Maintaining a non-violent presence

Reports in the Fresno Bee and the alternative press of a police undercover agent's infiltration of Fresno peace groups jolted lots of readers. For some it stirred memories of the bad of ol' days of the 60s. For others it's a reality check on the state of our society.

Encouraging citizens to get involved in the community and world and take personal responsibility have been cornerstones of the Modesto Peace/Life Center. There have been times our 34 years as an organization, and in working with regional coalitions, that we've become aware of agents in our midst. For me it serves as a reminder that in our work for peace and social change we need to be truthful, open, and nonviolent.

The following are guidelines developed by longtime peace activist Rita Archibald handed out at Bay Area demonstrations. — Indira Clark

Join Us in Maintaining a Nonviolent Presence

If we want others to join us...

If we want to gain allies among the uncommitted ...

We need to practice nonviolence in a disciplined, organized and empowering fashion. We need to focus public discussion on the issues—not on flag burning, not on graffiti, not on violence.

We must look at our actions as part of an ongoing (and growing!) movement. Because of the increasing size of our demonstrations, the unpredictability of the government response, and the possible presence of agent provocateurs, we need to think about the consequences of activist-instigated violence.

Nonviolent Actions You Can Take If Problems Occur

1)   Stay calm—be aware of your power to affect others. Assess what is needed in the situation and feel free to ask others for help.

2)   If you're with friends, stay together. Discuss possible responses ahead of time so you can respond quickly.

3)   If one or two individuals are being loud or confrontational, attempt to talk with them.

4)   If a small group becomes involved in a violent confrontation with police, move back, create a clear separation. Ask others to join you. Show that you don't support the violence.

5)   Remember that it's okay to say how you feel about what's happening, for example, say, "Stop that. We want to be nonviolent here."

6)   You are invited to wear a white armband or ribbon to show your support for non-violence.

Other techniques to maintain nonviolence: Talking, singing, chanting in a calm voice; eye contact; listening; not getting in heated arguments; linking hands; sitting down; using non-threatening body language, humor and common sense.

Food Not Bombs and homeless “reclaim” Tower Park against police harassment; celebrate new shelter

By DOUG GILBERT

On Nov. 23, 2003, Direct Action Anti-Authoritarians (DAAA), and it's collectives, Food Not Bombs and Mutual Aid of Modesto, and between 300-400 homeless people “reclaimed” Tower Park in downtown Modesto for 8 hours with music, banners, food, and mutual aid.

The day started at 10 a.m., when about 200-250 homeless people and concerned community members gathered in Tower Park for a breakfast feed. Vegan pancakes, sandwiches, chili and other foods were served, and organizers had to make a couple trips to the store to accommodate the large crowd. Sleeping bags, clothes, and bed sheets where supplied via a Food Not Bombs sub-collective, Mutual Aid, and by a homeless family with extra clothes, to people living in the harsh realities of winter.

By 11 am, a large tent was set up by the picnic table, and many people were lying on the grass enjoying music, and talking with friends. A large "Food Not Bombs" banner covered the side of one man's van. "Whose Park? Our Park?" was erected in front of the tent with the help of some young children and their fine spray paint job, and a huge, "Mutual Aid" banner was put up between trees on the side of the park.

One man brought out a small mike and PA, and a homeless man named Tim talked about the need for unity in the homeless community, ending with a chant of "unity". A Food Not Bombs member announced that an emergency shelter in Modesto would open in early [January]. The shelter, a former warehouse, came to be when the owner gave the building to the city as a tax write-off. This shelter means victory for homeless and community groups who have been fighting for an alternative to the Modesto Gospel Mission, which many homeless people view as religiously strict and unwelcoming to families.

By noon, the police had driven by numerous times and made no attempt to enter the park. The Coalition for Homelessness made an appearance and brought extra food, and around 1 p.m. the "Wheels of Justice" bus tour also arrived. The Wheels of Justice, a group of activists who visit and live in Iraq and Palestine and tour the US, tells of eyewitness to the effects of US foreign policy. The bus was open to interested people, and the activists brought literature out and talked to people. A short radio interview was also conducted with a Santa Cruz Pirate Radio station, going over the history of Food Not Bombs Modesto, and also how the park "reclaiming" was going.

By 4 p.m., the police had appeared once but left quickly without incident. The dinner meal was served to a crowd of about 60-80 people. A large banner/"letter" was also created from "Food Not Bombs", and to the "Modesto Police". On it homeless people wrote messages to the police using markers, and many people took the opportunity to vent their frustrations. "Leave us alone," was a common theme. Others wrote about the loss of liberties at the hands of the police, and of harassment just for basic human functions like needing a place to stay. Without a shelter for the homeless there is no where to go, and being homeless in a sense becomes illegal. Sleeping in parks warrants tickets, and sleeping in vacant buildings is illegal, and the Modesto Mission is uninviting and often full. This situation leaves many homeless people with no choice but to try and hide from the police, often unsuccessfully.

