Over 2,600 Activists
Arrested in the US Since Election - The Resistance in Obama Time By BILL
QUIGLEY
Since President Obama was
inaugurated, there have been over two thousand six hundred arrests of activists
protesting in the US. Research shows over 670 people have been
arrested in protests inside the US already in 2011, over 1290 were arrested in
2010, and 665 arrested in 2009. These figures certainly
underestimate the number actually arrested as arrests in US protests are rarely
covered by the mainstream media outlets which focus so intently on arrests of
protestors in other countries.
Arrests at protest have
been increasing each year since 2009. Those arrested include people
protesting US wars in Afghanistan and Iraq, Guantanamo, strip mining, home
foreclosures, nuclear weapons, immigration policies, police brutality,
mistreatment of hotel workers, budget cutbacks, Blackwater, the mistreatment of
Bradley Manning, and right wing efforts to cut back collective bargaining.
These arrests illustrate
that resistance to the injustices in and committed by the US is alive and well.
Certainly there could and should be more, but it is important to recognize that
people are fighting back against injustice. Information on these arrests
has been taken primarily from the newsletter The Nuclear Resister, which has
been publishing reports of anti-nuclear resistance arrests since 1980, and
anti-war actions since 1990.
Jack Cohen-Joppa, who with
his partner Felice, edits The Nuclear Resister, told me “Over the last three
decades, in the course of chronicling more than 100,000 arrests for nonviolent
protest and resistance to nuclear power, nuclear weapons, torture, and war,
we've noted a quadrennial decline as support for protest and resistance gets
swallowed up by Presidential politicking. It has taken a couple of years, but
the Hopeian addicts of 2008 are finally getting into recovery. We're again
reporting a steady if slow rise in the numbers willing to risk arrest and
imprisonment for acts of civil resistance. Today, for instance, there are
more Americans serving time in prison for nuclear weapons protest than at any
time in more than a decade.”
In the list below I give
the date of the protest arrest and a brief summary of the reason for the
protest. After each date I have included the name of the
organization which sponsored the protest. Check them out.
Remember, they can jail the resisters but they cannot jail the resistance!
January 1, 2011.
Nine women, ages 40 to 91, who brought solar panels to the Vermont Yankee
nuclear reactor were arrested for blocking the driveway at Entergy Corporation.
Shut It Down.
January 5, 2011 and
February 2, 2011. Five arrests were made of peace activists protesting at
Vandenberg Air Force base, including a veteran of WWII. Vandenberg
Witness.
January 11, 2011.
Ten people protesting against the continued human rights violation of
Guantanamo prison trying to deliver a letter to a federal judge were arrested
at the federal building in Chicago, Illinois.
January 11, 2011. A
sixty one year old grandmother protesting against excessive radiation was
arrested for blocking the path of a utility truck in Sonoma County, California.
January 15, 2011.
Twelve people protesting against Trident nuclear weapons at the Kitsap-Bangor
naval base outside of Seattle, Washington were arrested – six on state charges
of blocking the highway and six others on federal charges of trespass for
crossing onto the base. Ground Zero Center for Nonviolent Action.
January 17, 2011.
Marking the anniversary of Martin Luther King Jr.’s birthday, people protested
outside the Lockheed Martin Valley Forge Pennsylvania office where eight people
were arrested. Brandywine Peace Community.
January 17, 2011.
Three people protesting the US use of armed drones and depleted uranium were
arrested at the Davis-Monthan air force base near Tucson Arizona.
January 29, 2011.
Eight peace activists marking the 60th anniversary of the testing of the atom
bomb were arrested at the Nevada Nuclear Test Site. Nevada Desert
Experience.
February 10, 2011.
Twenty three hotel workers were arrested after protesting management abuses at
the Hyatt Regency San Francisco. UNITE Here Local 2.
February 15, 2011. A
former CIA agent turned whistleblower was arrested and battered by police for
standing silently and turning his back during a speech on the need for human
rights in Egypt delivered by the US Secretary of State. Veterans
for Peace.
