Before you Disobey-
Three Things To Know
Nonviolent Civil Disobedience
I was arrested in 2011 for an act of civil disobedience. It was recently brought back to me when I saw pictures of Bree Newsome as she removed the Confederate flag from the State Capitol flag pole in South Carolina. My experience was in no way as daring, but the same rules apply, daring or not. I’m writing about it now, because we need more civil disobedience and we need to know the rules/process/reality.
Non-Violent Civil Disobedience:
One — It is not exciting, but deep active value exists in the passion of inaction.
Two — It requires a conscious restraint.
Three — Those who participate value civil society as much as they care about the issues.
I was protesting the Trans-Canada KXL pipeline, with hundreds of indigenous people and ordinary citizens from across the country. The proposed Trans-Canada KXL Tar Sands pipeline is planned to cross the precious Nebraskan Sandhills, indigenous lands and the vulnerable Ogallala Aquifer that supplies water to millions of people in eight states. In light of today’s frightful water shortages in California, protecting the Ogallala now seems even more meaningful, in fact, a no-brainer.
A little background may help. The planned civil disobedience was skillfully organized by 350.org. The 350.org, an international environmental organization, was originally founded to publicize the emerging science that warned us that passing 350 parts per million (ppm) of CO2 in our atmosphere, which happened in 2011, was a profound sign that climate calamity lay ahead. It was through 350’s activism, led by the energetic and eloquent, author/ activist, Bill McKibben, that I first found a source for following climate issues. I knew there was a huge environmental problem. The 350.org organization offered clarity on the issues, as well as, the science to back it up, and has continued to do so, tirelessly.
The new century’s first climate travesty
It was 350 that sounded an alarm when the KXL Tar Sands pipeline began the invasion of Nebraska. I won’t go into all the local, state, and federal politics on this issue. There is a plethora of media on this subject now. Let me just say that 350 took to heart, scientist, Dr. James Hanson’s (NASA), estimates that by using the remaining reserves of oil, we assure the planet’s demise because burning that fossil fuel will cause atmospheric CO2 to exceed 350 ppm. (In April 2015 the ppm passed 400.)
For the planet to survive, we need to leave fossil fuels in the ground. Digging up the notoriously filthy tar sands oil and shipping it through the US to a Texas port where it would be refined and shipped to other countries seemed like the new century’s first climate travesty. Surely, people are aware of this by now. Yet, at the time, the approval of the pipeline was imminent. Hence, a massive 2011 protest through civil disobedience was organized, well before KXL was on most people’s radar.
Over 1,252 people were arrested for “resisting a lawful order” to move. Historically, this is the largest number of people ever arrested for a single protest…It shocked Washington.
The acts of civil disobedience lasted for 14 days with approximately 200 volunteers scheduled, each day, to sit in front of the White House, at the East Gate on Pennsylvania Avenue, and refuse to leave. During the 14 days, chanting and holding banners and signs, over 1,252 people were arrested for “resisting a lawful order” to move. Historically, this is the largest number of people ever arrested for a single protest. It shocked Washington and began the effort to slowly turn the ship-of-state away from approving the pipeline. It continues to turn, but approval of the pipeline still remains a debated issue! That’s the background. Here’s what I learned.
One — It is not exciting, but deep active value exists in the passion of inaction.
Other than the very scary inevitability of being arrested and carted off, non-violent, civil disobedience is not that exciting. Speakers and organizers make a great effort to engage and excite the participants. However, protestors endure endless, tedious hours of shuffling around with signs and chants. They sit, stand, sit, shout, walk, stand, lie down, sit, shout and so on. Other than being loaded into and taken away in a police wagon, and then “booked” for a misdemeanor and fined (OK, admittedly, that’s a lot to take in), protestors simply arrive early and leave late. Honestly, it’s kind of boring.
It is like being in a dull theatrical ritual with little action. That’s why you shouldn’t “fear the protest.”
Unless your Bree Newsome scaling a flag pole or you are boarding an oil rig at sea to hoist a Greenpeace flag, it is the temporary, unpaid-volunteer work of individuals who are subsumed in a large body of humans around a compelling issue. Protesting feels like you are on a movie set, performing a role. Though people are taking pictures and a crowd usually gathers, there’s no lighting, makeup, wardrobe or food truck. It is like being in a dull theatrical ritual with little action. That’s why you shouldn’t “fear the protest.”
The truth however, in this passion of inaction, is that there is deep, active value. It is so deeply valuable that our Constitution specifically protects, from any harm whatsoever, the right to it. In spite of the tedium and ritual obligations of an act of civil disobedience, you truly experience the unique fruits of citizenship. For me, the experience provided an authentic rapture with this specific constitutional right to peacefully disobey.
For me, the experience provided an authentic rapture with this specific constitutional right to peacefully disobey.
Two- Non-violent, civil disobedience requires a conscious restraint.
