McCarthyism Redux: University Student To Plead Not Guilty To Terrorism Charges

[marmar]

via CommonDreams:



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 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.' " ......(more)

The complete piece is at: http://www.commondreams.org/headline/2008/10/14-0