Living With Denial
Living with Denial by Steve Clemens. October 11, 2008
Why do we Americans lionize Oscar Schindler, The White Rose, the originators of the Kinder train, the villagers of Le Chambon? There were many honorable and courageous acts of conscience and compassion that surfaced in resistance to the attempts of the Third Reich to exterminate the Jews of Europe. We relish the story of Anne Frank and the family who risked much to shelter her from Nazis. Even though ultimately unsuccessful, their heroics give many of us a smug sense of relief that there still remain at least a remnant of ordinary folk who are able to rise to the occasion and be truly human(e). Even while we recognize that most people remained either silent or actively complicit with the unfolding holocaust, somehow the memory of a few resisters continue to give us hope for the rest of “humanity” – in the midst of growing inhumanity evidenced in our global community.
It is always easier to celebrate these triumphs of the human spirit against the brutal crushing machine of repression and oppression in hindsight. We have enough distance and separation from the Nazi movement in western Europe, the wholesale slaughter under communist systems in Stalinist Russia or Maoist China to celebrate those who resisted those injustices. Some Americans have even dared to look beyond political alliances to recognize the “excesses” of US –supported regimes in the Congo (Mobuto), Indonesia (Sukarno), the Philippine Islands (Marcos), Chile (Pinochet), … and the list could go on and on.
Harder still is the recognition and appreciation for creative resistance to bad policies and inhumane actions taken by essentially “good” or benign governments. For many Americans, we may be open to resistance taken by Israeli citizens on behalf of occupied Palestinians – but less receptive to Palestinians acting on their own behalf. Advocates on behalf of indigenous rights for Aboriginal people in Australia could be recognized – although Aborigines acting on their own would be less welcomed by most Americans because we see the “Aussies” as our allies and too much like us to be criticized. Some of that same scrutiny might be focused on our own policies.
It seems we need the distance of time (and the passing of some of the major protagonists) for widespread recognition of the righteousness of the cause when the resistance is closer to “home”. Enough time has gone by to celebrate the differences of William Penn’s and Roger Williams’ relationship to Native Americans when compared to that of other colonial imperialists. Enough time has gone by to recognize the principled witness of the abolitionist movement and (maybe) even the violent resistance of Nat Turner and John Brown. Even some U.S. history books have been willing to appreciate the courage and conviction embodied by Chief Joseph of the Nez Pierce and Sitting Bull –although fewer are willing to extend their salute to the violent resistance of Geronimo and Crazy Horse who also stood up to the violent oppression of their nations.
We feel free to celebrate Susan B. Anthony and the suffragette movement now that they aren’t disrupting our lives since enough time has passed. Some of us are more ambivalent about the passions and actions embodied by Carrie Nation and some of the more “radical” prohibitionists –but even if we might disagree with her cause or tactics, we can have a sense of pride in identifying with her convictions. Even enough time has passed for many to begin to join the chorus for elevating Catholic Worker movement co-founder, Dorothy Day, to sainthood for her work for the poor. Some even are willing to celebrate her refusal to comply with bomb shelter drills at the height of the Cold War scare.
How much time has to pass before we are willing to embrace principled resistance to present injustice? And why do I always want to qualify my admiration and appreciation to “principled” resistance? Isn’t any resistance better than acquiescence? Am I so defensive about my own commitment to nonviolence that I fail to celebrate any and all attempts to resist injustice? How many years of “distance” will we need as a nation and people before we are ready to identify the evils embodied in our present actions and policies? Torture justified at Abu Ghraib, Gitmo, Baghram, and other black sites. Wars of choice and aggression in clear violation of the UN Charter. Ignoring the cries of the growing numbers of poor and uninsured. Deliberate targeting of “economic immigrants” trying to feed their own families both here and in their economically devastated homelands. Once again, the list could go on and on.
I have much more in common with the black-clad, kerchiefed “Anarchist” who sees the injustice and hypocrisy embedded in our society and “acts out” in anger and rage than those who remain silent and “enjoy” the benefits and privilege that come with complicity. Yet even that description does not do justice to many of the “angry” people in the streets during the Republican National Convention last month in St. Paul. I witnessed not only the “taunting” of riot-geared police but also joy and celebration of resistance. When 3 or 4 girls danced chorus-line style chanting, “You’re hot, you’re cute, take off your riot suits!” to the cops, I laughed and deeply appreciated the humor in a tense situation. Dancing to songs by Rage Against the Machine and other resistance anthems played on portable boom-boxes in the middle of street intersections in front of rows and rows of up-armored cops with tear gas guns and Tasers pointed at them, these (mostly) young resisters weren’t only about anger and confrontation but also wanted to embody an alternative to an “uptight” society that seems to over-react in fear and possessiveness when feeling threatened.
While still clinging to my deep conviction and belief that only creative nonviolence can bring about the ultimate just society we long for, recognizing with Gandhi and King that the means used help determine the end results, I need to remember to embrace any acts of resistance to what Dorothy Day calls “our acceptance of this filthy, rotten system.” We don’t need to wait 50 years before historians make it safe to look back critically at America in the dying days of its empire. Let’s tap the energy of the young and combine it with the wisdom of our elders and, together, remake our society where we won’t have to look back in shame and wonder at the “silent majority”. Don’t criticize others unless you, too, are out in the streets or working “under the radar” to resist injustice and help build the new world for which we await.
Why do we Americans lionize Oscar Schindler, The White Rose, the originators of the Kinder train, the villagers of Le Chambon? There were many honorable and courageous acts of conscience and compassion that surfaced in resistance to the attempts of the Third Reich to exterminate the Jews of Europe. We relish the story of Anne Frank and the family who risked much to shelter her from Nazis. Even though ultimately unsuccessful, their heroics give many of us a smug sense of relief that there still remain at least a remnant of ordinary folk who are able to rise to the occasion and be truly human(e). Even while we recognize that most people remained either silent or actively complicit with the unfolding holocaust, somehow the memory of a few resisters continue to give us hope for the rest of “humanity” – in the midst of growing inhumanity evidenced in our global community.
It is always easier to celebrate these triumphs of the human spirit against the brutal crushing machine of repression and oppression in hindsight. We have enough distance and separation from the Nazi movement in western Europe, the wholesale slaughter under communist systems in Stalinist Russia or Maoist China to celebrate those who resisted those injustices. Some Americans have even dared to look beyond political alliances to recognize the “excesses” of US –supported regimes in the Congo (Mobuto), Indonesia (Sukarno), the Philippine Islands (Marcos), Chile (Pinochet), … and the list could go on and on.
Harder still is the recognition and appreciation for creative resistance to bad policies and inhumane actions taken by essentially “good” or benign governments. For many Americans, we may be open to resistance taken by Israeli citizens on behalf of occupied Palestinians – but less receptive to Palestinians acting on their own behalf. Advocates on behalf of indigenous rights for Aboriginal people in Australia could be recognized – although Aborigines acting on their own would be less welcomed by most Americans because we see the “Aussies” as our allies and too much like us to be criticized. Some of that same scrutiny might be focused on our own policies.
It seems we need the distance of time (and the passing of some of the major protagonists) for widespread recognition of the righteousness of the cause when the resistance is closer to “home”. Enough time has gone by to celebrate the differences of William Penn’s and Roger Williams’ relationship to Native Americans when compared to that of other colonial imperialists. Enough time has gone by to recognize the principled witness of the abolitionist movement and (maybe) even the violent resistance of Nat Turner and John Brown. Even some U.S. history books have been willing to appreciate the courage and conviction embodied by Chief Joseph of the Nez Pierce and Sitting Bull –although fewer are willing to extend their salute to the violent resistance of Geronimo and Crazy Horse who also stood up to the violent oppression of their nations.
We feel free to celebrate Susan B. Anthony and the suffragette movement now that they aren’t disrupting our lives since enough time has passed. Some of us are more ambivalent about the passions and actions embodied by Carrie Nation and some of the more “radical” prohibitionists –but even if we might disagree with her cause or tactics, we can have a sense of pride in identifying with her convictions. Even enough time has passed for many to begin to join the chorus for elevating Catholic Worker movement co-founder, Dorothy Day, to sainthood for her work for the poor. Some even are willing to celebrate her refusal to comply with bomb shelter drills at the height of the Cold War scare.
How much time has to pass before we are willing to embrace principled resistance to present injustice? And why do I always want to qualify my admiration and appreciation to “principled” resistance? Isn’t any resistance better than acquiescence? Am I so defensive about my own commitment to nonviolence that I fail to celebrate any and all attempts to resist injustice? How many years of “distance” will we need as a nation and people before we are ready to identify the evils embodied in our present actions and policies? Torture justified at Abu Ghraib, Gitmo, Baghram, and other black sites. Wars of choice and aggression in clear violation of the UN Charter. Ignoring the cries of the growing numbers of poor and uninsured. Deliberate targeting of “economic immigrants” trying to feed their own families both here and in their economically devastated homelands. Once again, the list could go on and on.
I have much more in common with the black-clad, kerchiefed “Anarchist” who sees the injustice and hypocrisy embedded in our society and “acts out” in anger and rage than those who remain silent and “enjoy” the benefits and privilege that come with complicity. Yet even that description does not do justice to many of the “angry” people in the streets during the Republican National Convention last month in St. Paul. I witnessed not only the “taunting” of riot-geared police but also joy and celebration of resistance. When 3 or 4 girls danced chorus-line style chanting, “You’re hot, you’re cute, take off your riot suits!” to the cops, I laughed and deeply appreciated the humor in a tense situation. Dancing to songs by Rage Against the Machine and other resistance anthems played on portable boom-boxes in the middle of street intersections in front of rows and rows of up-armored cops with tear gas guns and Tasers pointed at them, these (mostly) young resisters weren’t only about anger and confrontation but also wanted to embody an alternative to an “uptight” society that seems to over-react in fear and possessiveness when feeling threatened.
While still clinging to my deep conviction and belief that only creative nonviolence can bring about the ultimate just society we long for, recognizing with Gandhi and King that the means used help determine the end results, I need to remember to embrace any acts of resistance to what Dorothy Day calls “our acceptance of this filthy, rotten system.” We don’t need to wait 50 years before historians make it safe to look back critically at America in the dying days of its empire. Let’s tap the energy of the young and combine it with the wisdom of our elders and, together, remake our society where we won’t have to look back in shame and wonder at the “silent majority”. Don’t criticize others unless you, too, are out in the streets or working “under the radar” to resist injustice and help build the new world for which we await.
Obama's "Problem" With William Ayers
Obama’s “Problem” with William Ayers. By Steve Clemens. October 11, 2008
Recently the Presidential campaign of 2008 has taken a nasty turn. As the McCain/Palin ticket continues to fall behind to the Democratic team of Obama/Biden, allegations are flying to discredit Obama. Some of this is not new. Even during a spirited Democratic primary campaign, pictures of Obama in traditional Kenyan dress were posted to imply this candidate was Muslim - as if that were automatically a dirty term. Rumors that Obama attended a madrassa for school in Indonesia were floated to further the “smear” that our first bi-racial major party candidate was in league with “terrorists”.
Now, Sarah Palin, on the defensive for her pathetic performance in an interview with CBS’ Katie Couric, has claimed a close relationship between Obama and former Weatherman radical, William Ayers. Even though Ayers is now a respected professor in Chicago, his past leadership in a violent, radical, anti-war group in the 60s has provided new ways to link Obama to “terrorists” because Ayers held a fundraiser for Obama more than 13 years ago!
I don’t wish to defend the political actions used by the Weathermen group that split off from the Students for a Democratic Society (SDS) over a disagreement with tactics. As the Vietnam War continued on and on with the resulting deaths of thousands of Americans and millions of Vietnamese, the Weathermen movement sought to bring some of the costs of the war “home”. They planted bombs in buildings and caused several deaths and much fear in some circles. While Ayers is routinely castigated for actions taken 40 years ago, John McCain is lionized for his.
Do we need to take another, more critical look at this “national hero”? Why was John McCain held as a Prisoner of War for more than five years? What had he been doing before he was “captured”? As a US Navy pilot, McCain flew many bombing raids over the capitol city of North Vietnam, Hanoi. Dropping bombs from an airplane –even if the targets are considered “military” when located in a very populous city – will inevitably kill “civilians” or other “non-combatants”. Although this practice has continued since the end of World War I, aerial bombardment clearly violates International Law of War restrictions on the use of weapons that are “indiscriminate”.
We don’t know if McCain’s planes also dropped napalm or Agent Orange. We do know that he is responsible for much more destruction and death than William Ayers. But because he was wearing a uniform at the time, does that obviate the need for critical analysis? Was the Vietnam War a “just war”? It certainly wasn’t a declared war by the Congress even though most members continued to fund it with young men and money. Even in a so-called “just war”, there clearly are actions that are morally impermissible. Would dropping bombs on a city fail such a test?
Make no mistake; some of the actions John McCain took as a prisoner of war were heroic – even if the circumstances of capture were the result of criminal acts. While he must be held accountable for his own actions, certainly those political and military leaders directing the policy and execution of that war are more complicit. Now that John McCain is a US Senator and a loud proponent of the current wars in Afghanistan and Iraq, he is more culpable for the bombing of civilians that are happening every week in both those wars – even though the mainstream media refuses to cover it. But the McCain campaign ads slam Barack Obama for criticizing “our troops” when he condemned some of the killing of civilians in Afghanistan.
I don’t know if Ayers has “repented” for some of his anti-war tactics and actions back in the 60s. The neighborhood organizing and other political and community-building work he has done more recently demonstrate at least a change of tactics if not a change of heart. Can we say the same of McCain? Who is the present supporter of “terrorism”?
Recently the Presidential campaign of 2008 has taken a nasty turn. As the McCain/Palin ticket continues to fall behind to the Democratic team of Obama/Biden, allegations are flying to discredit Obama. Some of this is not new. Even during a spirited Democratic primary campaign, pictures of Obama in traditional Kenyan dress were posted to imply this candidate was Muslim - as if that were automatically a dirty term. Rumors that Obama attended a madrassa for school in Indonesia were floated to further the “smear” that our first bi-racial major party candidate was in league with “terrorists”.
Now, Sarah Palin, on the defensive for her pathetic performance in an interview with CBS’ Katie Couric, has claimed a close relationship between Obama and former Weatherman radical, William Ayers. Even though Ayers is now a respected professor in Chicago, his past leadership in a violent, radical, anti-war group in the 60s has provided new ways to link Obama to “terrorists” because Ayers held a fundraiser for Obama more than 13 years ago!
I don’t wish to defend the political actions used by the Weathermen group that split off from the Students for a Democratic Society (SDS) over a disagreement with tactics. As the Vietnam War continued on and on with the resulting deaths of thousands of Americans and millions of Vietnamese, the Weathermen movement sought to bring some of the costs of the war “home”. They planted bombs in buildings and caused several deaths and much fear in some circles. While Ayers is routinely castigated for actions taken 40 years ago, John McCain is lionized for his.
Do we need to take another, more critical look at this “national hero”? Why was John McCain held as a Prisoner of War for more than five years? What had he been doing before he was “captured”? As a US Navy pilot, McCain flew many bombing raids over the capitol city of North Vietnam, Hanoi. Dropping bombs from an airplane –even if the targets are considered “military” when located in a very populous city – will inevitably kill “civilians” or other “non-combatants”. Although this practice has continued since the end of World War I, aerial bombardment clearly violates International Law of War restrictions on the use of weapons that are “indiscriminate”.
We don’t know if McCain’s planes also dropped napalm or Agent Orange. We do know that he is responsible for much more destruction and death than William Ayers. But because he was wearing a uniform at the time, does that obviate the need for critical analysis? Was the Vietnam War a “just war”? It certainly wasn’t a declared war by the Congress even though most members continued to fund it with young men and money. Even in a so-called “just war”, there clearly are actions that are morally impermissible. Would dropping bombs on a city fail such a test?
Make no mistake; some of the actions John McCain took as a prisoner of war were heroic – even if the circumstances of capture were the result of criminal acts. While he must be held accountable for his own actions, certainly those political and military leaders directing the policy and execution of that war are more complicit. Now that John McCain is a US Senator and a loud proponent of the current wars in Afghanistan and Iraq, he is more culpable for the bombing of civilians that are happening every week in both those wars – even though the mainstream media refuses to cover it. But the McCain campaign ads slam Barack Obama for criticizing “our troops” when he condemned some of the killing of civilians in Afghanistan.
I don’t know if Ayers has “repented” for some of his anti-war tactics and actions back in the 60s. The neighborhood organizing and other political and community-building work he has done more recently demonstrate at least a change of tactics if not a change of heart. Can we say the same of McCain? Who is the present supporter of “terrorism”?
