Beltway Area Indymedia

Earlier this week, members of Resistance and Solidarity conducted a preliminary reconnaissance trip to the Crowne Plaza Hotel near Dulles Airport in preparation for the demonstrations against the American Renaissance Conference.

February 22-24, the American Renaissance Magazine will hold their biannual white supremacist conference in Herndon, VA.

American Renaissance is a monthly magazine promoting an agenda of white supremacy through eugenics, faux science, and what they call “race realism.” AmRen seeks to establish scientific “truths”, such as eugenics by creating non-existent links between race and IQ, and race and the predisposition to “negative social behaviors”. AmRen advances the racist beliefs of “ Racial differences in IQ, the costs of “diversity,” the challenges of non-white immigration.”

What follows is a brief reportback from the reconnaissance excursion. For more details and to get involved in the planning of these demonstrations, Join us at an initial planning meeting at the Petworth Library in Washington, DC (Kansas Avenue NW and Georgia Avenue NW) on Saturday, December 1 at 2pm.

We took the orange line to West Falls Church and transferred to the Fairfax Connector Bus 950. Less than a half hour later, we arrived at Crowne Plaza Hotel on Centreville Rd. Posing as weary travelers, we made our way past the Concierge and walked straight into a crossroads: to the left, the Swimming pool and spa and to the right the Grand Ballroom. After a brief examination of these features, it was off to check out the rooms. Most of the rooms appear to be standard corporate hotel quarters (from www.amren.com: “Be sure to ask for the special “American Renaissance” rate of $84 a night) save for floor 6 and 7. Thats where the clubs and suites are. You can't make it there by elevator, but if you take the stairs, you can make it to just about anywhere in the building, including the roof. After thoroughly mapping the hotel, Resistance and Solidarity did a tour of the parking lot, parking garage and surrounding shopping complexes (Taco Bell, Kohl's, Wendy's, Bertucci's and 7-11). At which point we had just about as much of Suburbia as we could handle and ventured back to the city, our pockets filled with little bottles of shampoo.

To get involved with the planning, join us this Saturday at 2pm at the Petworth Library. Agenda items include, but are not limited to: logistics, lead-up actions, protest details, media and legal work.

Resistance and Solidarity, a DC-based collective opposing racism, fascism and the cruelties perpetrated by the capitalist system, respects diversity of tactics and recognizes the need for all types of actions, will not engage in philosophical or ideological discussions at the planning meeting. All who share this view, and a commitment to anti-racism are welcome, and encouraged, to attend.

For the original call to action and for more information, see: http://beltwayimc.org/en/node/644