Miami and Repression

These Things Happened
By: n

This letter is intended as a report back from my shared experience demonstrating against the Free Trade Area of the Americas (FTAA) in Miami from Wednesday November 19 through Saturday 22, 2003. While the original FTAA proposal self evaporated on the inside, led by the US, leaving the name and an ad hoc “agreement;” activists on the outside faced a domestic military bent on silencing our views. My words are not intended to instill fear, but instead, to instill a sense of justice (or injustice) and solidarity; and to find in our hearts the hope and necessity to fight for a better world.

Some of the things I have to say will sound unbelievable to some and completely believable to others (see http://www.ftaaimc.org for reference). Most of my descriptions are events I witness, while others are things I heard from others or saw on TV. What happened in Miami is a turning point in domestic state terror aimed at destroying civil society, labor activists, direct action networks, and concerned citizens. The Miami, Florida state, and Federal authorities waged nothing less than a campaign of organized terror. By Friday the 21st, what we were fighting for in Miami had nothing to do with the FTAA, but more to with our basic constitutional rights of free speech, free assembly, and ultimately our right to hold dissenting views.

The weeks leading up to the big day of action, Nov. 20, were marked by intimidation and fear mongering. Activists were detained, some arrested, for simply handing out leaflets and fliers to the citizens of Miami. My first experience in Miami proper was stepping off a bus and turning towards the street and seeing two young women surrounded by four police officers. The two women had bikes and were carrying fliers to hand out. “Welcome to Miami,” I thought. The fear level increased in me. These two were not arrested but nonetheless, harassed and intimidated. Stories like this one became common. The police were allowed to intimidate people in this way because the elected officials that run Miami gave them that power in the ordinance that was passed a week prior, which made handing out fliers “blocking the sidewalk”--a new menace to public order. Activist were harassed in hundreds of incidents. The stage was set for a campaign of no tolerance and fear. Once fear was introduced terror was much easier to carry out.

THURSDAY N20
The affinity group I am a part of arrived at the convergence center early in the morning, which was buzzing with activists and media. It had been decided that “embedding” media with those trying to get art and puppets downtown to the 7am direct action meeting area would help fend off preemptive police repression. As the day progressed, it became clear that the authorities had no qualms in initiating violence or harassment even with hordes of media on hand. We made our way downtown from the convergence center as a small group. A large group behind us was blocked off by the police for hours as they eventually wound their way through the streets of Miami trying to reach us at the fence.

From the meeting area downtown, hundreds of people participating in direct action marched towards that fence. I and others were surprised to find that we were “free” to march towards the fence. After some 10 blocks or so, one block from the fence, we ran into a wall of riot police waiting for us. We were a festive bunch now, almost a thousand strong. It was an upbeat atmosphere as some danced and sang to the moving sounds of the drum corp. Others chanted and filled three intersections, all the while the police held there ground. For an hour or so we held our space. All of a sudden and without provocation, the police at my intersection began loudly tapping there clubs on their shields and advancing towards the crowd. We were pushed back very easily and no one responded with force on the police. After we were pushed quickly around the block and into the other crowd of demonstrators, the police met our nonviolent defensive line and began to use tazers and clubs on nonviolent demonstrators who were linking arms. The energy of the demonstration remained high as people sang, chanted, puppeteered, and played the drums. The police moved quickly and used force wantonly. My friend was hit in the head with a club. There were numerous reports of police violence.

We were surrounded by upwards of a thousand heavily armed riot police and were now in the main avenue bordering the labor/peoples rally area and near the hotel where the FTAA meeting was taking place ( I found out later that this avenue had been negotiated between the rally organizes/direct action organizers and the authorities as a legal and safe space). We were finally at the fence. The line of police in the front had big shields, while the line behind them carried guns of all types (tear gas, pepper spray, and all kinds of “less-than lethal” guns). It was the most heavily armed protest police force that I have ever seen. They were not afraid to use all of their weaponry. My friend in the legal team told me that a man doing a Buddhist prayer at the line of the nonviolent defense was tackled by the police and electrocuted by tazers and elected shields. Others were pepper sprayed. The police kept advancing driving us out. This was the theme of the day as we will see. The affinity group that I am apart of and I comprised the puppet and drumming brigade. We circled through crowed with art and went to the front line with the intent to deescalate the police with our puppets and art work. The police kept coming. Soon a group of demonstrators attempted to begin tearing down the fence that had been erected to keep democracy out of the FTAA. As soon as their rope and hook went up a loud explosion rocked the crowd. A concussion grenade and/or tear gas grenade had exploded next to the green bloc and drum circle. A few shots of gun fire followed. The police advanced and set up a line of three rows of police that extended the length of the fence. We would never get that close to the fence again.

