath, with 600 arrests in one street battle that was broadcast all over the world. And the group that met here last Saturday, in the local headquarters of the Teamsters Union, wants to repeat history when Joe Biden is named the presidential nominee at the DNC this August. They oppose the president they call “Genocide Joe” for backing Israel in its war against Hamas.

“If we don’t get a permit, are we still going to march?” Iosbaker asked the crowd, who responded with a chorus of “Yeah!”

“Are we still gonna march within sight and sound? Are we gonna let Genocide Joe come here and not hear us and see us? No! From Chicago to Palestine, protesting is not a crime.”

Over a single day, the “March on DNC 2024” conference gathered 75 organizations to discuss how they plan to disrupt the convention. Speakers told the crowd how to flood the streets without getting arrested, how to spot members of the Secret Service, and how to say “Death to America” in Farsi. At one point, when news of Iran’s attack on Israel spread throughout the room, the crowd erupted in cheers.

Later that day, Jerry Boyle, an attorney and volunteer for the National Lawyers Guild, a nonprofit that says it acts “as the legal arm of social movements and the conscience of the legal profession,” gave a pep talk on how to “know your power” and overwhelm the police.

“My colleagues will be here later today talking about your rights,” Boyle told the crowd. “Think of it more about power and the risk you present to the police.”

He told attendees to look out for police carrying “mass arrest kits,” which he says contain supplies like “a bunch of flex cuffs and all the paperwork” for a bust.

“I’m not here to tell you what the law is,” Boyle told the crowd. “I’m here to tell you what you can get away with.”

The event attracted some unsavory characters. Four speakers have had their homes raided by the FBI for their alleged ties to terrorist groups, and one attendee, Jesse Nevel, was federally charged for “working on behalf of the Russian government.” One “anarchist” distributed his homemade magazine that included drawings of machetes and the essay “In Defense of Looting.”

The prospect that the convention could devolve into the kind of anarchy actively being plotted at this conference has Chicago Democrats worried, several party insiders told The Free Press. Four politicians said they fear the city—and especially the administration of Mayor Brandon Johnson—aren’t prepared for the protests.

Alderman Gilbert Villegas, also a Democrat, said these anti-DNC groups are “like January 6th” in their mission to obstruct a key part of the American political process. “They are looking to recruit veterans to resist the quote, unquote empire,” he said of the groups aiming to, in his words, “create chaos” this summer.

He added he’s “concerned about the safety” of the more than 50,000 visitors expected to visit Chicago for the convention, which will be held at the United Center from August 19–22. The Department of Homeland Security is monitoring the threat, according to ABC News, which obtained a bulletin warning that foreign and domestic subversives “may view these events as an opportunity to influence or disrupt the U.S. political process.”

Alderman Anthony Beale says these anti-Israel activists already pose a threat—and have since October 7, when they started showing up to City Hall in droves, often shouting over legislators and refusing to leave the building.

“They are yelling and screaming,” said Beale, who represents the city’s far South Side. “Some of my colleagues have been spit on. This is outrageous and it’s being tolerated.”

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