Joy at the O3 Protest

Sidebar to "The Hidden Debate"

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OK, I don't know how much you'll see on the news, or what kind of coverage was shown, but I was at the UMAss campus tonight as a protester/Nader voter, and I'd like to share what I saw.

I got off the train and followed a large crowd that was making its way toward the campus. It was the kind of motley group you might expect: neo-hippies, Mumia people, anyone with an injustice to protest was there. Which was fine -- it's about free speech, isn't it? I have to say I was glad to see that the Church of Euthanasia wasn't there - personal editorial: I believe in everyone's right to free speech, but I get irritated by those who treat that right lightly and who trivialize the efforts of others by exploiting organized demonstrations for/against a particular issue by using those efforts as a forum solely to draw attention to their own narrow self-interests. In my experience, they don't give a rat's ass what the issue is, they just love a crowd to which they can show their deliberately inflammatory banners ("Eat a Queer Fetus for Jesus"; "Save the Planet; Kill Yourself").

I wish the Church of Euthanasia would practice what it preaches.

Anyway. There were police present, but everything seemed pretty peaceful. I walked around, and came to an area where people were milling about. There were lots of Gore/Lieberman people. I noticed a lot of these supporters bore placards indicating they were from the Iron Workers' union. Many of these were young, muscular guys strutting around with their signs. They seemed a bit aggressive. Two were walking with their Gore signs shouting, "Gore! Gore! Gore! I walked next to one and smiled.

"Nader."

He stopped and looked at me. "Gore!" he held up his sign.

I smiled again. "Nader!"

"Gore!"

"Nader!"

I just figured we were having fun. I walked on, looking around. Then I heard a commotion behind me, and went over. I saw that the two Iron Worker dudes had grabbed a sign from a woman who was a Nader supporter, ripped it out of her hands, broke it in half, and threw it on the ground. "NO STICKS ALLOWED!!!" They shouted at her. "You have no right to do that! " She shouted. She was visibly shaken, but also angry. They were getting in her face at this point. Again, these were, large, muscular construction worker-types, in their twenties. A cop came over and basically ignored them and addressed the woman. He told her no sticks were allowed. "Fine, but they dont' have to bully people! They pushed me down!" "Are you hurt?" the cop asked in a tone of voice that indicated he couldn't care less. "No, but aren't you going to do something? These people are hurting other people!" "Just come away ma'am and you'll be fine." "You aren't going to do anything??!!??" The bullies were closing in again. I put my arm around the woman and said, "he can't protect you from all these people. He may not want to, either. You're right; they're assholes. Let's go." I tried to get her away from the goons, but she turned to face one of them began telling him he shouldn't be picking on people (I had to give her credit; she was short and scared but wanted to stand up for herself and for what was right). He responded by getting in her face and hitting her in the face with his placard. I was getting pretty angry by this point, so I stepped in between them, facing the goon. "What is WRONG with you?"I asked. You'e voting for Gore; fine; that;s your right. Leave other people alone."

There were a few Iron Workers - older men -- who were clearly disgusted by what was happening and tried to get their guys to back off. I felt bad for them, and was really grateful.

Where were all the cops? you ask. Too busy keeping all those puppet-toting Greens from getting violent, one supposes. I went to the barricade by the street, where several cops where hanging out. Let me paint the picture for you: Three cops are standing in the street shooting the breeze, ignoring the fact that, fifteen feet away, these thugs are bullying people, pushing them around, looking for a fight. I promise you that if a Green Party person tried anything amiss, they'd be bagged and tagged before you could say, "First Amendment." After I'd called "excuse me" about four times, one of the cops said, "how can I help you?" His tone of voice was more, "what the hell do you want?"

"The Iron Workers' guys are being real bullies. They're pushing people around and I think they're going to hurt someone." "Yes I know - I was there before," the cop replied.He didn't move.

"Well, do you THINK you might WANT to go BACK before someone gets HURT??!!?? I yelled.

He went back in -reluctantly-I guess his conversation with his buddies was more interesting -- and I walked around some more.

A married couple with Iron Workers Union T-shirts were screaming at some Nader supporters, calling them comunists and telling them to go back to Russia. I stopped to watch them, and I got included in the vitriol. "YOU'RE ALL A BUNCH OF FUCKING FREAKS!!!" the woman screamed at me.

"Why?" I asked. "THERE'S SOMETHING WRONG WITH YOU -- YOUR MOTHER DIDN'T RAISE YOU RIGHT!" More commands from both to go back to Russia where we belong.

Now, picture this: two Iron Workers Union supporters calling us communists. Do you get the irony? They didn't. I tried to point out that they had the communists to thank for unions and the 40-hour work week, but apparently they weren't interested in serious dialogue, or actual history.

"YOU'R E JUST A FUCKING FREAK!!!!" the woman screamed at me again.

I finally lost my temper. I'd had it. "FUCK YOU!!" I screamed back. I walked away, took a breath, and returned.

"You're just a fucking commie freak dyke," the guy said to me.

"You know, " I said, breathing deeply and evenly and reminding myself that I was trying to be committed to non-violence,"I'm amazed. You must be psychic. You know all about me without ever having a single conversation with me."

To condense the drama that followed, He repeated his assertions that I was a "pickle-sucking dyke bitch" (???), then I had someone else another stellar representative from -- you guessed it-- the Iron Workers' union) ask me if I had a job and benefits, and when I said yes, procedded to call me a "fuckin' prostitute." At this I was puzzled, and when I followed him and tried to get him to explain what the hell he was tlaking about, I got more of the same verbal abuse. Plus he kept walking away, so I went back to My Favorite Couple, whereupon the man told me what I could shove up a certain part of my anatomy."

