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Indybay Feature

Monitors at Gaza Protest Try to Rein in Sign-Holders on the Median Strip

by Robert Norse
At the Friday August 1 rally against the Israeli massacres in Gaza (and the Hamas rocketings), two activists reported hassle and pressure from several fellow activists who tried to persuade them to abandon the more prominent and visible protest positions on the median along Water St. between the Town Clock and the post office. At issue was the protest-coralling (and anti-homeless) "no lingering on the medians" law that was passed by City Council last year. Keith McHenry, a well-known Food Not Bombs activist and his friend were concerned to see harassment of a long-time video journalist who had gone to the median with a sign and went out to join him. They reported that other activists called the police to try and drive them away.
GAZA PROTEST FRIDAY
The Gaza protest is colorfully displayed by indymedia photographer Alex Darocy at https://www.indybay.org/newsitems/2014/08/03/18759513.php . I only wish he'd included photos of the brave three who stood on the median with signs--though perhaps he was doing that as a courtesy so as not to provide evidence that three were violating an abusive local ordinance passed to deepen the criminalization of local homeless people.

I applaud the massive support for ending the Gaza massacres. Activists may disagree on tactics, but it concerns me when some first use threats, then actually call the police to harass others asserting their rights and incidentally getting out the message more effectively.

I was disturbed to hear reportS that monitors at the protest attempted to pressure Keith McHenry, his friend, and another well-known journalist from holding signs on the nearby median in the center of Water St. next to the Town Clock. I replayed my interviews with Keith and his friend at http://radiolibre.org/brb/brb140803.mp3 (3 hours, 18 minutes and 30 seconds into the audio file for McHenry's account; 3 hours and 10 minutes for his friend's).

OBEDIENCE TO UNJUST LAWS IS ODIOUS
It's understandable that police engage in this kind of repressive harassment, but even more frightening when it happens directly from or instigated by activists concerned to maintain a "respectable" appearance and to "be legal". Such an attitude enables and empowers the repressive forces in the community. Those who support this kind of "respectability" are hobbling themselves in future protests and blind to the implications of this kind of packing with police. No doubt, it stems from a well-intended but toxic "control freak" mentality. I'm not sure of the proper way of managing this kind of internal activist turmoil, but I find my sympathies on the side of those who stand up for the rights of protesters and homeless alike.

I had a similar experience last year at the annual July 4th Ocean St. protest when a protest organizer began denouncing me for standing on the median on Ocean St. with a sign (though I was garnering plenty of honks).

NO PROTEST ON THE MEDIAN LAW AIMED AT THE POOR
Last year the City Council, in its right-wing rush to pander to the Take Back Santa Cruz faction, passed a law making it illegal to stand on any medians or roundabouts in Santa Cruz, either with or without a sign. See "Round Two--The New Anti-Homeless Laws Return for a Final Reading" at https://www.indybay.org/newsitems/2013/06/10/18738230.php .

The law, as one cop candidly told Keith and his friend. was designed to "address panhandlers". This candid acknowledgment (completely true, of course) indicates the unconstitutional anti-homeless objective of a City Council. Robinson's Council has a greater interest in increasing "forbidden zones" for poor people soliciting help to drive them out of sight than for the general rights of the community to have access to public spaces. Such visible access on public roads is particularly important in times when the government is supporting mass murder abroad.

Keith and his friend were threatened by Officer Azua and other police with citations. The two said they preferred arrest to leaving the median. Police eventually left without ticketing them--indicating they were bluffing or perhaps planning to "do a Wes Modes" on them later. (Wes Modes is an activist who exposed police chief Kevin Vogel's political spying in 2006 in the Last Night DIY Parade scandal. Four years later Modes was one of many in the 2009-10 DIY Last Night parade downtown. Months later he was cited and dragged into court for walking in that parade with hundreds of others, complements of Sgt. Mike Harms See "Three Decisions in Court in the Wes Modes 'Parading Without a Permit' Case " at https://www.indybay.org/newsitems/2010/08/13/18656055.php .)

HANGING TOUGH AND STANDING TALL
Keith and his friend also reported that they had far greater access to cars passing by (who were stopped in the left turn lane) and more extensive dialogue with the drivers on the Gaza issue. They also said it felt to be safer than engaging driver's from the Town Clock area.

This contradicted the claims of police and the those who called them, who used the "safety first" excuse along with the follow-up "it makes the protest look bad". Since it actually makes the protest look good and is a safer way of communicating with those who have stopped for the light--this is nonsense. Dangerous nonsense, of course, since it's intended to rationalize the First Amendment cutbacks that have been happening in Santa Cruz steadily without meaningful visible opposition from the community.

For activists to "fit in" to this straitjacket perhaps after writing a token protest letter or two (all the ACLU seems capable of doing right now) is to abandon the struggle before it begins.

