Have you ever been arrested for civil disobedience?

[Radical Activist]

Poll question: Have you ever been arrested for civil disobedience?

All the threads about MLK have my mind on nonviolent direct action.

[villager]

1. hmm... as someone named "Radical Activist," have you?

:shrug:

[Radical Activist]

8. Yes.

[KansDem]

2. Other: "No, but I might"

Especially if the Cat Food Commission does anything with Social Security.

[lob1]

3. During the Viet Nam protests, the police chased me,

but they didn't catch me. By the way, the police started the riot.

[bobbolink]

5. !

:applause:

ps... I think some of those provocateurs have migrated to DU. :evilgrin:

[Radical Activist]

10. Isn't that usually the case?

It is in my experience with police riots.

[lob1]

22. In my experience, the police started it every single time.

Of course, the press always, ALWAYS blamed the protestors.

[HiFructosePronSyrup]

4. Well, I've been arrested for disobedience.

:evilgrin:

[Radical Activist]

11. That usually involves more fun.

At least beforehand. :)

[bigwillq]

6. No (nt)

[readmoreoften]

7. Yes. Pretty sure I'll be there again. But at the same time I don't think CDs are the end-all-be-all

of organizing. Getting arrested every time the opportunity presents itself leads to big, oppressive legal bills.

[Xithras]

9. Yep, chained myself across a road.

Had to save some redwoods!

[Radical Activist]

13. Cool.

[Xithras]

20. It was a long time ago.

Redwood Summer, 1990. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Redwood_Summer

Sadly, while the movement was a success overall, the grove I was trying to protect was eventually cut.

[Radical Activist]

24. I saw the documentary Forest for the Trees

which I'll guess you've at least heard of. That must have been an exciting campaign to be part of.

[Xithras]

25. I haven't seen it.

I know of it, but the movie came out long after the trials, and long after I stopped protesting, so I never had the opportunity to watch it.

I had the chance to see Judi Bari speak once, and she was a fanatically dedicated woman who left us all FAR too soon.

As for the protests...I once accurately heard them described as being something like war. Long periods of bland boredom punctuated by brief spells of pulse racing action. And there's NOTHING quite as pulse pounding as when a 250lb solidly muscled logger walks back to his pickup screaming "I'm gonna get my chainsaw and cut your f****ng head off you hippy motherf****r," and you suddenly realize that you're locked in and couldn't run away or even defend yourself if he decided to actually do it. It could sometimes be an hour or more between the loggers discovering that we'd blocked a road, and the point where the police showed up. In those minutes, you tended to become acutely aware of the fact that you were facing down armed and angry men, two to three times your size, who personally viewed your actions as an assault on their children and communities. They hated us.

It was exciting, but it was also heartbreaking. Even today I drive through that area, see the shuttered mills and empty storefronts, and realize that I played a part in creating that economic collapse. I feel terrible for that, but am proud that I also played a role in preserving a few tiny slivers of our virgin forests so that my children and grandchildren can one day experience the same beauty and raw nature that I was privileged to visit.

[asdjrocky]

12. Yes I have. nt

The problem isn't civil disobedience, it's civil obedience.

[Kurt_and_Hunter]

14. Does protesting prohibition 50 years late count?

[savalez]

29. LOL!

[quinnox]

15. No, but I have been arrested

It was for something very minor,it was a very unpleasant experience to be in jail, even for a few hours.

[county worker]

16. Back in the early 80's a bunch of us were trying to keep a nude beach in Malibu open to nude use.

We would get arrested and ask for a court date. We clogged the court docket to the point the judge told the sheriff to stop arresting us.

[Radical Activist]

19. Awesome!

That's how civil disobedience is supposed to work. You did more than just get your name in the paper.

[county worker]

23. We kept trying to get people who would be willing to get arrested on weekdays and weekends.

[KamaAina]

17. No, but not for lack of trying.

Years ago, when the anti-choicers were in full cry, they set up a fake "cemetery" in the Ellipse in front of the White House. (Back then, you could still get that close to the White House.)

