A.16
4 AM
RING, RING, RINGGGGGGGG--robot-wakeup call in my little
one-star hotel room in downtown DC. It's A16--protest
day; my heart is pounding, before I even hit the
floor--what the hell do I think I'm doing here? Why
didn't I listen to Jay, my oldest son who said,
"Ma--you're too old to go fight the revolution", or
Peter, who said, "remember, Mom, there are lots of ways
to help get the job done, without putting yourself in
harm's way."
I start getting dressed as
instructed in non-violence training: cargo pants with
lots of pockets for phone, and other protest-day
necessities--preferably tight around the ankles so tear
gas can't get in; wear frumpy old shirts and tops that
don't stand out--that the cops won't notice as
distinctive.
Next, review the contents of my
backpack against the check-list given to us by the
Non-Violence trainers: swim goggles for protection
against pepper-spray, bandana soaked in vinegar secured
tightly in its own ziplock--protection against tear-gas;
water bottle, nutrition-bars, extra t-shirt, also in
ziplock, to change into after discarding gassed upperbody
clothing; change of undies, no ID, even as in labels on
prescription bottles, credit cards; no address book, but
a small slip of paper with cell phone #'s of other
affinity groups in our Reclaiming cluster; small amount
of cash, but not too small so as not to get busted for
'loitering', remove any thing that could possibly be
construed as a weapon--nail file, leatherman tool. Make
sure new toenail clippers are in right back pocket,
easily accessible for cutting off plastic handcuffs.
Write on arm: phone # of the Midnight Special Legal
Collective for my one phone call from jail.
Ohmigoddess!
Brush teeth, that's all; no
smelly soap, hand or face lotion, shampoo, conditioner,
etc., as it helps to grab and hold teargas and pepper
spray.
5 AM:
UH OH, time to go; I head out the door of the hotel into
the dark streets of downtown DC in time to get myself to
the pre determined rendezvous point and my affinity
group. No cab in sight, so I start walking--couple blocks
down I say 'good morning' to a pair of cops walking the
beat--wondering if they could hear my heart pounding;
then as I turn the corner south on 9th, a homeless man
comes out of a dark place, still wrapped in his overnight
blanket, wants to strike up a conversation and maybe
score some loose change, but I am too wound to even slow
down for him; he easily gives up on me. Trying to look
like any early morning fast-walker, I keep south to
Independence Avenue and the corner by the Air & Space
Museum, and there they are--the group members from
farthest away, Virginia, Maryland, already dropped off,
sitting calmly on the sidewalk waiting. We all talk
quietly til the rest appear in vans, with volunteer
designated drivers to drop us off as close to our
assigned piece of the pie as the cops will allow. We are
now a 'cluster'--three affinity groups of 7-10 people
each--all witches, with varying degrees of connectedness
to Starhawk and her San Francisco-based 'Reclaiming
Society'. We are still imbued with the magickal energy of
the previous evening's ritual at the All Souls' Unitarian
Church, attended by at least 300 protestors, there to
garner spiritual support from each other, the ancestors,
elements, directions, gods and goddesses. Starhawk and
various ritual participants had called on all of the
above to give us courage, strength and clarity to do the
job we had been training for all week. She was a little
sleepy-eyed this morning, having gone straight from the
ritual to the Mobilization for Global Justice
spokescouncil to consense on the final plans with all the
other 'spokes' from all the affinity groups. Others too
had stayed up til the wee hours, packing medical kits for
each AG, which we took turns carrying during the
day.
Making
our way up the hill toward 19th and F, it becomes
ominous--black police helicopters circling and/or
hovering at the roof level, armed police observers on the
building rooftops. We have now moved on into our alert,
grounded, centered protest mode--seems like we are all a
little in awe of the situation, even though some are
veterans of previous protests. Chelidon calls ahead on
his cell to the pagan cluster--being techno-pagans of the
21st century helps us stay in touch throughout the chaos
of the two days to follow. We are talked onto our site
where there are a couple hundred people already
gathered--drumming, dancing, chanting, circling with
posters. Soon we have formed a Super Cluster with the
Teamsters and other civil disobedience veterans.
Temporary steel barricades are everywhere with lines of
riot-geared police behind--looking really mean. Their
stacked up boxes of donuts, on which they discreetly
munch, are somehow comical within the military-like
milieu. I'm trying to imagine what it looks like at all
the other blockaded intersections, protecting the 60
block radius.
