From: Eric Blickenstaff [ mailto:ehblick@yahoo.com ]
Sent:
Monday, March 21, 2005 9:37 AM
To:
Eric
Subject:
Fwd: Direct action Civil Disobedience 3/18 Eugene story
Eugene Represents!
EB
Peter <frodo55@epud.net wrote:
Date:
Sun, 20 Mar 2005 16:21:43 -0800
From:
Peter frodo55@epud.ne t
Subject:
Direct action Civil Disobedience 3/18
Eugene
story
Eugene
resisters shut down recruitment center, inject mainstream media with graphic
images of the war
*March
18^th 2005*
*Civil
resisters from the Civil Resistance study group that have been meeting at the
Friend’s Meeting house in Eugene led 70 people in a successful direct action
at the recruitment offices of the four major branches of the military service:
Air Force, Army.
In a
dignified, inspired example of classic non-violent struggle, and armed with
graphic photo enlargements of the human casualties of the war, American and
Iraqi, as well as thoroughly researched material that exposed the lies of our
government about the realities of the war and the recruitment process, the
resisters confronted the military recruiters and the mainstream media. While
acting from a place of deep compassion and respect for the human dignity for
those who disagree with us, we achieved three major objectives with startling
success; we shut down the recruitment center for the day; we succeeded in
injecting into the mainstream media graphic images and powerful verbal messages
capable of transforming public opinion about the war; and we established our
First Amendment rights to demonstrate at a supposedly “private property”
shopping center without interference from law enforcement.*
*The
action was executed after a month of meticulous planning, many meetings, civil
disobedience training, copious research and a tremendous amount of hard work and
long hours by many of the resisters. We organized the Civil Resistance study
group around the idea that the time had come for action, in addition to ongoing
legal and conventional methods of resisting the war. Our group studied
successful non-violent resistance movements from the American civil rights
struggle, the South African struggle against apartheid, the Indian independence
movement under Gandhi’s leadership, the Polish Solidarity movement that
overthrew the communist regime, and the Danish resistance to the Nazis in WWII.
*
*We
made the decision to confront military recruiters and the mainstream media at
their offices in the Santa Clara shopping center in north Eugene with enlarged
graphic photos of the human cost of the war, images not shown in the mainstream
American press, as well as hard facts we had researched about the realities of
military life and the lack of veterans benefits for those returning from the
war. Many of us took a thorough civil disobedience training, and we were
prepared to be arrested and go to jail. We believed that since the shopping
center is _private property,_ that private security would tell us to leave and
call the police when we refused, and that the police would then have to arrest
us for criminal trespass. *
*Our
strategy was to create the classic confrontation of non-violent resistance to
create a situation in which the authorities must either show their hand and
repress us by violent means including arrest, or they would be forced to back
down and allow us to break the law, admitting they cannot control us. We also
wanted to present a situation in which the media would be forced to show the
violent disturbing images of the war if they wished to cover us. As long as we
were non-violent AND courageously stuck to our plan, we believed we would create
a win-win situation_if they arrested us, we would win by attracting public
sentiment for our cause; if they did not arrest us, we would show we could break
the law without consequences, thereby emboldening future protest.*
*Following
Gandhi’s idea to tell your “opponent” what you are going to do ahead of
time, we sent out press releases twice in the week prior to the action, to the
media and to the three law enforcement agencies in the area the Eugene Police,
Springfield Police, and Lane County Sheriffs, including the fact that we would
be performing civil disobedience and were fully prepared to be arrested. The
press release included the date and time of our action, but not the location,
with the stipulation that the location would be revealed one hour before the
action started. We had a meeting with Lt. Pete Kerns of the Eugene Police
Department at his request, to go over our plans and review possible police
responses, with our attorney present and a tape recorder running. We made it
clear to him that we were committed to non-violent methods and were trained in
civil disobedience, and that among our group would be some elderly, some
children, and many others with video cameras. We questioned him in detail about
police policy about the use of non-lethal weapons such as tear gas, pepper
spray, rubber bullets, and bean bag projectiles against non-violent protesters.
*
*Many
people in the group worked many late nights to create very polished written
materials for the press packets, and packets to give to the recruiters, and we
created the placards showing the large graphic images of severely injured Iraqi
children being held by their anguished parents, American soldiers with missing
limbs, anguished relatives of dead GI’s at their funerals, and the like. *
*The
plan called for six of us to be the _advance team_ who would go into the
recruiters offices with the packets of written material and copies of some of
the photos we had prepared, and go over the material with them, then ask them to
sign an agreement that they would present this material to every potential
recruit who came in to see them. The issues we wanted to raise were the lack of
health care and education benefits for people in the military, the sexual abuse
and rape of women in the military, and the lack of a true portrayal of a career
that involved killing people, including women, children, and the elderly. This
would serve to educate the recruiters, and force them to either practice full
disclosure with potential recruits as we intended, or to refuse and thereby
admit that they were hiding the truth. While this was occurring, the rest of our
comrades would be organizing the placards with the photographic enlargements
bearing captions like, “You won’t see this on NBC,” and “This is what
collateral damage looks like,” for a dramatic display to the media and the
public in front of the recruiters offices.*
*We received many calls from the media expressing great curiosity about our planned action, trying to get us to reveal the location, including an editor of the Register Guard and DJ’s from KUGN, KLCC, and KWVA. In that way, we were able to get out the message we wanted before the action, but keep up the suspense about an action that no one outside of our supporters knew the location where it would occur. We knew we were doing something that would have an impact, if the press and the police were COMING TO US for information.*
*The
four main branches of the military have offices together at the Santa Clara
shopping center_Army, Marines, Navy, and Air Force. Our advance scout determined
one hour before the action that three of the four were open at 10:30, one hour
before the main action was to begin. Some of us believed we saw plainclothes
police in the area, but there was no obvious police presence. The media began to
arrive at 11:00. There was no sign of private security personnel.