So two female friends and my male self decided to have ourselves a little "die-in". Well, after a while, here come the glorified park rangers -- from my direction. :scared:

Imagine my surprise when both glorified park rangers stepped right over me and proceeded to harass, and eventually arrest, the two women. :wtf:

[Scuba]

18. Soon, real soon.

[SlipperySlope]

21. Sorry; I have no arrest record and intend to keep it that way.

When the Man asks me "have you ever been arrested" I like being able to say "no sir".

[Radical Activist]

26. There are many good reasons

to make the decision. And there are many ways to help progressive causes without getting arrested.

[rve300]

27. This is different than public intoxication right?

nm

[Radical Activist]

28. If it was civil

then you weren't intoxicated enough. :)

[LAGC]

30. Anti-IMF protest in Boise, Idaho -- September 2000

We never got a permit for our protest, but we held a rally at the State Capitol building anyway. Cops blocked off all the surrounding roads so no one could see us, they were trying to limit our exposure. So we decided (as a group) to go mobile, and take our message throughout the downtown area so that more people could be clued into what was going on.

At one point, we blocked a busy intersection and all of us (about 150 people) just held vigil there until the cops came to break us up. One cop tried to scare the crowd by ramming his cruiser into the crowd, but we didn't budge. I yelled out: "Watch it, pig!" (this later became basis for an "assault on an officer" charge on my part -- he claimed I threatened him with my sign/picket) and he got out of his cruiser and out of the blue just pepper-sprayed me along the side of my face. I did the only thing I could think of, I turned and retreated ("resisting arrest") Next thing I know, the mother-fucker was bear-hugging me from behind and in front of the whole crowd I dragged him for several feet until he finally wrestled me to the ground, put his knee on my back, and cuffed me. One of the reasons I think I was targeted was because I was wearing all black, just like the anarchists who were doing an actual sit-in in the middle of the intersection, so they probably figured I was a "ring-leader" and part of their clique, so their strategy was to bust up the "leadership" and intimidate everyone else into dispersing. It worked.

The local MSM arrived soon after and caught some serious police abuse of power happening, one guy who was thrown into some bushes, dragged out, then placed on the curb, then the cop dropped his full weight of his body on his head with his knee, made his neck snap back and everything, it was crazy. We got lots of independent video coverage as well of the cops dressing up in military fatigues and bringing out the long-rifles as if the city was in a state of siege. They ended up closing most of the downtown and conducting "riot-dispersal drills" throughout the night. They truly weren't prepared for even a modest protest of that size.

In the end I got handed a $300 fine, 6 months probation, and 100 hours of community service, but it was worth it. Our little stunt got the media to cover our protest (which was pretty much unheard of for this size of town) and brought the issue to the fore-front of people's minds for awhile. Less than 2 months later, Bush was "elected." And indeed, all good things must come to an end.

[Radical Activist]

31. Interesting.

Did anyone sue the cops?

[LAGC]

32. No, we all filed complaints with the ombudsman.

But he turned out to be worthless. There was a rash of police shootings of unarmed twenty-somethings a few years prior for questionable reasons, so that's why the position of ombudsman was created in the first place, as a compromise by the mayor and city council to satisfy citizen demands for a full civilian police review commission to independently review police shootings. The ombudsman is supposed to be an independent eye to investigate the police, but he sides with their internal review findings 95% of the time. Fortunately, the cops did quit shooting unarmed young people though, so maybe at least the threat of extra oversight made them less bold.

But no, the ombudsman, after "careful review" found the cops were justified in their use of force since we had broken the law by occupying the intersection, and ruled against us. Fortunately the guy who had his head knee-dropped on by police didn't suffer any long-term injury, as far as I know. I haven't talked to anyone who was part of that protest in several years.

[pipi_k]

33. No, but I did almost get arrested by the Fashion Police for

wearing white after Labor Day.


:yoiks:

[mrmpa]

34. Touched on this subject over dinner, somewhat

So my 80 year old retired union mom & me over dinner tonight were discussing the tea baggers, Beck, etc. As I stood up from the table, leaning on my cane, swallowing my vicodin, I said "if any of these creeps are elected, I will be on the street protesting and rioting if necessary." Mom grabbed her walker and said, "I'll join you".