With political repression on the rise in America, it's incumbent on activists to understand the full set of police tactics used to suppress dissent and the ways in which collective action can be used to resist those tactics.

Join activist, author and legal worker Kris Hermes at 518 Valencia on Sunday, November 8th at 2pm for a discussion on his new book, Crashing the Party: Legacies and Lessons from the RNC 2000 (PM Press), including the origins of contemporary protest policing and methods of collective resistance to the legal system.

Hermes will co-present with local Bay Area legal worker Carey Lamprecht and a member of the Anti-Repression Committee for an interactive panel co-sponsored by PM Press and the National Lawyers Guild San Francisco Bay Area Chapter.

In cities with active political communities such as the Bay Area, legal support is often taken for granted by activists who heavily rely on "legal experts" and a "service provider" model of legal support, rather than take control of their own legal predicament and design ways of taking the political fight into the jails and courtrooms.

It's crucial to our political vitality to demystify the legal system for ourselves and to learn how to develop creative ways of using solidarity and collective action in a legal context in order to further advance our political movements.

Discuss how activist and defendant-led legal support efforts and the resurgence of law collectives can help politicize criminal cases and bridge the chasm that often exists between social change movements and the lawyers who defend activists in court.

Books will be available for purchase and signing following the discussion!