*At
11:15, we completed our final instructions to the whole group of resisters and
supporters, which numbered 70 people, and the advance team of six people took
the recruiter packets and walked with determination to the recruiters offices.
We found that they had locked down all the doors so no one, including potential
recruits, could enter. We peered in the doors, and found only one Marine sitting
in the back of his office. We knocked on the door. He slowly, reluctantly came
to the door and unlocked it, and stood in the doorway blocking our entrance. I
introduced myself, shook his hand, and explained to him that we wanted to talk
with him about the recruitment process, and wanted to give him a chance to
address our concerns. The media converged on us immediately and we had six or
more microphones thrust in our faces. The marine became nervous and moved to
pull the door closed, but I stuck my foot in the door to prevent him from
closing it. He said that he would not talk to us and wanted to close the door,
and I continued to explain what we were there for, and opened the packet and
began going over the issues involved, the media catching every word. He then
demanded I get out of the doorway or he would call the police. I continued
talking about the issues, and he responded by saying “That’s it, I’m
calling the police,” and left the doorway to go to the phone. *
*The first major decision of the action had arrived: should we take advantage of the opportunity and enter the office, risking arrest for a federal trespassing charge, before the main media event we had planned had a chance to play out? We had made the decision beforehand that we
would
risk arrest on the shopping center sidewalk for a local criminal trespass
charge, but not occupy the offices or block the entrances involving a federal
charge, as this might be a felony (though we were advised by one attorney just
an hour before the action that this would be a misdemeanor, though still a
federal charge). I hesitated, I thought about our agreement and the main body of
our folks waiting to do the main part of our action, and I decided to step out
of the doorway. The Marine immediately ran over and locked the door. *
*The
media asked, what would we do now? We were prepared for this, and told them we
would return another time to deliver this information to the recruiters, “When
they would let us in and felt they did not have to hide from the truth.”*
*The
advance team returned to the staging area to join the main group, and with _the
undying love and devotion of a mother for her child, and the fierceness of
warriors defending their homes,_ we marched in single file, our placards turned
out of sight, to the area directly in front of the recruitment center. At the
head of the line, I saw people coming out from the shops, curious and a little
nervous. I walked right up to the two Indian fellows from the Indian restaurant
adjacent to the recruiters offices, shook their hands, and explained that we
were there to peacefully protest the war. Their eyes were filled with tenderness
as they smiled, saying “Thank you! We support you! We support you!” As
Willow passed by them and they could see the placards, she noticed they seemed
particularly moved by the images of dark skinned women, like them, clutching
their maimed children.*
*We
lined up in a row, and then our media spokesperson Karla Cohen announced to the
press our “human slide show,” that would show images of the war hidden from
the American people and potential recruits by the mainstream media and the
recruiters. Silently, one after another, we revealed the images. The public and
reporters were visibly shaken. The cameras rolled and clicked. We stood with
resolute determination and a solemn respect for the victims of this senseless
brutal war. When all of the 32 images were on display, Karla said, _We want the
American media to show the truth about the war, and we want the recruiters to
tell potential recruits the truth about what they are getting themselves into._*
*Then
we went down the line, and those of us who wished to, made brief personal
statements from their hearts about what moved them to be there. Powerful
statements came from our deepest feelings and beliefs, tears were shed, and all
who wanted to speak had the opportunity to, and the media paid attention. I
remember saying that “We have full faith in the essential goodness and the
conscience of the American people, and if these images were shown in America’s
living rooms every night, the war would be over in a week.” Several veterans
spoke eloquently, including Hank Dizney, who said the recruitment process was
deceptive and dishonorable, and that he resented this as an American citizen.
Gordi Albi, a representative of Faith in Action, an alliance of several church
groups and other spiritual traditions, said, “Ask the recruiters how much
commission they get for each person they sign up.” Many more people spoke
eloquently and with tremendous emotion as we went down the line. The recruiters
had shut off the lights and either gone home or stayed hidden in the back of
their offices.*
*It
was time to declare our success. I said to everyone present that we scored two
victories today - we had shut down the recruitment center (cheers went up!) and
that we had succeeded in establishing our right to protest at a “private
property” shopping center where we were told we would be arrested, and had
therefore forced the police to yield (more cheers!).*
*Later
we were to discover even more success from the action. Our action became the
lead story on all three major TV networks in Eugene, we received excellent
coverage on radio outlets, and we were the cover story in the City/Region
section of the following day’s Register Guard. The TV stations and the
Register Guard showed some of the graphic images we wanted to get in front of
the eyes of the public. And maybe best of all, we built a strong feeling of love
and solidarity among the people in our group, made new allies in the public and
the media, and experienced a well deserved feeling of standing tall and acting
on our convictions in the face of significant risk to ourselves.*
*The party that night at World Cafi, where we watched a home video of the action made by John Melia, was one of the greatest times I can ever recall. We won a victory today, a badly needed victory in this struggle to save the soul of our nation, and my goodness did it feel good.*
*Come join us Monday nights at 8 pm at the Friends Meeting House, 2274 Onyx St, Eugene, as we continue our efforts to make history and stop the war.*
*Peter
Chabarek*
541 579-5843*
frodo55@epud.net