So agree Gudj. A lot of times when you say yer going to protest the DNC people asume yer conservative...blah. Sure some people go to the NC's because they want to riot and fuck stuff up(there's a reason why they call it riot porn) But I like to hope that a lot more people go to be visible, let their voice be heard and excersise the rights that we still have. Also true that the feds place snitches, there were at least 4 in the organizing of the RNC and they fucked a lot of people over. And there are undercovers in the marches trying to get people to do illegal things.
I'd rather not be an armchair activist/anarchist/anti-authoritarian whatever we want to call ourselves(labels only seperate us, fuck all that) We can talk about how shitty both sides are and how unlikely things are to change, or we can go out there and try to change things ourselves, as a community. The NC's are also an interesting way to make connections within the movement, and see old friends, marching side by side. "The revolution will not be televised" It also won't be broadcasted or podcasted, or blogged or twittered.
The NC's, g-20/12/8(insert other number here), world trade summits, olymics and many other meetings also fuck over the communities they are held in. Often it is billed to cities as something awesome, it'll stimulate the economy and bring in tourism and blah blah blah. But these meetings turn cities into police states, they criminalize poverty and homelessness(you got clean up the city!) And if my "home"town is one of the final four for the DNC well fuck, I'm going to worry about it.