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Palestine Demo Ends in Stalemate with Cops
BERKELEY, April 2, 2002: On the same day as street protests demanding an end to the Israeli occupation of Palestine exploded across Cairo, Egypt, and in Jordan, over 400 Bay Area activists gathered in Berkeley on behalf of the same cause.
BERKELEY, April 2, 2002: On the same day as street protests demanding an end to the Israeli occupation of Palestine exploded across Cairo, Egypt, and in Jordan, over 400 Bay Area activists gathered in Berkeley on behalf of the same cause. The protest, called by International Action Center, Middle East Children’s Alliance, and Jewish Voice for Peace, was also simultaneous to the Israeli Defense Forces’ stepping up their offensive in the West Bank.
While the protest began calmly, a tone of heightened urgency spurred by recent developments in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict was obvious in the tone of each of the speeches given at the beginning of the demonstration.
Israeli national and member of Jewish Voice for Peace Ahmir Turkel said, “Both Palestine and Israeli have no future while the occupation of Palestine continues…. When my Prime Minister Ariel Sharon says that this is a war for Israeli independence, don’t believe him! This is a war to preserve Israeli colonies on Palestinian land…. This is about basic human rights.”
His remarks were echoed in Middle East Children’s Alliance representative Penny Rosenwasser’s statement to the crowd: “Only justice for Palestine will bring security to Israel!”
Each of the speakers pointed to examples of other protest groups—including pro-Palestinian protests happening in the Middle East, as well as the Israeli refusenik soldiers, who have said they will not serve active military duty in Palestine—both as beacons of hope and motivating causes for further action on the part of American activists.
Following the speeches, the demonstration marched on the Shattuck Avenue sidewalk behind a banner reading “Palestine Statehood Now,” to the corner of University Avenue, where the group occupied the westbound lane of traffic and proceeded to University and 6th.
Among those marching was Betty Larudee, 57, a Lebanese-American whose husband, Paul, 55, is currently in Palestine as part of the National Coalition for Peace. She said that he had been in the line of fire during an encounter with an IDF tank earlier this week, and although he escaped injury, his companions included a woman who suffered a gunshot wound to the stomach and a man who sustained an injury to his ankle after being hit with ricocheting shrapnel. Larudee expressed worry about the well being of her spouse but also said that her hopes remained high for Palestine to become “a nation with a voice.”
Berkeley police, who had remained nearly invisible throughout the protest and march, formed a line between the activists and the highway onramp located at 6th and University Avenue to prevent activists from marching onto the freeway. A brief skirmish then broke out between the police and protesters, resulting in the pepper-spraying of at least one anonymous man and the arrest of Xochita Johnson of Berkeley.
Johnson was booked on-site with a battery citation and released to the cheers of the crowd, who had established a stand-off with police forces in the intersection of 6th and University. She reported that police released her swiftly in an effort to convince the crowd to disperse, telling her that they “didn’t have the force to arrest everyone.”
Such police maneuvering remained unsuccessfully as the protest continued with an uneasy internal stalemate over whether to continuing marching via a different route, disband, or maintain position at the police lines. The indecision was in part over how best to express solidarity with Johnson in light of her arrest, as well as how best to use the dwindling opportunity of the protest to gain public attention.
But when Johnson herself addressed the crowd, her words seemed imbued with meaning beyond an immediate decision over the fate of the protest: “I came here… because Palestinians are being rounded up and massacred like black people under Jim Crow [laws], like Native Americans when the United States took the west, like the Nazis did to the Jews and Japanese!
“….Whatever we do, let’s do it with Palestine in our hearts.”
Protesters were holding position at 6th and University as of 8:30 P.M. this evening, over three full hours after the start of the demonstration.
The next protest of Palestine in the Bay Area will be the National Day of Action for Divestment, Tuesday April 9, at Sproul Hall on the UC Berkeley campus at noon.
While the protest began calmly, a tone of heightened urgency spurred by recent developments in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict was obvious in the tone of each of the speeches given at the beginning of the demonstration.
Israeli national and member of Jewish Voice for Peace Ahmir Turkel said, “Both Palestine and Israeli have no future while the occupation of Palestine continues…. When my Prime Minister Ariel Sharon says that this is a war for Israeli independence, don’t believe him! This is a war to preserve Israeli colonies on Palestinian land…. This is about basic human rights.”
