Proclamation of the Strasbourg Tea Party

15-16 December 2007

On December 16, 2007, Ron Paul supporters from the United States and seven European nations (Austria, Belgium, France, Germany, Slovakia, Switzerland, and United Kingdom) assembled in front of the European Parliament in Strasbourg, France, for the purpose demonstrating the broad base of international support that Dr. Ron Paul inspires by joining with their brothers and sisters in America celebrating the famous “Boston Tea Party” of 1773. On the previous day, many the participants attended a conference held to discuss ways to help Ron Paul’s campaign for president of the United States, and furthering the Ron Paul Revolution in Europe. The following statement was adopted by the participants:

We Proclaim:

Never before has a candidate for president of the United States inspired people around the world as Ron Paul has done.

Ron Paul has cured our apathy and inspired the enthusiasm of youth throughout Europe, just as he has in America. He has given us hope in limited government, and restored faith that democracy can work.

We thrill to his message of liberty and personal responsibility, which is so different from that of normal politicians, who see the people they are supposed to serve as little but helpless clients to be managed by the state.

We no longer wish to have our lives interfered with and controlled by bureaucrats.

We share Ron Paul’s concern for the stability of our financial system, and believe that sound money is essential for the economic health and financial stability of not only America but also of Europe and the rest of the world.

We share Ron Paul’s insight that our bloated governments and financial managers are controlled by special interests who are neither responsible nor responsive to the people. We applaud Ron Paul for bringing these issues into the public consciousness, and dedicate ourselves to educating people about them.

We believe that Ron Paul’s call to return to the original principles of the United States Constitution, and of America’s Founders, is the best route to world peace and security.

We believe that Ron Paul’s foreign policy principles of respect for sovereignty and non-interventionism are as applicable to the European Union and to our own nations as they are to the United States.

Ron Paul has been called an “isolationist” by his opponents. We want Americans to know that Ron Paul is inspiring an international movement, and that he is the only candidate who is making friends for America and gathering broad-based international support.

We believe that Ron Paul has sparked a revolution of friendship between all those in Europe and America who share his values, and that this friendship and this Revolution will continue to grow in strength and depth.

We dedicate ourselves to supporting Ron Paul in his election campaign this year, supporting his goals when he is elected president, and bringing his message of liberty and personal responsibility to our own nations in Europe.

Adopted in Strasbourg by the participants of the Strasbourg Tea Party on the 15^th and 16^th days of December, Anno Domini 2007.

Ben Novak, Bratislava, Slovakia

Allan Stevo, Bratislava, Slovakia

Fabio Bossi, Munich Germany

Patrick Ryf, Berne, Switzerland

Peter-Willem Vanden Broucke, Ghent, Belgium

Stephan Eckert, Frankfurt, Germany

Nicole Bless, Frankfurt, Germany

Johannes Maierhofer, Vienna, Austria

Philipe Huhardeaux, Brussels, Belgium

Igor Uszczapowski, Kaiserslautern, Germany

Michael Bienek, Reimsbach, Germany

Michael Bauwens, Ghent, Belgium

Thomas Waschko, Hamburg, Germany

Tim Wessels, Hamburg, Germany

Laura Harth, Ghent, Belgium

Denis Clijsters, Antwerp, Belgium

Lukas Mauch, Munich, Germany

Nicholas Serr, Munich, Germany

Rafael Kraft, Rotweil, Germany

Michael Neral, Edinburgh, United Kingdom (Scotland)

J. Blättermann, Munich, Germany

Janine Schleicher, Rotweil, Germany

Laura Hegedus, Munich, Germany

Ira Katz, Paris, France

Johanna von Seckendorf, Munich, Germany

Karl Stritzinger, Munich, Germany

Roger Buchschacher, Basel, Switzerland

Felix Klee, Baden-Baden, Germany

Norman Thiel, Munich, Germany

Pics from RonPaul.Blog.de

Stefan has some photos as well and PaulForPaul has tried a translation below - Allan