February 17, 2011.
Nine people protesting against the attack on collective bargaining in Wisconsin
were arrested at the Wisconsin Capitol in Madison.
February 25, 2011.
Eleven people protesting federal budget cuts against the poor, including one
person in a wheelchair were arrested charged with blocking traffic in Chicago.
March 4, 2011. Three
people were arrested in Seattle after a protest against police abuse.
March 4, 2011.
Sixteen people were arrested at a protest against tuition increases at the
University of Wisconsin Milwaukee.
March 10, 2011.
Fifty people protesting the removal of collective bargaining rights were
arrested after being carried out of the Wisconsin Capitol in Madison.
March 16, 2011.
Seven union supporters protesting proposals to strip collective bargaining from
teachers were arrested in Nashville Tennessee.
March 19, 2011. One
hundred thirteen people protesting the eighth anniversary of the war in Iraq,
lead by Veterans for Peace, were arrested at White House. Veterans for Peace.
March 19, 2011.
Eleven military family members and veterans were arrested in Hollywood
California after staging a sit protesting the 8th anniversary of the war in
Iraq. Veterans for Peace.
March 20, 2011.
Thirty five people were arrested protesting outside the Quantico brig where
Bradley Manning was being held. Bradley Manning Support Network.
March 28, 2011. Seven
people defending a family against eviction and protesting home foreclosures
were arrested in Rochester, NY, including a 70 year old neighbor in her
pajamas. Take Back the Land.
April 4, 2011. Seven
people protesting against unjust immigration legislation barring undocumented
immigrants from Georgia colleges were arrested for blocking traffic in Atlanta
Georgia.
April 7, 2011. Seventeen
people were arrested protesting budget cuts in assistance for the poor and
elderly and calling for an end to corporate tax exemptions in Olympia
Washington.
April 10, 2011.
Twenty seven people calling attention to the thousands of murders of people in
Latin America by graduates of the US Army School of the Americas/WHINSEC were
arrested outside the White House. School of Americas Watch.
April 11, 2011.
Forty one people, including the Mayor and many of the members of the District
of Columbia city council, protesting Congressional action limiting how the District
of Columbia could spend its own money were arrested in Washington DC.
April 15, 2011.
Eight teenage girl students, some as young as fourteen, were arrested after
they refused to leave their public school Catherine Ferguson Academy, which is
specially designated for pregnant and mothering teens in Detroit. Also
with the young women were children and teachers. The school is targeted
for closure due to budget cutbacks.
April 22, 2011.
Thirty seven people were arrested protesting the use of drones outside the
Hancock Air Force base near Syracuse New York. Syracuse Peace Council.
Ithaca Catholic Worker.
April 22, 2011.
Eleven women chained and locked the gate at the Vermont Yankee nuclear power
plant in Vernon Vermont before being arrested.
April 22, 2011.
Thirty three people protesting at the Livermore Lab which designs nuclear
weapons at an interfaith peace service were arrested for trespassing in
California.
April 22, 2011. Four
people were arrested at the Pentagon after they held up a banner and read from
a leaflet outside of the designated protest zone. Dorothy Day Catholic
Worker.
April 24, 2011.
Sixteen protestors against nuclear weapons at the Nevada National Security Site
were arrested after a sixty mile sacred walk from Las Vegas. Nevada
Desert Experience. Pace e Bene.
May 2, 2011. Fifty
two protestors against a nuclear weapons plant in Kansas City Missouri were
arrested after blocking a gate to the construction site. Holy Family
Catholic Worker.
May 9, 2011. Five
people protesting against draconian immigration laws were arrested in the
governor’s office in Indianapolis, Indiana.
May 7, 2011. Seven
people celebrating Mothers Day and protesting nuclear weapons were arrested
outside the Naval Base Kitsap-Bangor twenty miles from Seattle. Ground
Zero Center for Nonviolent Action.
May 9, 2011. Sixty
five people protesting cutbacks in education funding were arrested in
Sacramento California.
welcome to the neocons police state!!!