Anti-War Icon Visits the Twin Cities
Tom Hayden At Metro State. October 8, 2008 by Steve Clemens
Speaking without a microphone, clearly tired from five previous speaking engagements that day, an anti-war icon from the 60’s clearly engaged a predominately college-aged audience in St. Paul. A founder of Students For a Democratic Society (SDS), co-defendant in the classic trial against political dissent, The Chicago 8 (or 7 after the racist Judge, Julius Hoffman, bound and gagged Black Panther leader, Bobby Seale, and then removed him from the courtroom), former California state legislator, and author, Tom Hayden is travelling the country helping build a movement to hold our next President accountable.
Hayden clearly supports and expects Barack Obama to be elected as our new President a month from now. But the way he started his address Wednesday evening at Metro State startled me. Having cut his political activist teeth in the deeply segregated South in the late 50’s and early 60’s, Tom Hayden announced that 50-60 years ago we never could have imagined where we are today. Well into the struggle for Civil Rights, it was illegal to even conceive Barack Obama. It was against the law in several states for inter-racial marriage; now we are on the threshold of electing a mixed-race politician to the highest office in the land!
Even though Hayden has endorsed and is working diligently for Obama’s election, he was frank (if understanding) about his differences with the campaign and his candidate’s positions. He scoffed at Obama’s bluster about tracking down Bin Laden by increasing troop strength in Afghanistan and putting military and diplomatic pressure on Pakistan. Hayden believes there is no way the U.S. can win militarily in either country as the British learned so graphically over the past two centuries.
Make no mistake, Hayden thinks Al Qaeda is a threat to both the U.S. and Europe – but our present strategy of killing others to try to decapitate their leadership has only increased the number of recruits for that movement. Instead of “treating them [Afghanis, Pakis, Al Qaeda] as evil incarnate”, we need to explore what are their grievances? Yes, the occupation of Palestinian areas by Israel is a factor; so is having U.S. troops in the holy land of Saudi Arabia. But why do so many Afghanis and Pakis hate us? Hayden pointed out that U.S. foreign (non-military) aid is less than one-half the amount today than when JFK was President. In referring to the notorious Bin Laden, Hayden claimed, “You don’t have to be in a cave to plot attacks on the U.S.” and went on to say that such attacks can come from anywhere- even from someone in this auditorium!
Hayden described the Machiavellian tendency of politicians doing “whatever needs to be done” to maintain incumbency (be reelected). He used the analogy of a military commander in battle – if one sees their right flank as being exposed or vulnerable, you move more troops to that side. Obama ran as a clear anti-Iraq War candidate but in running against John McCain, he needs to “shore-up” any vulnerabilities he may have on his right flank. We should not expect Obama to take some of the positions those on the political left want him to with only one month to go until the voting. But what Obama will need after the election is a strong progressive movement to steer him and his policies toward a more progressive agenda.
President Franklin Roosevelt ran as a fiscal conservative but labor unions and other strong voices for change pushed him to make policy changes that became the New Deal. Lincoln did not run on a platform calling for the end of slavery but the abolitionist movement pressured him to change his position. It becomes our task to push, encourage, and demand that Obama reassess his announced strategy of more military troops in Afghanistan. Obama already knows the inherent unfairness and corporate bias of NAFTA and other “Free Trade” agreements – but the progressive forces need to urge President Obama to renegotiate trade agreements so that more than just investor profit is considered – like environmental protection, labor and civil rights, and the will of the people over rapacious global corporations.
Hayden described the collapse of “finance capitalism” that has been manifest in the past several weeks as a huge challenge facing us. We are like dinosaurs, he claimed, looking at the extinction of much of our society if we don’t find creative remedies. We need another New Deal and we will have to democratize these economic discussions. We can’t expect those “experts” who got us into this mess to decide our way out. We will need real oversight of whatever is put into place and find who is qualified to do it? We need to get money flowing again quickly –How can we do that? Hayden suggested an immediate cut by one-half of the Iraq War budget to free up $80 billion and closing of the Bush-created tax loopholes for the rich and corporations to get another $80 billion freed up. Then we use that money to relieve the foreclosure crisis by renegotiating the home mortgages which threaten so many families. Hayden reminded his college-age audience, “This is about the affordability of your future.”
We can’t wait until the third week in January to begin this process, Hayden concluded. “Obama must start planning how to address this crisis on November 5th and sit down with President Bush to have policies in place before the inauguration. And we in the peace and progressive movements will have our work cut out for us in holding that new and necessary vision in front of our new bi-racial President. When questioned about “stolen elections” in Ohio and Florida over the past eight years, Hayden predicted that the most significant problem we’ll face this election is having enough machines and polling places to accommodate the huge numbers of voters who will turn out to support Obama. Then, after the election, we can work to replace the anachronistic Electoral College and other election problems we face. Now is not the time to let up and, although tired, Hayden is ready to continue to contribute to making this a more just and peaceful society.
Speaking without a microphone, clearly tired from five previous speaking engagements that day, an anti-war icon from the 60’s clearly engaged a predominately college-aged audience in St. Paul. A founder of Students For a Democratic Society (SDS), co-defendant in the classic trial against political dissent, The Chicago 8 (or 7 after the racist Judge, Julius Hoffman, bound and gagged Black Panther leader, Bobby Seale, and then removed him from the courtroom), former California state legislator, and author, Tom Hayden is travelling the country helping build a movement to hold our next President accountable.
Hayden clearly supports and expects Barack Obama to be elected as our new President a month from now. But the way he started his address Wednesday evening at Metro State startled me. Having cut his political activist teeth in the deeply segregated South in the late 50’s and early 60’s, Tom Hayden announced that 50-60 years ago we never could have imagined where we are today. Well into the struggle for Civil Rights, it was illegal to even conceive Barack Obama. It was against the law in several states for inter-racial marriage; now we are on the threshold of electing a mixed-race politician to the highest office in the land!
Even though Hayden has endorsed and is working diligently for Obama’s election, he was frank (if understanding) about his differences with the campaign and his candidate’s positions. He scoffed at Obama’s bluster about tracking down Bin Laden by increasing troop strength in Afghanistan and putting military and diplomatic pressure on Pakistan. Hayden believes there is no way the U.S. can win militarily in either country as the British learned so graphically over the past two centuries.
Make no mistake, Hayden thinks Al Qaeda is a threat to both the U.S. and Europe – but our present strategy of killing others to try to decapitate their leadership has only increased the number of recruits for that movement. Instead of “treating them [Afghanis, Pakis, Al Qaeda] as evil incarnate”, we need to explore what are their grievances? Yes, the occupation of Palestinian areas by Israel is a factor; so is having U.S. troops in the holy land of Saudi Arabia. But why do so many Afghanis and Pakis hate us? Hayden pointed out that U.S. foreign (non-military) aid is less than one-half the amount today than when JFK was President. In referring to the notorious Bin Laden, Hayden claimed, “You don’t have to be in a cave to plot attacks on the U.S.” and went on to say that such attacks can come from anywhere- even from someone in this auditorium!
Hayden described the Machiavellian tendency of politicians doing “whatever needs to be done” to maintain incumbency (be reelected). He used the analogy of a military commander in battle – if one sees their right flank as being exposed or vulnerable, you move more troops to that side. Obama ran as a clear anti-Iraq War candidate but in running against John McCain, he needs to “shore-up” any vulnerabilities he may have on his right flank. We should not expect Obama to take some of the positions those on the political left want him to with only one month to go until the voting. But what Obama will need after the election is a strong progressive movement to steer him and his policies toward a more progressive agenda.
President Franklin Roosevelt ran as a fiscal conservative but labor unions and other strong voices for change pushed him to make policy changes that became the New Deal. Lincoln did not run on a platform calling for the end of slavery but the abolitionist movement pressured him to change his position. It becomes our task to push, encourage, and demand that Obama reassess his announced strategy of more military troops in Afghanistan. Obama already knows the inherent unfairness and corporate bias of NAFTA and other “Free Trade” agreements – but the progressive forces need to urge President Obama to renegotiate trade agreements so that more than just investor profit is considered – like environmental protection, labor and civil rights, and the will of the people over rapacious global corporations.
Hayden described the collapse of “finance capitalism” that has been manifest in the past several weeks as a huge challenge facing us. We are like dinosaurs, he claimed, looking at the extinction of much of our society if we don’t find creative remedies. We need another New Deal and we will have to democratize these economic discussions. We can’t expect those “experts” who got us into this mess to decide our way out. We will need real oversight of whatever is put into place and find who is qualified to do it? We need to get money flowing again quickly –How can we do that? Hayden suggested an immediate cut by one-half of the Iraq War budget to free up $80 billion and closing of the Bush-created tax loopholes for the rich and corporations to get another $80 billion freed up. Then we use that money to relieve the foreclosure crisis by renegotiating the home mortgages which threaten so many families. Hayden reminded his college-age audience, “This is about the affordability of your future.”
We can’t wait until the third week in January to begin this process, Hayden concluded. “Obama must start planning how to address this crisis on November 5th and sit down with President Bush to have policies in place before the inauguration. And we in the peace and progressive movements will have our work cut out for us in holding that new and necessary vision in front of our new bi-racial President. When questioned about “stolen elections” in Ohio and Florida over the past eight years, Hayden predicted that the most significant problem we’ll face this election is having enough machines and polling places to accommodate the huge numbers of voters who will turn out to support Obama. Then, after the election, we can work to replace the anachronistic Electoral College and other election problems we face. Now is not the time to let up and, although tired, Hayden is ready to continue to contribute to making this a more just and peaceful society.
Parable of the Wicked Tenants
Parable of the Wicked Tenants - Matthew 21:33-46
CSM Shared Word- October 5, 2008
Matthew 21:33-46 (New International Version). The Parable of the Tenants
33"Listen to another parable: There was a landowner who planted a vineyard. He put a wall around it, dug a winepress in it and built a watchtower. Then he rented the vineyard to some farmers and went away on a journey. 34When the harvest time approached, he sent his servants to the tenants to collect his fruit.
35"The tenants seized his servants; they beat one, killed another, and stoned a third. 36Then he sent other servants to them, more than the first time, and the tenants treated them the same way. 37Last of all, he sent his son to them. 'They will respect my son,' he said.
38"But when the tenants saw the son, they said to each other, 'This is the heir. Come, let's kill him and take his inheritance.' 39So they took him and threw him out of the vineyard and killed him.
40"Therefore, when the owner of the vineyard comes, what will he do to those tenants?"
41"He will bring those wretches to a wretched end," they replied, "and he will rent the vineyard to other tenants, who will give him his share of the crop at harvest time."
42Jesus said to them, "Have you never read in the Scriptures: " 'The stone the builders rejected has become the capstone; the Lord has done this, and it is marvelous in our eyes'?
43"Therefore I tell you that the kingdom of God will be taken away from you and given to a people who will produce its fruit. 44He who falls on this stone will be broken to pieces, but he on whom it falls will be crushed."
45When the chief priests and the Pharisees heard Jesus' parables, they knew he was talking about them. 46They looked for a way to arrest him, but they were afraid of the crowd because the people held that he was a prophet.
How many of you heard a sermon today (or recently) preached on this text?
Some Bibles give this passage a heading of The Parable of the Wicked Tenants.
How many of you heard in the sermon that the landowner who planted the vineyard was God? And the wicked tenants were the Pharisees or other Jews who did not follow Jesus?
Now, how many of you heard that the vineyard owner was George W. Bush – or maybe Ramsey County Sheriff Bob Fletcher – and the wicked tenants were the black-clad anarchists “throwing feces” at the cops out in the streets at the RNC?
I suspect the second reading of this parable of Jesus is closer to Jesus’ original meaning than the first. I must admit that most of my speculation about this parable owes much to William Herzog’s Pedagogy of the Oppressed and Ched Myers – but don’t blame them if I over-step in my own analysis.
I’ve provided some copies of this text. Since many commentators and the lectionary for today pair this parable with the passage from Isaiah, I included that as well- on the other side. Do these two stories really go together?
The Isaiah passage talks about the vineyard producing wild grapes and then allowed to be destroyed by nature – a very different outcome than Jesus’ parable where the tenants rise up to kill the owner’s son. The story in Isaiah is told from the perspective of Yahweh – but is the New Testament story?
Why have so many Biblical teachers and pastors assumed that the “householder” or “lord of the vineyard” is God? The word in Greek for the owner is oikodespotes – or lord of the household. It is no accident that we get the English word despot from the Greek word for lord since that is the way power is often used. At the time of Jesus, to talk about building a vineyard in Galilee would jar the listener. The land was already largely accounted for and the only way one could use the land for an export crop was by taking it from someone else. Only the very wealthy could afford to make an investment that a vineyard required – typically, a vineyard would not produce for the first 4 years while the vines matured and even in the 5th year it would be an unsure harvest.
The “husbandmen” or tenants were likely former farmers who had lost their land through foreclosure on loans they were unable to repay. So, the wealthy landowner would have to pay the tenant farmers those first 4-5 years while the vineyard was being established – so the owner had to have significant wealth for that time. Often, the tenant farmers would plant their vegetables for their own subsistence living between the rows of vines during this start-up period. They needed these vegetables to support their own hungry families.
So one way to understand this story is to recognize what it might mean for the wealthy owner to send his “henchmen” to seize a portion of the vegetables these tenant farmers were growing for their own families while the grape vines were getting established. These peasant farmers had already lost their own land to the rich and had been forced into this sharecropper relationship. They probably thought that they could at least keep what they grew between the rows of vines for their own families but now this rich bastard was demanding his share of that as well.
This story would be readily understood by some of Jesus’ listeners as an example of the kind of injustice Isaiah was talking about. While the lectionary pairs this story with Isaiah 5:1-7, it misses the whole point by not including verse 8. Isaiah’s story about the vineyard was that it was destroyed because the people of Judea practiced oppression rather than justice. How did they do this? Verse 8 says they “added house to house and joined field to field until there was no more room in the land” – exactly how this wealthy landowner did in Jesus’ story.
Do we all need a reminder of the centrality of the Sabbath and Jubilee principles again? The people of God were to guard against falling into debt and the type of slavery typified by these tenant farmers - by cancelling debts and returning fields to their original family ownership rather than letting the wealthy dominate as in Jesus’ parable.
But because we have so lionized the rich, the wealthy, the powerful in our society, we don’t see the glaring discontinuity between justice and oppression in Jesus’ story because we’ve internalized the lens of capitalism when we hear the story and assume the rich landlord is God! Do we want our God to be seizing land from poor people?
But how realistic is this story anyway? Would these tenant farmers really think by killing the heir they could keep the vineyard for themselves? Would an absentee landlord really send his SON to the place where his servants had just been beaten and killed? It is doubtful the tenant farmers could have gotten away with doing it once –let alone several times before the landlord responds with brute force.
What Jesus is trying to do with this story is to expose the spiral of violence as the people of Galilee experienced it during his lifetime. As the famous Archbishop of Recife, Brazil (Dom Helder Camara) has taught us, the spiral of violence starts with the first phase: the everyday oppression and exploitation of the poor by ruling elites. Like the hostile takeover of peasant lands to grow export crops, this type of violence is covert and perfectly “legal”. Like predatory subprime mortgages – followed by foreclosure and loss of one’s homestead. Sound familiar?
But when the poor peasants’ very existence is threatened – after all, they are now on a subsistence level- they will revolt to save themselves and their families. And thus the second phase of this spiral of violence. The tenants beat up and kill the “retainers”, the “servants” sent by the wealthy owner. And how are these revolts or rebellions responded to by the powerful? By the use of overwhelming force which is again, an officially sanctioned use of violence – just like phase one. As Dom Helder remarks, this is done “under the pretext of safeguarding public order or national security”. This is the third phase.
Now can you see the connection between Sheriff Fletcher and the “anarchists” at the RNC? The first spiral is the on-going war –albeit in a distant land so it might not be in the forefront of people’s consciousness on a day-to-day basis. The “anarchists” “strike back” at the repression they feel from the National Security State by busting the Macy’s window or the windshields of some cop cars. What is the response? –an overwhelming display of force by police clad in ninja-turtle-style riot gear, armed with chemical weapons, ready to “bust some heads”.
I know, the analogy isn’t perfect. But isn’t Jesus in using this and other parables trying to expose this spiral of violence that he sees the people experiencing? Jesus asks the rhetorical question: When the lord of the vineyard shall come, what will he do to those husbandmen? Well, Duh! We all know they are gonna get their asses kicked! What is going to happen to those black-clad “anarchists” in the street? Well, Duh! We all know they are gonna get their asses kicked!
Jesus, in these Gospel stories, has just entered Jerusalem in what we now call the “Triumphal Entry”. There are crowds cheering him on – maybe, just maybe, he will be the one to challenge this oppression they all feel from both the Roman occupiers and their collaborators in oppression, the Temple elite. But Jesus realizes that to fight back with violence will only result in the crushing over-reaction by those in power. It is Jesus’ principled nonviolence – his way of subverting the oppressive power through love, sacrifice, story, and community that challenges everything this power is built on. Jesus’ way subverts all of the Domination System and he calls us to follow.