The police kept advancing every time we would regroup en mass in the direction of the fence. We were completely surrounded, albeit by quite a large distance to our rear. Nonetheless, there were perhaps twice as many police officers as there were direct action demonstrators. The police had at least two tanks and at least 3 helicopters. At several different times undercover police officers, dressed as protesters, made arrests inside the crowd of demonstrators. A friend of mine told me later that he witnessed, from the lobby of a hotel, around 30 undercover police officers, behind police lines, changing into protest attire (e.g. casual clothes, bandanas, some into black bloc attire, No FTAA stickers and slogans). There is a photo on http://www.ftaaimc.org that shows three undercover agents freely walking behind the line of riot police. The use of force continued to be the method against peaceful demonstrators.

Slowly the police pushed us up the avenue towards the entrance to the “people’s/labor” rally. The entrance to the amphitheater was “guarded” by police and nonunion members were not allowed to enter at first. On several occasions arrests were made as direct action protesters made their way up the line towards the entrance to the rally. The labor/civil society legal rally was militarized and intimidated by the hundreds of riot police and the tank that was mobilized on the outside of their rally area. With only fifteen minutes left until the official start of the rally we had to make a decision. We could stay outside the amphitheater and risk the eventual encirclement of the police or we could join the rally behind the fence of the amphitheater. The AFL-CIO marshals informed the crowd that we were welcome inside the amphitheater and that staying outside could lead to our arrest, as the police appeared eager to sweep the area clear once labor was gone. The group I was with decided to jet out the last remaining opening, the one street the police had left open to us and to the incoming rally attendees. (the police did not end up clearing or arresting everyone left).

After a break and some food. We joined the people’s/labor march. I found out later, to my surprise, that the police had decided to change the legal parade route way away from the fence. The organizing groups had taken a great chance and had organized the march to go along side the fence for part of the route. This was a great step for the AFL-CIO in particular, but it was not to be. In addition, the police had stopped some 1,000 of their attendees in their busses on the outside of Miami, citing that it was too dangerous to enter downtown. Others were also kept away from the legal rally and march.

Exhausted after the morning and the march, the group I was with sat down on the lawn back on the same avenue we had been pushed to that morning, a few feet from the People’s rally entrance. The marchers were marching back in to hear some more speakers. The direct action call had stated that at 5pm we would reconvene at this spot and march up the avenue to the fence. As we were sitting around 3:30, a large group of direct action demonstrators and a group of militant Canadian steel workers marched to the police line. The police line had not changed since we left. In fact, they had been taken by surprise as many of them were kneeling down on break. They quickly got up and met the marchers head on. The Canadian steel workers, with the Black Bloc and other activists, took the lead in the stand off, blocking the police advance. The group I was with quickly gathered our things and walked down to support the march. Very soon however, the first tear gas went off and the rifles and shot guns began firing rubber/plastic bullets, plastic dowels, and lead filled bean bags. At first, the tear gas was concentrated at the head of the crowd but soon it was shot to the middle and back of the whole crowd, including right near the entrance/exit of the People’s rally. It was in our favor that wind was blowing at our backs and took the tear gas back towards the police. I found myself very close to the police but began to back up as the sounds of the gun fire became more numerous. I was unprotected.

The group I was with decided to get our puppets to safety and then make an exit to the same street that was left open. As I proceeded to make my way up the hill a tear gas “ball” (it looked more like a smoke bomb than an exploding canister) began smoking 15 feet in front of me. My eyes began to hurt and my breathing became irritated. I looked back to find my partner. She was hit worse than I. Her eyes were watering and she had a look of horror on her face. We got the puppets safe with the AFL and then our affinity group took off towards the exit. By this time the police had initiated a full blown street battle as the wounded became more and more visible. Some demonstrators began to fight back with water bottles, glass bottles, rocks, and the throwing of the tear gas back towards the police. The police showed no restraint as they advanced. A huge line of police began marching in on us from the rear as we neared the exit street. Barricades were erected as more militant demonstrators protected themselves and fought back at the same time. Most demonstrators, however, made their way out. Some of us were torn between leaving and making a peaceful stand; but the level of police violence was too great. For me the deciding factor was the sheer numbers on guns shooting “less than lethal” projectiles and the threat of arrest.