At around 7 p.m., about seven Food Not Bombs activists entered the Modesto Police Department to deliver the "letter" to the Chief of Police. He was not there, but the "letter" was delivered, and a clerk took it and put it on his desk. When asked who it was from, the group only replied, "FOOD NOT BOMBS!"

This has been another victory for the Modesto group which organized this event mainly through talking with homeless people, wheat paste campaigns, and passing out flyers. The majority of the credit goes mainly to the homeless people themselves for doing the organizing by flyering and talking with friends. With the opening of the emergency shelter, the homeless community can declare victory with one of its major goals completed.

Food Not Bombs Modesto feeds people every Sunday, two Tuesdays a month, and distributes clothes twice a month as well. DAAA does other events relating to homelessness, and other issues, and also puts out a newszine, "Northern Californian Anti-Authoritarian". To receive a copy or contact us, email modanarcho@yahoo.com

My word

By REV. FRED MORRIS

It's deja vu all over again!

From 1964 to 1974 I served in Brazil as a missionary of the United Methodist Church. Shortly after I arrived, the Brazilian army overthrew the elected government and established a military dictatorship lasting 21 years. 29 years ago I was kidnapped by those military and spent 17 days in their torture chambers before being expelled from the country because of my close relationship with the Roman Catholic Archbishop of Recife, Dom Helder Camara.

Last week in Miami I lead a teach-in for faith-based organizations on the meaning of the Free Trade Area of the Americas (FTAA) and how people of faith should respond to it. I did not take part in any protests, except to preach at an inter-faith worship service at First United Methodist Church on Biscayne Blvd. on Tuesday evening, where I reminded the worshippers that all of the communions in the National Council of Churches (36 in all, representing 50 million believers) said some 10 years ago at the time NAFTA was being passed, that they are opposed to any trade agreements that don't safeguard human rights, the environment and the rights of workers to organize to defend their interests. I summed up the matter by declaring that "Solidarity is the new name for faith," which means that we are spiritually obligated, as people of faith, to care about and to care for all of God's creatures and the creation, and not just look out for our own "bottom line"-profits. Thousands of people were in Miami to protest the FTAA because it simply does not meet those standards and looks to benefit only a few multi-national corporations and none of the people in the hemisphere.

While in Miami, I was literally horrified at the overwhelming and intimidating presence of the police. Bringing in troops from more than 40 local police forces throughout Florida, wearing their new high-tech riot gear goodies, paid for by Homeland Security to the tune of $8.5 million of our tax dollars, the police were everywhere and were aggressive and threatening in their manner and word.

On Wednesday I took part in a press conference at which representatives of a significant number of faith communities, Protestant, Catholic and Jewish, expressed their concern over the presence and attitude of the police. We said that American citizens have the constitutional right to express their opinions, whatever they may be, and that the police in Miami were clearly taking sides and regarding the protesters as "enemies", rather than as citizens expressing themselves. (Before the conference, I spoke personally with Police Chief John Timoney, expressing our concerns over the attitude and intimidating presence of the police. He said I was wrong.)

I returned home Wednesday but my son, Erick, joined the protest parade on Thursday, along with 20,000 others. The parade was very peaceful until the very end when the police literally attacked some of the marchers, many of them elderly retirees, with rubber bullets, gas and batons, and arrested about 200. These folks were accused of "unlawful assembly" for taking part in a parade that had all of the legal permits required and was following the designated parade route.

On Friday, Erick joined about a hundred other folks to protest the arrest of those other marchers on Thursday, outside the Miami jail. Standing on a public sidewalk in front of a public building, they chanted, "let them go." There was no violence at all, until the police demanded that they disperse, which they did, as is clearly documented by TV helicopters. As they were leaving, the police suddenly blocked their exit and began firing rubber bullets again. Erick was knocked to the ground by two police officers and his hands cuffed behind his back. He was thrown into a police van with about 20 other people and left there for nearly five hours, after which he was taken to jail, still handcuffed. He spent more than 13 hours with his hands cuffed behind his back, without any food or water. He was accused of "unlawful assembly" and "resisting an officer." He has three witnesses who will testify in court that Erick offered no resistance. He pled not guilty and is awaiting trial, after having paid bail.

My friends, this is scary — more, it is terrifying. Having lived under a military regime for 11 years, it seems too much like deja vu all over again.