Yes, the chief priests and the Pharisees –these religious leaders heard the parables and “they perceived he spake it against them”. And so they wanted to kill him but “they feared the multitude” – and continued their plotting another day.
I think some of the cops (and their bosses) “feared the multitudes” and were somewhat restrained on the streets by the presence of media cameras and other “witnesses”. Make no mistake; they will continue to “go after” anyone who challenges their hegemony.
Jesus calls us to be “wise as serpents and innocent as doves” when we are sent out as “sheep among the wolves”. Whether the predators are militarists occupying Middle Eastern countries or hedge fund managers, subprime lenders, and Wall Street tycoons – those who in their rapacious greed continue to “add house to house and join field to field” to where there is “no more room in the land” – or no more room in the Federal Budget after a $700 billion bailout for any monies for education, health care, or the poor – we are called to resist them in the way of Jesus: with creative, loving, principled nonviolence.
The naivety of the tenants in vs. 38 sounds to me very closely to the same naivety I sense in some of the self-described “anarchists” who think we can “stand up to the power” and the masses will follow –rather than being crushed. Did some of Jesus’ followers have a false hope of a mass uprising after the Triumphal Entry or was Jesus’ lack of belief in a mass violent revolution what drove Judas to try to “ramp up” the confrontation?
This parable gives us much to chew on. As we eat the bread and drink from the cup, we are called to remember as well, the cost. The gospel story concludes, “They sought to lay hold of him.” Does this sound like a felony charge of “conspiracy to commit riot in furtherance if terrorism” or some other charge the authorities will concoct? Are we ready to put our own selves on the line in trying to break this spiral of violence? It can only be broken by principled nonviolence. That is our challenge today.
CSM Shared Word- October 5, 2008
Matthew 21:33-46 (New International Version). The Parable of the Tenants
33"Listen to another parable: There was a landowner who planted a vineyard. He put a wall around it, dug a winepress in it and built a watchtower. Then he rented the vineyard to some farmers and went away on a journey. 34When the harvest time approached, he sent his servants to the tenants to collect his fruit.
35"The tenants seized his servants; they beat one, killed another, and stoned a third. 36Then he sent other servants to them, more than the first time, and the tenants treated them the same way. 37Last of all, he sent his son to them. 'They will respect my son,' he said.
38"But when the tenants saw the son, they said to each other, 'This is the heir. Come, let's kill him and take his inheritance.' 39So they took him and threw him out of the vineyard and killed him.
40"Therefore, when the owner of the vineyard comes, what will he do to those tenants?"
41"He will bring those wretches to a wretched end," they replied, "and he will rent the vineyard to other tenants, who will give him his share of the crop at harvest time."
42Jesus said to them, "Have you never read in the Scriptures: " 'The stone the builders rejected has become the capstone; the Lord has done this, and it is marvelous in our eyes'?
43"Therefore I tell you that the kingdom of God will be taken away from you and given to a people who will produce its fruit. 44He who falls on this stone will be broken to pieces, but he on whom it falls will be crushed."
45When the chief priests and the Pharisees heard Jesus' parables, they knew he was talking about them. 46They looked for a way to arrest him, but they were afraid of the crowd because the people held that he was a prophet.
How many of you heard a sermon today (or recently) preached on this text?
Some Bibles give this passage a heading of The Parable of the Wicked Tenants.
How many of you heard in the sermon that the landowner who planted the vineyard was God? And the wicked tenants were the Pharisees or other Jews who did not follow Jesus?
Now, how many of you heard that the vineyard owner was George W. Bush – or maybe Ramsey County Sheriff Bob Fletcher – and the wicked tenants were the black-clad anarchists “throwing feces” at the cops out in the streets at the RNC?
I suspect the second reading of this parable of Jesus is closer to Jesus’ original meaning than the first. I must admit that most of my speculation about this parable owes much to William Herzog’s Pedagogy of the Oppressed and Ched Myers – but don’t blame them if I over-step in my own analysis.
I’ve provided some copies of this text. Since many commentators and the lectionary for today pair this parable with the passage from Isaiah, I included that as well- on the other side. Do these two stories really go together?
The Isaiah passage talks about the vineyard producing wild grapes and then allowed to be destroyed by nature – a very different outcome than Jesus’ parable where the tenants rise up to kill the owner’s son. The story in Isaiah is told from the perspective of Yahweh – but is the New Testament story?
Why have so many Biblical teachers and pastors assumed that the “householder” or “lord of the vineyard” is God? The word in Greek for the owner is oikodespotes – or lord of the household. It is no accident that we get the English word despot from the Greek word for lord since that is the way power is often used. At the time of Jesus, to talk about building a vineyard in Galilee would jar the listener. The land was already largely accounted for and the only way one could use the land for an export crop was by taking it from someone else. Only the very wealthy could afford to make an investment that a vineyard required – typically, a vineyard would not produce for the first 4 years while the vines matured and even in the 5th year it would be an unsure harvest.
The “husbandmen” or tenants were likely former farmers who had lost their land through foreclosure on loans they were unable to repay. So, the wealthy landowner would have to pay the tenant farmers those first 4-5 years while the vineyard was being established – so the owner had to have significant wealth for that time. Often, the tenant farmers would plant their vegetables for their own subsistence living between the rows of vines during this start-up period. They needed these vegetables to support their own hungry families.
So one way to understand this story is to recognize what it might mean for the wealthy owner to send his “henchmen” to seize a portion of the vegetables these tenant farmers were growing for their own families while the grape vines were getting established. These peasant farmers had already lost their own land to the rich and had been forced into this sharecropper relationship. They probably thought that they could at least keep what they grew between the rows of vines for their own families but now this rich bastard was demanding his share of that as well.
This story would be readily understood by some of Jesus’ listeners as an example of the kind of injustice Isaiah was talking about. While the lectionary pairs this story with Isaiah 5:1-7, it misses the whole point by not including verse 8. Isaiah’s story about the vineyard was that it was destroyed because the people of Judea practiced oppression rather than justice. How did they do this? Verse 8 says they “added house to house and joined field to field until there was no more room in the land” – exactly how this wealthy landowner did in Jesus’ story.
Do we all need a reminder of the centrality of the Sabbath and Jubilee principles again? The people of God were to guard against falling into debt and the type of slavery typified by these tenant farmers - by cancelling debts and returning fields to their original family ownership rather than letting the wealthy dominate as in Jesus’ parable.
But because we have so lionized the rich, the wealthy, the powerful in our society, we don’t see the glaring discontinuity between justice and oppression in Jesus’ story because we’ve internalized the lens of capitalism when we hear the story and assume the rich landlord is God! Do we want our God to be seizing land from poor people?
But how realistic is this story anyway? Would these tenant farmers really think by killing the heir they could keep the vineyard for themselves? Would an absentee landlord really send his SON to the place where his servants had just been beaten and killed? It is doubtful the tenant farmers could have gotten away with doing it once –let alone several times before the landlord responds with brute force.
What Jesus is trying to do with this story is to expose the spiral of violence as the people of Galilee experienced it during his lifetime. As the famous Archbishop of Recife, Brazil (Dom Helder Camara) has taught us, the spiral of violence starts with the first phase: the everyday oppression and exploitation of the poor by ruling elites. Like the hostile takeover of peasant lands to grow export crops, this type of violence is covert and perfectly “legal”. Like predatory subprime mortgages – followed by foreclosure and loss of one’s homestead. Sound familiar?
But when the poor peasants’ very existence is threatened – after all, they are now on a subsistence level- they will revolt to save themselves and their families. And thus the second phase of this spiral of violence. The tenants beat up and kill the “retainers”, the “servants” sent by the wealthy owner. And how are these revolts or rebellions responded to by the powerful? By the use of overwhelming force which is again, an officially sanctioned use of violence – just like phase one. As Dom Helder remarks, this is done “under the pretext of safeguarding public order or national security”. This is the third phase.
Now can you see the connection between Sheriff Fletcher and the “anarchists” at the RNC? The first spiral is the on-going war –albeit in a distant land so it might not be in the forefront of people’s consciousness on a day-to-day basis. The “anarchists” “strike back” at the repression they feel from the National Security State by busting the Macy’s window or the windshields of some cop cars. What is the response? –an overwhelming display of force by police clad in ninja-turtle-style riot gear, armed with chemical weapons, ready to “bust some heads”.
I know, the analogy isn’t perfect. But isn’t Jesus in using this and other parables trying to expose this spiral of violence that he sees the people experiencing? Jesus asks the rhetorical question: When the lord of the vineyard shall come, what will he do to those husbandmen? Well, Duh! We all know they are gonna get their asses kicked! What is going to happen to those black-clad “anarchists” in the street? Well, Duh! We all know they are gonna get their asses kicked!
Jesus, in these Gospel stories, has just entered Jerusalem in what we now call the “Triumphal Entry”. There are crowds cheering him on – maybe, just maybe, he will be the one to challenge this oppression they all feel from both the Roman occupiers and their collaborators in oppression, the Temple elite. But Jesus realizes that to fight back with violence will only result in the crushing over-reaction by those in power. It is Jesus’ principled nonviolence – his way of subverting the oppressive power through love, sacrifice, story, and community that challenges everything this power is built on. Jesus’ way subverts all of the Domination System and he calls us to follow.
Yes, the chief priests and the Pharisees –these religious leaders heard the parables and “they perceived he spake it against them”. And so they wanted to kill him but “they feared the multitude” – and continued their plotting another day.
I think some of the cops (and their bosses) “feared the multitudes” and were somewhat restrained on the streets by the presence of media cameras and other “witnesses”. Make no mistake; they will continue to “go after” anyone who challenges their hegemony.
Jesus calls us to be “wise as serpents and innocent as doves” when we are sent out as “sheep among the wolves”. Whether the predators are militarists occupying Middle Eastern countries or hedge fund managers, subprime lenders, and Wall Street tycoons – those who in their rapacious greed continue to “add house to house and join field to field” to where there is “no more room in the land” – or no more room in the Federal Budget after a $700 billion bailout for any monies for education, health care, or the poor – we are called to resist them in the way of Jesus: with creative, loving, principled nonviolence.
The naivety of the tenants in vs. 38 sounds to me very closely to the same naivety I sense in some of the self-described “anarchists” who think we can “stand up to the power” and the masses will follow –rather than being crushed. Did some of Jesus’ followers have a false hope of a mass uprising after the Triumphal Entry or was Jesus’ lack of belief in a mass violent revolution what drove Judas to try to “ramp up” the confrontation?
This parable gives us much to chew on. As we eat the bread and drink from the cup, we are called to remember as well, the cost. The gospel story concludes, “They sought to lay hold of him.” Does this sound like a felony charge of “conspiracy to commit riot in furtherance if terrorism” or some other charge the authorities will concoct? Are we ready to put our own selves on the line in trying to break this spiral of violence? It can only be broken by principled nonviolence. That is our challenge today.
My Week on the Streets at the Republican National Convention 2008
The Debut of the Minnesota Peace Team by Steve Clemens. September 2008.
(This is not meant to be a comprehensive report – just my own personal experiences during the week of the RNC.)
“You’re hot, you’re cute, take off your riot suit” was the best chant I heard as demonstrators sitting in the street confronted the “ninja-turtle”-clad riot police who had surrounded the group. I myself got caught up in calling the heavily armored-up police in the black padded costumes that included gas masks, long wooden batons, helmets and clear visors that name from the TV show of the early 90’s. They were everywhere.
Having a retired Chief-of-Police for a brother-in-law, I know first-hand the friendship and value of many of the “men and women in blue”. Virtually all the cops I talked to who were not “turtled-up” in the riot gear were friendly to me as I greeted them in the streets wearing my lime-green vest with Mn Peace Team emblazoned on the front and back. (We also wore bright yellow hats so we could find each other in crowds.) However, when the turtle costumes were donned, many of the cops took on a different demeanor. And when the face shields were lowered, any semblance of their common humanity with us seemed to fade away. Verbal communication with most ceased entirely. Force and intimidation became the tactic de-jour rather than friendly “community policing”.
Our job as newly trained (and very inexperienced) Mn Peace Team members was to remind those we encountered – police, protesters, counter-protesters, and bystanders – of the humanity and inherent worth of each other. It was our goal to attempt to de-escalate situations where others were likely to be physically hurt.
When you put on the Mn Peace Team vest, you are taking on a role as a non-partisan. In that role, we were going to try to protect demonstrator, counter-demonstrator, police, and bystander alike. Normally, training for this type of role should take days –if not weeks- with lots of role-playing and learning to make quick decisions as a team.
Hopefully, trust can be built between members because one’s own safety might depend on them – especially in the chaos and confusion engendered by mass marches with people angry with those in authority.
Anyone with an ounce of common sense knew there would be heated confrontations when the Republican Party decided to hold their national convention in the Twin Cites, a stronghold of Democrats, liberals, and progressives. With the notable exception of Congressman Ron Paul, all the candidates vying for their Party’s nomination supported the on-going war in Iraq and boasted of varying strategies to “win” it. With large numbers of the country now feeling the war was at best a mistake and at worst an illegal act of aggression, the stage was set for massive protests when the start of the convention was scheduled for Labor Day. It seemed only an “act of God” might intervene. (Hurricane Gustav did in fact limit the first day of the convention, giving the President and the Vice-President “cover” for not appearing – to the relief of some of the delegates who wanted an unpopular President to fade from view.)
Initial training
Only 3 months before the start of the Convention, Peter Dougherty, a Catholic Priest and member of the Michigan Peace Team, came to the bi-monthly meeting of the Minnesota Alliance of Peacemakers – a collective of more than 70 Twin Cities area peace and justice organizations. He described how the Michigan Peace Team over the past 17 years has tried to serve as a non-partisan presence in public situations where conflict might ensue – be it at a Klan rally, a state execution, mass marches or demonstrations where counter-demonstrators were likely to be present, or to protect human and civil rights workers. He appeared to be in his 70’s but with a fire in his eyes and a warm smile on his face. He thought that it would be a good idea for us to consider forming our own team to respond to the needs when the Republican National Convention came to town on Labor Day.
A couple of the MAP members travelled to Detroit to be trained by the Nonviolent Peaceforce and Michigan Peace Team over a period of several days and then returned to help train local volunteers for four consecutive weekends. The goal was to try to have 100 local people trained before the RNC so we could field numerous affinity groups for the many marches and other activities scheduled for the first week in September. Bright lime-green vests were ordered and we were told in the training that we might want to bring bandanas soaked in vinegar or lemon juice and goggles in case we were in situations where tear gas was used.
We did numerous role-plays and “hassle-lines” during the 10 hours of training. It was stressed that it was not our job to try to prevent civil disobedience or even heated verbal exchanges – just intervene if it appeared someone was in physical danger of being hurt. We discussed our own personal feelings about whether property destruction was “violent” and noted that people’s reaction to property destruction was often highly charged so we must be especially vigilant at those times. Although most of those trained had participated in nonviolent marches or demonstrations in the past, we were especially reminded of our non-partisan function when we donned the vests.
The Weekend Before
We heard word on Saturday morning that police, led by Ramsey County Sheriff Bob Fletcher, had raided the “Convergence Center”, the coordinating place for the “Welcoming Committee” and other anti-war groups on Friday night. Raids continued on Saturday morning and afternoon, this time targeting homes in Minneapolis and St. Paul where 7 or 8 people were arrested and the media claimed they would be charged with “conspiracy to riot”. The sheriff claimed to have found knives, buckets of urine, axes and machetes, bomb-making materials, and maps and anti-war materials which proved these culprits were serious troublemakers. The term anarchist was bandied about –labeling all protestors into this “troubling” term that apparently was designed to invoke concepts of “terrorism”. By calling someone or a group “anarchist”, one could dismiss them as crazy, violent, destructive youth bent on raising hell and threatening “the peace”.
Caught up in one of the raids was a group of journalists so it became clear that the purpose of the raids was primarily to intimidate and send a message rather than to effectively protect the city and its citizens. The journalists targeted happened to be a group that had documented police excesses in New York City during the 2004 RNC that cost the city millions in lawsuits against the police over-reaction to protesters there. Their equipment was seized. The fear and intimidation that spread was palpable.
I got a call on Saturday from two friends from Chicago who said they would probably contact me when they were in town. However, when the call came, it was to ask Christine and me for hospitality since the “Food not Bombs” house they were staying at in Minneapolis had been raided that morning. They had been handcuffed and ordered to lie on the floor for a couple of hours before being released. We told them we’d be glad to have them stay with us since we knew both to be principled activists even though others might label them as “anarchists”. Would our home be raided for merely providing Christian hospitality?
The Day Before the RNC
Before the decision to form the Peace Team, I had already decided I would join my friend from Veterans for Peace, Dr. David Harris, in a solemn march to the site of the Convention on the day before it started - focusing on the victims of the war from both sides. We planned to carry tombstone replicas with photos of Iraqi civilians or US soldiers killed during the war. David also wanted to provide an opportunity for those who might wish to commit civil disobedience to try to carry our message into the Xcel Center itself rather than turn around at the designated area for the march.