What happened next can only be described as hunting and orchestrated terror. The police chased everyone out in to upper downtown. The group I was with decided to leave the main march and move autonomously as a group. Every group no matter how big or how small was constantly buzzed by police helicopters or undercover police in unmarked cars or vans and SUV filled with police in riot gear. I will never forget looking over as a line of three vehicles drove by us and a man with a camouflage jacket and radio peered out, glared at our group. It was during this time (and other times) that people were snatched by squads of plain clothed police driving in vans. In one graphic instance, an affinity group reported to my friend working on the legal team, that their National Lawyers Guild (NLG) legal observer was snatched out of their group by a squad of masked men wearing camouflage jackets driving a unmarked white van. Squads like these snatch people all over town.

We were pushed and chased into an extremely poor, predominantly black neighborhood. This was, perhaps, the poorest neighborhood that I have ever seen. Miami after all is one of the poorest, if not the poorest, urban city in the United States. I and others felt really bad about bringing the war zone into an already intensely militarized neighborhood. However bad we felt, it was the only way to go. The reception we received was incredible. We were mainly a bunch of white kids and adults running from the police through a poor black neighborhood, but nonetheless, we received help from the community members that were out to see a show. Some people, however, were not visibly supportive, especially the few women I saw with their young children. A few people, it was reported, were mugged. Some kids got their entertainment as they saw a crazy looking bunch of white people running from the police--not something that they see very often. Others gave us directions. The most memorable was, however, the older man who came forward to offer his backyard for the storage of our puppets. The puppets were sticking out like a sore thumb and we had to hide them. That man came through for us. It was getting dark and we needed to find shelter from the police soon. One of my friends suggested that we hop on a bus and just go, wherever. Luckily, we found a bus depot and were able to catch a bus back to our hotel.

Later, I learned that the large group of people that fled together were physically pushed and shot at for blocks and blocks. It was in this time that the healing space--our medical clinic if you will--was shot at and tear gassed by the police. Others were arrested and many were wounded in the assault that lasted for hours.

As the night time hours came, my partner and I were safe with the affinity group that we work with. I felt like there was nothing I could do, like I was up against something much bigger than I was or all of us were. We didn’t have the numbers on Thursday to control space. Furthermore, the police knew they could pretty much get away with anything they did that day. As I fell asleep that night--stunned but unhurt and out of jail--I could not think what the next day would bring.

FRIDAY N21
The morning began with the question, “what will we do today?” After all that had happened the day before a simple question like that was a bit harder to answer. A press conference, detailing the police repression and calling for solidarity with those arrested, was about as sensible an event that we could have organized. The press conference was held around the corner from the main jail, where over a hundred activists were detained; many for simply being an activist on the street the day before. The press conference was well organized and the speakers were great. After the press conference, the group, now numbering around 250, decided to march around the corner to face the jail. This was not a civil disobedience, nor really a direct action. This was like any rally that most activists have gone to in their life, say outside the federal building before the war started, etc. (i.e., a group of people standing on the side walk chanting).

At first, there were not that many police there, just a few in riot gear. As we massed across the street on the sidewalk and in an empty parking lot, our defiant spirits rose and our call for solidarity with those hurt and/or arrested was loud. We were not a threatening bunch. Volunteer lawyers from the National Lawyers Guild were on hand to negotiate with the police in order to ensure out safety and liberty. I remember thinking how could they repress us now? Can they arrest us for simply holding a vigil, can they? My initial answer was no. More and more riot police filed onto the opposite sidewalk. Eventually, they came to fill the whole street. Again we were surrounded.

After some time, a street spokes council was called. A spokes council is when each affinity group (e.g.,a group of friends) empowers a spokes person to meet with other spokes people to democratically plan a course of action. First affinity groups have to meet to directly democratically formulate their own ideas and proposals together, before sending the spokesperson to the council. Our group had a proposal: to hold a 24 hour vigil until all the people arrested for being downtown yesterday were released from jail. We would invite the already supportive AFL-CIO and Non-governmental Organizations, like Citizens Trade Campaign and Global Exchange to join us. It was during this time of meeting when the police made their move. They informed the lawyers that we all had three minutes to disperse. They stated: “You are an unlawful assembly!”

We were stunned. The dispersal order came at such a quiet time but in some ways a vulnerable time. We were openly organizing democratically in the face of authority, violence, obedience, hierarchy and control. They disrupted that. Most of us, in a state of disbelief and fearing a repeat of the police violence of the day before, left quickly down the only street left partially open to us. However, some stayed behind to nonviolently stand up to the repression and make a stand of principle. I will never forget my friend, who has over 20 years of experience organizing for change, turn to us and said, “We have to stay. This is our chance to make a stand. We have to make a stand sometime.” I remember feeling caught between two feelings: my safety and not wanting to get arrested on one hand, and all that I believe in and stand for on the other. In a split second I chose the former feeling, so did almost everyone else; and we all left with our safety and “freedom.” Then as now, I regret my decision.