http://ronpaul.blog.de/

Today I was among the 30 Ron Paul fans from all over Europe who gathered this weekend so that we could play our part in the Ron Paul Revolution. There were participants from Germany, Switzerland, Austria, France, Belgium, Slovakia, and also Bavaria present.We used Saturday in order to get to know each other and to plan the activities for the Tea Party on Sunday, and to plan for the time afterwards. On Sunday, we made our boisterous entrance in front of the European Parliament. The Munich Meet-Up group was also present and equiped with large, gorgeous Ron Paul banners. Also, the Hamburg group had painted posters, which enriched our demonstration.A high point was surely the symbolic "Throwing the Tea Overboard", that we [my German skills begin to fail me...], in reference the Boston Tea Party, through which the United States today intends to deliver Ron Paul's message of Freedom and Peace. For this, we found 4 Indians who gave to the whole a realistic touch.Finally let it be said that we all spent a wonderful weekend in Strassburg, not only by the Ron Paul supporters of Europe who came, instead, for a signal sent to all of solidarity with our American friends. [...] Also a signal to still sleeping Europe to join the Ron Paul Revolution.

Pictures from Strasbourg

Lots of pictures out there from Strasbourg. A few of them here. I welcome you to add more links in comments. - Allan
http://www.flickr.com/photos/21894829@N05/sets/72157603481505888/
http://www.flickr.com/photos/21894829@N05/sets/72157603476228397/
http://www.ronpaulforums.com/showthread.php?t=56316&page=2
http://politaction.com/europe/the-strasbourg-tea-party-for-ron-paul/

Ron Paul knows about the Strasbourg Tea Party

Thank you Dan from Bratislava for sending this in. In the bolded portion below, Ron Paul mentions the Tea Party in France. A great letter here from Ron Paul. - Allan

Message from Ron (12/17/07)

What a day! I am humbled and inspired, grateful and thrilled for this vast outpouring of support.

On just one day, in honor of the 234th anniversary of the Boston Tea Party, the new American revolutionaries brought in $6.04 million, another one-day record. The average donation was $102; we had 58,407 individual contributors, of whom an astounding 24,915 were first-time donors. And it was an entirely voluntary, self-organized, decentralized, independent effort on the internet. Must be the "spammers" I keep hearing about!

The establishment is baffled and worried, and well they should be. They keep asking me who runs our internet fundraising and controls our volunteers. To these top-down central planners, a spontaneous order like our movement is science-fiction. But you and I know it's real: as real as the American people's yearning for freedom, peace, and prosperity, as real as all the men and women who have sacrificed for our ideals, in the past and today.

And how neat to see celebrations all across the world, with Tea Parties from France to New Zealand. This is how we can spread the ideals of our country, through voluntary emulation, not bombs and bribes. Of course, there were hundreds in America.

As I dropped in on a cheering, laughing crowd of about 600 near my home in Freeport, Texas, I noted that they call us "angry." Well, we are the happiest, most optimistic "angry" movement ever, and the most diverse. What unites us is a love of liberty, and a determination to fix what is wrong with our country, from the Fed to the IRS, from warfare to welfare. But otherwise we are a big tent.

Said the local newspaper: "The elderly sat with teens barely old enough to vote. The faces were black, Hispanic, Asian and white. There was no fear in their voices as they spoke boldly with each other about the way the country should be. Held close like a deeply held secret, Paul has brought them out of the disconnect they feel between what they know to be true and where the country has been led."

Thanks also to the 500 or so who braved the blizzard in Boston to go to Faneuil Hall. My son Rand told me what a great time he had with you.

A few mornings ago on LewRockwell.com, I saw a YouTube of a 14-year-old boy that summed up our whole movement for me. This well-spoken young man, who could have passed in knowledge for a college graduate, told how he heard our ideas being denounced. So he decided to Google. He read some of my speeches, and thought, these make sense. Then he studied US foreign policy of recent years, and came to the conclusion that we are right. So he persuaded his father to drop Rudy Giuliani and join our movement.

All over America, all over the world, we are inspiring real change. With the wars and the spying, the spending and the taxing, the inflation and the credit crisis, our ideas have never been more needed. Please help me spread them https://www.ronpaul2008.com/donate in all 50 states. Victory for liberty! That is our goal, and nothing less.