His remarks were echoed in Middle East Children’s Alliance representative Penny Rosenwasser’s statement to the crowd: “Only justice for Palestine will bring security to Israel!”
Each of the speakers pointed to examples of other protest groups—including pro-Palestinian protests happening in the Middle East, as well as the Israeli refusenik soldiers, who have said they will not serve active military duty in Palestine—both as beacons of hope and motivating causes for further action on the part of American activists.
Following the speeches, the demonstration marched on the Shattuck Avenue sidewalk behind a banner reading “Palestine Statehood Now,” to the corner of University Avenue, where the group occupied the westbound lane of traffic and proceeded to University and 6th.
Among those marching was Betty Larudee, 57, a Lebanese-American whose husband, Paul, 55, is currently in Palestine as part of the National Coalition for Peace. She said that he had been in the line of fire during an encounter with an IDF tank earlier this week, and although he escaped injury, his companions included a woman who suffered a gunshot wound to the stomach and a man who sustained an injury to his ankle after being hit with ricocheting shrapnel. Larudee expressed worry about the well being of her spouse but also said that her hopes remained high for Palestine to become “a nation with a voice.”
Berkeley police, who had remained nearly invisible throughout the protest and march, formed a line between the activists and the highway onramp located at 6th and University Avenue to prevent activists from marching onto the freeway. A brief skirmish then broke out between the police and protesters, resulting in the pepper-spraying of at least one anonymous man and the arrest of Xochita Johnson of Berkeley.
Johnson was booked on-site with a battery citation and released to the cheers of the crowd, who had established a stand-off with police forces in the intersection of 6th and University. She reported that police released her swiftly in an effort to convince the crowd to disperse, telling her that they “didn’t have the force to arrest everyone.”
Such police maneuvering remained unsuccessfully as the protest continued with an uneasy internal stalemate over whether to continuing marching via a different route, disband, or maintain position at the police lines. The indecision was in part over how best to express solidarity with Johnson in light of her arrest, as well as how best to use the dwindling opportunity of the protest to gain public attention.
But when Johnson herself addressed the crowd, her words seemed imbued with meaning beyond an immediate decision over the fate of the protest: “I came here… because Palestinians are being rounded up and massacred like black people under Jim Crow [laws], like Native Americans when the United States took the west, like the Nazis did to the Jews and Japanese!
“….Whatever we do, let’s do it with Palestine in our hearts.”
Protesters were holding position at 6th and University as of 8:30 P.M. this evening, over three full hours after the start of the demonstration.
The next protest of Palestine in the Bay Area will be the National Day of Action for Divestment, Tuesday April 9, at Sproul Hall on the UC Berkeley campus at noon.
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Making ourselves feel like we did something isn't enough. We need to actually DO something. Innocent civilians are dying in droves because we haven’t done enough to stop it. There has been no water in Rumallah for five days. Unarmed journalists are being murdered in cold blood. And all we can manage to do about it is to wave placards and chant!?! We're pathetic.
In Palestine, twelve year olds go up against tanks with nothing but stones. They get mowed down by machine guns and they come right back for more. In Berkeley, one guy gets sprayed in the eyes, and the whole march stops. Marchers outnumbered the cops at least ten to one, but they pushed us around like pieces on a board. Have we no spines?
http://www.indybay.org/news/2002/04/120393.php#120413
Most of the marchers wanted their voices to be heard, and left the march when it became obvious we were conned. Was supposed to be a "peace" march, not a direct action as we found out a couple of blocks from the end. It was really set up to be a media event with the self-centered kids showing off.
If we'd done that, Indymedia wouldn't be the only place the world would hear about it.
i'm not saying that marching is the only thing we can do, nor should it be. but being in the streets is important, and it does show dissent, and it is a way for multitudes of people to be involved, and physically express their dissent, in solidarity. some people, because of ability or age or whatever, can't rush, or rush past, the police, and that's the way it is. and sometimes strategically it doesn't make sense and is just martyr-ish.
i was excited, however, to hear that people had rushed at the line of cops and attempted to break through. this was heartening. i dont' think this is a "self-centered" act, as someone else suggested. the situation deserved a militant response, along w/ one in which masses of people could participate.
anyway, these are just some thoughts.
