The discussion on protests has seemed a bit theoretical, or when real, somewhat dated. Here's a report from Rebecca Hill, an academic who was arrested in Philadelphia. > >From: Rebecca Hill <[log in to unmask]> >Subject: re: my statement on philly protests - pass along > >Free Speech in Franklin's City? >Rebecca Hill > > When I made my fourth visit this year to Philadelphia it was three >days >before the opening of protests against the Republican National Convention. >The excitement and warmth of a diverse crowd of people hanging around in the >neighborhoods was my first experience of Philly as an epicenter of brotherly >and sisterly love. There were kids who'd gotten radicalized by the huge >demonstrations in Seattle and DC, people like me who'd been active for some >ten years or so, as well as older folks who'd been protesting U.S. >imperialism with Christian non-violence since the 1950s. There were street >punks, students, ravers, and, Moms. They were people of Latino, Asian, and >African-American descent, and whites, working together - in every place I >went from the streets to the jail. > "When I'm scared by the cops," said one man at a non-violence training >I went to before the protests started, "I invoke an image of >Gandhi -- sometimes Jesus." I'm different from this man in many ways; I'm >likely to think of an image of George Jackson at a protest, and I sang >"we're not gonna take it!" more often than any other song. Nonetheless, he >and I, and all the others had much to learn from each other as we discussed >our philosophies of democracy and equity and how to achieve them whether >among ourselves or in society at large. Even at large meetings, I was >impressed with the successful democratic process, and with the energy and >commitment of everyone I met. > The first protest I went to was on Monday with the Kensington Welfare >Rights Union. At City Hall, the Million Billionaires entertained us with >their chants "Gore or Bush, Bush or Gore, we don't care who you vote for - >we already bought 'em!" and those zany, rag tag pro-lifers amused us even >more with their sign "Drunkards and Fornicaters will Rot in Hell with >Tupac." Guess who has more influence on our political system? > We marched from City Hall toward what we've christened the "FU center," >where the Republicans would soon be holding a pageant costing tax payers >several million dollars. Along the way, people lining the streets, or just >walking by greeted us with thumbs up, cheers, claps, and sometimes just a >looks of curiosity. A few malcontents shouted "get a job!" It wasn't too >hard to think of a response. I could tell my experience was similar to >others when many picked up the chant: "got three jobs, Can't pay rent? Who's >gonna be your president?" with knowing jollity. > REPUBLICANS DEFACE NEIGHBORHOODS! > Only one thing I saw that day really upset me. Whoever was in charge >of >the convention was clearly catering to Republicans and ignoring the actual >people who lived in the neighborhoods near the convention center. They had >already defaced the streets of Philly long before the delegates' arrival. >They didn't use spray paint to make their point. Instead, Convention >decorators had hung flags of each state - including all the flags featuring >the Confederate Stars and Bars - from lampposts all along the street in what >was clearly a predominantly Black neighborhood. On Monday night, I actually >met some of those people who had come to attend the Republican convention. >While I was sitting in a bar in the train station, I met two young men in >rumpled suits who were clearly already drunk when they reeled laughing into >the bar. They told me that they'd just had a blast, gotten into the >Republican convention in order to enjoy the free caviar and champagne and >didn't care at all about the issues, and didn't even know what most of the >issues were. Where were the media to interview these guys and show them on >camera? > On Tuesday, I participated in an action on Broad and Spruce, where >we >drummed and danced, played soccer, played with stuffed animals and sang >songs. Many in our group were there to protest the effect of current >economic "reforms" on children and teenagers, who have no say in the >political process but are affected severely by welfare reform, parental >notification laws for abortions, and increasing use of criminal sanctions >against juveniles. After we blockaded the intersection, I went to support >the group of protesters who looked the most vulnerable, the police >immediately communicated that they were ready for our non-violent protest. >As I stood between the wall of bicycle cops and seated protesters, one >officer pushed his bike into me and said "don't touch the bike! Don't touch >the bike! If you touch my bike you're gonna bite it!" I asked him if he >meant he'd shoot me and he said, "figure it out." > The police couldn't have been happier when the moment for the arrests >finally came. They grabbed us and cinched our plastic hand-cuffs on tightly >enough to cut off circulation and cause pain. >THIS IS ILLEGAL FOR DOGS > After they arrested us, they put us on buses. On the bus, it was >stifling >hot, as the windows barely opened. We sat, worrying over our hand-cuffs - >whose hands were blue? "was I bleeding at my wrist?" We then stayed on the >bus from around 5:20 or so until sometime around 9:00 or 9:30pm. At some >point, a woman realized that hot air coming into the bus through what looked >like heaters. We begged for water, but when we called out and asked for it, >the guard in