Sincerely,

Ron

Great press

http://www.usadaily.com/article.cfm?articleID=199483

Thank you for Dan and Matej in Bratislava for getting this published. I have just gotten back on the internet after last night's return from Strasbourg. You can expect plenty of updates from me about this weekend's impressive event and how what what we did over the last two days is the start of something historical. - Allan

Press Release

This is the press release for the event, tailor made for the Bratislava, please feel free to edit it as you please, translate it as you please, and circulate it as you please. Thank you. - Allan

For Immediate Release

RON PAUL MOVEMENT SPREADS THROUGHOUT EUROPE

Americans in Europe for Ron Paul, a Bratislava-based organization, and Europeans for Ron Paul, a Munich-based organization, will be hosting “The Strasbourg Tea Party” Saturday and Sunday, December 15-16, 2007 in Strasbourg, France.

The purpose of the event will be for leaders and members of the European-wide network of Ron Paul groups to network and to organize for the future of the European movement in support of the ideas of US presidential candidate Ron Paul.

“We are expecting larger crowds than we first thought,” said Allan Stevo, co-founder of Americans in Europe for Ron Paul, “we even needed to upgrade to a larger meeting facility in the last weeks before the event.”

The Strasbourg Tea Party will be part of an extensive international grassroots effort in celebration of the Boston Tea Party of 1773 in which American colonists dropped tea into the Boston harbor as a protest against excessive taxation.

“We raised $4.3 million at the last event, I think we’ll double it at this one,” said an American supporter of Ron Paul in Bratislava.

Ron Paul is a physician and a 10-term Congressman from Texas whose beliefs are heavily based in the US Constitution and the Austrian School of Economics. He has never voted for a tax increase, he has never voted to increase the power of the president. He is the only major candidate to oppose extending the war in Iraq. His is the only presidential candidate with an international network of grassroots supporters. He is the champion of the Constitution. Congressional Quarterly has consistently selected him among their most influential congressmen. GQ magazine selected Ron Paul for their 2007 issue of “Man of the Year,” the only US presidential candidate to receive this distinction.

Ron Paul’s campaign was the first to post real time fundraising results online (see: RonPaul2008.com) and has shown greater success in fundraising from individuals than any other US presidential candidate.

“This is truly a grassroots movement,” comments Americans in Europe for Ron Paul co-founder Ben Novak. “The efficiently-run campaign focuses on taking care of necessary matters and everything from fundraising to letter-writing is effectively handled by locally organized groups of volunteers.”

On November 5, a group of volunteers unaffiliated with the campaign raised $4.3 million with an average donation/person of a little over $100.

“There has never been a political movement like this,” says Americans in Europe for Ron Paul co-founder Allan Stevo, “the media refuses to take notice of this man, so tens of thousands of people throughout the US and the world, get on the internet and talk about him, he is an un-elected US president yet there is a movement throughout the world in favor of him. This is the first time an un-elected US president has had this kind of international support.”

In the last few days, a journalist at the strongly neo-conservative National Review, John Derbyshire, broke ranks with the magazine and came out in support of Ron Paul. “This is a crack in the dyke,” said Novak, “we are going to start seeing others from the neo-conservative movement coming out in support of Ron Paul as well.”

Even old-guard, Republican party organized straw polls show Ron Paul to be above the competition. Media organized phone polls generally show him to be behind the competition. The anti-Paul Fox News runs regular call-in polls after debates that almost always show Paul with overwhelming support among viewers, to which Fox political pundits respond in distaste. “But it is clear that someone out there is supporting him, and the traditional methods of finding who those people are just don’t seem to be working. Come January, we will see if our man has a chance to be President of the US, and we will see if Americans will take their country back from the special interest groups that control it.” said Stevo.

The first round of the elections will take place beginning January 3, 2008 in Iowa and will last until June, 2008. Traditionally, very few voters appear for the first round of elections, and for that reason those candidates with the most dedicated supporters have considerable advantages is these early days.

As the Iowa Caucus nears, groups of Ron Paul supporters from all over the world, including here in Bratislava, have participated in an unprecedented grassroots movement to send letters to all 700,000 Iowa “no party” voters. "We are targeting to send nearly 1,000,000 personal letters to voters in early primary states, and have already sent nearly 500,000 to Iowa alone." comments Ron Shimshock, an organizer of the letter writing campaign from Austin, Texas.

“If you believe that it’s the mainstream media that decides how a nation votes, then you would never expect Paul in office, but if you believe the people can think for themselves, I think you’ll start wanting to pay attention to Ron Paul, because despite the mainstream media blackout of Paul, his campaign, in several areas of measurement, has been growing exponentially since July ’07” said Stevo.

