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What the Bay Area Did During the War

I kept hoping that the threat of massive social disruption by nonviolent demonstrators would stop the White House from invading Iraq. Making them pause was some consolation, and joining in with millions of people around the world was gratifying, but still …

People all over the world seemed relieved that we were acting up here in the belly of the beast. I was moved by the level and kinds of activism rising from everywhere—New York, Washington, small demos in small towns and huge marches in cities abroad.

Here in the Bay Area, Direct Action to Stop the War (www.actagainstwar.org) has been a phenomenal local organizing network, facilitating perhaps the best, most sustained, affinity-group-based, 100-plus-person-spokescouncil-meeting coordinated, consensus-process-using collection of autonomous actions ever. Many of the key organizers, who exemplify leadership happy for people to lead themselves, were principals in advance of the anti-WTO protests in Seattle in 1999.

If a group lets it be known that it wants a particular tone at a location, people pretty much respect that and are supportive. The small groups that are more confrontational with cops and at times put newspaper boxes on end are few, and, if judgmental of the rest of us, aren’t too obnoxious about it. The faith community coming together has been inspiring. Many members of Presente, a cluster of affinity groups, have repeatedly been arrested at the Federal Building or wherever greed and injustice are being challenged that day. The growing use of new activist tools like PVC pipe, carabineers and rope allow people to link themselves together, making it harder and more time consuming to be removed from blockades by the police. Nothing replaces sheer numbers of people though.

March 20, the Thursday of the invasion: Downtown and all over was a sea of angry, tearful people, saying, “We can’t all just go about our lives while this atrocity is unfolding!” I was mostly at a blockade of the offices of Bechtel, the mega-construction company with friends in the Bush administration that we knew was going to get (and has gotten) big contracts for “reconstruction” in Iraq. Some workers were angry at us for keeping them out, even if they didn’t work for Bechtel. We had to blockade another building with a connecting walkway above the street—luckily, we had the numbers to do it! We even reclaimed a door after a policeman forced it open. That moment was particularly inspiring. I’ve been to Bechtel many times before (about the Nevada Test Site or price-gouging poor Bolivians for their own water), and this time we actually cost them something.

As the war wore on, the absence of a sustained movement for an ongoing general strike led us to focus on more specific targets, like offices and plants of war profiteers like Bechtel, Lockheed Martin, ChevronTexaco, Citigroup, and the Oakland Docks, where American Presidents Line and Stevedoring Services of America ship military cargo (and have brutally broken strikes). There are always federal office buildings too. Some people still want more generally to disrupt business as usual, while others find this tactic alienating for the antiwar mainstream. Often, trends are communicated by osmosis more than decision-making.

Police here are brutal at times, yet there are also antiwar officers who try to hold back. That said, people who aren’t breaking the law are getting arrested and hurt. Demonstrators who are threatening no one are being attacked. The violence at the Oakland Docks April 7 was absolutely uncalled for.

The Oakland Police used wooden bullets about the size of a wine cork that are suppose to be bounced off the ground, not fired directly at people. They also fired metal-shot-filled bags and concussion grenades. They shot people in the back, multiple times in some cases. They had been herding people back to Bay Area Rapid Transit but never gave people the opportunity to disperse. I don’t know anyone who heard an order to leave. One woman was shot in the leg, and one dockworker probably will not fully recover.

At the moment it happened, I was shuttling people the mile or so from the BART station to the docks. Moving blockaders were waving banners and beating on drums in the faint, pre-dawn light. Five entrances were blocked, each with 60 to 80 people. The Brass Liberation Orchestra was inspiring one location and Food Not Bombs had something hot to eat at another. Big trucks and workers’ vehicles were backed up in the center turn lane. No one was stressed; the International Longshore Workers Union was aware of the demonstration. The workers knew they might get to go home, the situation not being “safe”; funny, given the hazards of their work and some of the cargo they handle. In the end, along with three media people and 50 members of the community, nine workers were injured, one rather badly in a hand. But they didn’t blame us; they were mad at the cops, as they should have been—that was a relief.

The mass rallies and marches are often organized by ANSWER [see NVA, March-April], usually with other large coalitions as less-than-equal partners. United for Peace and Justice, Bay Area United Against War and Not In Our Name are main organizers of a large Mother’s Day Speak Up for Peace with music and sharing of personal stories on May 10 (motherspeakup4peace@yahoo.com).

There are so many inspiring groups, demonstrations, meetings and events, that it is awkward to mention only a few of them. Many of us are working in three or more groups simultaneously, which spreads us thin. The communist and socialist groups have been working in coalition pretty well, although different meeting styles create frustration and impatience too. People of color and their coalitions are more present at some demos and meetings than others. Various groups are offering anti-authoritarian organizing workshops, media trainings, facilitation workshops, street medic trainings, etc., and they usually draw 50 or more people.

It’s hard and painful that the war went on in the face of all of that, but as I write, I know that people all over are doing similar work. We’re not alone, and we must not despair.

— Jim Haber

Nashville-Greenlands Local

Christina VanRegenorter of Nashville Greenlands organized a one-week camp-out and vigil against the Iraq War in Nashville’s Legislative Plaza in cooperation with the Nashville Peace and Justice Center. Hundreds of people participated in the vigil and in nightly educational gatherings at the Plaza. Christina will be working most of this year as half-time staff volunteer for the Peace and Justice Center, with sponsorship from Nashville Greenlands.

Karl Meyer of the Nashville local was arrested four times and spent 19 days in jail between March 18 and April 15 for vigils and leafleting against the war at the office of Sen. Bill Frist, the Republican Majority leader of the U.S. Senate. Pam Beziat was arrested March 21 and faces trial in May. Jason Bell and Andy Smith were arrested with Karl March 24, when about 60 people, organized through the Peace and Justice Center, went with them to seek interviews with Frist’s Nashville staff. Jason and Andy go to trial in June. Karl is acting pro se in appealing one of his convictions to a higher court on grounds of denial of First Amendment rights of peaceable assembly to petition the government for a redress of grievances. Supreme Court opinions on private shopping center access for First Amendment guaranteed rights quite clearly support the legality of Karl’s actions.

Karl also fasted from all food except milk and juices for 29 days of the Iraq War fighting to express solidarity with Kathy Kelly and other members of the Iraq Peace Team who were present in Baghdad with Iraqi families and friends during the war.

—Karl Meyer

WRL Volunteer Honored

The WRL National Office has always been honored by its roster of extraordinary volunteers. Last year, that roster was enlarged with the twice-weekly presence of activist-nun Liz Proefriedt. Sister Liz also volunteers at the Metro New York chapter of the Catholic peace group Pax Christi, and on May 17, she will receive the Pax Christi Metro New York 2003 Service Award for her work as a dedicated volunteer and “consummate peace activist.”

The group will also give the Chicago-based Voices in the Wilderness its Eileen Egan National Peacemaker Award for VitW’s humanitarian work in Iraq, and Megan Bartlett, founder of Ground Zero for Peace-9/11 First Responders Against the War, will receive its Sr. Christine Mulready Local Peacemaker Award.