The write-up makes it sound as if the cops sprayed for no reason, but as other comments point out, there was a small contingent that tried to rush the police line.
Did it occur to you folks that the majority of people that you prevented from getting on the freeway, many going home after a day of work, were probably on your side?
What's the friggin' point? Why not block entrance to something that is related to the Israeli or US govt?
The place where your protest ended has a gas station, a small Indian restaurant(you killed thier business for the night), and an art supply store on the corners.
I can appreciate what's in the hearts of most of the people involved yesterday, but I think it was sadly misdirected.
While the US military blocks civilian aircraft from freely entering and leaving Iraq to deliver humanitarian aid and needed supplies for repair of water filtration and sanitation facilities..
Berkeley radicals block Berkeley civilians from freely traveling home from work or to the store.
The road to hell is paved with good intentions, my activist friends. I support your ultimate goal, I trust your sincerity behind it, but when it comes to making real change you're all fucking idiots. Peacenicks and black bloc alike!
I hate most of the same institutions and people that you do, but if you ever block my access to a freeway on my way home from work without a damn good reason I'll get out and beat your ass and film myself doing it. Then while you're running to the cops and courts (your avowed enemies), I'll just ask for a jury trial, provide my own videotape as evidence, and 12 middle-class working shmucks will let me walk.
Fucking idiots.
*SJ
I don't agree with you about much, but I do appreciate your candor. In fact, I prefer it to the hidden agendas of most of the Bay Area's progressive/anarchist/leftist/socialist movement.
Oh, and by the way, the above post was fucking hilarious.
Thanks! - ZZYZZ
Any fool would have known they police never would have let us near the freeway.
I don't think they were serious about getting on the freeway to begin with. They really wanted to play "radical protester".
What did the BPD have to do with the Israeli occupation & terror of the Palestinians, anyway?
A face-off with the Berkeley Police accomplished nothing for the cause. It just made everyone look stupid.
Unless you were one of the ones trying to get on the freeway, shaddup.
The point of trying to get TO the freeway was to reach the people ... the TON of people on the freeway. It was to have a voice... to the people. To let them know that we won't take it anymore. So before you post your assumptions about why they did it, why not ask? After all, one of them might just tell you.
Desperate accusations just seek to show how desperate the opposition to resistance is.
I support Palestine unconditionally in their struggle for freedom, and will act as a voice for them who cannot speak from across the globe. I'll try to send their message to those masses who get spoonfed garbage that we are all united in this reign of terror. WE STAND DIVIDED, NOT UNITED!
That is the point I believe... I wasn't one trying to block traffic, but I don't think anyone wanted to block traffic. I think they just wanted to get TO the freeway to be able to show the people of the area that there is resistance. Yet the pigs, of course as always, had to show up and squash our freedom of speech.
Critisize us all you want, but let me ask you one thing: What are you doing to make the public aware of the problems in the middle east? Obviously people have strong opionions... what are you doing for peace in the Middle east? I bet you think everything you see on TV is fact and unquestionable too. "Oh, it can't be that way, because I saw it on TV." Something a child would say.
We will not stand by and watch as our government pours our tax dollars into the pockets of those who are keeping Palestine in a state of terror. All funding to Israel must be ended immediately.
FREE PALESTINE!
Why be confrontational at all? It seems that some only think that success comes with arrests and pepper spray. If you value peace and progressive ideals, then you are fortunate to find yourself in the Bay area,
Berkeley in particular. There are millions who would love to be in this position. Shouldn't demonstrations here show the world what freedom and diversity can aacomplish, rather than petty dust-ups with some of the most restrained policemen in the world?
If it ever becomes one, Oakland here I come!
You made the assumption that I believe everything I see on TV. I have not owned a TV in 20 years. Don't be so condescending. You don't speak for everyone in the march. Most left when they saw a small group confront the police. Who gave them the right to decide that we would have a confrontational protest? I have been supporting the Palestinian cause for years through peaceful protest, education, funding, and bugging elected represntatives since the the first Intifada. You have to choose your tactics carefully if want the public to listen to you and maybe support your cause.
I hope you are more articulate when you try to educate the public about the Middle East than, "Unless you were one of the ones trying to get on the freeway, shaddup."