Some questions: why does the Federal government feel it necessary to give the Miami police $8.5 million to "guarantee" the FTAA? Why is our government afraid of citizens who gather in a peaceful manner to express their opinions? Why do the Miami police feel that their operation was a "model" for other cities, when what they did was violate the Bill of Rights of all of us? (There are already class action suits being filed against the police and they will win in the courts. This will cost the City of Miami a lot more than $8.5 million when it is all over.) But if we all don't stand up now and say "Basta!" it will cost all of us a lot more with the loss of our freedom.

The author is Director for Latin American and Caribbean Relations of the National Council of Churches USA.

(edited) Submitted by Tom Hampson

Hogtied and abused at Fort Benning

By KATHY KELLY

On Sunday, November 23, I took part in a nonviolent civil disobedience action at Fort Benning, GA, to protest the U.S. Army’s School of the Americas (SOA, now called the Western Hemisphere Institute for Security Cooperation WHISC)

Shortly after more than two dozen of us entered Fort Benning and were arrested, US Military Police took us to a warehouse on the base for "processing." I was directed to a station for an initial search, where a woman soldier began shouting at me to look straight ahead and spread my legs. I turned to ask her why she was shouting at me and was ordered to keep my mouth shut, look straight ahead, and spread my legs wider. She then began an aggressive body search. When ordered to raise one leg a second time, I temporarily lost my balance while still being roughly searched and, in my view, 'womanhandled.' I decided that I shouldn't go along with this dehumanizing action any longer. When I lowered my arms and said, quietly, "I'm sorry, but I can't any longer cooperate with this," I was instantly pushed to the floor. Five soldiers squatted around me, one of them referring to me with an expletive (this f_ _ _ er) and began to cuff my wrists and ankles and then bind my wrists and ankles together. Then one soldier leaned on me, with his or her knee in my back. Unable to get a full breath, I gasped and moaned, "I can't breathe." I repeated this many times and then began begging for help. When I said, "Please, I've had four lung collapses before," the pressure on my back eased. Four soldiers then carried me, hogtied, to the next processing station for interrogation and propped me in a kneeling position. The soldier standing to my left, who had been assigned to "escort" me, gently told me that soon the ankle and wrist cuffs, which were very tight, would be cut off. He politely let me know that he would have to move my hair, which was hanging in front of my face, so that my picture could be taken. I told him I'd appreciate that.

I was then carried to the next station. There, one of the soldiers who'd been part of pushing me to the floor knelt in front of me, and, with his nose about two inches from mine, told me that because I was combative I should know that if I didn't do exactly as instructed when they uncuffed one hand, he would pepper spray me. I asked him to describe how I'd been combative, but he didn't answer.

After the processing, I was unbound, shackled with wrist and ankle chains, and led to the section where other peaceful activists, also shackled, awaited transport to the Muskogee County jail.

At our bond hearing on Monday, Nov. 24, a military prosecutor told the federal judge that the military was considering an additional charge against me for resisting arrest. I explained my side of the story to the judge, grateful that there are at least several witnesses upon whom I could call.

The federal judge determined that most of us were "flight risks" and increased by 100% the cash bond required before we could be released, from last year’s $500 to $1000.

Today I have a black eye and the soreness that comes with severe muscle strain. Mostly, I'm burdened with a serious question, "What are these soldiers training for?" The soldiers conducting that search must have been ordered not to tolerate the slightest dissent. They were practicing intimidation tactics far beyond what would be needed to control an avowedly nonviolent group of protesters who had never, in thirteen years of previous actions, caused any disruption during the process of arrest. Bewildered, most of us in the "tank" inside the Muskogee County jail acknowledged that during the rough processing we wondered, "What country do we live in?" We now live in a country where Homeland Security funds pay for exercises which train military and police units to control and intimidate crowds, detainees, and arrestees using threat and force.

This morning's aches and pains, along with the memory of being hogtied, give me a glimpse into the abuses we protest by coming to Fort Benning, GA. As we explore the further invention of nonviolence in our increasingly volatile time, it's important that we jointly overcome efforts to deter our determination to stand together against what Martin Luther King once called, "the violence of desperate men," and women.

ACTION: Direct letters seeking an investigation of the tactics used by US Military Police at Fort Benning and by our military in other places [see Kelly’s letter, this issue] to the chair of the US Senate Committee on Armed Services, Senator John Warner of Virginia, and to the ranking democrat, Senator Carl Levin of Michigan at:

US Senate Committee on Armed Services

228 Russell Senate Office Building

Washington, DC 20510

You can also write to the senators online at: www.senate.gov/~warner/contact/contactme.htm and www.levin.senate.gov/emailform/

Kathy Kelly, founder of Voices in the Wilderness, has spoken in Modesto. Contact info@vitw.org, call (773) 784-8065, or visit www.iraqpeaceteam.org or www.vitw.org.

'We're air force pilots, not mafia. We don't take revenge' (from The Guardian)