Americans in Europe for Ron Paul hosts regular Wednesday night meetings at Next Apache, Panenska 28, Bratislava. More information can be found at http://americansineuropeforronpaul.blogspot.com/ or http://ronpaul.meetup.com/583/ . Most active members of the group are Slovak, Austrian, American, and Czech and the group hosts regular meetings in Vienna and Brno in addition to Bratislava. For more information on the Strasbourg Tea Party, please see http://strasbourgteaparty07.blogspot.com/

More information can be found by contacting: AmericansInEuropeForRonPaul@gmail.com

Edited information on the Strasbourg Tea Party

Edited information is added the "Information on the Strasbourg Tea Party" post, almost daily.
- Allan

Strasbourg Tea Party - New Ad

Thank you, Dan. I look forward to your future work. - Allan

Calls to Strasbourg

Information on the Strasbourg Tea Party

The basics:

WHO
All Ron Paul supporters with feet on European soil the weekend of the conference.

WHAT
The Strasbourg Tea Party – a meeting for supporters to network with each other and to plan for the future of the movement.

WHEN
Saturday, December 15 – Sunday, December 16, 2007

WHERE
Strasbourg, France

Saturday we have reservations for a meeting room that will accommodate 200 people. We will begin our meetings at 9 am at the Hostelling International hostel named “2 Rives”
The address is: Rue des Cavaliers / BP 58 / 67017 Strasbourg Cedex / (Bas-Rhin) France. Its telephone number is: Tel. +33-3-88455420 You can find more information about the hostel online at : http://www.fuaj.org/eng/hostels/aj_fiche.php?aj_id=88

http://www.hihostels.com/dba/hostel020004.en.htm . The meeting will go until 1 pm. We will break for lunch at the hostel and will resume the meeting at 2.30 pm. We will end our Saturday session at 6 pm. From there we have reservations for 40 people at a local restaurant and from there we have reservations for 40 people at a local pub. In the morning we will resume our session at 10 am at the plaza in front of the European Parliament. From there we will have a farewell meal at the hostel and end our meeting.

WHY
The Ron Paul movement in Europe has shown consistent growth that does not appear to be weakening, in fact, it appears to be growing at an increasing rate. In light of this, it is clear that we are part of a movement that may well be larger than any single candidate, and any single country. As this movement is still young, now is the opportunity to get together to network and to begin sharing our hopes for the future. We meet to get to know each other better, we meet to be stronger as this movement moves forward, we meet to be more comfortable in our movement – as compatriots, and maybe also as friends.

If you would like to have a room in the hostel – please RSVP by December 12 by sending an email to AmericansInEuropeForRonPaul@gmail.com with “RESERVATION” in the subject line.

HOUSING:
Some of us will be staying here: http://www.fuaj.org/eng/hostels/aj_fiche.php?aj_id=88
http://www.hihostels.com/dba/hostel020004.en.htm

The hostel is near the Rhine. We will be arriving Friday afternoon/evening and leaving Sunday evening/Monday morning.

The cost will be 19 Euro/person/bed/night. The group must pay a total of 14.50 Euro for a hostel card that allows us to stay at this hostel.

Our meetings happen there, in the meeting room, which will cost us 240 Euro for the day.

Audio visual equipment can be available for an additional fee. The room fits 200 people. This fee includes - tables and chairs and the room. Also there is some sort of tablet for writing on.

The city center is 20 min away by bus, the European Parliament is 15 minutes away.

Some of us will sleep here and all of us in attendance for the Saturday session will meet here. We can eat our breakfasts here, and maybe even have a meal or two there, but should leave the facility for our other meals, and probably even just go the town for our other meals. Lunch on Saturday will no longer be at the hostel, there are nearby restaurants that we will be able to eat at. Dinner Saturday will be at a nice place in the center with inexpensive tasty localy dishes and a variety of good beers - details forthcoming.

Beds are all set at the hostel. Of the many people who will be attending the Strasbourg Tea Party, only 17 people have requested lodging through me (Allan) at our hostel along with other members of the group - those people are as follows:

Friday, Saturday, and Sunday nights - Allan, Ben, Tony, Stan, Johannes, Stefan, Jakub, Djamel and his brother.

Saturday night - Merkl, fabio +2, Michael B, Denis, Pieter-Willem, Laura.