As we gathered at the State Capitol prior to the march, I was pleased to see at least two groupings of the bright Mn Peace Team vests with yellow hats. I went over and greeted the Team members for that day and one team leader asked about any plans for civil disobedience so they would know where to place themselves in case it provoked a violent response on the part of police or counter-demonstrators. I told him what I knew and told them I was glad they were present. (I’ve told the story of the arrest in another report.)
Sunday evening after I returned home from worship, I was surprised to discover that we had another 6 houseguests. Four young women and two young men from Bash Back, a queer anarchist group in Chicago and friends of one of our other guests had arrived!
Day One
Monday, Labor Day, was to mark the start of the Republican National Convention and was the date planned more than a year before for a large coalition of anti-war groups to march. March planners hoped for a turnout of 50,000 protesters. Close to 40 people gathered in the basement of a St. Paul Lutheran Church that would serve as the “command post” for the Mn Peace Team. After introductions, we were asked to divide ourselves into groups of 5-6 depending on how willing we were to “risk arrest”. The thinking was that potential arrests were more likely to occur closer to the triangle area near the Xcel Center, the turn-around area designated for the marches. Since it was only several hundred feet from the building where the delegates were meeting, it was assumed that more civil disobedience or other disturbances would more likely occur there.
Some members wanted to be on teams with others they knew. As the groups formed, introductions continued and we discussed health concerns, things that might “trigger” strong reactions within us, our gifts/strengths that we brought to the Team, and other information the affinity group might need to know since we would need to depend on and support one another. We wrote down cell phone numbers for each other, for our Coordinators for the day, for a local lawyer and for the street medics. Some who were experienced with mass protests wrote the legal collective’s phone number on their arm with a marker in the event of an arrest and our phones were taken from us.
We were told that the coalition that organized this large march did not want the Mn Peace Team either in their gathering at the State Capitol or during the march since they had trained their own marshals. So we decided our presence would be on the sidelines, looking for any incidents where we might be needed. Teams were stationed at various areas of the march.
I joined an affinity group with my fellow Pax Christi Board Member, Scott, two friends from the Nonviolent Peaceforce, a Quaker who had previously met Scott, and a volunteer who offered to take pictures of the Peace Team in action. Karen was going to start with our Team and then switch to another later in the day. An affinity group is to make decisions by consensus and we decided to go first to the Capitol grounds where the rally would be held and then walk the march route before it began – looking for any potential bottlenecks or areas where conflict might more readily arise.
In walking the ½ mile march route, we noticed how “caged-in” the last section of the route appeared – especially the triangle-shaped turn around where protesters would be walking in what looked like a 10’ wide cattle chute. Counter protesters would be stationed on one side of the 8’ high metal fences as the marchers were closest to the Convention site. About 15-20 of the counter-protesters had started to gather so we talked with them, explaining our presence as non-partisans. We also made a point of talking to the many police present. Before the march started, there was a mixture of police in their own uniforms and I was able to identify some from Hennepin County, Ramsey County, Minneapolis, St. Paul, Edina, Eden Prairie, Minnetonka, Arlington, VA, and numerous other locations. Almost without exception, we were greeted courteously when the cops were in uniform but those who appeared in the black riot armor (“turtled-up”) rarely would return eye contact or speak to us when their face shields were in place.
Since another affinity group planned to station itself close to the triangle, we decided to be near the area where the march turned on to 7th Street so we could look down both Wabasha St. and West 7th. We would be one block from the beginning of the restricted or “exclusion” zone that formed the security perimeter around the convention area.
We decided to eat our lunch since the actual march wasn’t to begin until 1PM but a phone call from the Team Coordinators for the day told us an “unpermitted march” had begun an hour before the agreed start time and was headed our way. As we scrambled to re-group, we saw groups of the black-clad riot police running towards the east. Because this was likely to be an area of conflict, we hurried as well to monitor what was happening.
Many of the young “anarchists” were also dressed in black but without the riot equipment and padded vests, shin guards, knee protectors, and tasers, guns, or other weapons carried by their “adversaries”, the police. Bandanas over their nose and mouth were more likely to be employed. A young man in his late teens would run into an intersection of the downtown street and shake the bells he had on a stick as the signal to gather. Others came into the intersection from all directions and danced and sang and then taunted the police who came running after this “illegal” “march or demonstration”. As a phalanx of the riot police marched together to seal off one street after another – often donning tear gas masks in case the order was given by the unit commander, the “anarchist” kids would disappear leaving the intersection to the media who was trying to “cover” the action. Then the process would repeat itself a block or two away in a game of cat and mouse.
So, for a full hour prior to the scheduled march, some of the police were otherwise occupied. From my limited position (not seeing all the provocation nor all the response), our team commented to each other a pleasant surprise about how patient and restrained the police response to these provocations was. While saying that, it also appeared to me that the enormous police presence in the downtown march area – especially the increasing numbers of the “ninja turtles” seemed to also send a message of intimidation to any “protesters”. There certainly did not appear to be a welcoming presence for those who wished to exercise their freedom of speech rights with the large police presence and the cage effect of the steel fence barricades.
Soon after 1PM, the first signs of the large anti-war coalition march were evident. Streams of people with signs, banners, T-shirts with slogans, filled the streets. Riot police took up positions which blocked Wabasha Street beyond the intersection with 7th forcing the marchers to stay on route. I can imagine what a frightening sight those up-armored cops must have been for some of the young children or first-time protesters in the march! The Peace Team chatted with bystanders as we watched in both directions for any signs of conflict. About halfway through the march we noticed that the black-clad riot police had sealed off even the sidewalks so that people wishing to leave the march or bystanders could not go further into the downtown area. A number of people complained bitterly and I could see the tension mounting against what appeared to be a heavy-handed police over-reaction.
The march lasted close to two hours and our instructions were to follow the end of it back to the State Capitol. As we followed the crowd up Cedar Street, we noticed the “ninja turtles” marching behind us. As soon as we crossed the bridge over the interstate highway, the riot cops sealed off the bridge and refused to allow anyone back into the downtown area. There was a Labor Day Picnic being held on the far side of downtown with some well-known musicians and other speakers and many march participants were eager to get to the site on Harriet Island. Despite their pleas, the police refused entry toward that site for close to two hours. Even a Minnesota Public Radio journalist was prevented from walking to her studio and office even though it was in sight of the blocked intersection.
A man in a wheelchair who worn a photo id around his neck that said Chaplain on one side and Catholic Charities on the other appeared and was verbally harassing and goading the “liberal” demonstrators. While he was yelling at any “anti-war protestors” who were foolish enough to engage him, another man verbally taunted the cops, claiming that they had illegally seized some of his equipment (it appeared to be his camera) so after yelling at them for more than 30 minutes, he spread his arms wide and told them to “ “shoot me, you mother *&#^%ers”. Our Peace Team had to remain alert, ready to intervene as the tension ratcheted up. Finally, without explanation, the cops lifted their blockade after two hours. Mentally and physically spent, our affinity team called in to the church and requested to be picked up for a ride back to the church.
When we arrived at the church, we were told that while we were prevented from being downtown some of “the anarchist” groups had broken a Macy’s window and several windows in cop cars as the police again chased them through the area. Considering all the destructive power of war that people were protesting, it seemed pretty minor damage compared to the overwhelming police presence. But we also knew that the “mainstream media” would choose to focus on the very few “troublemakers” and ignore the more than 10,000 peaceful protesters.
After a late supper, I went to bed, planning to take the next morning “off” from the Peace Team in order to attend the Peace Island Conference designed to highlight solutions to our global and local problems rather than just protest. I had earlier volunteered to help with the early registration and then I’d attend the morning session, helping with the Peace Team after lunch.
Day Two
At 7AM I received a call from a close friend. She told me her son and 2 nephews went to the big march the day before and had then headed toward the Labor Day picnic at Harriet Island. Because police had shut down the bridge over the river, the three young men (two were high school seniors and the other a little older) went down to Shepherd Road to see if there was another way across to the island. My friend was trying to keep from tears as she said, “the police surrounded them and both of my nephews were arrested and charged with felonies for ‘conspiracy to riot’ because they carried masks in case tear gas was fired.” After I recommended the names of some friends who were lawyers and offers to “see what I could find out”, I learned that more than 100 young people had been swept up and arrested in this incident.
Listening to the radio on the way to St. Paul, I found it hard to concentrate on Peace Island and was relieved when I discovered that my help wasn’t needed at registration. I called right away to the Peace Team gathering at the church and asked if they could use me for the morning as well as the afternoon. They assured me that I could join one of the affinity groups about to form. I wanted to try to protect some of the young people from what was more clearly becoming police over-reaction and intimidation of peaceful protest.
I arrived at the church after the day’s orientation had begun. I stated a preference to help with the march the Somali group would begin at noon rather than the Poor People’s March at 4 because I still naively thought I could attend at least the evening sessions of Peace Island. The affinity group I joined hoped to be finished by 5, debriefed by 6 PM and then I’d be free to leave.
When we arrived at the State Capitol grounds where the march was scheduled to begin, there were no Somalis to be seen. “Ripple Effect”, a non-partisan music festival was getting ready to start, a sustainable ecology exhibit was set up on one side and the other side flanking the concert area contained the Quaker-sponsored “Eyes Wide Open” display of empty pairs of combat boots lined in rows by states with the names of the dead US Troops attached. Separately was also a display of empty “civilian” shoes –men, women, and children’s – to mark the untold Iraqi deaths from this war.
Finally, about ½ hour after I thought the march was supposed to begin, I noticed three Somali men so I approached them, introducing myself and my role as a Peace Team member, and asked if they were here for the Somali march. They smiled and said yes. I was told they were waiting for more of their friends who were “on the way” and the march would begin about 1PM. At 1, with only 6 men and one woman, they said we’d wait a little longer. Finally, the one who appeared to be the leader went on the Ripple Effect stage and welcomed anyone else here who wanted to join them in protesting US support for the Ethiopian occupation of Somalia. So few American citizens know about the US role in the politics in the Horn of East Africa but several young people joined making the march about 20-25 people with our five person Peace Team walking alongside them in the event of any threats.
The police presence in the downtown area looked completely different than the day before. It was hard to spot a “ninja turtle”-clad officer. The few cops we saw were in their uniforms with the city name and badge number visible. Downtown was much busier – it being a regular work day rather than the holiday we experienced the day before. The group chanted “We want peace!” “End the genocide in Somalia”. “Ethiopia out of Somalia.” “End US support of warlords!”
When the small marching contingent arrived at the triangular area closest to the Xcel Center, we discovered along with the marchers that not only was there no turn-around like the previous day but the police escort also ended. As marchers tried to return the way they came, they had to dodge cars at the intersections and none of the police gave any directions where to go so the group had to return on the sidewalk along Minnesota Street rather than march against the one-way traffic facing the marchers on Cedar. Up until this point the march was uneventful with 3 of the Peace Team close to the front of the march and the other two by the rear. As we crossed Twelfth Street, a van making a left hand turn barely missed one of our Team members and immediately close to 20-30 police arrived on the scene grabbing two people from the end of the march rather than stopping the driver of the van.
Both people who were grabbed were dressed in typical “anarchist” style and the cops quickly had them in custody. I noticed the commotion and rushed back to the intersection but the police would not let me cross over to the side where the two were being held. One of our Team Members had remained on that side and together all the Team Members carefully watched the cops’ behavior. After we informed the police that these young people had been invited to be part of the march by the Somali group (and, I think because we were watching closely), they released the two after about 15 minutes. We escorted them along with the three “street medic” friends who came by to be sure the cops didn’t follow them until they had returned to the Capitol.
We passed the word to the Team scheduled to be present with the Poor People’s March later in the day that the “return” after the march might not be part of the permit and might be “on your own” –prophetic words indeed. Our Team remained on the Capitol grounds occasionally checking out disturbances when the police would rush in to “search” someone’s backpack. In talking to several police officers who walked by, we discovered most had no idea what the Mn Peace Team was but many expressed gratitude for what we were about.
Several police officers had visceral reactions to the language some of the musicians used from the Ripple Effect stage. Some of the performers practiced a liberal amount of the F-word but what seemed to make some of the cops more nervous was when the word “riot” was thrown out several times. There seemed to be some dissonance between the hip-hop style of some performers and the overwhelmingly white cops. We suspected trouble might ensue when we heard the rumor that Rage Against the Machine, a popular band with the anarchist crowd might show up to play. The rumor also said that if they came, the police planned to shut off the sound – thus provoking a confrontation.
5 o’clock came around and two of the team chose to remain at the Capitol, joining another affinity team continuing its presence there. Three of us rode back to the church and rather than debrief, Katherine chose to quickly orient a new group of volunteer Peace Team members so they could return to the Capitol. I grabbed some supper at a nearby restaurant and just before heading over to Peace Island, I received a phone call informing me that fellow MnPT member, David Harris, had been pepper-sprayed by the police and might need some assistance getting home to Red Wing. I called Sue who was the support person at the church and she said David was OK to drive. Just before the 7PM session of Peace Island was to begin, I got another call that things were indeed heating up at the Capitol. When Rage Against the Machine showed up 15 minutes before the scheduled end of the concert, the police cut off the sound and the crowd was very displeased. If the cops wanted to ramp down a sense of confrontation, a compromise probably could have been reached. But it seemed to some of the Team members that they instead wished to provoke a confrontation.
I asked Chris, one of the day’s coordinators if she’d like me to return to duty and she said yes - if I could get there quickly. I had to return first to the church to get my green vest so other Team members could readily find me in the crowd. By the time I reached the Capitol grounds, virtually the entire crowd had marched downtown with the Poor People’s March that had come by right after the sound was cut off. Even though most of the crowd left, I saw three phalanxes of riot police marching toward the capitol and it appeared they were about to sweep the Capitol grounds. So I phoned in my situation and asked permission to stay and observe. After about 15 tense minutes, the “turtles” started to stand down. Some were removing their helmets and face shields and other were packing up their armored gear. After two of the units left and only one was remaining, I again called in and told the Team coordinators that I would try to join them on the march where once again things were heating up.
With no permitted return route for the Poor People’s March, confrontations were building near the triangle area. I can’t report first-hand what happened there although my frequent calls to Chris gave me some updates. I was physically prevented from joining the other affinity groups by a row of “turtled-up” cops who lined themselves across 7th Street. I could see a lot of commotion by Mickey’s Diner at the corner of 7th and St. Peter but then the cops pushed everyone back to the intersection at Wabasha. I noted that all the cops had put on their gas masks so I warned other bystanders and news crews that they should prepare for the use of tear gas. [An aside: are you aware that the use of tear gas is expressly forbidden by the International Treaty against the use of chemical weapons?]
The critical thing to do when facing tear gas is to try to prevent panic. Many of the people near the intersection didn’t stay around to experience it. Without prior verbal warning, I heard several loud bangs (police percussion bombs), flashes, and then saw a cloud of tear gas headed my way. I had already put on my safety goggles and had a bandana soaked in lemon juice over my nose and mouth. It still burned and my eyes teared up but I was able to help look out for others. Some in the crowd started yelling obscenities at the cops for using the tear gas. If anything, it seemed to harden the resolve of those who remained rather than intimidate them – clearly its purpose. Soon after that first use of tear gas, about 30 St. Paul cops on bikes with gas masks in place rode through the intersection and up Wabasha in what looked like a flanking maneuver. I called to check on my teammates and give them an update.
After the cops had forced any remaining demonstrators, media, Peace Team members, and bystanders behind their lines up St. Peter Street, it seemed they were going to try to box them in and drive them out of downtown through flanking maneuvers. For reasons unclear to me, they let several of us through their lines so I was able to join up with the other remaining Peace Team affinity groups. Even though I may have been in greater danger, I felt relief at being able to re-join them. Rather than being alone, I knew my Peace Teammates would work to protect one another.
Once again, the police started moving up the street with batons in front, gas masks on, yelling, “Move! Move! Move!” The only direction we could go was to the north, towards the bridge over the freeway. By now only about 50 or so remained but others had just come. Several people lived downtown or had cars parked there and their anger was building that there were no streets open to get there. Finally, Chris and Demi, our Team Coordinators approached the front of the turtled-phalanx and asked the police if there was any way these bystanders could get through their blockade. The police responded that until the intersection and street was cleared of everyone, they wouldn’t re-open it. When the Peace Team coordinators told the crowd what the police had said, some left.
After another 15 minutes or so, I noticed a change. Four riot-clad police had removed their helmets, handed off their batons, and slowly started towards us. They pointed at Chris and me with our bright green vests and signaled with their hands for us to approach. They told me, “Look, we’re all tired and we’d like to leave. But we can’t leave until this intersection is cleared. If you clear this intersection, our men will disburse and the street can be re-opened.”
