Below is an account of what happened to me on the streets of New York yesterday (April 7th). I encourage each of you to take a moment to read as much as you can and pass it along to anyone you know who cares about freedom, peace in every form, and democratic values. Peace. ---------------------------------------------------------------- Monday morning and I’ve decided to wake up early to attend a protest in midtown Manhattan in front of The Carlyle Group, a war profiteering company with direct ties to Bush Sr. The protest had been organized to have two parts, a direct action blocking the door of the building, and a legal protest of the company and the governments’ motives for war, as well as to support those getting arrested. As it played out we were in three groups. 20 people stormed the door and blocked the building, 50 people supported them by marching on the sidewalk directly in front of the building, and 50 people were across the street on the opposite sidewalk. It is important to point out that both protests were on the sidewalk, car traffic was moving (though it was mainly police vehicles, and so was pedestrian traffic. I was on the far side of the street, standing on the curb with my back to a mailbox, holding a banner (of a corrupt dollar bill) and chanting. Just as the direct action group moved on the door, a line of police officers and vehicles moved in front of us on the street, blocking us off from the central protest. A normal tactic of separating crowds. It was not until 3 or 4 minutes later that I noticed the police had not only blocked access to the street, they had surrounded us on all three open sides, corralling the 70 or so of us in our own protest bubble. Then to my left they quietly began arresting people. I happened to look over as the first woman to be arrested was cuffed with a look of confusion and sadness on her face. Soon they began to arrest a second. I turned to the lieutenant (or at least the man in white who was telling the cops where to stand) “What’s happening here?” “You’re under arrest,” he said nonchalantly, “For disorderly conduct.” The first words offered by a police officer anywhere in my surroundings. A young man to my right, who had just arrived 2 minutes prior with his 82 year old grandfather, asked “Can I leave?” “No, you are under arrest.” And police officers were appointed to take each of us away in turn. As I was being led to the wall to be cuffed, everyone was asking to leave. “I have to get to work.” “I was just offering my support.” “What the f** is this s***!!” We were placed in a paddy wagon, 11 women, 5 men and three officers. As I sat waiting by the door (while the remaining 10 people filled the van) I watched as what appeared to be every protester on my side of the street, and what I later learned to be practically everyone on the near side of the street as well. With our hands behind our backs in plastic handcuffs, we sat in the back of a police wagon for 2 hours, as our fingers slowly lost consciousness, one woman’s hands were turning blue, but police repeatedly ignored requests to loosen her cuffs. A feat most cops argued was impossible, but proved to be untrue, though I believe most cops didn’’ know that. The police were not a well trained bunch. The officer who arrested me confessed “I’m just following orders… I wouldn’t have arrested you.” Though he later became a friend in a strange way, the fact that my arresting officer was a rookie seemed to be a major reason why I was in the later third of the releases 12 hours later. (As I know it, the first releases of the disabled and elderly were 3 hours after the arrest, the latest, those who had been arrested before, 27 hours after arrest) There were numerous cameras on the scene from both network and independent media, though there was little coverage. What coverage we received was about arrests against the war, however the local accounts of total disregard for free speech and democracy (what the American constitution calls “The First Amendment”) has been unreported. Overshadowed by under-reporting of similar infringements in San Francisco and Oakland, where rubber bullets were used and protesters beaten. Two events stand out to me most from my two hours in the paddy wagon (though it definitely wasn’t padded) and they are probably the most telling two events of the whole ordeal for me personally. After they filled our vehicle (which luckily had a seat for everyone, some didn’t, though no one had a seatbelt and they began slowly driving us away, we each began to assist one another in accessing cell phones and painfully (I could never bend like that) make calls to lawyers and loved ones. The older man, who turned out to be 82 and of German Jewish dissent had been able to take his hand out of the cuffs (they had been easy on him I guess) borrowed a cell phone and was talking in German to his wife in Queens. Though my German is poor, all of us in the understood three words as they left his mouth “de Gestapo police!” Threatening to escape at the next opportunity he informed his grandson that life had taught him “to escape if you are taken.” After that there was silence. As it became apparent that the plastic handcuffs were becoming a serious problem, and the police up front were not responding to requests for help to help one particular woman whose hands were blue. They informed us that they were