If you still need a place to stay, I recommend checking with the hostel for last minute cancellations.
The are also hotels nearby.
If you are willing to risk not having a place to stay at the last minute, and a bed is not something you need, bring a sleeping bag along and we will see what we can do : )

STRASBOURG TEA PARTY – T-SHIRTS?
Strasbourg Tea Party T-shirts can be obtained at the following website – http://311681.spreadshirt.net/de/DE/Shop Thank you to Fabio for arranging this.

STRASBOURG TEA PARTY MAPS
Maps of event locations are currently being produced, and should hopefully be up and on the internet by Thursday, December 13, 2007.

STRASBOURG TEA PARTY CONTACTS IN STRASBOURG
We look forward to hearing from our fellow supporters in Strasbourg. If you are in Strasbourg and would like to make contact with us before the event, please contact us at AmericansInEuropeForRonPaul@gmail.com Also, if you know anyone in Strasbourg, please take a few moments to welcome them to the event. All Ron Paul supporters are invited.

STRASBOURG TEA PARTY – INTERNET DONATIONS
At the event, we need to have internet access for all Americans to participate in the Money Bomb. At 6 am, on the dot, we will be among the first to make our donations to the Boston Tea Party Money Bomb. Will you join us at 6 am?

STRASBOURG TEA PARTY – DONATIONS
We must figure out a way for foreign supporters of Ron Paul to channel their donations without interfering in the important issues of national sovereignty.
If you are not an American citizen or green card holder, please see the discussion at the site at http://www.ronpaulforums.com/showthread.php?t=40239 for information on how to contribute to the spread of Ron Paul's ideas without breaking US election laws.

STRASBOURG TEA PARTY - WEBSITE
The most up to date information on the Strasbourg Tea Party can be found at: http://strasbourgteaparty07.blogspot.com/

STRASBOURG TEA PARTY – WHAT TO BRING
100 – 200 Euro for the weekend
Flags from your homeland
Ron Paul signs or Banners
Interesting stories of success from your meetup groups.
If other people can learn from them, interesting stories of failure as well.

A cup for some tea.

STRASBOURG TEA PARTY - SCHEDULE
Friday – meet for dinner at A RESTAURANT to be named
Saturday – begin our meetings at 9 am at the HOSTEL
Break for Lunch at 1 pm at the hostel.
Resume meetings at 2:30 pm
End our day at 6 pm. Proceed to Au Brasseur
Lonely Planet says the following about Au Brasseur: "+33 (0) 3 88 36 12 13; 22 rue des Veaux; 11am-1am Four types of beers (brune, blonde, ambree, and blanche) are brewed in this warm, dimly lit microbrewery, which also has some of the best deals in town on Alsatian treats."
Proceed to a PUB to be named for a drink and conversation
Sunday – meet at 9 am at the Hostel
proceed to the European Parliament to begin the tea party at 10 am.

STRASBOURG TEA PARTY – VIDEOS
At the Strasbourg Tea Party we will need

1. Digital Cameras
2. Digital Videos Cameras
3. Laptops with the ability to burn DVDs or CDs
4. CDs or DVDs

It is vital that we have laptops with burners at the event, in order for all raw material to be distributed to the meetup groups as quickly as possible.

The Strasbourg Tea Party is the first of our many statements to the world as Ron Paul supporters in Europe.

My goal in asking for the above is that lots of people will be able to record what they see happening in their time in Strasbourg. Before leaving, we will put all of those raw images onto disks for anyone who wants them. Hopefully, those raw images will filter out to the many people in this movement with video editing interests and skills and will make its way onto the internet in the form of many edited videos or other images.

Shortly after the Strasbourg Tea Party, a member of our group will go to the US to personally visit groups to make sure that no Ron Paul supporter in places like Chicago, Indiana, Wisconsin, Washington DC, Nevada, and Los Angeles can miss what we are doing here in Europe. For that to be successful, I will need good audio visual material with me. That is where the edited Strasbourg Tea Party videos, and others will be important

STRASBOURG TEA PARTY – COSTS
Costs – round trip gas from Vienna to Strasbourg = 120-150 Euro.
Meals in Strasbourg will likely run 10-20 Euro/meal – Friday dinner, Saturday lunch and dinner, Sunday lunch (food total = 40-80 Euro)
Breakfast is included in our hostel stay.
Public transportation will cost about 10-15 Euro for the weekend.

