Giving feedback on protests

FROM AN EMAIL FROM VETERANS FOR PEACE:

The Port of Olympia has been a hot topic for anti-war protesters for over two years now. Activists, including members of Veterans For Peace, re-established a blockade that is attempting to prevent weapons, machines, and equipment from leaving the city of Olympia and traveling to Iraq. Demonstrators, tired of local resources being used to continue the war effort, have been engaging in nonviolent direct action, using their bodies to block convoys of Stryker combat vehicles from leaving the port. Protesters in Olympia are on week two of their blockade and although they have been non-violent in their action, they have seen some police violence in response. Police used batons, pepper spray, and rubber bullets to disperse activists.

WHAT CAN YOU DO TO HELP?

Email Mayor Mark Foutch at mfoutch@ci.olympia.wa.us and tell him how you support this action.

You can also copy City Council Member, TJ Johnson, who has been supportive of this port blockade. tjohnson@ci.olympia.wa.us

I sent off this email to two officials in Olympia:

I have been following what the protesters in Washington state have been doing, and I totally support their efforts. This war on Iraq is an illegal war of aggression, and a violation of the Nuremberg Principles. To do nothing is to be a "good German" of the 1930's.

The citizens of the US need to use any and all non-violent means to stop this war machine and the military-industrial complex.

Please ask your police to refrain from using violence while confronting or arresting these protesters. I am of the opinion that it is acceptable to arrest people for civil disobedience, but it is not okay to use any force, violence, or threats of same, against them. I recommend getting some wheelchairs and move them one by one that way if you feel they must be moved.

However, instead of arresting them, I think you should make the moral choice here - and join them.

First response was from T. J. Johnson, who is a city council member:

Thanks for your message.

I have made the moral choice, and have been protesting against the war since before it began. I will continue to do so.

I share your perspective on civil disobedience. Arrest if necessary. Avoid violence always.

Well, that was pretty cool. I am not sure if T. J. is male or female, one of the protesters pictured or not. But he or she is in the right frame of mind. And I, of course, sent him a big THANK YOU!

As to having your head in the right place - NOT true for the mayor, Mark Foutch. He had this response:

Ms xxxxxxx, it's not that the protesters only wished to express their opposition to the war and shipments from the port, it's that some of them insisted on actively blocking the public right of way for an indeterminate length of time, and that some of them stole and damaged public and private property and risked injury to themselves and others by their deliberate running into traffic of heavy vehicles. The City was legally obligated not to allow that to happen to the best our resources could prevent it, and to hold accountable those who engaged in illegal actions.

The protesters' actions have set off events that have, I think, damaged the effort of others who are trying to influence local, state and national elections. Karl Rove couldn't have designed a more effective piece of propaganda. It's very discouraging to see people who are so committed tactically but who can't see the strategic impacts of their actions and the publicity they get.

Well, of course they blocked the right of way. That was the whole point.... to block the passage of war materials. This was what I wrote in response to him:

I certainly do not agree with you that their actions have damaged any elections. It is very clear to me at this point that our elected officials (on the national level) are not interested in doing much of anything to stop this illegal war of aggression that grossly violated the Nuremberg Principles. And state and local officials show the same reluctance to act with any moral dignity. The elected officials are not doing anything to stop the torture and kidnapping either, much less restoring our Constitutional rights, like the right to habeas corpus (that went out with the passing of the Military Commissions Act of October 2006) or rights to privacy.

I don't accept your claim that the protesters "stole or damaged public and private property" because I have seen no evidence of that in any news reports. As for what Karl Rove thinks - he is a very evil man, and anyone who would listen to him is likely also evil and/or very stupid.

We now have a reputation around the world now as "the United States of Monsters" and the new nickname for Americans is SKANKEES. I can't say I blame them. I am sickened and ashamed of what my government is doing with my tax dollars. I am a pediatric audiologist with 27 years experience. I am 52, with two graduate degrees. I applaud that people who protested in your area, and I am glad that some of us here in the USA will not go down in history as "good Germans" who went along with our government's genocide of other nations that never attacked or even threatened us.

Those protesters may not have been effective, but nothing else has been effective either. They are, at the least, trying hard. And they (and Code Pink) have likely had more impact than all the writing, the blogging, the rallies, the praying, the meetings, the Congressional visits, the vigils and various other things that I have been doing since 2001 - all quite legal. All totally ineffective.

I included an article below on the second genocide of this young century. The first one was the genocide in DR Congo, which has now calmed down quite a bit. But back in 2001 to 2004, about 4 or 5 MILLION people were killed there, while this government in the USA did NOTHING. Even worse, this government in the USA is responsible for the second genocide - that is, the death of one MILLION people in Iraq. I honestly don't know how our Congress or anyone in the White House can sleep at night with so much blood on their hands. What your protesters did in Olympia was diddly-squat compared to the EVIL they are trying to stop.

I am not going to repost the article I included in my email here - instead I linked to it above. I must admit - I love email and the internet. It gives you an opportunity to tell anyone what you think in no time flat. And, you can do it lots and lots and lots, and never worry about getting a stamp for your envelope.

And, as to the high school students who peacefully protested the war at their school and were told that they would be expelled...... well, public pressure paid off on that one. The students were not expelled. I guess the students fully understand what kind of idiots are now running their school, though. I wish I could warn them - watch out! There are lots more idiots ahead, and some of them are violent! But I am glad they took a stand and I am glad I signed that petition and made those phone calls to the principal and superintendent of the school system.