March
2001
There’s
No Such Thing as a “Bad” Protester
By David Becker and Nicole Raucana
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As the American political climate shifts to the right,
with an agenda of punishment, poverty, racism and cruelty, an unforeseen
obstacle has risen up: A generation that refuses to go along. Since
the “Battle in Seattle,” where thousands of protesters shut
down the World Trade Organization (WTO) meetings, this new generation
has stepped onto the political scene with great force and potential,
creating fresh debates on issues like globalization, the death penalty,
environmental justice, reproductive freedom, and police brutality.
Unable to outright ignore our growing movement, the authorities, including
their mouthpieces in the media, are playing the age-old game of “divide
and conquer.” They claim that there is a movement mostly full of
“good” protesters whose efforts are being undermined by the
existence of “bad” protesters. These “bad” protesters
break off from permitted marches and damage property, block streets,
defend themselves against police assault or do anything else deemed
unacceptable.
Today, as the movement prepares for four years of battle with George
W. Bush, his right wing cronies and the growing politics of cruelty,
we must ask ourselves: Is there such a thing as a “bad” protester?
Anyone and everyone who refuses to go along with the politics of cruelty
is doing a “good” thing.
There are many who say that this youth movement, just now gaining strength
in numbers, has already gone too far. Politicians often take a stand
that condones social justice in theory and yet condemns it in practice.
As the streets of Seattle filled with tear gas in December 1999, Bill
Clinton said to the WTO, “I condemn the small number [of protesters]
who were violent and who tried to prevent you from meeting. But I’m
glad the others showed up.”
Who are these people trying to tell us our actions are good or bad?
Aren’t they the very same authorities and institutions that we
are protesting? Aren’t they protecting those whose “structural
adjustment” programs turn whole countries into sweatshops, where
children go to sleep at night under the same machine they slave at all
day? How dare these international criminals tell us that we’re
the ones going to far?
In massive protests over the past two years, in Washington, D.C., Philadelphia,
Los Angeles, Cincinnati, and Seattle, local and federal police forces
have repressed and assaulted protesters and even random bystanders and
the media.
Many people—particularly the determined youth who have taken the
frontlines—have been trampled by horses, shot at and tear-gassed,
intentionally struck by police vehicles, dragged through the streets,
arrested in pre-dawn raids, detained, harassed and charged with crimes
for daring to stand up against America’s repressive agenda.
Protesters never know what to expect when planning a major protest—police
infiltration, denial of permits, surveillance, and outright brutality
from the police. The idea of “bad” protesters is arbitrary
and often changes. It’s all up to the cops.
During the Battle in Seattle, police, shooting rubber bullets and arresting
hundreds of peaceful protesters, maintained a 46-block “no protest
zone” in the heart of the city. If the politicians and police had
their way, the entire country would be a “no protest zone” so
that they could continue their crimes unhindered by the people.
Despite the repression, the rising movement is determined to create
a future far different from the one that’s been arranged for us.
Throughout our generation, from housing projects to small-town high
schools, youth are beginning to resist. Among them you’ll find
some who strongly believe in the principles to which this country has
historically aspired and others who find oppression and injustice rooted
in those same principles.
Many are still figuring out what future they think is right—all
are united by what they know is wrong. We are strong and bold in our
beautiful diversity. Go to a protest or rally and you’ll find
as many reasons people have come out for it as there are people. You
will
find militant young women fed up with traditional family values being
shoved down our throats, youth from the suburbs who are inspired by
death row inmate, journalist and social justice activist Mumia Abu-Jamal,
youth who are disgusted at how the earth is being destroyed by pollution
and deforestation, Black and Latino youth sick and tired of being walking
targets in the eyes of the police.
Contrary to those who have demanded some kind of political purity of
purpose, our diversity gives us strength.
Political activist and Refuse & Resist initiator C. Clark Kissinger,
who is currently serving a 90-day sentence as a result of his work around
Mumia’s case, said, “We must create a movement broad enough
to reach millions, diverse enough to include all, and determined enough
to strike fear in the hearts of the mighty.” There is no way we
can do this for Mumia’s case or any other of these historic battles
if we let the very forces we are fighting set the terms of our struggle.
Young people will express their disgust with the world they’ve
inherited in all kinds of ways. Yes, there will be differences that
come up, and at times these might become sharp differences. But there’s
a fundamentally bigger difference between us and the forces we are up
against. We must build a movement within which there’s room for
debate and struggle, through which we can unite against a common enemy.
Whatever ways people choose to express their opposition to the politics
of cruelty, we must cherish that resistance, and amplify every act.
As Clark sits in a jail cell, imprisoned for being a “bad” protester
by defying restrictive court orders, a movement is surging forward.
We are finding unity with all those who want to stand up and
resist, determined to stop the entire national agenda of repression
and cruelty. And the other side should be very, very nervous.
Refuse & Resist! is the organization for those who refuse
to go along with today’s national agenda of repression and cruelty,
poverty and punishment. Refuse & Resist! nurtures resistance and
resistors who inspire us to know that a different future is possible.
For information, contact: 212-713-5657; e-mail: info@refuseandresist.org;
or visit www.refuseandresist.org.
