\"Ask not what Kraft Macaroni and Cheese can do for you, ask what you can\r\ndo for Kraft Macaroni and Cheese.\" These words, paraphrasing the famous\r\nwords of the late President Kennedy, were written on the complimentary\r\nboxes of donkey-shaped macaroni that were given to Democratic National\r\nConvention delegates who were attending a gala at the Santa Monica Pier.\r\nThe familiar blue and orange Kraft Macaroni and Cheese boxes were\r\nemblazoned with the words, \"Democrats 2000.\" \r\n\r\n<\/p>
The irony was not wasted on protestors who were standing on the pier\r\noutside the bright lights of the amusement park. After all, most of them\r\nwere there to protest the corporate takeover of the democratic process in\r\nAmerica. Protests at the Republican National Convention in Philadelphia\r\nthree weeks earlier had also focused on this theme. \r\n\r\n<\/p>
The mainline media did not, for the most part, report the reasons behind\r\nthe protests at the conventions. But I think it is important for people of\r\nfaith and conscience to be aware of the issues that triggered these and\r\nother recent mass demonstrations. In spite of the glowing reports about\r\nour economy, many people are hurting. The same policies that have brought\r\nincredible wealth to a few have brought pain and suffering to many, and\r\nhave damaged the environment. Many demonstrations were held during the 4\r\nday convention in Los Angeles, drawing attention to to inequitable, unjust,\r\nand unsustainable policies supported by both major political candidates.\r\nBut the overarching concern was the cooptation of our democracy and culture\r\nby transnational corporations, who make large contributions to both\r\nDemocratic and Republican campaigns in order to gain access and\r\npreferential treatment regardless of which candidate is elected. \r\n\r\n<\/p>
I came to Los Angeles during the Democratic National Convention as an act\r\nof faith. I came to stand with the victims of injustice and to add my\r\nvoice to others who are crying out for justice. I came to witness the\r\ninteractions between protestors and police, and to stand up for the rights\r\nof people to protest, since I had seen so much police violence at the mass\r\nprotests in Seattle and in Washington, D.C. I came to join with others in\r\ncalling our nation to repent, to turn around, to renounce policies which\r\nharm the world God loves so much.\r\n\r\n<\/p>
I was impressed by the local organizing that had gone on in LA before the\r\nconvention. Most of the demonstrations were organized by local people who\r\nhad been working for months to get march and rally permits, court orders\r\nallowing demonstrations to be near the convention at the Staples Center,\r\nand restraining orders to prohibit further police harrassment of organizers. \r\n\r\n<\/p>
As soon as I got into town, I went to the Convergence Center, an old\r\nfour-story building that served as a resource center for protestors. It\r\nwas full of activity, with people coming and going throughout each day and\r\ninto the night. People attended nonviolence, medical, and legal trainings\r\nin rooms on the upper levels. We met in our small affinity groups in\r\nwhatever space was available, and sent spokespersons from our groups to the\r\n\"spokescouncil\" meetings upstairs each evening to hear updates and to plan\r\nactions, using consensus for decision-making. People built giant puppets\r\nand painted colorful banners and signs. People helped cook and clean, ate\r\nmeals, hosted the media, stored their backpacks, made connections, and\r\nrested. People of various ages, races, sexual orientations, and concerns\r\nworked cooperatively at the Convergence Center and shared the elation and\r\nempowerment of being in the streets together throughout the week.\r\n\r\n<\/p>
During the four days of the covention, people marched and went to rallies,\r\nin spite of the sweltering heat that was reflected and intensified by high\r\nrise buildings all around. I carried several bottles of water in my\r\nbackpack and greeted the occasional tree as a welcome friend. \r\n\r\n<\/p>