the front of the bus refused us, and simply tossed a splash of >her own water against the window in front of us so that we could watch it >trickle down. One of the women noted that keeping a dog in such conditions >was illegal and we began chanting "bow wow wow yippie yo yippie-yay." When a >public defender arrived on the bus, she breathed in the heat and said >something like "Oh my God." > We weren't let off the bus until one protester in another bus actually >passed out from dehydration. > At this point, they brought us into the "roundhouse" to be processed. >However, instead of following the normal booking procedure, after taking our >pictures they sent us to 5' by 7' holding cells where we sat six to a cell. >They told us they would fingerprint and arraign us - but it would take a >while, and they left us there. At around 1am or so, gave us each a >"sandwich" made of wonder bread with a piece of American cheese, clearly in >honor of the convention itself. When a small number of us were finally >permitted our first phone calls, at one am on Thursday morning, I managed to >get word out to my parents so that they would know where I was. Since it >was one in the morning when we got our calls, many of the detainees didn't >feel able to call their families. > The majority of the women were practicing "jail solidarity" while >others had decided, for personal reasons, that they would need to sign >bonds >and give their names to the police. However, it did not matter whether >people were willing to cooperate. One woman had identified herself early on, >because she had a five year old child, but the police left her (and all of >us), taking out a few people at a time to arraign them, and leaving the rest >of us wondering when if ever we would be allowed to leave - whether to go on >to the actual jail or to get out. There were moments of panic and hysteria. >At some point, (I'm not sure on what day or hour because I was unable to >sleep for more than an hour at a time during the three days that I spent in >the tiny cell,) the police announced that they would be placing more people >in our already packed holding cells. Shortly afterwards, one woman a few >cells down from me started screaming and wailing "I HAVE TO GET OUT OF >HERE!!! I HAVE TO GET OUT OF HERE!!!!" and punched her hand into the wall. >Several hours later, she was taken somewhere else and we all wondered >"where?" Was she going to get medical attention? Was she going to be sent to >a hospital for x-rays? Nobody could tell. At another moment, we heard the >men on the other side of the wall indicating that someone was being beaten. >We heard a guard say "stand up and walk like a man, bitch" and then heard >what was clearly a beating. To be witnesses we sat silently, holding hands, >and listened, many of us crying quietly. > Despite all these pressures, because the people who are protesting >here are concerned with building community and see their lives as being >connected with others, we survived the craziness. We sang songs, held >meetings, told jokes, shared our food, and worked to get each person what >she needed. > By the time I was arraigned, I was completely disoriented and >exhausted, and was eventually let out the door of the jail, with no phone >call onto the street at around 1:30 in the morning, still wondering "what >happened to that one who gave her name the first day and wasn't >fingerprinted until two days later? What will happen to all those women who >are going to the PIC? What will happen to the men? Now that I'm out, I'm >most worried about what will happen to those people with bails set at one >million dollars, and what this means for protest in our country. > Protesters were the only people who took care of us. When I finally >got out, greeted by the mother of one of the other detainees, and by >another person who was - because he just felt he had to and wanted to - >driving >protesters to wherever they needed to go. Protesters fed us and gave us a >place to relax and regroup and make phone calls that had been denied us in >jail. It is this spirit that I have met the entire time that I have been >here among "rag tag youth" who are protesting because they don't like the >fact that corporations are in control of our political system and our lives. >That this group of kindly people, hungry people who were sharing their only >food with each other, are now lambasted as a bunch of "criminal >conspirators" and "cowards" is simply ridiculous. > The truth is that the police are so afraid of non-violent protesters >that they locked up several hundred people for three and more days without >charging them, and assigned million dollar bails to activists who tried to >bring attention to issues that weren't addressed in the Republican gala this >week. The corporate owned media is so afraid of us that they won't print >much of the truth about what's going on here. When I tried to identify >myself to a cameraman as a faculty member at a major university, he turned >his camera off and walked away. I guess that doesn't fit the story they're >trying to tell. >I'm worried about how this affects average Americans. I met a man on the >street who said to me, "guess that should teach you not to protest." I think >Ben Franklin would turn in his grave, to hear Philadelphia defended with >sentiments like these and other statements I've read in the papers in the >last few days. Those are the only demonstrations of cowardice that I have >seen in Philadelphia this summer. > >_______________________________________________________________ > > > >