Trying to block the freeway is not a shrewd tactic. Just remember the 1990 Headwaters Forest protest on the Golden Gate bridge- The police shut down traffic during rush hour, people were furious and the media spun it to make the protesters look like assholes. The same would have occured on I-80...not htat the cops would allow anyone near it due to the accident danger. Oh, I forgot. People dying or being injured on I-80 are collateral damge in "our" struggle.
I guess in any organization like the US or Israeli governments or in a protest movement, the most aggressive people can take over and force their personal agendas on others and lash out personally when criticized.
I did go out on a limb here to express my displeasure with what is going on in Palestine by speaking out on this forum. I am sorry if I got overly defensive, but I felt like I was being attacked. As to assuming things, I appoligize if that is what I did, I try not to do that. I wasn't trying to be condescending, but I was trying to tell these people that they had no right to assume what other people were trying to accomplish or why unless they were there and in on the situation.
As to the action: I didn't and don't think that it is the most effective solution to block the freeway, but that's why I wasn't trying to. I wouldve liked to wave at the cars on the freeway from the bridge, but that's about the extend of what I was wanting to be part of. I want to express very clearly that I don't speak for anyone but myself. I have been trying to make that expressly clear in everything I say, but apparently I've been talking too much in these threads. :)
I've been attacked personally by some right wingers and it put me on the defensive and Im sorry if I lashed out, twas not my intetion. But I do believe that it didn't matter what our plan was, the police didn't show any 'restraint' as someone suggested. I put up a few clips of their so called 'restraint' and it was anything but. The prelude to the conflict clearly shows the police crossing the line of scrimmage (sp?) and shoving the person they claimed was assaulting them, as well as shoving and provoking a conflict when we just wanted to get to the bridge. Anyhow, I only speak for myself, and I probably shouldn't have because noone seems to appreciate it... I'll shaddup now :) Hope this clears things up.
Free Palestine! Peace and Solidarity.
You are assuming that they could have stopped us if we’d had the sense to go around them. This is most definitely not a foregone conclusion. They would have had to split their forces. Some of them would have had to chase the young hotheads down Sixth St. while others would have to stand at the intersection and talk to the old geezers. If they didn’t, well, who knows what geezers are capable of when left unguarded?
And that’s the simple scenario. It only involves the maneuver of two formations on each side. Let’s consider what would happen if a somewhat more creative approach was taken. First, we must analyze what actually happened.
The protesters advanced on a platoon front. This was simple too narrow to do anything but give the advantage to the police. They are better armed, better disciplined and stiffer spined. When concentrations of police and concentrations of protesters clash, the police win. It takes them awhile sometimes. Sometimes some of them get hurt in the process. But they always win. They are seldom routed, even temporarily. They always recover quickly and come back strong. The longest they were ever held at bay was for two weeks in Detroit in 1967. Even that came at a tremendous cost, ie., many dead, the Kerner Commission and Spatial Deconcentration.
They know this. That’s why they always concentrate their forces. It is their great strength. They will never scatter willingly. But it is also their great weakness, because it is all they are willing, able and know how to do. Aside from their primary reserves, which are always nearby, they will only split their forces under the direst of circumstances.
Nevertheless, temporary tactical advantage over the police can be achieved by protesters who are sufficiently creative. It does take creativity, though. They cops can’t be out muscled, but they can be outwitted. It isn’t all that easy, though. It takes real creativity. Even a simple flanking maneuver like the one suggested above could have been countered by a smart police commander who reacted quickly enough. Even a dumb one wouldn’t fall for it twice. They especially wont fall for it after reading about it here first.
The police undoubtedly had reserves concentrated nearby. More important, they have reserves in depth, dispersed all over the Bay Area. They can bring considerable force to bear on a single location in relatively short order. If they moved their reserves quickly enough, they might even have been able to head off a single flanking contingent before it reached the freeway.
But what if, way back up the hill at Sacramento, the young hotheads had begun splitting off from the main column in both directions, to the left and to the right, and formed three platoon size formations and positioned as flankers to the main column? They could have positioned each platoon a block apart, with the nearest platoon two blocks away from the main column.
Each platoon could have broken up into small groups (twos and threes) and walk casually like ordinary pedestrians, legally on the sidewalk. If they spread over into loose, two block long columns, the cops wouldn’t even have noticed them. They could have passed around the cops and reconcentrated behind their lines with no resistance whatsoever. There would be nothing between them and the highway. This is called infiltration. It’s an extremely useful tactic.