taking us to a temporary holding location and we’d be out of the vehicle in ten minutes. (As it turned out it the holding cell was a public park on the Hudson river.) One woman suggested that we all refuse to get out of the vehicle till they loosened this one woman’s cuffs. There was a moment of silence as everyone considered this proposal, but nobody readily agreed (though many would have). It occurred to me and probably to many others in the van, that to this point we had not broken the law. We were being charged with Disorderly Conduct, but had not behaved disorderly, and we were not going to jeopardize our moral dignity to repressive police tactics. If they want to steal my day and place me in a cell, when I should be at a meeting to strategize environmental education in the City of New York and supporting the economy by going out at night, that is their choice. I was not go to have any part in my own incarceration, and I said so. We decided not to strike, but each of us complained immediately till they loosened the cuffs (30 minutes after our first request.) What struck me most was that the police treated us (our whole vehicle was arrested on the far end of the street) the same as they would have had we smashed in the window of the company. That they would see peaceful protesters as a serious threat to necessitate cuffing us behind our back and to ignore cries of pain (I myself still have wounds from my cuffs, I can only imagine what that woman has). It was 8 hours till they took me to see an EMT. Now I was fine, but if they had an EMT on site, wouldn’t it have made sense to have them see us early on? That they had the gall, once all was said and done, to press charges. For the longest time I thought they were going to drive us to the Hudson river, wait till they had cleared the protest, then let us go. But that would have been admitting they never should have taken us, so instead they held me for 12 hours and now I have to face charges of Disorderly Conduct. I wished I had done something wrong. I wished that I had at least been willing to face arrest to fight for the end to this war. But I realized that was not the point. The war in Iraq is a symptom, a symptom of a virus that has taken over The United States of America, has a strong hold on Canada, and threatens the entire world. The fact that police would arrest peaceful protesters should surprise none of us. The fact that it happened in front of a war profiteer with direct ties to the Bush family and much of the republican party also should not surprise us. After the WEF, and Enron protests in New York City last year we thought we saw how far the NYPD will go to protect corporate interests. But that was nothing compared to the direct violations of our rights conducted today. Those of you who know me, know that I’m willing to put myself out there for what I believe in, and that I’ve been known to be in the front lines. At that moment I realized the lines had changed. The words “You’re either with us or against us” uttered by president un-elect Bush, ring true. Now I live on the front line. We all do. What will happen tomorrow as we walk through the city with our buttons on? But the problem lies deep. It is not in this administration. It is in a system of corporate and military conquest “on behalf of the American people” of the world and the world’s resources (including people) that allows armies to invade at will, corporations to sue nations who impose social and environmental standards. And we are fooling ourselves if we think it’s not happening here, we’ve seen it happening at home and abroad for decades. Maybe, we need a wake up call. If 9-11 failed to make us realize that America, and the corporate global structure it stand for is disliked abroad, maybe something from the inside will, then who would be the enemy to hate? The New York Times recently reported that there are now two political superpowers, The United States of America and world public opinion. But as we learned today, public opinion still has no place at home, media is our outlet and media is owned by interest groups and corporations. It is only from within this country, by telling people about what happened here and elsewhere, by making people aware of the atrocities of the America nightmare. By standing up and saying, we demand change! Another world is possible! If we had been 1000 instead of 100, they wouldn’t have arrested us. If we had been 1 million, they would have given us the streets, if we had been 10 million they would have given us a voice. Please talk to your neighbors, coworkers, and friends. Tell them what happened here and what’s happening daily a home and abroad. Spread this letter to anyone you wish. Stop this war, but don’t stop there. We can stop this global injustice, we can stop this virus from conquering and eventually killing as and all that we believe in. My favourite chant at the protests has always been “Ain’t no power like the power of the people, cause the power of the people don’t stop.” If there is one thing we need to remember right now, is though democracy may be in stasis, though our planet is slowly dieing taking us with her, we can turn the tide. Life is on our side. Shalom Alechem Sa’alam Alechum Pax With peace in our heart for true wholeness for all that is broken, and strength in our hands, our minds, and our feet to make this insanity end.