Activists train for convention protests

While city officials are putting the last minute touches on the First Union Center, several hundred activists have flocked to West Philadelphia for preparations of a different sort.

Protesters began arriving in Philadelphia early this week for several days of planning and training workshops designed to get them ready to demonstrate at next week's Republican National Convention.

"Training is absolutely crucial to doing these types of actions," said a young girl going by the nickname of Jet, who is leading training sessions for protesters.

All week long, dozens have been arriving at the Community Education Center -- located at 35th Street and Lancaster Avenue -- for a variety of sessions covering topics from first aid, handling the media and nonviolence during protests.

Though tens of thousands are expected to demonstrate in Philadelphia during the convention, only a few hundred had stopped by the CEC for training sessions, according to Training for Change spokesman Sklyar Fein.

"The numbers have been low so far because people will basically be coming for the weekend," Fein said, adding that he thought that training sessions would become more crowded as the week progressed.

The West Philadelphia-based Training for Change has been working with the Philadelphia Direct Action Group to organize this week's convergence sessions.

The mission of Training for Change, Fein said, is to train protesters before action is taken to help make demonstrations run as safely, smoothly and effectively as possible.

"Our experience is even if all you do is a four-hour action basics session, people are so much more relaxed and confident during protests," he said.

Fein added that his group has largely been focusing on training protesters in non-violent action techniques.

While Training for Change has largely been responsible for protest preparations, PDAG has spent the past several months building an infrastructure to support the thousands of protesters expected to descend upon Philadelphia, gathering food, setting up information tents throughout the city and helping arrange housing for protesters during the convention.

Jet -- who came down from Canada to join next week's action -- said that people would be protesting a variety of issues, and that the training sessions this week would help familiarize activists with all the issues that might be tackled next week.

She added that though she didn't live in the United States, November's presidential election would have an resounding impact for citizens of many other countries, which was what brought her to Philadelphia.

"There's implications all over the world depending on what government the United States has," she said.

Also in preparation for protests next week, activists have gathered at 41st and Haverford streets to build puppets, signs and props to support their demonstrations outside the First Union Center.

"The puppets are playing a huge role in the actions here," Fein said. "It injects something larger than life into the action. It draws the eye, encapsulates the message."

Food and kitchen space to support protesters during the planning process, according to Fein, have been donated by several local community groups.

"Housing's still a real crunch," he added.

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