I responded that it was not our role to tell people what to do but we would certainly convey their message to those remaining. I thanked them for their clear communication because it seemed to me one of the biggest frustrations was the lack of clear instructions that might lessen the tension and conflict. In a loud voice so as to be heard, I told the bystanders and remaining others, “We don’t work for the cops. But this is what they said.” And then I went on to tell them and then said it is your choice to stay or go across that bridge. If you stay, there may be other consequences. Several in the crowd felt the need to yell at the cops as they turned to go but clearly the crowd was emotionally spent and physically tired, as were the police. We walked off with the remaining crowd and the cops stood down.
It appeared to me that finally the cops realized the role our Team could play in de-escalating the conflict. However, if the police had arrested folk for refusing to leave rather than try to intimidate through the use of the chemical weapons, I believe it could have been resolved much earlier. It was at this point that I came to the conclusion that the preferred method was intimidation rather than law enforcement. That has left a bitter taste in my mouth (and caused my eyes to water).
At the debriefing at the church, Peter, the one with the most experience with this work, having co-founded the Michigan Peace Team, exclaimed, “We did some good work today. I think we saved lives or at least helped protect others from serious injury. I’m really proud of the work you’ve done here with so little training.” Despite what we did right, there were also plenty of suggestions of what we might have done differently. I missed having David, Katherine, and Don at the debriefing – two were at home recovering from pepper spray and tear gas and the other had just gotten out of the decontamination unit at the hospital –she had been pepper sprayed while trying to protect a bystander wearing a McCain for President button.
Because many members of the Team did not get back to the church for debriefing until after 10PM, we decided to wait until 10AM the next two days before starting to form our affinity groups for those days. Arriving home at 11:30 PM, I needed some time to decompress from the day and take a shower to wash the tear gas from my hair before climbing into bed.
Day Three
I took Wednesday off in order to attend Peace Island. It was a welcome change of pace listening to Ray McGovern, Mel Duncan, Coleen Rowley, Kathy Kelly, Sami Rasouli, Ann Wright, and Doug Johnson. Despite the wonderful input, I felt stressed knowing that the Peace Team was in the field. I decided I needed to rest that evening to prepare for the “final” day on Thursday so I skipped the evening speakers to have decompression time.
Day Four
The final day of the RNC promised to be the most challenging because of the nature of the last of the permitted marches. The Anti-War Committee and some other local groups decided to call the scheduled 4PM-9PM rally and March “No Peace To For the Warmakers!” It was widely bandied about that this was the time for disrupting traffic, closing down bridges and streets, some expressions of “direct action” and other forms of civil (and maybe some not-so-civil) disobedience. It was the night when John McCain would accept his party’s nomination for President.
The day’s events were to begin with a called student strike where students were encouraged to walk out of classes and school at noon and gather at the State Capitol grounds with a permitted march at 2 PM. The coordinating group, Youth Against War and Racism, has been active for several years in the high schools and colleges in the area. The Mn Peace Team was concerned about the permits not having a return route and what to do about angry students left to fend for themselves downtown. Someone in the group came up with a creative solution: might we not encourage the group’s leaders to lead all the marchers across the Wabasha Bridge and join the Peace Island picnic at Harriet Island? That way they would be out of downtown, be able to get a free meal, and have other, older mentors who have been working for peace for decades to relate to.
Colleen Rowley, the planner of the picnic readily agreed to invite the young people to join her, the YAWR leaders thought it was a good idea, and finally the police agreed to change the march route to accommodate it. It appeared to be a win-win-win solution.
Our affinity team for the day decided we would accompany the youth through downtown and be sure they were on the bridge before returning to the Capitol. With the next march to begin at 4, we wanted to be in place ahead of time because this might be the last chance for some to express themselves while the Republican politicians were still in town.
Our team stopped for a water break outside the downtown Presbyterian Church that had remained open from 8-8 every day for prayer and meditation during the RNC. As we rested, one of the team members approached a Sergeant from the St. Paul Police to ask her to clarify the march plans. Rumors were flying about that it was to start at 3 instead of 4. The Sergeant told us that the official permit was from 3-5 and everything had to be “done” by 5 because the streets would be closed at that point. Many local businesses and downtown offices were closing early so their workers could leave.
When we called into the Team Coordinators, we knew different messages were being given. They had been told the march just had to begin before 5 PM. In talking to other police around the Capitol grounds, we were told all permits had been pulled and no permitted march would be allowed. A couple of Peace Team members talked with the March organizers, asking them to announce from the stage what was happening so folks could decide to risk arrest and/or tear gassing by marching. Instead, what was announced from the stage was that “as long as we start by 5, we can march on the sidewalks. This was a different message than what we had received from some of the police.
Tensions were already high when police rushed into the crowd to detain two people they claimed were wanted for breaking windows downtown on Monday. As the police dragged the two away, the crowd surged after them yelling, “Let them go!” Quickly a phalanx of St. Paul Police on bicycles arrived to block the crowd. Then the horse-mounted squad arrived- with gas masks in place. Peace Team members tried to place themselves between the crowd and the horses, warning the crowd that tear gas might be used. After a few minutes standoff, Phil and Demi, our Peace Team coordinators for the day, approached and asked who was in charge. After they talked with the commander of the horse unit, the horses and their riders left and the crowd disbursed to listen to the speakers and musicians up on the stage.
Peace Team members gathered as the time approached the 5 PM deadline and it was decided that we should at least warn those in the crowd that the police had announced to us that there was no permit to march and that arrest and/or tear gassing was likely. Since the crowd was several hundred –mostly young people- we especially didn’t want panic to set in and have people trampled. I especially sought out several people in the crowd who I knew and trusted to make sure they had what information we had so they could spread the word. I knew some would march anyway because of their strong feeling about the war and the repression of free speech. It was clear to me that some would march and that “permits” were just another way authorities tried to squelch their rights.
A few minutes before 5, the crowd headed down the hill toward the bridges leading to downtown. Phalanxes of riot police were seemingly on all sides and one unit had blocked access to the Cedar St. Bridge and also the Wabasha Bridge. So the crowd surged up 12th Street and began marching down the John Ireland Bridge with police in pursuit.
One member of our affinity group of six had told us that she wasn’t willing to risk arrest because she had plans that couldn’t be changed for the end of the week. We told her we’d respect that choice and try to place her in a less vulnerable position. She chose to leave and go to a safer place about ½ hour later. This was certainly a challenging assignment for someone’s first time in this role and I respected her decision and appreciated her honesty.
For the next hour, we stayed on the edges of the main protest group, attempting to communicate with the growing crowd of bystanders and supporters as the main group was blockaded on the John Ireland Bridge with snow plows in place to keep protesters from getting too close to the Xcel Center where McCain was to speak. Other members of our team joined other affinity teams at the front of the main group –interposing themselves between the police and the group. After a standoff during which police gave several orders to disburse (or so we were told since we heard no clear commands from any cops other than people could leave “to the north (toward the State Capitol) or to the west (towards Sears)”, it appeared that the cops did not plan on arresting the protesters.
After a while, the main group of protesters rushed off the bridge and across the Capitol grounds towards the Cedar St. bridge which was blocked by police. About 20-30 of the group sat down and were arrested. Many others remained there and were not arrested. Again, a standoff there lasted for some time and again orders were given to disburse or “non lethal chemical agents will be used”. This order we did hear from the police and the crowd disbursed. It seemed protesters were leaving in several directions and what was left of our affinity group decided to call it a day since it was getting dark and now after 8PM.
We walked to the Sears parking lot to get a ride back to the church with members of another affinity group that was leaving. We knew at least one or two affinity groups planned to stay longer in the area. Just before getting into the car for the ride back, we saw cops, horses, and squad cars racing down Marion Street toward the bridge across the Interstate. We heard and saw percussion grenades, tear gas, and other “crowd control [sic]” devices in the distance. Since the other teams were in the vicinity, we decided not to stay and returned to the church. Later we heard the police arrested everyone they had herded on to the bridge – over 400, including journalists, legal observers, bystanders, and protesters. Was it because it was now dark that they decided now to arrest folk?
Concluding observations:
The militarizing of the police was quite evident. These were no longer “Public Safety Officers” or even “Law Enforcement Personnel”. Will we ever be able to return to “community policing”? Will those who experienced the “ninja Turtle” effect ever go to the cops when they feel they need help? This experience gave me new insights into how many in the black community often experience the police – as a threat rather than an asset.
This is a small taste of what it might feel like to be on the “receiving” end of empire. I kept coming back to visions of Roman cohorts and phalanxes when the cops moved in unison as units. I asked myself the question: What did Jesus think when he saw the Roman soldiers in his country? Maybe this was as close as Americans will get to remembering viscerally that we are at war.
The most disturbing aspect was when the cops “armored-up” there was no visible badge, no city ID, no personal accountability. (In debriefing on the second night, Team members told of witnesses at Mickey’s Diner telling them they had captured pictures of what appeared to be a Minneapolis cop repeatedly tasering and kicking in the head a guy already down on the street. To the witnesses, it was a clear case of brutality but other cops hustled off the cop before he could be identified.
The concept of Free Speech was lost to intimidation. The Free Speech area touted by the St. Paul Mayor as a symbol of openness to protesters was a joke – it was located within the highly militarized zone and anyone who feared they might be tear gassed studiously avoided the area. A friend of mine had reserved a 45-minute spot at 12:30 PM Wednesday noon. He gave his talk to an audience of 1!
It appeared that the media and “street medics” were lumped with “the enemy” (“anarchists”) – fit to be gassed, pepper-sprayed, and arrested unless they were “embedded” with the police. (Again, just like in Iraq – use the military model rather than a public safety model). “If you are not with us, you are against us” mentality. They must have learned this well from the “Commander-in-Chief”.
What happens to nonviolent civil disobedience if cops won’t arrest you but rather choose tear gas, pepper spray and brute force? Many times it seemed the cops went out of their way NOT to arrest folk who clearly wished to do civil disobedience. Was the decision to use mace/tear gas and pepper spray a determination NOT to arrest people because so many of the police were from out of town and/or out of state and it would be too costly to have them return to testify at trials?
No one on the Team saw anyone throwing feces or urine at the cops –despite the reports from the “mainstream media” and the Sheriff that it was one of the reasons for the actions of the police. Later, in one debrief, I heard someone say they saw a demonstrator pick up some “road apples” dropped in the street by police horses and he rubbed it on a police squad car as a form of his “political speech”.
Why are delegates kept in a bubble from what is happening on the outside? With the mainstream media’s failure to cover most of what happened on the streets (except for reports of “anarchists breaking windows and throwing urine and feces”), the delegates were kept in the dark about the large presence of people opposed to the war and their party’s policies.
What we experienced was the demonization of dissent -if you can label some as “anarchists”, you can dismiss them. Many self-identified anarchists are committed to principled nonviolence. There is a small group of predominately younger people who do seem to have little regard for the rights of others and seem to me to be fairly nihilist in their attitude towards themselves and others. How much of this is brought about by the present war and the fact that we are leaving the next generation with a huge national debt, an environment under dire ecological crisis, and a political system that is fully controlled by moneyed interests – I can’t say. But if I were younger, the anger at the way my generation has squandered the world’s resources on greed and war might find me looking for other stronger ways to dissent. That said, I find that many of the young anarchists seem to be very politically naïve about the way property violence plays into the political strategies of the war-making political parties. What appears to some to be revolutionary merely is playing into the schemes of the reactionaries. And the masses of people between are alienated rather than motivated to join the anti-war cause.
Throughout the week, it was rare when we heard any clear commands from the police. If demands to disburse or warnings about the imminent use of tear gas were clearly announced, many people who wanted to avoid this might have been able to leave. Was the sense of chaos and confusion deliberate? When peaceful dissent is thwarted, it is inevitable that other tactics will be used by some.
On the other hand: Most cops –even ninja turtles – showed remarkable restraint and patience after being taunted for hours- although some later beat up one young man involved in the earlier taunting. Some cops readily understood role of MnPT and thanked us for what we were trying to do.
Questions about the Peace Team
Does the Peace Team try to tamp down conflict or just prevent violence? (ML King said we don’t create the violence- it is already there. We allow it to surface so it can be dealt with.) Can we take the violence on ourselves and try to protect the more vulnerable? Does the violence expose the real nature of EMPIRE? Do we try to lessen conflict to the point of squelching dissent?
Is the Peace Team another form of privilege? (in wearing the distinctive vests, are we trying to not be mistaken for “poor people” or “anarchists”).
Some activists saw the Peace Team as “peace police”. Some eschew any conversation or communication with the cops. I think it is a political mistake to automatically assume the cops are on “on the other side”. When David Harris was arrested the day before the RNC started, most of the arresting officers treated him with respect because he, like many of them, was a veteran. Although the police are charged with protecting the property of the privileged class, we should not assume that is necessarily their political choice.
Diversity training is needed for some of the Peace Team members – especially in regards to those the media pejoratively labels as “anarchists”. One older team member kept referring to them as “troublemakers” – a term I found as not very helpful. But, since this was a first experience for many of them, I want to be gentle in my criticism.
We also need to discuss flexibility in affinity team make-up – how do you decide to break up into smaller units? How do you deal realistically with the fears of fellow team members and help them grow while it might place –limits on where that team can venture. Several times I held back from “entering the fray” and remained on the periphery because I had “partnered” with a team member who was less comfortable with the possible “costs” for being closer to the front. Yet where we ended up also served a valuable, if less dramatic, role in being present to bystanders.
This week proved to continually challenge my commitment to nonviolence (in good ways), gave me new appreciation of the challenges police face, and furthered my feelings that our nation needs a radical reawakening before we lose our democracy. I hope we can all learn and grow from this experience.
[I’d encourage those who only saw “mainstream” coverage to be sure to check out what I found to be the best local coverage of the events on the street of the week of the RNC at www.minnesotaindependent.com/category/RNC (go to the dates 8/31 to 9/5) and www.theuptake.org . (Much of the video here is “raw”, unedited but it captures people speaking for themselves rather than mediated by “the media”. One very important video is at http://www.myfoxtwincities.com/myfox/MyFox/pages/sidebar_video.jsp?contentId=7364281&version=1&locale=EN-US ]
(This is not meant to be a comprehensive report – just my own personal experiences during the week of the RNC.)
“You’re hot, you’re cute, take off your riot suit” was the best chant I heard as demonstrators sitting in the street confronted the “ninja-turtle”-clad riot police who had surrounded the group. I myself got caught up in calling the heavily armored-up police in the black padded costumes that included gas masks, long wooden batons, helmets and clear visors that name from the TV show of the early 90’s. They were everywhere.
Having a retired Chief-of-Police for a brother-in-law, I know first-hand the friendship and value of many of the “men and women in blue”. Virtually all the cops I talked to who were not “turtled-up” in the riot gear were friendly to me as I greeted them in the streets wearing my lime-green vest with Mn Peace Team emblazoned on the front and back. (We also wore bright yellow hats so we could find each other in crowds.) However, when the turtle costumes were donned, many of the cops took on a different demeanor. And when the face shields were lowered, any semblance of their common humanity with us seemed to fade away. Verbal communication with most ceased entirely. Force and intimidation became the tactic de-jour rather than friendly “community policing”.
Our job as newly trained (and very inexperienced) Mn Peace Team members was to remind those we encountered – police, protesters, counter-protesters, and bystanders – of the humanity and inherent worth of each other. It was our goal to attempt to de-escalate situations where others were likely to be physically hurt.
When you put on the Mn Peace Team vest, you are taking on a role as a non-partisan. In that role, we were going to try to protect demonstrator, counter-demonstrator, police, and bystander alike. Normally, training for this type of role should take days –if not weeks- with lots of role-playing and learning to make quick decisions as a team.
Hopefully, trust can be built between members because one’s own safety might depend on them – especially in the chaos and confusion engendered by mass marches with people angry with those in authority.
Anyone with an ounce of common sense knew there would be heated confrontations when the Republican Party decided to hold their national convention in the Twin Cites, a stronghold of Democrats, liberals, and progressives. With the notable exception of Congressman Ron Paul, all the candidates vying for their Party’s nomination supported the on-going war in Iraq and boasted of varying strategies to “win” it. With large numbers of the country now feeling the war was at best a mistake and at worst an illegal act of aggression, the stage was set for massive protests when the start of the convention was scheduled for Labor Day. It seemed only an “act of God” might intervene. (Hurricane Gustav did in fact limit the first day of the convention, giving the President and the Vice-President “cover” for not appearing – to the relief of some of the delegates who wanted an unpopular President to fade from view.)
Initial training
Only 3 months before the start of the Convention, Peter Dougherty, a Catholic Priest and member of the Michigan Peace Team, came to the bi-monthly meeting of the Minnesota Alliance of Peacemakers – a collective of more than 70 Twin Cities area peace and justice organizations. He described how the Michigan Peace Team over the past 17 years has tried to serve as a non-partisan presence in public situations where conflict might ensue – be it at a Klan rally, a state execution, mass marches or demonstrations where counter-demonstrators were likely to be present, or to protect human and civil rights workers. He appeared to be in his 70’s but with a fire in his eyes and a warm smile on his face. He thought that it would be a good idea for us to consider forming our own team to respond to the needs when the Republican National Convention came to town on Labor Day.