A militarized police presence was everywhere. Helicopters hovered\r\noverhead. Hundreds of officers clad in black riot gear, armed with rifles\r\nand gas canisters, lined the streets. They ran in columns or rode on\r\nmotorcycles alongside marchers. Sometimes they lined up in rows, roughly\r\npushing people back for no apparant reason. At rallies, officers stood\r\ntensely or sat on horses, seeming to surround the people because of their\r\nnumbers. Nevertheless, people were not intimidated. We sang and chanted,\r\nmarched and danced, determined to exercise our freedom.\r\n\r\n<\/p>
Thousands of people marched in the \"Human Need, Not Corporate Greed\" march\r\non Monday, the first day of the convention. I marched with a contingent of\r\nsupporters of Jubilee 2000, the international church-led movement calling\r\nfor a cancellation of the debt of the world's poorest nations. We wore\r\npaper chains around our necks, binding us together, to represent the chains\r\nof debt that keep poor nations in desperate poverty. We wore signs with\r\nthe names of nations and the amounts of debt they owe: ....\r\n\r\n<\/p>
Other contingents of marchers focused on workers rights, poverty and\r\nhomelessness, women and children left behind by welfare \"reform,\" lack of\r\naccess to health care, the need for prison reform, the death of Iraqui\r\nchildren due to sanctions, and other aspects of human need. Some marchers\r\ncarried banners and wore t-shirts highlighting Al Gore's ownership of stock\r\nin Oxidental Petroleum, which is threatening to drill for oil in the\r\nenvironmentally sensitive homeland of the indigenous U'wa people of\r\nColombia. Others marchers focused on corporate sweatshops. People from\r\nglobalwarming.com wore red t-shirts which simply asked, \"What's Your Plan?\"\r\n\r\n<\/p>
Rousing songs and chants filled the air. Giant paper mache puppets\r\nrepresenting \"Corporate Greed\" pulled the strings of puppets representing\r\nAl Gore and George Bush. A contingent of Greens carried a huge Ralph Nader\r\npuppet, with signs demanding that he be allowed to enter the debates.\r\nColorful banners, flags, and more puppets, lent a festive air to this and\r\nto other marches that were held throughout the week. Thousands of us\r\nmarched to the Staples Center, where the Democratic National Convention was\r\nbeing held. We walked through the small entrance, lined with police, into\r\nthe huge enclosure surrounded by 14 foot high chain link fencing that had\r\nbeen set up for protestors. There was no shade inside the enclosure, only\r\nconcrete and asphalt reflecting the sun. I felt faint from the heat, but\r\ndrank water and got over it. After the rally, I left with a friend and\r\nwent back to the Convergence Center. \r\n\r\n<\/p>
After we got arrived, word came that police had opened fire on the crowd\r\nat the Staples Center, shooting people with rubber bullets and so-called\r\n\"beanbags,\" and that they were clubbing people with batons and using CS gas\r\nand pepper spray. We quickly cleared all the art supplies out of the\r\ndownstairs area of the Convergence Center and covered food supplies so they\r\nwouldn't be contaminated by gas when people came in. We swept and put down\r\ncarpet remnants, converting the whole first floor into a first aid station.\r\n Injured people started coming in, including Sophia Santiago, a young woman\r\nfrom my affinity group who had stayed after the rally for a concert.\r\n\r\n<\/p>
According to Sophia and other people who had been there, several rowdy\r\nyoung people at one edge of the enclosure near the Staples Center began\r\nthrowing signs and bottles over the fence. By then the crowd of thousands\r\nhad dwindled to around 500. Instead of arresting or otherwise dealing with\r\nthe small number of people causing the problems, the police pulled the\r\nelectricity from the concert and ordered all the people to leave within 15\r\nminutes. Several people said they were trying to find their friends before\r\nleaving. Others said that the only exit was blocked by police - that there\r\nseemed to be no way out. Everyone said that within a few minutes the\r\npolice opened fire indiscriminately on the crowd with rubber bullets and\r\nbeanbags, coming up behind people on horseback and clubbing people's heads\r\nwith batons. They kept it up even after people had left the enclosure,\r\npursuing people on motorcycle and horseback, chasing them up streets and\r\nsidewalks as they fled. Sophia showed me the bruises on the backs of her\r\nlegs from rubber bullets which police had shot at her after she had left\r\nthe enclosure. A homeless activist was hospitalized with cardiac arrest\r\nafter police \"beanbag\" (actually a metal bag of pellets) hit him in the\r\nchest. Children were also among crowd members who were hit. The ACLU has\r\ninitiated a class action suit for members of the media, who were also\r\nbrutalized during this incident. Fortunately, the police did not use this\r\nkind of indiscriminate violence against protestors during the rest of the\r\nweek.\r\n\r\n<\/p>
