
Kris Hermes is a Bay Area–based activist who has worked for nearly thirty 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 has been a part of numerous law collectives and legal support efforts over the years. In this capacity, he has organized dozens of press conference and spoken at numerous community meetings, political conferences, book fairs, and other similar events across the U.S. Hermes has written extensively in his professional career as a media worker and as a legal activist.
Check out the Crashing the Party website HERE
Crashing the Party: Legacies and Lessons from the RNC 2000
SKU: 9781629631028
Author: Kris Hermes • Foreword by Marina Sitrin • Afterword by Heidi Boghosian
Publisher: PM Press
ISBN: 9781629631028
Published: 8/2015
Format: Paperback
Size: 9 x 6
Page count: 352
Subjects: Politics-Activism/History-U.S
Praise
“Crashing the Party is a must read for every dissident,
legal activist and those opposed to our growing police state. Don’t
leave for your next demonstration believing that the cops and courts
have all the power. They don’t. This important book, building on the
lessons learned when activists took on the repression unleashed at the
2000 Republican National Convention, tells you otherwise. It is an
untold story of “collective resistance:” the radical way in which
activists and legal people, working together, beat back state
repression.”
—Michael Ratner, President Emeritus, Center for Constitutional Rights
“Crashing the Party is an exhaustive on-the-ground account
of the tools that all levels of governments now use to suppress
political dissent. Although focused on the 2000 Republic National
Convention in Philadelphia, author Kris Hermes identifies and documents
coercive techniques employed at many other protests, both large and
small. Hermes, who gained first-hand experience before, during, and
after the event, also shows how dedicated jail solidarity efforts can
mitigate the harmful effects of arrests and overcharging, although
sometimes at great personal cost. A must-read for anyone interested in
knowing the how far governments can and will go in this post-9/11 era.”
—Jim Redden, author of Snitch Culture
“Crashing the Party is a participant-observation case study
of the protests surrounding the 2000 Republican National Convention in
Philadelphia, but it is much more than that. It reminds readers that the
United States did not become a police state only after 9/11. Violent,
armed repression has been a continual theme throughout the country’s
history. Those who resist political domination should study this book as
it reveals the continually changing dynamics between the repressive
apparatus and the people. Engagingly written, it is both a critical and
detailed history, and a handbook for resistance.”
—Geoffrey R Skoll, emeritus faculty of criminal justice, author Dialectics in Social Thought: The Present Crisis.
“Crashing the Party is a triple treat! It delves into the
creative dance between the forces of repression and forces of
resistance, grippingly revealing how both experimented with new steps.
Yet it follows the lead of activists, letting us listen to the music of
their voices. And against the crushing weight of the state’s policing
apparatus, in 2000 and now, the book celebrates people’s ability to gift
each other strength and solidarity.”
—Cindy Milstein, coauthor, Paths toward Utopia: Graphic Explorations of Everyday Anarchism
“A terrific book filled with fascinating stories. Through insightful
analysis and firsthand experience, Hermes weaves together an intriguing
tale of the complex interactions between activist groups, lawyers, legal
workers, the community, the media, police, and prosecutors. Having
worked on defense committees, I found the text and tone rang true
throughout. I’d recommend this book to anyone interested in studying
grassroots civil liberties and the right to dissent.”
—Chip Berlet, author, paralegal investigator, and human rights activist
“In Crashing the Party, author Kris Hermes frames this
compelling story through a broad lens of local politics, historical
repression, and present day civil rights abuses. In fact, Hermes offers a
uniquely informed perspective. Although Crashing the Party is
meticulously researched—the case study relies on court documents, media
reports and personal interviews—it greatly benefits from Hermes’ own
detailed observations. As a legal advocate, he played an integral role
in supporting activists who protested during the 2000 Republican
National Convention in Philadelphia. He bore witness to the politically
motivated mass arrests and brutality aimed at the protesters, punished
by law enforcement for nothing more than exercising a Constitutional
guarantee. In this book, Hermes recreates scenes that are so ludicrous
as to be laughable, had the consequences not devastated lives. As a
former journalist who covered the treatment of RNC activists in 2000, I
recognize the importance of documenting the city’s efforts to suppress
political dissent. Crashing the Party goes a step further by providing a guide for activists who continue to fight for social change.”
—Gwen Shaffer, Assistant Professor of Journalism at California State
University Long Beach and former reporter who covered the RNC for Philadelphia City Paper
“In trying to shut down the Republican National Convention protest in
2000, we fought the law and the law kicked our butts! But we fought
back, during and afterward, with lots of lessons to be learned in how to
challenge the national security state. Crashing the Party
takes us inside that pivotal moment, its social context, and its
enduring influences for those protesting in the streets, organizing
against state surveillance, and navigating the legal system in radical
and transformative ways.”
—Dan Berger, author, Captive Nation: Black Prison Organizing in the Civil Rights Era and The Struggle Within: Prisons, Political Prisoners, and Mass Movements in the United States
“Crashing the Party will make you angry, it will inspire
you, but mostly, you will learn. Despite the unconstitutional efforts to
crush them, the protesters at the 2000 RNC in Philadelphia and their
allies in the legal community developed creative new tactics and
strategies to push back. The stories are so powerful in part because
Kris Hermes was there, which gives us a unique and intimate view of the
events on the ground, and he’s written it all down in engaging prose.
Everyone who seeks to create change must read this book.”
—Sue Udry, Executive Director, Defending Dissent Foundation
Book Events
february, 2025
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Reviews
- Will Philly Police Pass the Protest Test?
- Crashing the Party: A Review in Friends Journal
- Politics of Protest
- Legal Hangover: A Review of Crashing the Party: Legacies and Lessons from the RNC 2000
- Repression and Resistance: From RNC 2000 to Trump
- Crashing the Party: A Review in Radical Criminology
- Crashing the Party: A Review in the NLG Review
- Crashing the Party: A Review in Slingshot
Interviews
- Kris Hermes, Crashing the Party at The Marxist School in Sacramento
- Police Tactics of Mass Arrests, Violence, and Overcharging Protesters First Developed in 2000
- Kris Hermes on Indymedia On Air Podcast
- Listen to Kris Hermes/National Lawyers Guild on Police Tactics Toward anti-Republican Convention Protests
- Listen to Kris Hermes on Law & Disorder Radio
Mentions
- DNC 2016 vs. RNC 2000
- Legal Worker, Social Justice Activist Kris Hermes Honored with May Patriot Award
Blog
- Mass Arrests in 2020 Echo the Brutality Endured by RNC Protesters 20 Years Ago— on Truthout
- COVID-19 and Uprisings for Black Liberation Used as a Pretext for Advancing Mass Surveillance
- State Response during COVID-19 Reflects Entrenched Racism and Repression in the US— Kris Hermes
- Ngo More Sympathy: Mainstream Media Must Recognize the Real Threat of Fascism
- Battling Convention Kris Hermes in Jacobin Magazine
- Antiwar Activists Challenge Army’s Domestic Spying Apparatus in Ninth Circuit
- U.S. Army Tries to Suspend Disbelief During Ninth Circuit Oral Arguments in Case Challenging Its Domestic Spying
- NLG Book Review: A Tilted Guide to Being a Defendant
- Mutual Aid Listicle
- Syrian Refugee Terror Plot or Latest in Pattern of FBI-Manufactured Terrorism Cases?