With that, a nice weekend of networking and political discussion and activity as well as time to visit one of Europe’s beautiful cities in this historically significant region could cost as little as 100 Euro, all inclusive. People coming from even closer will end up paying even less.

I must say that this is a pleasant surprise to me, as I was worried that it would cost much more.

STRASBOURG TEA PARTY - TRANSPORTATION
Michael B writes:
for busses see http://eurolines.com/ they're cheaper than going by train, but less flexible

Tony from Zurich wrote this on the google group:
"I have a seat in my car for any Ron Paul supporter traveling to Strasbourg from Zurich or environs. Plan to leave Friday afternoon and return on Sunday evening. If you are interested or know someone who can use a ride, write me at XXXXXX --tony"

For the email address, join up at the google group or write us at AmericansInEuropeForRonPaul@gmail.com

STRASBOURG TEA PARTY - PLANNING
Many people are involved in the planning of the Strasbourg Tea Party and much work is left to do. If you would like to get involved in the planning of the Tea Party, please go to our google group at: http://groups.google.com/group/europeans4ronpaul or to Ron Paul International Forums at: http://www.ronpaulforums.com/forumdisplay.php?f=181

DONATIONS

Numerous Ron Paul supporters from across Europe have asked how they can contribute to the Strasbourg Tea Party. The budget for the Tea Party is expected to be about 500 Euro. The cost will come out of the pockets of the organizers. Donations are appreciated, but are not expected. Please send an email to AmericansInEuropeForRonPaul@gmail.com with DONATION in the subject line to learn more about how you can make a donation. All donations that exceed the cost of the Tea Party will be ethically donated to organizations supporting Ron Paul in the US. The organizers of the Strasbourg Tea Party will not make any money from this event.

THINGS ALREADY COVERED

I will bring name tags. Johannes will bring tea ingredients and a big container for making tea and related material.

Unfinished Sections:
STRASBOURG TEA PARTY – SUNDAY ACTIVITIES

STRASBOURG TEA PARTY – ACTIVITIES OUTSIDE OF THE MEETING

STRASBOURG TEA PARTY – SATURDAY ACTIVITIES

STRASBOURG TEA PARTY – PRESS RELEASES

This is one item sent to Lew Rocwell and to the DailyPaul:

282 Words on the Movement in Europe
The trans-Atlantic connections between the US and Europe are strong. So strong, that a movement in one is often noticed in the other and even, at times, a movement in one builds into a movement in the other. The Atlantic divides us, but our connections run deep. With pride in those connections, many Europeans have started a movement in favor of US presidential candidate Ron Paul, and his ideas. The movement is recognized to be in support of Ron Paul, as well as in support of the many Americans backing our candidate (as can be seen for example in the case of this poster made by a German man in Munich http://europe4ronpaul.blogspot.com/2007/11/strasbourg-tea-party.html) Never, before has this happened in this magnitude to a non-yet-elected American presidential candidate. This Saturday and Sunday (December 15 and 16, 2007), the Strasbourg Tea Party will take place in Strasbourg, France, and will serve as the first Europe-wide gathering of Ron Paul supporters. The event will take place in order to galvanize the movement happening here, through face-to-face discussions, through networking, and by planning for this movement - a movement that has already become bigger than any one man. The word has not spread in the mainstream media here, the word has spread on the internet. To Americans reading this with personal contacts in Europe, I ask that you place a phone call across the ocean, or perhaps send an email - at the heart of that message I ask you to have "Go to Strasbourg to meet others, return home and recruit others." This will not be where the movement ends, but Strasbourg will be where the movement began. I thank you most sincerely for your time.

Strasbourg Tea Party: http://strasbourgteaparty07.blogspot.com

AFTER THE FACT
The Strasbourg Tea Party is one of many events happening throughout Europe and throughout the world as in conjunction with the TeaParty07 commemorating the anniversary of the 1773 Boston Tea Party. I ask your events in Europe, that you send me videos or fotos or at least a link so that I can post that information here, on youtube, and send it to Tea Party sponsors in the US so that others will know what we were doing that day instead of sitting at home vegetating. Please contact me at AmericansInEuropeForRonPaul@gmail.com.