On Wednesday morning, I joined in a march against police brutality.\r\nPolice brutality was one of the issues that had brought me to LA. I had\r\nwitnessed unprovoked police brutality against peaceful protestors both in\r\nSeattle during the WTO protests last November and in Washington DC during\r\nthe protests against the IMF and World Bank in April. Independent media\r\nreports coming from demonstrations at the Republican National Convention in\r\nPhiladelphia told similar stories. Monday night's violent police action\r\nagainst protestors in LA seemed to continued the pattern of cracking down\r\non protestors and attempting to suppress dissent. \r\n\r\n<\/p>
Of course, these incidents of police violence are not happening in a\r\nvacuum. People of color in this country experience abuse on the streets\r\nand in jail every day. Politicians of both parties promote ever tougher\r\napproaches to crime. The jail and prison population in this country has\r\ndoubled in the past five years - there are now over 2 million Americans\r\nbehind bars. Over 75% of people in jails and prison in this country are\r\npeople of color. One out of three African American young men are now\r\ninvolved with the criminal justice system. Women are the fastest growing\r\nsegment of the prison population; over 80% of them have children. The\r\nprivatization of prisons has created a growing prison-industrial complex.\r\nMany companies now use prison labor to keep down labor costs and raise\r\nprofits, including Victoria's Secret, JC Pennys, Microsoft, and TWA.\r\nPrisoners make from eleven to twenty-three cents an hour. \r\n\r\n<\/p>
Local residents welcomed us as we marched through mostly Latino Rampart\r\nDistrict, coming out of their homes and places of work to wave at us. At\r\nthe end of the march, 38 of us knelt on the steps and pavement in front of\r\nthe notorious Rampart Police Station, listing our demands for justice. We\r\nwere arrested and taken to the LA County Jail. \r\n\r\n<\/p>
We spent the next week in jail, together with other protestors. Several\r\nwomen had been arrested at a supporting the U'Wa people of Colombia. One\r\nwoman had been arrested at a Critical Mass bike ride which was meant to\r\nhighlight the need for alternatives to the automobile. The police had\r\nsurrounded the bicyclists on motorcycles, arrested them, and confiscated\r\ntheir bikes. There were 23 of us in all, and a similar number of men. \r\n\r\n<\/p>
We were denied books, paper and pens, Bibles, and chapel services. We\r\nwent through strip searches, lock-downs, chains, 12-hour stints in holding\r\ncells, harrassment by guards, group meetings, personal sharing, lying on\r\ncold concrete floors watching dopey sitcoms, cheering at the high points of\r\na movie about a labor organizer, \"Norma Rae.\" I feel privileged to have\r\nbeen in jail with such amazing women, strong and courageous, with spiritual\r\ndepth and insight. The time we spent together was bonding experience that\r\nI will never forget. \r\n\r\n<\/p>
Nor will I forget the women in the general population, who we spent long\r\nhours with in crowded holding cells. Many of them were in for petty crimes\r\n- crimes related to poverty or drugs. Some were in for more serious\r\ncrimes. Many were separated from their children, who they could only see\r\nthrough glass and talk with by telephone. I witnessed overcrowding,\r\nunsanitary conditions, chilly rooms, cruel and demeaning words from guards,\r\npoor food (including some that was rotten), inadequate medical care. We\r\nlistened as the women told us about their families, their histories, their\r\nmedical conditions, their analysis of issues related to the criminal\r\njustice system in this country. We laughed and cried with each other.\r\nThey taught us their songs and we taught them ours, and we sang old gospel\r\nhymns together. \r\n\r\n<\/p>