Around six people stayed behind and sat down as the police advanced and remained safe, although they were arrested for sitting on the sidewalk. A couple of the lawyers that were attempting to negotiate were arrested. The others that stayed behind or were caught as the exit door was closed faced violence. Many stood side-by-side with their hands in the air walking backwards. The police closed in on them and pushed them towards a chain link fence. As they were arrested some were pepper sprayed, beaten, some were pushed into the fence, as it eventually fell over from their weight. Some reports include the use of rubber bullets. These were activist with their hands up and walking backwards.

We made it out and fled a couple of blocks away. The hunted feeling bubbled up in us again. We were shaken and angry. Walking away from that sidewalk and parking lot, out the exit the police left open, I had never felt so angry and disempowered. I felt like lashing out at the police, who at times, appear as if their only function is to intimidate, control, demoralize, and brutalize people. We found a “safe” space in an empty lot by the freeway. We hid out puppets and individually tried to make sense of what had just happened. As we listened to the city become militarized once again with sirens, police car after police car, and the four helicopters over head, we could not help but wonder how it was possible for a police state to be mobilized because 50 people refused to leave a sidewalk or that six people sat down on that sidewalk. Eventually, we found our way to the same bus depot that we used on Thursday and we caught a bus back to our hotel. One of our friends had been swallowed up by the repressive arm of the law.

It had all happened so fast and it all seemed so unbelievable. Obviously we were not a threat physically. It would have been certain suicide if we had attacked the jail. How absurd to think that a small group of demonstrators was going to invade the heavily fortified Dade County jail. Still, that night the police justified the whole event by saying that their undercover intelligence officers witnessed “protesters breaking pavement into rocks to be used as weapons against the police.” Politically it seemed that we were a bit more of a threat but still not at the level of commanding change for our arrested brothers and sisters or the denunciation of the police in the media. The only thing that remained a threat is our spirit of resistance and out dissenting views. That was the target of police repression on Friday and to a large extent on Thursday.

Friday was hardest for me because what we expect from a vigil and our right to public space was violated with brute force. We were no longer safe to gather in a group to express our views. Our act of expressing our views was subversion. Friday made it clear that the authorities running the police state in Miami had the intent of destroying democracy and instilling fear. They simply wanted us to go away and force was the method they used.

JAIL
There are many reports coming out about the conditions in jail. Check http://www.ftaaimc.org for in-depth reports. In short, the terror used on the outside was replicated and intensified on the inside for many of those arrested. People were beaten, denied medical attention, pepper spayed in closed quarters, denied vegetarian or vegan foods, sleep deprived, deprived of bathrooms and more. There are multiple allegations of sexual assault. In some cases, bond was set at extraordinarily high rates inconsistent with the infraction. People of color were singled out and terrorized with higher intensity than white people. The NLG and ACLU, aided by labor unions and civil society, will be launching numerous lawsuits.

CONCLUSION
The affinity group I work with was a stunned bunch. Many of us had never seen repression and violence from the police at this level, especially against completely peaceful demonstrators. I had never felt so disempowered and brutalized. An erie sense of defeat crept over us. I and others were astonished that in a so-called democratic society the authorities could brutalized and terrorize everyday people who think that corporate and governmental policy was wrong. Don’t get me wrong, we have been on the other end of repression and violence before, but somehow this was different. This was an orchestrated campaign of intimidation and terror that set out to crush us no matter what we were doing. Moreover, the corporate media was there through all of it, yet, reported little or non of it. We were targeted as dissidents not as successful activists. In Seattle, the police used excessive force once we had gained an upper hand and they had “lost control” from their perspective. In Miami however, force was used to clear out opposing views. They aimed to drive us out of town and demoralize us, to silence our voices now and in the future. As our country continues to lose the facade of democracy, the elite, in particular the right wing elite, cannot rely solely on propaganda anymore.

Miami demonstrates that violence will increasingly be a method of choice by an elite who are waging an expansive war abroad--and at home. The model of Third World repression is coming home. The US continues to refine and export the methods of domestic terror to the Third World. Now some of those methods are employed by the elite here to curb domestic expressions of democracy. What we learned from Miami is that it will take a broad coalition to successfully challenge state repression and the “hidden” arm of corporate power. That coalition got a jump start in Miami as labor unions, NGOs, direct action people, lawyers, antiwar groups, environmental groups, and everyday people came together to protest an antidemocratic tool of US led corporate globalization (FTAA) and an antidemocratic state led by the Bush administration. We have much to do.