At rush hour, it would only take twenty some people to block the freeway. All they’d have to do is link arms, march out onto the tarmac and sit down. If a couple remained standing to watch for the cops, when the cops came (and they would come quickly) the demonstrators could scatter and exfiltrate in ones, twos, and threes. Most could could get away. A few would get caught and probably beaten, but so what? This is war.
If several groups of twenty formed up at half mile intervals along the freeway, and staggered their moves, they could tie up traffic for hours. As soon as one bunch got chased away, the next bunch could come out of the bushes and block traffic a mile away and the cops would have to go chase them instead. They cops would be sweating and panting in short order, methinks. A couple of the old, fat ones might even keel over.
An even more clever tactic would be to not join the main protest at all, but to allow it to organically serve as a natural diversion. While the cops were busy focusing on the main body of protesters, the hotheads could concentrate at preplanned rondezvous points. In this scenario, the choosing of rondezvous points is crucial. The payoff is the vastly reduced number of people needed to achieve the goal.
Without planning and practice, it is difficult, if not impossible, to maneuver the platoon size formations that would be necessary to shut down the freeway right. But if all the hotheads wanted to do was foul traffic on the surface streets, a precisely timed series of tripod actions at careful selection of intersections would do the job fine. A single individual, on a big enough tripod, can hold an intersection for a good long while. The British comrades proved this years ago. Of course the individual gets busted eventually, but so what? This is war.
Another, better, way to reach the people on the freeway depends upon neither complex maneuver, confrontation with the police, nor large numbers of people for its success. It could even be done without risking arrest at all. Two people could do it. In a pinch, one person could do it alone. Why has nobody thought of doing a strategically timed banner hang off the new bicycle overpass just south of the University Ave. overpass? Hey, could it hurt to try?
So, there they are, a number of creative, alternative tactics to consider. Obviously, the old ways of thinking about these problems is not working. We are out maneuvered at every turn. Time to switch to Plan B. If that doesn’t work, switch to Plan C. Above all, we should have a Plan C. Our near fetishistic reliance on pure spontaneity isn’t working. We are getting in our own way.
Except for the banner hang, such tactics would of course require advance planning, a couple practice runs, and secure tactical commo gear. Scrambled, hand held CBs (cheap), equipped with off the shelf boosters (also cheap) would do the trick nicely. Good running shoes would help. So would advance map study. Pictures of the sites in questioned could be taken, and later laid out on a table and analyzed. It’s work, but it’s not rocket science. It wouldn’t be that expensive, either. It’s well within the capabilities of a small bunch of determined hotheads.
But what would they accomplish besides pissing of the BPD, the CHP and the freeway commuters? To answer that question, we have to look beyond tactics. We have to look at strategy. For that, we must not rely on the thinking of hotheads, especially young, inexperienced hotheads, especially ones who have not even yet mastered such basic tactics as those outlined above. They are righteous, stand up comrades, and we love them dearly. But strategic analysis is apparently not yet their forté.
Even good tactics are bad when they are used to execute a bad strategy. Even the most clever, most creative, most successful tactics are counter productive if they fail to support sound strategic goals. As strategy must dictate tactics, so must politics dictate strategy. Politics must come first, always. Everything else comes second. Everything. There are no exceptions to this universal rule. In every, repeat every, situation in which a plan must be made, that plan must formulated so as to meet our political goals, no matter what that entails our actually doing on the ground. Alienating freeway commuters by clogging up traffic, for example, is bad tactics because it’s bad politics. Reaching them with our message without alienating them is good tactics for the same reason. But is can’t be our only tactic. We need to expand our repertoire.
To be inclusive and to be flexible, sound planning must respect a diversity of tactics. Strategy, however, must be unified. Good strategy, by definition, directs the action against the correct target. Let us be perfectly clear about this. Our beef is not with the BPD, our beef is not with the CHP, and our beef is most of all not with the commuters. Our beef is with Israel. Let’s take our protest to the Israeli consulate, to Israeli businesses, and to American companies who do business with Israel. It’s a target rich environment. (See: http://www.inminds.com/boycott-israel.html) Let’s roll.