Most of the protestors, both men and women, practiced jail solidarity.\r\nWe refused to give our names until our lawyers and the District Attorney\r\nworked out a plea bargain that covered all of us. The purpose of this was\r\nto ensure that no one would be singled out for harsher penalties, and that\r\nall of us would be released together. We fasted, to protest the deplorable\r\nconditions to which the prisoners in the general population are subjected\r\non an ongoing basis. After a week in jail, we were told that we would be\r\nreleased. We pled guilty to an infraction; our penalty was time served.\r\n\r\n<\/p>
As we sat in rows in a lobby area in the police station, singing as we\r\nwaited to be released, we went up one at a time to sign our names and to\r\nshow our I.D. One of the Catholic Workers, a small woman with long dark\r\nhair, was called up before me. Tears filled my eyes as I watched her\r\nstanding there calm and straight, steadily facing the twenty or so police\r\nofficers behind the counter. Integrity seemed to radiate out from her very\r\nbeing.\r\n\r\n<\/p>
According to the Hebrew prophets, societies are measured not by the\r\nmaterial wealth of the rich, but by how they treat their most vulnerable\r\nmembers. I do not see progressive improvement in the lives of the most\r\nvulnerable people in our country today, or in the lives of vulnerable\r\npeople in other countries who are affected by our policies. The poor are\r\ngrowing poorer and the rich richer, and environmental degradation is\r\nspreading. \r\n\r\n<\/p>
This is not just happening by accident. As Ezra Earl Jones says in Quest\r\nfor Quality in the Local Church, \"The system is designed for the results\r\nit is getting.\" There are powerful vested interests who benefit from the\r\ncurrent economic and political system, including transnational corporations\r\nand banks, the wealthy few, and those who are in positions of power. Both\r\nmajor political parties support this system and derive benefits from it.\r\nBut this very system, with its carefully woven fabric of order and wealth\r\non the surface, has an underside which is tangled, tattered, and stained\r\nwith human misery and environmental destruction.\r\n\r\n<\/p>
The service of baptism in the United Methodist Church includes this\r\nquestion: \"Do you claim the freedom and power God gives you to resist evil,\r\ninjustice, and oppression in whatever forms they may present themselves?\"\r\nWhen we are baptized, and each time we go through a service reaffirming our\r\nbaptism, we say \"I do\" to that vow. Faithfulness to God in this critical\r\ntime must include claiming the freedom and power God gives us to resist\r\nwhat we understand to be evil, injustice, and oppression in the forms in\r\nwhich we see them presenting themselves in our day. And I am convinced that\r\nGod will be with us as we seek to be a part of the change that is required.\r\n\r\n<\/p>
What is needed is already happening: a global movement of people\r\nconcerned about injustice is coming together and finding common ground and\r\na common purpose: the end of corporate control of the wealth of the earth\r\nand the building of a common future for humanity based upon justice, peace,\r\nand the integrity of creation. People are rising up, calling authorities\r\nto account. The question is, where will the churches be in this struggle?\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n\"As a bee seeks nectar from\r\n all kinds of flowers\r\nSeek teachings everywhere.\r\nLike a deer that finds a quiet \r\n place to graze\r\nSeek seclusion to digest all\r\n that you have gathered.\r\nLike a mad one beyond all\r\n limits go where you please and\r\nlive like a lion completely free\r\n of all fear.\"\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n<\/p>
Dzogchen Tantra\r\n<\/p>\n","contact":"","link":"","address":"","phone":"","parent_id":0,"mime_type":"text\/html","summary":"To be published in the October Issue of Christian Social Action Magazine","numcomment":1,"fileurl":"\/uploads\/2000\/09\/protesting.html","filesize":"16.0 kibibytes","article_url":"\/news\/2000\/09\/3826.php"},"attachments":[],"comments":[{"id":3953,"heading":"faith and protest","article":"Sharon, I was at the no more Ramparts protest. I may have met you, I don't know. I am a local Mennonite pastor (my father is a Methodist pastor). Thanks for the article.","author":"Bert Newton","parent_id":3826,"mime_type":"text\/plain","created":"2000-09-24 01:53:13","modified":"2000-09-24 03:00:00","fileurl":""}]}