Without good training and preparation, non-violent, civil disobedience can easily become, messy, disorganized and potentially — contrary to your sincerest intentions — violent. Each evening trainers prepared new protestors for the next day’s protest. We learned a lot over the 3-hour training. Significantly, we learned that when you are told you are being arrested: a) Do not resist b) Never touch a police officer. Either resisting or touching provides an officer with a justification to do you bodily harm and to charge you with battery, assault and resisting arrest. The imprisonment and fines can be up to 10 years in prison and $10,000. Our police should not be threatened, neither should they be threatening. Each of us carefully wrote the 800-number of the volunteer lawyers team on our arms with available Sharpies, just in case.
a) Do not resist b) Never touch a police officer.
Equally important, if you fail to control your urge, or the understandable impulse to resist civil authority, you put yourself and everyone at risk. Non-violent, civil disobedience requires a conscious restraint. Without it, there will be mayhem. Trainers repeat this crucial understanding dozens of times.
Before arriving at the protest, leave your bags, pencils, paper, “stuff”, and even your cell phone, at home. Bring cash for your fine (The fine for peaceful, civil disobedience at this protest was $110) and a photo ID. That’s all. Once arrested, everything you arrive with is taken from you, documented by the police (slowly handwritten, of course), and confiscated. If you have a lot of stuff, a full backpack for example, you inordinately slow the process down and fellow protestors have to stand waiting for each protestor’s belongings to be documented. This can double or triple the standing/waiting time. Also, if you have a lot of stuff, chances are it will be misfiled or lost in the chaotic process. When you are released, you may not get everything back.
There may be over twelve hours of standing/sitting time from the moment you arrive for the protest until your release. Once protesters sit in place, the police give three official warnings to leave. If you become anxious or uncertain, you can leave after the second warning, but once the third warning is issued, everyone remaining is fenced into the area and no one is then able to leave.
Rather than the glorious 60s act of going limp and being dragged off, one-by-one, each person was walked away to a table, where we were frisked, cuffed, documented via our ID, and our photos taken. We were then escorted to the holding wagon. Men and women were separated. The DC Police are well trained, efficient, and skilled with crowd control and arrests. In most respects I’d say this was a vanilla protest, but, that’s not the point. Although those who were arrested on the first day were held in jail for three days, most, in the following day’s protests, were released the same day. There were not enough cells to hold everyone!
My opinion: The adult diaper is a revolutionary’s finest asset.
We knew from our training that there would be no bathroom breaks or toilets available throughout the day. This is a little discussed reality. Take heed. Guards will not escort you from the protest scene, or a holding cell, for example, to a bathroom. There are far too many people and, frankly, it’s not their job. Their job is to guard the arrestees. What to do? We were encouraged to wear an adult diaper under our clothes. Many didn’t. They were a mess when released. My opinion: The adult diaper is a revolutionary’s finest asset.
Three — Those who participate value civil society as much as they care about the issues.
There is an emotional catharsis. After a day that began at dawn and ended at twilight, I was processed and released from the smelly, humid, caged, holding area into the cool evening air. Each person exits alone (This is not meant to be a philosophical statement, but, it kinda is). I had arrived in a windowless police wagon and was marched, cuffed, single-file with others into the holding build. When I marched back out into the quiet twilight, I had no idea where I was. There was not a soul in sight. Alone. Like floating up through murky water and breaking the surface to find you are lost. But, somehow, heading home.
I walked down a ramp and toward an access road. Once I got to the road, I looked up it and saw dozens of people smiling, waving me toward them. They stood the mandatory distance from the holding building. It seemed like a long walk to arrive where fellow, released, arrestees and 350.org staff waited with cold water, protein bars and…a port-a-potty. A designated volunteer debriefed each of us. Every name was recorded for the volunteer lawyers to determine if every person was accounted for. These lawyers investigated, into the night, the circumstances of any person who was unaccounted for.
Sitting in the cool grass, in the shade of a tree, people shared stories of their day and expressed relief that they were heading home, that they could head home. I sat perplexed by the immediacy of the powerful contrast between detainment in holding cells, versus the freedom to sit in the cool grass, under an old oak tree. I reflected on how little I had actually risked that day, in light of the thousand and thousands of people across the planet who have faced so much more perilous circumstances.
They, and I, cared as much about maintaining a civil society, as we cared about the issues.
At the time, I had no understanding of whether what I had just experienced was helpful or a crazy exercise in public performance and punishment. I now know that it was the critical beginning of a long fight. Without the historical success of this event, without everyone “showing up”, it is hard to imagine all that has followed would have happened.
I was exhausted but light with “citizenship” happiness. I was proud to know that there were these strong, thoughtful people that offered their bodies and minds for an important, and at the time, unsung cause. That we did do so, gracefully, on the path of non-violence, reassured me that they, and I, cared as much about maintaining a civil society, as we cared about the issues.
Without everyone “showing up”, it is hard to imagine all that has followed would have happened.
Holding this in my thoughts has, many times, when feeling deeply frustrated, provided a firm support to keep going, to continue to care, to continue to support non-violent, civil disobedience. I am writing about this to encourage readers to support an action. There won’t always be trainers. You may have to be the trainer. But, whatever the circumstances, there are more than enough things to take action for, or against. Resist!
Shortly, I took a long walk with a small group over to a nearby metro station and we rode silently home, strangers, with new skills, together.
A few of the 1,252 who were arrested and others who supported the Action