A couple of the MAP members travelled to Detroit to be trained by the Nonviolent Peaceforce and Michigan Peace Team over a period of several days and then returned to help train local volunteers for four consecutive weekends. The goal was to try to have 100 local people trained before the RNC so we could field numerous affinity groups for the many marches and other activities scheduled for the first week in September. Bright lime-green vests were ordered and we were told in the training that we might want to bring bandanas soaked in vinegar or lemon juice and goggles in case we were in situations where tear gas was used.
We did numerous role-plays and “hassle-lines” during the 10 hours of training. It was stressed that it was not our job to try to prevent civil disobedience or even heated verbal exchanges – just intervene if it appeared someone was in physical danger of being hurt. We discussed our own personal feelings about whether property destruction was “violent” and noted that people’s reaction to property destruction was often highly charged so we must be especially vigilant at those times. Although most of those trained had participated in nonviolent marches or demonstrations in the past, we were especially reminded of our non-partisan function when we donned the vests.
The Weekend Before
We heard word on Saturday morning that police, led by Ramsey County Sheriff Bob Fletcher, had raided the “Convergence Center”, the coordinating place for the “Welcoming Committee” and other anti-war groups on Friday night. Raids continued on Saturday morning and afternoon, this time targeting homes in Minneapolis and St. Paul where 7 or 8 people were arrested and the media claimed they would be charged with “conspiracy to riot”. The sheriff claimed to have found knives, buckets of urine, axes and machetes, bomb-making materials, and maps and anti-war materials which proved these culprits were serious troublemakers. The term anarchist was bandied about –labeling all protestors into this “troubling” term that apparently was designed to invoke concepts of “terrorism”. By calling someone or a group “anarchist”, one could dismiss them as crazy, violent, destructive youth bent on raising hell and threatening “the peace”.
Caught up in one of the raids was a group of journalists so it became clear that the purpose of the raids was primarily to intimidate and send a message rather than to effectively protect the city and its citizens. The journalists targeted happened to be a group that had documented police excesses in New York City during the 2004 RNC that cost the city millions in lawsuits against the police over-reaction to protesters there. Their equipment was seized. The fear and intimidation that spread was palpable.
I got a call on Saturday from two friends from Chicago who said they would probably contact me when they were in town. However, when the call came, it was to ask Christine and me for hospitality since the “Food not Bombs” house they were staying at in Minneapolis had been raided that morning. They had been handcuffed and ordered to lie on the floor for a couple of hours before being released. We told them we’d be glad to have them stay with us since we knew both to be principled activists even though others might label them as “anarchists”. Would our home be raided for merely providing Christian hospitality?
The Day Before the RNC
Before the decision to form the Peace Team, I had already decided I would join my friend from Veterans for Peace, Dr. David Harris, in a solemn march to the site of the Convention on the day before it started - focusing on the victims of the war from both sides. We planned to carry tombstone replicas with photos of Iraqi civilians or US soldiers killed during the war. David also wanted to provide an opportunity for those who might wish to commit civil disobedience to try to carry our message into the Xcel Center itself rather than turn around at the designated area for the march.
As we gathered at the State Capitol prior to the march, I was pleased to see at least two groupings of the bright Mn Peace Team vests with yellow hats. I went over and greeted the Team members for that day and one team leader asked about any plans for civil disobedience so they would know where to place themselves in case it provoked a violent response on the part of police or counter-demonstrators. I told him what I knew and told them I was glad they were present. (I’ve told the story of the arrest in another report.)
Sunday evening after I returned home from worship, I was surprised to discover that we had another 6 houseguests. Four young women and two young men from Bash Back, a queer anarchist group in Chicago and friends of one of our other guests had arrived!
Day One
Monday, Labor Day, was to mark the start of the Republican National Convention and was the date planned more than a year before for a large coalition of anti-war groups to march. March planners hoped for a turnout of 50,000 protesters. Close to 40 people gathered in the basement of a St. Paul Lutheran Church that would serve as the “command post” for the Mn Peace Team. After introductions, we were asked to divide ourselves into groups of 5-6 depending on how willing we were to “risk arrest”. The thinking was that potential arrests were more likely to occur closer to the triangle area near the Xcel Center, the turn-around area designated for the marches. Since it was only several hundred feet from the building where the delegates were meeting, it was assumed that more civil disobedience or other disturbances would more likely occur there.
Some members wanted to be on teams with others they knew. As the groups formed, introductions continued and we discussed health concerns, things that might “trigger” strong reactions within us, our gifts/strengths that we brought to the Team, and other information the affinity group might need to know since we would need to depend on and support one another. We wrote down cell phone numbers for each other, for our Coordinators for the day, for a local lawyer and for the street medics. Some who were experienced with mass protests wrote the legal collective’s phone number on their arm with a marker in the event of an arrest and our phones were taken from us.
We were told that the coalition that organized this large march did not want the Mn Peace Team either in their gathering at the State Capitol or during the march since they had trained their own marshals. So we decided our presence would be on the sidelines, looking for any incidents where we might be needed. Teams were stationed at various areas of the march.
I joined an affinity group with my fellow Pax Christi Board Member, Scott, two friends from the Nonviolent Peaceforce, a Quaker who had previously met Scott, and a volunteer who offered to take pictures of the Peace Team in action. Karen was going to start with our Team and then switch to another later in the day. An affinity group is to make decisions by consensus and we decided to go first to the Capitol grounds where the rally would be held and then walk the march route before it began – looking for any potential bottlenecks or areas where conflict might more readily arise.
In walking the ½ mile march route, we noticed how “caged-in” the last section of the route appeared – especially the triangle-shaped turn around where protesters would be walking in what looked like a 10’ wide cattle chute. Counter protesters would be stationed on one side of the 8’ high metal fences as the marchers were closest to the Convention site. About 15-20 of the counter-protesters had started to gather so we talked with them, explaining our presence as non-partisans. We also made a point of talking to the many police present. Before the march started, there was a mixture of police in their own uniforms and I was able to identify some from Hennepin County, Ramsey County, Minneapolis, St. Paul, Edina, Eden Prairie, Minnetonka, Arlington, VA, and numerous other locations. Almost without exception, we were greeted courteously when the cops were in uniform but those who appeared in the black riot armor (“turtled-up”) rarely would return eye contact or speak to us when their face shields were in place.
Since another affinity group planned to station itself close to the triangle, we decided to be near the area where the march turned on to 7th Street so we could look down both Wabasha St. and West 7th. We would be one block from the beginning of the restricted or “exclusion” zone that formed the security perimeter around the convention area.
We decided to eat our lunch since the actual march wasn’t to begin until 1PM but a phone call from the Team Coordinators for the day told us an “unpermitted march” had begun an hour before the agreed start time and was headed our way. As we scrambled to re-group, we saw groups of the black-clad riot police running towards the east. Because this was likely to be an area of conflict, we hurried as well to monitor what was happening.
Many of the young “anarchists” were also dressed in black but without the riot equipment and padded vests, shin guards, knee protectors, and tasers, guns, or other weapons carried by their “adversaries”, the police. Bandanas over their nose and mouth were more likely to be employed. A young man in his late teens would run into an intersection of the downtown street and shake the bells he had on a stick as the signal to gather. Others came into the intersection from all directions and danced and sang and then taunted the police who came running after this “illegal” “march or demonstration”. As a phalanx of the riot police marched together to seal off one street after another – often donning tear gas masks in case the order was given by the unit commander, the “anarchist” kids would disappear leaving the intersection to the media who was trying to “cover” the action. Then the process would repeat itself a block or two away in a game of cat and mouse.
So, for a full hour prior to the scheduled march, some of the police were otherwise occupied. From my limited position (not seeing all the provocation nor all the response), our team commented to each other a pleasant surprise about how patient and restrained the police response to these provocations was. While saying that, it also appeared to me that the enormous police presence in the downtown march area – especially the increasing numbers of the “ninja turtles” seemed to also send a message of intimidation to any “protesters”. There certainly did not appear to be a welcoming presence for those who wished to exercise their freedom of speech rights with the large police presence and the cage effect of the steel fence barricades.
Soon after 1PM, the first signs of the large anti-war coalition march were evident. Streams of people with signs, banners, T-shirts with slogans, filled the streets. Riot police took up positions which blocked Wabasha Street beyond the intersection with 7th forcing the marchers to stay on route. I can imagine what a frightening sight those up-armored cops must have been for some of the young children or first-time protesters in the march! The Peace Team chatted with bystanders as we watched in both directions for any signs of conflict. About halfway through the march we noticed that the black-clad riot police had sealed off even the sidewalks so that people wishing to leave the march or bystanders could not go further into the downtown area. A number of people complained bitterly and I could see the tension mounting against what appeared to be a heavy-handed police over-reaction.
The march lasted close to two hours and our instructions were to follow the end of it back to the State Capitol. As we followed the crowd up Cedar Street, we noticed the “ninja turtles” marching behind us. As soon as we crossed the bridge over the interstate highway, the riot cops sealed off the bridge and refused to allow anyone back into the downtown area. There was a Labor Day Picnic being held on the far side of downtown with some well-known musicians and other speakers and many march participants were eager to get to the site on Harriet Island. Despite their pleas, the police refused entry toward that site for close to two hours. Even a Minnesota Public Radio journalist was prevented from walking to her studio and office even though it was in sight of the blocked intersection.
A man in a wheelchair who worn a photo id around his neck that said Chaplain on one side and Catholic Charities on the other appeared and was verbally harassing and goading the “liberal” demonstrators. While he was yelling at any “anti-war protestors” who were foolish enough to engage him, another man verbally taunted the cops, claiming that they had illegally seized some of his equipment (it appeared to be his camera) so after yelling at them for more than 30 minutes, he spread his arms wide and told them to “ “shoot me, you mother *&#^%ers”. Our Peace Team had to remain alert, ready to intervene as the tension ratcheted up. Finally, without explanation, the cops lifted their blockade after two hours. Mentally and physically spent, our affinity team called in to the church and requested to be picked up for a ride back to the church.
When we arrived at the church, we were told that while we were prevented from being downtown some of “the anarchist” groups had broken a Macy’s window and several windows in cop cars as the police again chased them through the area. Considering all the destructive power of war that people were protesting, it seemed pretty minor damage compared to the overwhelming police presence. But we also knew that the “mainstream media” would choose to focus on the very few “troublemakers” and ignore the more than 10,000 peaceful protesters.
After a late supper, I went to bed, planning to take the next morning “off” from the Peace Team in order to attend the Peace Island Conference designed to highlight solutions to our global and local problems rather than just protest. I had earlier volunteered to help with the early registration and then I’d attend the morning session, helping with the Peace Team after lunch.
Day Two
At 7AM I received a call from a close friend. She told me her son and 2 nephews went to the big march the day before and had then headed toward the Labor Day picnic at Harriet Island. Because police had shut down the bridge over the river, the three young men (two were high school seniors and the other a little older) went down to Shepherd Road to see if there was another way across to the island. My friend was trying to keep from tears as she said, “the police surrounded them and both of my nephews were arrested and charged with felonies for ‘conspiracy to riot’ because they carried masks in case tear gas was fired.” After I recommended the names of some friends who were lawyers and offers to “see what I could find out”, I learned that more than 100 young people had been swept up and arrested in this incident.
Listening to the radio on the way to St. Paul, I found it hard to concentrate on Peace Island and was relieved when I discovered that my help wasn’t needed at registration. I called right away to the Peace Team gathering at the church and asked if they could use me for the morning as well as the afternoon. They assured me that I could join one of the affinity groups about to form. I wanted to try to protect some of the young people from what was more clearly becoming police over-reaction and intimidation of peaceful protest.
I arrived at the church after the day’s orientation had begun. I stated a preference to help with the march the Somali group would begin at noon rather than the Poor People’s March at 4 because I still naively thought I could attend at least the evening sessions of Peace Island. The affinity group I joined hoped to be finished by 5, debriefed by 6 PM and then I’d be free to leave.
When we arrived at the State Capitol grounds where the march was scheduled to begin, there were no Somalis to be seen. “Ripple Effect”, a non-partisan music festival was getting ready to start, a sustainable ecology exhibit was set up on one side and the other side flanking the concert area contained the Quaker-sponsored “Eyes Wide Open” display of empty pairs of combat boots lined in rows by states with the names of the dead US Troops attached. Separately was also a display of empty “civilian” shoes –men, women, and children’s – to mark the untold Iraqi deaths from this war.
Finally, about ½ hour after I thought the march was supposed to begin, I noticed three Somali men so I approached them, introducing myself and my role as a Peace Team member, and asked if they were here for the Somali march. They smiled and said yes. I was told they were waiting for more of their friends who were “on the way” and the march would begin about 1PM. At 1, with only 6 men and one woman, they said we’d wait a little longer. Finally, the one who appeared to be the leader went on the Ripple Effect stage and welcomed anyone else here who wanted to join them in protesting US support for the Ethiopian occupation of Somalia. So few American citizens know about the US role in the politics in the Horn of East Africa but several young people joined making the march about 20-25 people with our five person Peace Team walking alongside them in the event of any threats.
The police presence in the downtown area looked completely different than the day before. It was hard to spot a “ninja turtle”-clad officer. The few cops we saw were in their uniforms with the city name and badge number visible. Downtown was much busier – it being a regular work day rather than the holiday we experienced the day before. The group chanted “We want peace!” “End the genocide in Somalia”. “Ethiopia out of Somalia.” “End US support of warlords!”
When the small marching contingent arrived at the triangular area closest to the Xcel Center, we discovered along with the marchers that not only was there no turn-around like the previous day but the police escort also ended. As marchers tried to return the way they came, they had to dodge cars at the intersections and none of the police gave any directions where to go so the group had to return on the sidewalk along Minnesota Street rather than march against the one-way traffic facing the marchers on Cedar. Up until this point the march was uneventful with 3 of the Peace Team close to the front of the march and the other two by the rear. As we crossed Twelfth Street, a van making a left hand turn barely missed one of our Team members and immediately close to 20-30 police arrived on the scene grabbing two people from the end of the march rather than stopping the driver of the van.
Both people who were grabbed were dressed in typical “anarchist” style and the cops quickly had them in custody. I noticed the commotion and rushed back to the intersection but the police would not let me cross over to the side where the two were being held. One of our Team Members had remained on that side and together all the Team Members carefully watched the cops’ behavior. After we informed the police that these young people had been invited to be part of the march by the Somali group (and, I think because we were watching closely), they released the two after about 15 minutes. We escorted them along with the three “street medic” friends who came by to be sure the cops didn’t follow them until they had returned to the Capitol.
We passed the word to the Team scheduled to be present with the Poor People’s March later in the day that the “return” after the march might not be part of the permit and might be “on your own” –prophetic words indeed. Our Team remained on the Capitol grounds occasionally checking out disturbances when the police would rush in to “search” someone’s backpack. In talking to several police officers who walked by, we discovered most had no idea what the Mn Peace Team was but many expressed gratitude for what we were about.
Several police officers had visceral reactions to the language some of the musicians used from the Ripple Effect stage. Some of the performers practiced a liberal amount of the F-word but what seemed to make some of the cops more nervous was when the word “riot” was thrown out several times. There seemed to be some dissonance between the hip-hop style of some performers and the overwhelmingly white cops. We suspected trouble might ensue when we heard the rumor that Rage Against the Machine, a popular band with the anarchist crowd might show up to play. The rumor also said that if they came, the police planned to shut off the sound – thus provoking a confrontation.
5 o’clock came around and two of the team chose to remain at the Capitol, joining another affinity team continuing its presence there. Three of us rode back to the church and rather than debrief, Katherine chose to quickly orient a new group of volunteer Peace Team members so they could return to the Capitol. I grabbed some supper at a nearby restaurant and just before heading over to Peace Island, I received a phone call informing me that fellow MnPT member, David Harris, had been pepper-sprayed by the police and might need some assistance getting home to Red Wing. I called Sue who was the support person at the church and she said David was OK to drive. Just before the 7PM session of Peace Island was to begin, I got another call that things were indeed heating up at the Capitol. When Rage Against the Machine showed up 15 minutes before the scheduled end of the concert, the police cut off the sound and the crowd was very displeased. If the cops wanted to ramp down a sense of confrontation, a compromise probably could have been reached. But it seemed to some of the Team members that they instead wished to provoke a confrontation.
I asked Chris, one of the day’s coordinators if she’d like me to return to duty and she said yes - if I could get there quickly. I had to return first to the church to get my green vest so other Team members could readily find me in the crowd. By the time I reached the Capitol grounds, virtually the entire crowd had marched downtown with the Poor People’s March that had come by right after the sound was cut off. Even though most of the crowd left, I saw three phalanxes of riot police marching toward the capitol and it appeared they were about to sweep the Capitol grounds. So I phoned in my situation and asked permission to stay and observe. After about 15 tense minutes, the “turtles” started to stand down. Some were removing their helmets and face shields and other were packing up their armored gear. After two of the units left and only one was remaining, I again called in and told the Team coordinators that I would try to join them on the march where once again things were heating up.
