Failure for Disrupters, Successful CPI Workshop in Minneapolis!
Animated conversation at the Minneapolis workshop
On February 22nd, the Center for Political Innovation held a successful workshop in Minneapolis with local organizers and friends. The relentless outreach of local organizer Penny Arcos resulted in a workshop of overwhelmingly new people who were very receptive to the pro-growth message. The event, planned to be a small meetup, included a wide variety of local people, including a waitress at a popular restaurant, a man who owns a window cleaning company, an 80-year-old activist who spent his life in the peace movement after growing up with Communist parents, as well as a college student from Duluth. In addition to the discussion based classes, guests entertained each other by singing, playing musical instruments, reading poetry, and telling stories. CPI co-directors Caleb Maupin and Peter Coffin came to town, using the event to begin building the energy for this summer’s national convention set for July 12th in Chicago.
The event was a success despite the laughable efforts of seemingly desperate wreckers. CPI organizers arrived the night before to discover the telephone poles of the neighborhood had been decorated with defamatory signs condemning Caleb Maupin and urging people to join them in protesting the workshop in the morning. Security procedures were put in place to make sure the event was secure and attendees would be protected.
Protestors outside CPI’s workshop location
On Saturday morning, with temperatures outside about 20 degrees below zero, the workshop team looked out to the windows and laughed uproariously as 15 liberals assembled to yell into a bullhorn about internet drama. To anyone walking by in the neighborhood the picket line must have looked like an episode of psychosis. Incoherent signs about spanking, Russia, cults and fascism were held by a crowd of masked teenagers who chanted “Borger King! Borger King!” The protesters also chanted “Caleb owns the CPI, he’s a weird little guy!”
Peter Coffin unconcerned with the disrupters’ opinions
Peter Coffin strolled among the protesters with his camera, mocking their incoherent internet-brained hate display. They followed him with a red arrow sign bearing the word “fascist,” something he relished in taking selfies with. The protesters had dispersed long before most attendees arrived, as the heat in the Airbnb had not yet been turned on despite the cold temperatures and the event was somewhat delayed in starting. The mob did try to intimidate one guest, a disabled man who struggled walking. As he made his way past the hate mob they said to him “Don’t go in there, they’ll rape you!”
The classes went very well, with fresh ears hearing CPI’s message and sharing their own life experiences in relation to the fight against globalism/imperialism.
On Sunday, CPI members unfurled a banner that said “We Support Peace Talks, End Ukraine War” along with an image of Donald Trump and Vladimir Putin shaking hands, at a local park. With a bull horn and some American and Russian flags, CPI activists held a small demonstration that was very well received by passersby, who honked their horns and gave thumbs up.
The weekend was an overall success for the Center for Political Innovation. New memberships were signed, and plans for local activities in Minneapolis and work to build the July convention are already in the works.