My hats off to the three who stood their ground and made the Gaza protest more visible.
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santa-cruz-police-protesters-standing-on-media-strip.jpg
Police speaking with demonstrators on median strip at Gaza vigil, August 1, 2014.
by Robert Norse
...for the additional photo!
In the SF Bay Area, it's more about bad protesters doing civil disobedience, or god forbid, breaking a bank window.

In Santa Cruz, at least in this instance, standing passively on a roadway median makes one a bad protester.

Activists calling the police on other activists, for standing in a median even, is beyond the pale.
by G
Protest in Santa Cruz is mostly a fashion statement, in my experience. Some like the naughty kicks. Some like the see and be seen scene. Some like the activist cred. Some have short attention spans. Most don't seem very interested in, or lack the patience for, creating real change.

Effective protest; be it organizing, civil disobedience, actions, or fighting oppression with the tools of the oppressors (investigate, prosecute, incarcerate!) is rare. There are a few being effective, easily spotted once you know what to listen for from the 'peanut gallery'. Personally, I respect the Brown Berets, for speaking up at that ACLU awards ceremony (https://www.indybay.org/newsitems/2008/08/29/18530949.php), and they usually make the best protest march banners.

The smashy smashy thing, well, it annoys me personally _when it is added to the activities of others_. If people want to fly a smashy banner and smash, fine, just let the rest of us get out of (predictable) harms way, do your thing. If people want to use innocents as cover (like that silly smashy downtown a few years back), that just reeks of cowardess.

"#ThisOneTimeAtOccupy I saw anti-capitalist activists unable to process the idea of #homeless people as their allies."
https://twitter.com/AnonyMoar/status/462444233753104386

That said, protesters calling the cops on protesters standing on the median reeks of 'anti-solidarity'.
by Ren Tawil
Robert, aside from my propensity to want to ease up on the monitoring activities at the rally that day, there is an angle to all this that, surprising given all your experience with this kind of thing, you are completely missing.

One of the three protestors in the median that day did not by any means remain on the three-foot wide median on Water Street. Several times he ventured out onto the street itself, sometimes straddling the two left-turn lanes onto Pacific and Front, and once or twice actually standing in the middle of one of them. It was only after he did this that two of the organizers confronted him in an apparent attempt to get him to change his tactics. Though I watched intently from the sidewalk I could not hear what transpired. The young man returned to the median per se where I saw him almost immediately get into a heated "discussion" with the occupant(s) of a convertible -- the open-air nature of the scenario perhaps being all the more threatening to those in the vehicle. He looked especially angry and agitated during the brief argument. Soon after that he appeared on the sidewalk, this time vehemently expressing verbal indignation with the monitors. While I was trying to read the names of the dead from the Gaza massacre over the loudspeaker he was now disruptively yelling and cursing at the monitors before finally leaving the venue.

Here's what you don't seem to get, Robert. Two of the organizers and I found ourselves in agreement that there was a good chance that this particular individual (but probably not the other two median-standers) was an "agent provocateur" for the opposition, as in a Zionist plant, shill or spy if you will. I'm not over-dramatizing here -- supporters of Israel within the American Jewish community have a long and sundry history of employing espionage when they feel threatened, or to gain information without approaching those they feel threatened from by simply being up front (for myself, I see the influence of Israel's extensive, elaborate and highly successful history of spying on both the U.S. government and corporations as vital encouragement for the local spy rings. Also I have had experience with spies when I was overseas). One of my two comrades was able to get the guy in question's personal website. Although it had pro-Palestine/critical-of-Israel content when I examined it I saw distinct signs of bogusness in it, as if to provide cover for his nefarious activity. It is possible that this person is simply mentally unbalanced.

As for the overall behaviour of the organizers and monitors, I cannot help but be sympathetic to tendencies for keeping order amongst protestors actually in the name of having the greatest, most effective impact on passers-by. Anarchy has its own peculiar history of causing more harm than good, both in the immediate action taking place, and in the long run. The Spanish Civil War was probably lost to the fascists because of Soviet-led communists who were over-zealous in their one-sided hegemony in the conflict.
by Robert Norse
While I appreciate Ren's participation in this discussion--also, he was there and I wasn't--it's my understanding that the protester who objected to being directed not to stand on the median was a well-known indybay journalist (who may reveal himself in due time). Not a provocateur by any means. A man with a temper when facing inappropriate and oppressive control tactics, for sure. And a passionate person.

As I noted in my article, I also experienced this "mind your p's and q's" nonsense in other protests myself--which I feel were not only unnecessary, but counter-productive and against the spirit of the entire protest (or perhaps the broader attempt to secure justice in Santa Cruz locally and overseas generally). I also respect the testimony of Keith McHenry and his friend, so I must disagree with you--though I'm in the distant position and Ren was close up (and certainly more passionately involved in the issue than I).

Secondly, the Occupy Santa Cruz website presents it's brief perspective on this event at http://occupysantacruz.org/2014/08/06/brave-protesters-risk-arrest/ .
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