Below are some recent highlights.

For the past three months, The Indypendent has been running an online news blog, rncwatch.org, tracking news related to the Republican National Convention. Below are some recent highlights:

- 1,000 a day keeps the people away...

The city has warned that there may be mass arrests in connection with the Republican National Convention. Perhaps it is part of the city's strategy to get more federal funding, but the New York Civil Liberties Union and the Center for Constitutional Rights are concerned. The issue made headlines when Manhattan District Attorney Robert Morgenthau warned that the NYPD is preparing to arrest up to 1,000 people per day before and during the RNC. CCR's Legal Director, Jeffrey Fogel wrote to Morgenthau: "What we have seen in our city is a police department that believes that certain people or groups, i.e. the Republican Party, have greater free speech rights than the city's own residents. The police department simply does not seem to understand that it has the responsibility to uphold and ensure the free speech rights of those protesting on equal footing with those inside the convention."

The city is reporting that 1,000 groups have already filed applications seeking permits to protest during the RNC.

Nine Reasons for New Yorkers to protest the RNC

At a recent town hall forum on the Republican National Convention, longtime New York Assemblyman, Ed Sullivan, outlined how the Bush agenda is adversely affecting New Yorkers. Sullivan said the Bush Administration has:

1. Cut section 8 housing
2. Imposed term limits on public housing
3. Spent tens of billions on Iraq that could be spent on urban development
4. Limited funding for the No Child Left Behind Act
5. Prevented Pell Grants for college students from keeping pace with inflation
6. Given tax cuts to the wealthy that could have gone to social services
7. Cut lead abatement programs
8. Passed, and continues to support, the Patriot Act, which has a particularly adverse effect on immigrant communities
9. Destroyed the dignity of organized labor, in part by outsourcing jobs overseas.

- Camping permits rejected

The city has rejected a permit to allow for 20,000 protesters to sleep in the East River and Tompkins Square parks. Former members of the Yippies, who played a central role in the 1968 Democratic National Convention in Chicago, made the request.

Summer Calendar of Events:

RNCNotWelcome.org has posted a detailed timeline of some of the major Republican National Convention-related events scheduled for this summer:

Summer-Long: Democracy Summer. "100 days of democracy in action."

- July 26-29: Democratic National Convention meets in Boston, Mass.

- August 20-22: Life After Capitalism Conference.

- August 23-27: Bushville Tent City and Homeless Encampment.

- August 25-27: Food Not Bombs World Gathering.

- August 27: Critical Mass Bike Ride, New York City.

- August 29: Republican national convention is scheduled to begin, Madison Square Garden.

- August 29: United for Peace & Justice calls for worldwide march.

- August 30: Poor People's March, sponsored by the Still We Rise Coalition and the Kensington Welfare Rights Union.

- September 2: Bush scheduled to receive Republican renomination.

- September 2: United for Peace & Justice protest called.

- September 4: RNC ends.

Websites for more information of the RNC:
rncwatch.org,
counterconvention.org,
rncnotwelcome.org,
unitedforpeace.org
rncpunditpatrol.typepad.com.