September 20, 2000

Reclaim The Streets! Naperville, IL

If you plan on coming to Chicago for the S26 Solidarity protests, you might want to consider coming a few days early...

On Friday, September 22nd, we will be kicking off a weekend of S26 anti-globalization politics with a Reclaim The Streets! party in downtown Naperville, Illinois.

If you're not familiar with the area, Naperville is a suburb of Chicago that has around 250,000 people. If you looked in the dictionary for the word "Bourgeois", it would have a photo of downtown Naperville. In other words, it's the land of SUV's, CEO's and Soccer Moms. What better place to have an anti-capitalist street party than the belly of the beast?

We'll have DJ's, live bands, drum circles, and more. We could always use even more, though. If you're a DJ or in a band, and you have access to a portable sound system, please email us back, and we'll try and coordinate things.

If you're just interested in having a little fun, then feel free to bring an instrument, or a costume, or a puppet, or anything else that will add to the reality of a Street Festival. Can you juggle fire? How about walk on stilts? Maybe you can breakdance, or can demonstrate Capoeira? Be creative, it's the last weapon we have against global capital and it's cronies.

There will also be an Anarchist Marching Band. If you'd like to join in, it's simple: Just wear black, bring a black mask, and a homemade instrument. A black (and green or red if preferred) flag would also be good to have. A healthy disdain for authority is also recommended.

We are also suggest that politically oriented individuals and groups bring flyers, banners, signs, or anything else to grab people's attention. Of course, the more festive and creative the attempt to grab said attention, the better.

If you've ever wanted to have a Reclaim The Streets! party in an area that has barely ever even heard of the term "Civil Disobedience," well this is your chance. Forget Berkeley (which is also having a Reclaim The Streets! party that weekend), they've dealt with that kind of thing before. Out here in Naperville, we'll be doing something that'll blow their mind. Are you interested?

If you need to get out to Naperville from Chicago, it's really easy. Take the Metra train from Union Station out to Aurora, and stop at the Naperville stop (right before the Route 59 stop). From there, it's about a one-half mile walk down Washington street to Naperville's downtown area.

There are three meeting places. Meet at one of the following sometime before 5:30pm:

1. Main & Jefferson (by Bookzeller's Bookstore)
2. Aurora & Washington (by Walgreens)
3. Ellsworth & Chicago (at North Central College)

At 5:30pm sharp, a guide will tell you the final location, where all three groups will converge, take over the streets, and commence raving.

Don't miss this golden opportunity! Check out the website at http://www.geocities.com/rtstreets/ or email us at rtstreets@hotmail.com for more information.

Hope to see you there!

* NOTE: If you still haven't heard of Naperville, remember that it's the place where George W. Bush called a New York Times journalist an "A**hole."

We at the RTSTreets! Collective would like to condemn GW Bush for his inappropriate comment, but the truth is that our members have said a lot worse things about the corporate press. Instead we've decided to condemn him for killing 135 people and ranking Houston as #1 in industrial pollution.

"In A Society That Abolishes Adventure, The Only Adventure That Remains Is To Abolish Society."

RTSTreets! Collective http://www.geocities.com/rtstreets/