Most of the official delegates
to the meetings of the International Monetary Fund and
World Bank have been bussed in with police escort in the
early wee hours. But there are still some stragglers who
we peacefully prevent from entering the streets and
buildings behind us. I find myself being momentarily
sympathetic with their frustration. At one point, a male
delegate dives through our locked arms, knocking down
some protesters. The cops rush to his help, pulling him
through, while banging on the metal barricades with night
sticks, undoubtedly to frighten us into thinking it could
be our heads. We all point and chant, "The whole world is
watching."
We came with balls of yarn
which had been 'charged' at the ritual, to web and make
sacred our protest space; this done, a transcending
magickal deterrent and protection were now in place,
symbolizing the interconnected web of life.
Thinking back on that day, it
definitely fits the description of surreal: the weather
is gorgeous--sunny, warm, and sometimes the atmosphere at
our intersection is mostly celebratory; we share snacks
and water, sing, chant, talk, while down the street in
full riot gear are more cops massing to start up toward
us--we're not sure why. The Black Bloc Anarchists move
the dumpster (on which some of us had just been drumming)
into place as a makeshift blockade as if to deter the
police--they bookend it with two handy small parked
cars.
A conflict arises between
anarchists and the other protesters over our vow of
non-violence, and that the dumpster and cars are more apt
to draw the cops and cause violence. The anarchists argue
that we need to set up this barrier to prevent a possible
police advance. An amazing event followed--an impromptu
consensus group formed, circled up, and with skilled,
calm facilitating by Starhawk and David, consensus was
reached: no more objects would be added to the barricade,
and anyone who was so inclined could dismantle it. The
police stayed down the street. Our webbing was the only
decurrent needed.
Then suddenly the rumors
telegraphed through the crowd that the cops were
approaching--prepare for tear gas, they're going to
disperse us! I fumbled into my backpack for my
vinegar-soaked bandana; on it went--could tear gas be
worse than this pungent burning odor? A big delivery of
boxes to the police turned out to be bottled
water--relief ensued.
Mid-afternoon sees a definite
relaxation and attrition of the blockade lines. The
spokescouncil of our cluster determines that victory be
declared. We head for the grassy Ellipse, arriving in
time to see the wonderful 'legally-permitted' parade. My
affinity-buddy, Bee (more code names) who is a
professional photographer--press pass, the whole
deal--from Boston, keeps clicking all the way over, while
still keeping her protective eye on me. Just as we'd all
nicely crashed on the welcome grass, the sound of chaos
and altercation erupted down the street on Independence
Ave. Seems the tail end of the parade had taken the
street and was going nose to nose with the mounties.
Behind Starhawk, Zot, Tortuga, Chelidon, Froglet,
Fireheart, and others whose code names I've forgotten, we
made our way to the frontline, at which point Star yells
to the crowd to "Sit down, sit down--the horses won't
step on you if you sit down!" One person was already
being treated for a broken leg from a horse
kick.
The huge crowd sits in
response, thankful for some direction. This brought calm
until a wedge of motorcycle police, attempting to clear
an escape route for the surrounded mounties, was
unsuccessful. The riot cops moved into action--quickly
and brutally swinging their night sticks to beat back the
crowd. We tum-bled over one another to escape. All the
pagan cluster made it safely through the day road-weary,
hungry, tired. Magickal activism lives!
A.17
The pagan affinity group was slower to get started next
morning; on my way to meet them I saw hundreds of riot
police in armored personnel carriers and lots of newly
arrived federal reserves. This did not bode well for the
day. As we waited at our pre arranged site we got a call
that some of our group had become encircled by riot
police and so we took off to join them. Some got up to
that front and I was assigned to stay back with the
medical supplies, and snacks. The cold rain kept coming
down on my not-waterproof windbreaker and a mild
hypothermia set in. Occasionally, huge mobs of people
retreating from tear gas came running down both streets
on either side of the mini-triangle park in which I was
ensconced. There was momentary fear of being trampled by
the crowd a couple times, so I was certainly not opposed
to lunch down the street at TGIF when our soggy AG had
had enough.
Others were not so fortunate.
Not til my experience in DC did I realize the true
meaning of the term, Police State. Civil rights
violations by police were rampant, even as Chief Ramsey
went on local and national TV nightly to laud and praise
the compassionate restraint of his boys in blue. It seems
that while over ten thousand people were there to protest
the unjust global policies of the IMF and the World Bank,
the police's sole focus was to make the city safe for
these corporate-owned institutions and their delegates.
Ramsey had backup from the Pentagon, U.S. Marshals
Service, U. S. Capitol Police and the National Guard--of
Kent State history-making fame.