With no permitted return route for the Poor People’s March, confrontations were building near the triangle area. I can’t report first-hand what happened there although my frequent calls to Chris gave me some updates. I was physically prevented from joining the other affinity groups by a row of “turtled-up” cops who lined themselves across 7th Street. I could see a lot of commotion by Mickey’s Diner at the corner of 7th and St. Peter but then the cops pushed everyone back to the intersection at Wabasha. I noted that all the cops had put on their gas masks so I warned other bystanders and news crews that they should prepare for the use of tear gas. [An aside: are you aware that the use of tear gas is expressly forbidden by the International Treaty against the use of chemical weapons?]
The critical thing to do when facing tear gas is to try to prevent panic. Many of the people near the intersection didn’t stay around to experience it. Without prior verbal warning, I heard several loud bangs (police percussion bombs), flashes, and then saw a cloud of tear gas headed my way. I had already put on my safety goggles and had a bandana soaked in lemon juice over my nose and mouth. It still burned and my eyes teared up but I was able to help look out for others. Some in the crowd started yelling obscenities at the cops for using the tear gas. If anything, it seemed to harden the resolve of those who remained rather than intimidate them – clearly its purpose. Soon after that first use of tear gas, about 30 St. Paul cops on bikes with gas masks in place rode through the intersection and up Wabasha in what looked like a flanking maneuver. I called to check on my teammates and give them an update.
After the cops had forced any remaining demonstrators, media, Peace Team members, and bystanders behind their lines up St. Peter Street, it seemed they were going to try to box them in and drive them out of downtown through flanking maneuvers. For reasons unclear to me, they let several of us through their lines so I was able to join up with the other remaining Peace Team affinity groups. Even though I may have been in greater danger, I felt relief at being able to re-join them. Rather than being alone, I knew my Peace Teammates would work to protect one another.
Once again, the police started moving up the street with batons in front, gas masks on, yelling, “Move! Move! Move!” The only direction we could go was to the north, towards the bridge over the freeway. By now only about 50 or so remained but others had just come. Several people lived downtown or had cars parked there and their anger was building that there were no streets open to get there. Finally, Chris and Demi, our Team Coordinators approached the front of the turtled-phalanx and asked the police if there was any way these bystanders could get through their blockade. The police responded that until the intersection and street was cleared of everyone, they wouldn’t re-open it. When the Peace Team coordinators told the crowd what the police had said, some left.
After another 15 minutes or so, I noticed a change. Four riot-clad police had removed their helmets, handed off their batons, and slowly started towards us. They pointed at Chris and me with our bright green vests and signaled with their hands for us to approach. They told me, “Look, we’re all tired and we’d like to leave. But we can’t leave until this intersection is cleared. If you clear this intersection, our men will disburse and the street can be re-opened.”
I responded that it was not our role to tell people what to do but we would certainly convey their message to those remaining. I thanked them for their clear communication because it seemed to me one of the biggest frustrations was the lack of clear instructions that might lessen the tension and conflict. In a loud voice so as to be heard, I told the bystanders and remaining others, “We don’t work for the cops. But this is what they said.” And then I went on to tell them and then said it is your choice to stay or go across that bridge. If you stay, there may be other consequences. Several in the crowd felt the need to yell at the cops as they turned to go but clearly the crowd was emotionally spent and physically tired, as were the police. We walked off with the remaining crowd and the cops stood down.
It appeared to me that finally the cops realized the role our Team could play in de-escalating the conflict. However, if the police had arrested folk for refusing to leave rather than try to intimidate through the use of the chemical weapons, I believe it could have been resolved much earlier. It was at this point that I came to the conclusion that the preferred method was intimidation rather than law enforcement. That has left a bitter taste in my mouth (and caused my eyes to water).
At the debriefing at the church, Peter, the one with the most experience with this work, having co-founded the Michigan Peace Team, exclaimed, “We did some good work today. I think we saved lives or at least helped protect others from serious injury. I’m really proud of the work you’ve done here with so little training.” Despite what we did right, there were also plenty of suggestions of what we might have done differently. I missed having David, Katherine, and Don at the debriefing – two were at home recovering from pepper spray and tear gas and the other had just gotten out of the decontamination unit at the hospital –she had been pepper sprayed while trying to protect a bystander wearing a McCain for President button.
Because many members of the Team did not get back to the church for debriefing until after 10PM, we decided to wait until 10AM the next two days before starting to form our affinity groups for those days. Arriving home at 11:30 PM, I needed some time to decompress from the day and take a shower to wash the tear gas from my hair before climbing into bed.
Day Three
I took Wednesday off in order to attend Peace Island. It was a welcome change of pace listening to Ray McGovern, Mel Duncan, Coleen Rowley, Kathy Kelly, Sami Rasouli, Ann Wright, and Doug Johnson. Despite the wonderful input, I felt stressed knowing that the Peace Team was in the field. I decided I needed to rest that evening to prepare for the “final” day on Thursday so I skipped the evening speakers to have decompression time.
Day Four
The final day of the RNC promised to be the most challenging because of the nature of the last of the permitted marches. The Anti-War Committee and some other local groups decided to call the scheduled 4PM-9PM rally and March “No Peace To For the Warmakers!” It was widely bandied about that this was the time for disrupting traffic, closing down bridges and streets, some expressions of “direct action” and other forms of civil (and maybe some not-so-civil) disobedience. It was the night when John McCain would accept his party’s nomination for President.
The day’s events were to begin with a called student strike where students were encouraged to walk out of classes and school at noon and gather at the State Capitol grounds with a permitted march at 2 PM. The coordinating group, Youth Against War and Racism, has been active for several years in the high schools and colleges in the area. The Mn Peace Team was concerned about the permits not having a return route and what to do about angry students left to fend for themselves downtown. Someone in the group came up with a creative solution: might we not encourage the group’s leaders to lead all the marchers across the Wabasha Bridge and join the Peace Island picnic at Harriet Island? That way they would be out of downtown, be able to get a free meal, and have other, older mentors who have been working for peace for decades to relate to.
Colleen Rowley, the planner of the picnic readily agreed to invite the young people to join her, the YAWR leaders thought it was a good idea, and finally the police agreed to change the march route to accommodate it. It appeared to be a win-win-win solution.
Our affinity team for the day decided we would accompany the youth through downtown and be sure they were on the bridge before returning to the Capitol. With the next march to begin at 4, we wanted to be in place ahead of time because this might be the last chance for some to express themselves while the Republican politicians were still in town.
Our team stopped for a water break outside the downtown Presbyterian Church that had remained open from 8-8 every day for prayer and meditation during the RNC. As we rested, one of the team members approached a Sergeant from the St. Paul Police to ask her to clarify the march plans. Rumors were flying about that it was to start at 3 instead of 4. The Sergeant told us that the official permit was from 3-5 and everything had to be “done” by 5 because the streets would be closed at that point. Many local businesses and downtown offices were closing early so their workers could leave.
When we called into the Team Coordinators, we knew different messages were being given. They had been told the march just had to begin before 5 PM. In talking to other police around the Capitol grounds, we were told all permits had been pulled and no permitted march would be allowed. A couple of Peace Team members talked with the March organizers, asking them to announce from the stage what was happening so folks could decide to risk arrest and/or tear gassing by marching. Instead, what was announced from the stage was that “as long as we start by 5, we can march on the sidewalks. This was a different message than what we had received from some of the police.
Tensions were already high when police rushed into the crowd to detain two people they claimed were wanted for breaking windows downtown on Monday. As the police dragged the two away, the crowd surged after them yelling, “Let them go!” Quickly a phalanx of St. Paul Police on bicycles arrived to block the crowd. Then the horse-mounted squad arrived- with gas masks in place. Peace Team members tried to place themselves between the crowd and the horses, warning the crowd that tear gas might be used. After a few minutes standoff, Phil and Demi, our Peace Team coordinators for the day, approached and asked who was in charge. After they talked with the commander of the horse unit, the horses and their riders left and the crowd disbursed to listen to the speakers and musicians up on the stage.
Peace Team members gathered as the time approached the 5 PM deadline and it was decided that we should at least warn those in the crowd that the police had announced to us that there was no permit to march and that arrest and/or tear gassing was likely. Since the crowd was several hundred –mostly young people- we especially didn’t want panic to set in and have people trampled. I especially sought out several people in the crowd who I knew and trusted to make sure they had what information we had so they could spread the word. I knew some would march anyway because of their strong feeling about the war and the repression of free speech. It was clear to me that some would march and that “permits” were just another way authorities tried to squelch their rights.
A few minutes before 5, the crowd headed down the hill toward the bridges leading to downtown. Phalanxes of riot police were seemingly on all sides and one unit had blocked access to the Cedar St. Bridge and also the Wabasha Bridge. So the crowd surged up 12th Street and began marching down the John Ireland Bridge with police in pursuit.
One member of our affinity group of six had told us that she wasn’t willing to risk arrest because she had plans that couldn’t be changed for the end of the week. We told her we’d respect that choice and try to place her in a less vulnerable position. She chose to leave and go to a safer place about ½ hour later. This was certainly a challenging assignment for someone’s first time in this role and I respected her decision and appreciated her honesty.
For the next hour, we stayed on the edges of the main protest group, attempting to communicate with the growing crowd of bystanders and supporters as the main group was blockaded on the John Ireland Bridge with snow plows in place to keep protesters from getting too close to the Xcel Center where McCain was to speak. Other members of our team joined other affinity teams at the front of the main group –interposing themselves between the police and the group. After a standoff during which police gave several orders to disburse (or so we were told since we heard no clear commands from any cops other than people could leave “to the north (toward the State Capitol) or to the west (towards Sears)”, it appeared that the cops did not plan on arresting the protesters.
After a while, the main group of protesters rushed off the bridge and across the Capitol grounds towards the Cedar St. bridge which was blocked by police. About 20-30 of the group sat down and were arrested. Many others remained there and were not arrested. Again, a standoff there lasted for some time and again orders were given to disburse or “non lethal chemical agents will be used”. This order we did hear from the police and the crowd disbursed. It seemed protesters were leaving in several directions and what was left of our affinity group decided to call it a day since it was getting dark and now after 8PM.
We walked to the Sears parking lot to get a ride back to the church with members of another affinity group that was leaving. We knew at least one or two affinity groups planned to stay longer in the area. Just before getting into the car for the ride back, we saw cops, horses, and squad cars racing down Marion Street toward the bridge across the Interstate. We heard and saw percussion grenades, tear gas, and other “crowd control [sic]” devices in the distance. Since the other teams were in the vicinity, we decided not to stay and returned to the church. Later we heard the police arrested everyone they had herded on to the bridge – over 400, including journalists, legal observers, bystanders, and protesters. Was it because it was now dark that they decided now to arrest folk?
Concluding observations:
The militarizing of the police was quite evident. These were no longer “Public Safety Officers” or even “Law Enforcement Personnel”. Will we ever be able to return to “community policing”? Will those who experienced the “ninja Turtle” effect ever go to the cops when they feel they need help? This experience gave me new insights into how many in the black community often experience the police – as a threat rather than an asset.
This is a small taste of what it might feel like to be on the “receiving” end of empire. I kept coming back to visions of Roman cohorts and phalanxes when the cops moved in unison as units. I asked myself the question: What did Jesus think when he saw the Roman soldiers in his country? Maybe this was as close as Americans will get to remembering viscerally that we are at war.
The most disturbing aspect was when the cops “armored-up” there was no visible badge, no city ID, no personal accountability. (In debriefing on the second night, Team members told of witnesses at Mickey’s Diner telling them they had captured pictures of what appeared to be a Minneapolis cop repeatedly tasering and kicking in the head a guy already down on the street. To the witnesses, it was a clear case of brutality but other cops hustled off the cop before he could be identified.
The concept of Free Speech was lost to intimidation. The Free Speech area touted by the St. Paul Mayor as a symbol of openness to protesters was a joke – it was located within the highly militarized zone and anyone who feared they might be tear gassed studiously avoided the area. A friend of mine had reserved a 45-minute spot at 12:30 PM Wednesday noon. He gave his talk to an audience of 1!
It appeared that the media and “street medics” were lumped with “the enemy” (“anarchists”) – fit to be gassed, pepper-sprayed, and arrested unless they were “embedded” with the police. (Again, just like in Iraq – use the military model rather than a public safety model). “If you are not with us, you are against us” mentality. They must have learned this well from the “Commander-in-Chief”.
What happens to nonviolent civil disobedience if cops won’t arrest you but rather choose tear gas, pepper spray and brute force? Many times it seemed the cops went out of their way NOT to arrest folk who clearly wished to do civil disobedience. Was the decision to use mace/tear gas and pepper spray a determination NOT to arrest people because so many of the police were from out of town and/or out of state and it would be too costly to have them return to testify at trials?
No one on the Team saw anyone throwing feces or urine at the cops –despite the reports from the “mainstream media” and the Sheriff that it was one of the reasons for the actions of the police. Later, in one debrief, I heard someone say they saw a demonstrator pick up some “road apples” dropped in the street by police horses and he rubbed it on a police squad car as a form of his “political speech”.
Why are delegates kept in a bubble from what is happening on the outside? With the mainstream media’s failure to cover most of what happened on the streets (except for reports of “anarchists breaking windows and throwing urine and feces”), the delegates were kept in the dark about the large presence of people opposed to the war and their party’s policies.
What we experienced was the demonization of dissent -if you can label some as “anarchists”, you can dismiss them. Many self-identified anarchists are committed to principled nonviolence. There is a small group of predominately younger people who do seem to have little regard for the rights of others and seem to me to be fairly nihilist in their attitude towards themselves and others. How much of this is brought about by the present war and the fact that we are leaving the next generation with a huge national debt, an environment under dire ecological crisis, and a political system that is fully controlled by moneyed interests – I can’t say. But if I were younger, the anger at the way my generation has squandered the world’s resources on greed and war might find me looking for other stronger ways to dissent. That said, I find that many of the young anarchists seem to be very politically naïve about the way property violence plays into the political strategies of the war-making political parties. What appears to some to be revolutionary merely is playing into the schemes of the reactionaries. And the masses of people between are alienated rather than motivated to join the anti-war cause.
Throughout the week, it was rare when we heard any clear commands from the police. If demands to disburse or warnings about the imminent use of tear gas were clearly announced, many people who wanted to avoid this might have been able to leave. Was the sense of chaos and confusion deliberate? When peaceful dissent is thwarted, it is inevitable that other tactics will be used by some.
On the other hand: Most cops –even ninja turtles – showed remarkable restraint and patience after being taunted for hours- although some later beat up one young man involved in the earlier taunting. Some cops readily understood role of MnPT and thanked us for what we were trying to do.
Questions about the Peace Team
Does the Peace Team try to tamp down conflict or just prevent violence? (ML King said we don’t create the violence- it is already there. We allow it to surface so it can be dealt with.) Can we take the violence on ourselves and try to protect the more vulnerable? Does the violence expose the real nature of EMPIRE? Do we try to lessen conflict to the point of squelching dissent?
Is the Peace Team another form of privilege? (in wearing the distinctive vests, are we trying to not be mistaken for “poor people” or “anarchists”).
Some activists saw the Peace Team as “peace police”. Some eschew any conversation or communication with the cops. I think it is a political mistake to automatically assume the cops are on “on the other side”. When David Harris was arrested the day before the RNC started, most of the arresting officers treated him with respect because he, like many of them, was a veteran. Although the police are charged with protecting the property of the privileged class, we should not assume that is necessarily their political choice.
Diversity training is needed for some of the Peace Team members – especially in regards to those the media pejoratively labels as “anarchists”. One older team member kept referring to them as “troublemakers” – a term I found as not very helpful. But, since this was a first experience for many of them, I want to be gentle in my criticism.
We also need to discuss flexibility in affinity team make-up – how do you decide to break up into smaller units? How do you deal realistically with the fears of fellow team members and help them grow while it might place –limits on where that team can venture. Several times I held back from “entering the fray” and remained on the periphery because I had “partnered” with a team member who was less comfortable with the possible “costs” for being closer to the front. Yet where we ended up also served a valuable, if less dramatic, role in being present to bystanders.
This week proved to continually challenge my commitment to nonviolence (in good ways), gave me new appreciation of the challenges police face, and furthered my feelings that our nation needs a radical reawakening before we lose our democracy. I hope we can all learn and grow from this experience.
