This August marked the 15-year anniversary of direct action against the prison-industrial complex and arrest of hundreds of activists during the 2000 Republican National Convention in Philadelphia. In response, dissidents confronted new forms of political repression by pushing legal boundaries and establishing new models of collective resistance.

Join activist and author Kris Hermes for a discussion on his new book, Crashing the Party: Legacies and Lessons from the RNC 2000, an engrossing combination of social history and courtroom drama that explains the origins of contemporary protest policing and the creative political resistance used to overcome it. Hermes and a former RNC 2000 arrestee and Student Liberation Action Movement (SLAM) member will discuss their experiences on the ground in Philadelphia and how they relate to the movement today. Books will be available for purchase and signing following the discussion!

Kris Hermes is a Bay Area–based activist who has worked for nearly 30 years on social justice issues. Organizing with ACT UP Philadelphia in the late 1990s spurred his interest in legal support work and led to his years-long involvement with R2K Legal. Since 2000, Hermes has been an active, award-winning legal worker-member of the National Lawyers Guild and part of numerous law collectives and legal support efforts. Hermes has written extensively in his professional career as a media worker and as a legal activist.