The protestors' commitment to
non-violence remained steadfast; they were, as in
Seattle, a well-informed, well-trained, knowledgeable
coalition of diverse entities, come together to protest
the environmentally devastating, inhumane, poverty-making
consequences of the work of these
institutions.
Multiple law suits currently
pending against the DC police recount the numerous
violent abuses against peaceful, non-violent
demonstrators.
Early morning of A.17, a
student photographer from Yale observed what appeared to
be a civilian clubbing another--he called for police help
while simultaneously photoing the incident, when suddenly
the clubber--an undercover cop--turned on him with the
same brutal force; he lateraled his camera to a buddy
before getting cuffed, further beaten, and tossed into
the wagon to be later jailed.
Unjust pre-emptive strikes and
illegal mass arrests prevailed--1300 for the week. On
Saturday morning, A15, police surrounded 600 peaceful
marchers, ordered them to disperse, then prevented
dispersing, and carted them off to jail! The lawsuits
alleging multiple civil rights violations of those
jailed, cite: detainees being denied access to our
Midnight Special Legal Collective, to toilets, food,
water, medicines, phone.
On the days leading up to the
protests of A.16 & A.17, numerous trainings,
meetings, planning sessions and info-dispensing took
place at the official 'Convergence Site'-- the nerve
center, housed in a big old warehouse, adjacent to a
school in the north end of DC. The Ruckus Society served
3 nutritious vegan meals/day to anyone who wanted or
needed, (up to 1000 meals daily) out of a tiny makeshift
kitchen there, powered with a small propane stove. So, on
the morning of A.15 the DC Fire Chief, attended by a
flank of 60 cops invaded the site, ordering all to vacate
subsequent to their trumped up charges of 'terrorist
activity', citing ingredients for 'molotov
cocktail'--paint rags used for posters and giant puppets,
and the propane fuel for the stove; 'pepper-spray
ingredients'--the chili peppers for the community lunch.
This ludicrous exercise might have been laughable had
they not proceeded to confiscate all personal belongings,
backpacks containing personal ID and money, bicycles,
giant puppets and posters planned for the legally
permitted parade, herbal medicines, medical supplies for
the street, food supplies, and shut down the building.
The many folks on site attempting to retrieve their
personal belongings were threatened with arrest. The raid
was serious cop overkill, in addition to being a blatant
violation of first amendment rights. It is horrific
seeing how easily the city is turned into an armed camp
where government force can be used indiscriminately and
without recourse against innocent bystanders
With amazing speed, flexibility
and resilience, the Mobilization for Global Justice
relocated to a welcoming nearby church and was back in
business that afternoon, coordinating last minute
trainings and strategy sessions.
Further harassment by the
police thugs continued non-stop throughout the city. I
was attending a Legal Training/Jail Solidarity session at
a nearby park, presented by 4 very professional members
of the Midnight Special Legal Collective, when over the
hill came about a dozen cops demanding us to disperse.
They confiscated all the training materials including
plastic night sticks used for training demonstration. I
know I identified an undercover couple in our
midst--infiltration is inherent with the movement--on the
net listservs, at the spokescouncil, strategy meetings,
training sessions, everywhere. I know my photo is in a
file somewhere.
So much to say that time and
space do not permit--stuff about how the press and police
simply didn't 'get' the non-violence part--it pissed them
off; and how decentralized consensus-based decision
making happened right on the spot, in the streets--"but
who are your leaders?" It was simply too far out of their
experience that they couldn't deal with it.
From childhood, I have yelled
about personally perceived injustices. Most times it's a
lot easier for me to play ostrich because I feel so
helpless to enact any remedy against the machine. Joanna
Macy says, when feeling this kind of desperation, just do
what you, as one person can do. So this is one time I put
my body out there and was satisfied that maybe I helped
push consciousness raising along a baby step. The IMF
changed their agenda, and felt a need to speak out about
their goal to 'minimize world poverty', blah blah blah;
but we know that the corporate entity knows no compassion
because decent living/working conditions for all beings,
including a healthy living planet are a detriment to
trade and big bottom lines. People worldwide have
awakened to the fact that corporate global capitalism has
allowed an unconscionable use of human and natural
resources. The momentum of the discontent
builds--Seattle, DC, Detroit/Windsor, next were the
political conventions: Philly, J30, greeted "W" and the
white boys in suits; LA, A25, and Al dressing down;
Prague in September, World Bank's annual meeting
(http://prague.indymedia.org/).
"Ain't no power like the power
of the people, cuz the power of the people don't stop!"
Ya Basta!
Sally MacFarlane Neal lives,
works, and activates from her magickally sacred space
near Northport.