[I’d encourage those who only saw “mainstream” coverage to be sure to check out what I found to be the best local coverage of the events on the street of the week of the RNC at www.minnesotaindependent.com/category/RNC (go to the dates 8/31 to 9/5) and www.theuptake.org . (Much of the video here is “raw”, unedited but it captures people speaking for themselves rather than mediated by “the media”. One very important video is at http://www.myfoxtwincities.com/myfox/MyFox/pages/sidebar_video.jsp?contentId=7364281&version=1&locale=EN-US ]
Report Back on My Arrest at the RNC
Report Back on the RNC 9 by Steve Clemens. September 1, 2008
Sunday August 31, 2008 saw the first arrests of peaceful protesters at the Republican National Convention held in St. Paul, MN. As plans began to be announced for scheduled protest marches and rallies against the on-going war on Iraq and “against the Republican agenda”, a few of us in the local peace community in the Twin Cities grew uncomfortable with the style and tenor of some of the protests.
Although we are as strongly opposed to the war as many other groups, some of us wished to have a more reflective and solemn protest against the loss of life and physical and psychological destruction of both soldiers and civilians this war has wrought. This war had been supported by both major political parties and is not just a “Republican” issue.
My friend Dr. David Harris, an active member of Veterans for Peace, shared these concerns and generated the idea of a silent march carrying symbolic tombstones with the photos and names of dead U.S. soldiers and Iraqi civilians killed in the war. Our mutual friend and peacemaker, Sami Rasouli, an Iraqi-American and founder of the Muslim Peacemaker Team provided photos he has taken during the war of some of the enormous numbers of Iraqi casualties that he has witnessed first-hand.
Dr. Harris’s idea was to march to the Xcel Center, the location for the RNC, carrying the tombstones with just a drum cadence and the reading of the names of the dead on both sides with the response from the marchers being “We remember you” in a similar fashion to the annual protest at The U.S. Army School of the Americas at Ft. Benning, GA. There, each November, the vigilers respond with “Presente!” when names of the victims of that notorious remnant of the Cold War are sung out.
Dr. Harris also felt the need to include an option in the march for those who felt called to supplement their protest with an act of nonviolent civil disobedience. Marchers were told that if they wished to risk arrest, they could nonviolently continue beyond the legal route of the march and attempt to carry their tombstones to the convention site itself. He was public and clear with both the marchers and the police about these intentions and the risks involved.
Prior to the start of the march, only 4 expressed an interest and willingness to commit to the civil disobedience portion of the march with one saying she would like to do so but wasn’t sure she’d have the physical stamina to be able to march to the point where the breach of the security line would occur. So, initially, three of us chose to branch off the route to an area scouted out in advance where it appeared there was an opening in the fence.
However, when we approached the opening, it turned out to be a swinging gate to allow vehicles to pass and the gates were quickly shut and secured as we slowly approached. As I entered the area, I noticed a gap under the fenced-off area where I though we might be able to squeeze under and so I told the other two to follow me. Given my physical size, it was somewhat a chore to squeeze under the wrought iron fencing but after I managed it, I waited for the other two. When we had cleared it, I noticed to my chagrin that we were “boxed in” by fencing all around us except for a rear building entrance on one side.
However, on closer inspection, I discovered that one section of the fence wasn’t properly secured and could possibly be lifted off its hinge pins and removed to the side. Joel and David gave me a hand in lifting the heavy 4’ x 10’ panel up and as I moved the section to the side, at least a half dozen law enforcement officers rushed to the site from inside the perimeter to prevent our access. I gently pushed the fence as they struggled to close the breach. I told the officers that we were committed to nonviolence and had no intention of injuring anyone – we just wanted “to go to the Xcel Center to deliver a letter and documents to President Bush”.
Earlier that morning, I wrote an open letter to the President, calling him to immediately end this war, quoting portions of International Law and treaties it had violated. Needless to say, the police were more concerned with their security perimeter than the desires of a few to peaceably confront the “Commander-in-Chief”. After it became clear that we would be unable to proceed further in a nonviolent manner, we decided to remain where we were. We were also pleasantly surprised to find that Josh, Dan, and Duncan had joined us. I knew Josh and Dan from the recent 500 mile “Witness Against War” walk from Chicago to St. Paul they had completed the day before. I was glad to have their gentle spirits with us! None of us had previously known Duncan but he was the one who had shown David the area where we might by-pass the fence prior to the walk.
As at least a dozen police officers in riot gear with long wooden batons quickly established themselves between us and the fence, I then noticed that three other friends and joined us on “the wrong side of the law”. Sister Betty Mckenzie, a nun who is 78 had crawled under the fence along with Mary Vaughan and Jeanne Hynes. All three women have been faithful peace activists and active members of AlliantACTION, a local group that has vigiled weekly for the past 12 years at the headquarters of a war profiteer, Alliant Techsystems. So that completed our group of nine.
As the police regrouped and officers were deciding what to do with their caged prey, Mary decided to lead us in song. Down By The Riverside, Let It Be, Give Peace a Chance, and even a spirited solo by Duncan of James Brown’s classic, “I Feel Good” rang out. Many members of the media had crowded up against the outside of the fence wanting to get a photo or a quote from Betty or Jeanne who were closest to them. One of our group asked me to read aloud my letter to the President so the surrounding police could hear it. I obliged.
After what seemed to be 15-20 minutes, a police commander came to inform us that “You know you are under arrest?” Actually, other police must have been a little lax in their training as that was the first we were notified that we were “arrested”. We had a pleasant conversation with him, informing him of our commitment to nonviolence and our intent to deliver the letter and documents to the Convention site. He said that wasn’t going to happen and asked if we would “cooperate” with the arrest procedure. David, ever the diplomat, responded “of course” but then quickly added, “Actually, we might not cooperate but we are certainly nonviolent”.
In an act of supreme irony, David was the first to be shackled with a set of PINK handcuffs! I told him how proud Media Benjamin and her Code Pink group would be if they could see him now. (Media and Code Pink members had marched with us before we veered off-route.) I had to settle for black handcuffs and the officer cooperated with my request to not make them too tight because I suffer from carpal tunnel. He was very respectful and all of the officers responded to our peaceableness in a professional and respectful manner. A number of the officers responded positively to David’s ready identity as a military vet since he proudly had worn his Veterans For Peace t-shirt. I had chosen to wear my LA Catholic Worker shirt with a Dorothy Day quote: “The only solution is Love” on it. Jeanne wore her NO WAR t-shirt which included “Our God is Love; Our Gospel is Peace”.
The booking process began in the building we had come behind – St. Paul’s famous Landmark Center. We were searched and patted down and then photographed alongside our “Arresting Officer” with a white board declaring our names, birthdates, and case numbers. Our metal handcuffs were replaced with sturdy plastic flexi-cuffs and we were herded out to a waiting police van to be transported to the Ramsey County Jail for the rest of the booking process.
I later found out that Sister Betty has collapsed while being processed and was caught and helped into a wheelchair. I think the combination of the outside temperature, the march, and the excitement of crawling under the security fence had strained her frail physique. Mary informed us that she thought Betty was recovering fine. We later discovered that they kept Jeanne and Betty at the first location and completed their booking process there so they wouldn’t have to be transported elsewhere. Again, we were treated with respect and dignity despite the fact that the two previous days had seen what seemed to me as egregious excesses by the Ramsey County Sheriff’s Office against what they and the media defined as “anarchists”. They were probably ignorant that Dorothy Day herself and many of today’s principled servants of the poor, the Catholic Workers, identify themselves as anarchists.
After having our property put in plastic bags (belts, combs, watches, keys, pens and paper …) we were fingerprinted and booked. Duncan was placed in a separate cage because he didn’t have any identification on him and he was from out-of-state. It was indicated that he might be held until they could verify his identity through other means. After receiving a citation for “trespass: refusing to leave the premises of another”, the police put us back into a van with stainless benches and a divider that reminded me of a cattle truck. They drove us a block or two away from the jail and gave us directions about how to walk back to the State Capitol, our starting place. We were given our property back at that point so we were able to contact our families and friends to let them know we were OK and able to breathe free air again.
The citation indicates that we will be contacted by mail for our court appearance and, I know from previous experience, that we can be fined and get up to 3 months jail time if convicted. But that is for the next leg of this journey for peace. We must end this war!
Betty McKenzie and I were interviewed for Faith Matters, an ABC show:
http://dl-client.getdropbox.com/u/62112/ABC%20News%20RNC%20Protest.mov
(There are some good photos of the peace witness on The Minnesota Independent website. http://www.minnesotaindependent.com/6394/the-anatomy-of-a-march-veterans-for-peace-event-ends-in-arrests )
Video at: http://www.myfoxtwincities.com/myfox/MyFox/pages/sidebar_video.jsp?contentId=7329637&version=1&locale=EN-US
Video at: http://www.startribune.com/video/27726684.html?elr=KArks8c7PaP3E77K_3c::D3aDhUec7PaP3E7_0c:5D:aPc:iUiacyKUU
Sunday August 31, 2008 saw the first arrests of peaceful protesters at the Republican National Convention held in St. Paul, MN. As plans began to be announced for scheduled protest marches and rallies against the on-going war on Iraq and “against the Republican agenda”, a few of us in the local peace community in the Twin Cities grew uncomfortable with the style and tenor of some of the protests.
Although we are as strongly opposed to the war as many other groups, some of us wished to have a more reflective and solemn protest against the loss of life and physical and psychological destruction of both soldiers and civilians this war has wrought. This war had been supported by both major political parties and is not just a “Republican” issue.
My friend Dr. David Harris, an active member of Veterans for Peace, shared these concerns and generated the idea of a silent march carrying symbolic tombstones with the photos and names of dead U.S. soldiers and Iraqi civilians killed in the war. Our mutual friend and peacemaker, Sami Rasouli, an Iraqi-American and founder of the Muslim Peacemaker Team provided photos he has taken during the war of some of the enormous numbers of Iraqi casualties that he has witnessed first-hand.
Dr. Harris’s idea was to march to the Xcel Center, the location for the RNC, carrying the tombstones with just a drum cadence and the reading of the names of the dead on both sides with the response from the marchers being “We remember you” in a similar fashion to the annual protest at The U.S. Army School of the Americas at Ft. Benning, GA. There, each November, the vigilers respond with “Presente!” when names of the victims of that notorious remnant of the Cold War are sung out.
Dr. Harris also felt the need to include an option in the march for those who felt called to supplement their protest with an act of nonviolent civil disobedience. Marchers were told that if they wished to risk arrest, they could nonviolently continue beyond the legal route of the march and attempt to carry their tombstones to the convention site itself. He was public and clear with both the marchers and the police about these intentions and the risks involved.
Prior to the start of the march, only 4 expressed an interest and willingness to commit to the civil disobedience portion of the march with one saying she would like to do so but wasn’t sure she’d have the physical stamina to be able to march to the point where the breach of the security line would occur. So, initially, three of us chose to branch off the route to an area scouted out in advance where it appeared there was an opening in the fence.
However, when we approached the opening, it turned out to be a swinging gate to allow vehicles to pass and the gates were quickly shut and secured as we slowly approached. As I entered the area, I noticed a gap under the fenced-off area where I though we might be able to squeeze under and so I told the other two to follow me. Given my physical size, it was somewhat a chore to squeeze under the wrought iron fencing but after I managed it, I waited for the other two. When we had cleared it, I noticed to my chagrin that we were “boxed in” by fencing all around us except for a rear building entrance on one side.
However, on closer inspection, I discovered that one section of the fence wasn’t properly secured and could possibly be lifted off its hinge pins and removed to the side. Joel and David gave me a hand in lifting the heavy 4’ x 10’ panel up and as I moved the section to the side, at least a half dozen law enforcement officers rushed to the site from inside the perimeter to prevent our access. I gently pushed the fence as they struggled to close the breach. I told the officers that we were committed to nonviolence and had no intention of injuring anyone – we just wanted “to go to the Xcel Center to deliver a letter and documents to President Bush”.
Earlier that morning, I wrote an open letter to the President, calling him to immediately end this war, quoting portions of International Law and treaties it had violated. Needless to say, the police were more concerned with their security perimeter than the desires of a few to peaceably confront the “Commander-in-Chief”. After it became clear that we would be unable to proceed further in a nonviolent manner, we decided to remain where we were. We were also pleasantly surprised to find that Josh, Dan, and Duncan had joined us. I knew Josh and Dan from the recent 500 mile “Witness Against War” walk from Chicago to St. Paul they had completed the day before. I was glad to have their gentle spirits with us! None of us had previously known Duncan but he was the one who had shown David the area where we might by-pass the fence prior to the walk.
As at least a dozen police officers in riot gear with long wooden batons quickly established themselves between us and the fence, I then noticed that three other friends and joined us on “the wrong side of the law”. Sister Betty Mckenzie, a nun who is 78 had crawled under the fence along with Mary Vaughan and Jeanne Hynes. All three women have been faithful peace activists and active members of AlliantACTION, a local group that has vigiled weekly for the past 12 years at the headquarters of a war profiteer, Alliant Techsystems. So that completed our group of nine.
As the police regrouped and officers were deciding what to do with their caged prey, Mary decided to lead us in song. Down By The Riverside, Let It Be, Give Peace a Chance, and even a spirited solo by Duncan of James Brown’s classic, “I Feel Good” rang out. Many members of the media had crowded up against the outside of the fence wanting to get a photo or a quote from Betty or Jeanne who were closest to them. One of our group asked me to read aloud my letter to the President so the surrounding police could hear it. I obliged.
After what seemed to be 15-20 minutes, a police commander came to inform us that “You know you are under arrest?” Actually, other police must have been a little lax in their training as that was the first we were notified that we were “arrested”. We had a pleasant conversation with him, informing him of our commitment to nonviolence and our intent to deliver the letter and documents to the Convention site. He said that wasn’t going to happen and asked if we would “cooperate” with the arrest procedure. David, ever the diplomat, responded “of course” but then quickly added, “Actually, we might not cooperate but we are certainly nonviolent”.
In an act of supreme irony, David was the first to be shackled with a set of PINK handcuffs! I told him how proud Media Benjamin and her Code Pink group would be if they could see him now. (Media and Code Pink members had marched with us before we veered off-route.) I had to settle for black handcuffs and the officer cooperated with my request to not make them too tight because I suffer from carpal tunnel. He was very respectful and all of the officers responded to our peaceableness in a professional and respectful manner. A number of the officers responded positively to David’s ready identity as a military vet since he proudly had worn his Veterans For Peace t-shirt. I had chosen to wear my LA Catholic Worker shirt with a Dorothy Day quote: “The only solution is Love” on it. Jeanne wore her NO WAR t-shirt which included “Our God is Love; Our Gospel is Peace”.
The booking process began in the building we had come behind – St. Paul’s famous Landmark Center. We were searched and patted down and then photographed alongside our “Arresting Officer” with a white board declaring our names, birthdates, and case numbers. Our metal handcuffs were replaced with sturdy plastic flexi-cuffs and we were herded out to a waiting police van to be transported to the Ramsey County Jail for the rest of the booking process.
I later found out that Sister Betty has collapsed while being processed and was caught and helped into a wheelchair. I think the combination of the outside temperature, the march, and the excitement of crawling under the security fence had strained her frail physique. Mary informed us that she thought Betty was recovering fine. We later discovered that they kept Jeanne and Betty at the first location and completed their booking process there so they wouldn’t have to be transported elsewhere. Again, we were treated with respect and dignity despite the fact that the two previous days had seen what seemed to me as egregious excesses by the Ramsey County Sheriff’s Office against what they and the media defined as “anarchists”. They were probably ignorant that Dorothy Day herself and many of today’s principled servants of the poor, the Catholic Workers, identify themselves as anarchists.
After having our property put in plastic bags (belts, combs, watches, keys, pens and paper …) we were fingerprinted and booked. Duncan was placed in a separate cage because he didn’t have any identification on him and he was from out-of-state. It was indicated that he might be held until they could verify his identity through other means. After receiving a citation for “trespass: refusing to leave the premises of another”, the police put us back into a van with stainless benches and a divider that reminded me of a cattle truck. They drove us a block or two away from the jail and gave us directions about how to walk back to the State Capitol, our starting place. We were given our property back at that point so we were able to contact our families and friends to let them know we were OK and able to breathe free air again.
The citation indicates that we will be contacted by mail for our court appearance and, I know from previous experience, that we can be fined and get up to 3 months jail time if convicted. But that is for the next leg of this journey for peace. We must end this war!
Betty McKenzie and I were interviewed for Faith Matters, an ABC show:
http://dl-client.getdropbox.
(There are some good photos of the peace witness on The Minnesota Independent website. http://www.minnesotaindependent.com/6394/the-anatomy-of-a-march-veterans-for-peace-event-ends-in-arrests )
Video at: http://www.myfoxtwincities.com/myfox/MyFox/pages/sidebar_video.jsp?contentId=7329637&version=1&locale=EN-US
Video at: http://www.startribune.com/video/27726684.html?elr=KArks8c7PaP3E77K_3c::D3aDhUec7PaP3E7_0c:5D:aPc:iUiacyKUU
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