"You're eloquence is touching," I said. "You've convinced me. I'm going to vote for Gore and be just like you. I'm sure you rmother would be proud." Some Nader supporter dudes did tell the man he shouldn't talk to a woman like that; it was rude.

To which the guy repeated his conviction tat I was a "fucking commie dyke."

Now, I have to say that, although it is out of character for me, I really worked hard to not get into a heated exchange. These people were vulgar, rude, and just plain out of control. I badly wanted to clock the woman. I do confess that in response to her assertion that all the Nader people looked like freaks, I did point out that she was not one to talk , what with her unfortunate perm and all.

So I got tired of that pointless action and went down to the barricades by the college. More Nader supporters gathered there, and we had our signs and there were those with their catchy, glib, rhyming slogans. We were basically minding our own business.

And something strange happened. I looked at the cops standing there, armed, silent, facing us, and I felt myself start to cry. I thought, we are all people, we are all really the same, and yet here we are, with fences and guns and these policeman dont' see us as being people like them, people with families and cats and dogs and jobs and friends. If we met at a party we would sit around and have a beer, and simply because we support a different candidate, or dress differently or have a different political conscience, we look at each other as The Enemy. How can we hope for peace if we can't even bridge this gap?

A girl stood next to me, and we began to chat. Seems Our Favorite Union Couple had called her a "skanky commie dyke." I told her she must be special because I didn't rate "skanky." She had been told by one of the Nice Iron Workers that he didnt' really like Gore but had been told he had to come down and hold a sign or he;d lose his job. God Bless Democratic Freedom. We stood this way for awhile, talking among ourselves.

Then the riot police arrived.

Now, I have to say, watching them on TV is one thing; having them line up, facing you about 10 yards away with sticks and guns and riot gear is no joke. I was scared. Really, really scared. Things flashed through my head: Big black boots, stormtroopers, footage from the Seattle riots, Klaatu Barada Nicto. They stood there, holding their clubs at the ready, and I thought, "my God, are they really going to hit us? For just standing here?" We began to talk among ourselves, wondering whether anything would happen, and if so, would we be warned. The cops put their visors down, and I could feel my stomach drop and my whole body shake. I wondered what the riot police felt; were they making themselves hate us in case they had to hurt us? Did they hate their jobs right now? A girl near me had a cell phone and I briefly thought about asking whether I could use it to call a friend so that I could just tell them how scared I was. I saw police dogs being brought out.

I think the fear I felt came from feeling that the police were no longer the Good Guys. If you're raised a law-abiding white person, you think, "the police are good -- they don't hurt innocent people." But I'd seen that no matter what we did, the police saw us as a threat and a nuisance, and didn't care what happened to us. I didn't want to be in the action end of mace or a night stick wielded by a riot cop with a chip on his shoulder. But i was glad I'd brought saline solution and some bandanas just in case. I knew that in Seattle they;d sprayed protesters with a substance used in vietnam and which was proven to cause miscarriages and chromosomal damage, among other things.

The crown began to repeat, "we're nonviolent; how about you?", although it seemed more like a plea than a chant.

But after awhile it seemed that they weren't going to do anything as long as we behaved ourselves; it also seemed that if we gave them any reason, they would attack. A few people jumped the barricade to wave a sign and were quickly subdued and taken away by the cops. The cops did spray into the crowd when someone jumped over. Poeple there said the cops were being indiscriminate when they did it. For the most part the crowd was self-policing, chiding demonstrators who taunted the police.

We heard Nader was turned away twice, although a student had given him a valid ticket - they are so afraid of letting him just sit in the audience, for crying out loud. So much for open campaigns. This one's all bought and paid for.

I stayed for a coupe hours and then the girl and I finally decided to leave as some people moved away to discuss some civil disobedience -- we didn't feel it was necessary; it wouldn't accomplish anything and although we were prepared to be injured in the advancement of a cause, provoking the police at this stage would do nothing. We are not the type who see romance in senseless jailing and confrontation.

As we left, I saw the crowds had diminished considerably. Some cops were standing near where I had had my chat with My Favorite Couple. That area was now empty. I went up to one of them; he was dressed in riot gear, and i said, "I just want to have a positive experience with a policeman before I go home," and I held out my hand. He shook it, and said,"have you had a bad experience?"

"No," I said, but it's so odd to stand there, faced with cops in riot gear, to look at the clubs and guns and think, "is that for me?"

The cop smiled and said, "no, it;s not for you -- as long as you dont' cause trouble, it;s not for you."

I looked at him and said, "well, we both know that's not always true." We chatted a bit, and I asked whether anything had been done about the Iron Workers. They kind of chuckled and said, "oh, they left." I tried to express my dismay at their behavior, but the cops' attitude was pretty much that that was what the Iron Workers were like, boys will be boys, etc.

So my advice to you is : don't mess with an Iron Worker. The law will not be on your side.

If I could convey anything about tonight, I'd say that, while I was gratefuk thing sdidn't get out of hand, it was mostly due to the protesters beign committed to nonviolence. I was truly dismayed at how inbalanced it all is. The police protect their own cronies, and the system protects its own as well. I don't want to sound like a nut, but if you want to feel powerless, try having a voice against the established power structure and see how quickly people turn on you and label you an Enemy (or a commie dyke, if you're lucky). You will not be who you know yourself to be; you will become a threat, a criminal, and you will not be protected. When huge men knock down women while the police turn a blind eye and riot police mace skinny kids for waving a sign on the wrong side of a fence, your perspective changes pretty dramatically.

This is long and disjointed, but I knew that if I waited to make it polished I'd lose the freshness and momentum of the experience.

Thanks.
Joy
www.voteNader.org

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