I am, today, permitting myself a little guarded nostalgia. I have found this old listserve entry from the immediate aftermath of the city of Hartford finally granting my old protest organizations the right to take the streets against the war, without having to pay the police to come oppress us. This was the culmination of tons of hard work by tons of good people-- people who were, daily, subject to the most absurd ridicule and abuse, both in the media and in their day-to-day lives. It was, for me, a period when antiwar activism was a 20-30 hour a week job. Not long after this event-- actually, the day after the state killed Michael Ross, which is a story I'll have to tell someday-- I stopped working as an activist. It felt and it feels like a kind of surrender, but for various reasons, I just didn't have it in me anymore. In many ways, I miss those days. (For one thing, I miss antiwar Democrats.)
The "delay, misdirect, and obfuscate" line below is key. One of the most important things I learned: when the state wants to put the clamps down on you, they don't have to do it with truncheons and riot shields. They can do it by shuffling you from the Department of Licensing and Inspection to obtain form J-81 from the Office of Planning and Zoning, so you can take it to Precinct 14, where they will sign it for you, to then take to a notary public before filing application 65-Z.... I believe in the value of good government, and more I believe in the necessity of government intervention to check the excesses of capitalism. But I also know that violence is the vocabulary of the state, its native language, and that the state is by its very nature a system of repression. I also know, indeed, that capitalism is only made possible through the violent power of the state. Sometimes that violent power is getting clubbed in the street. Sometimes, it's the quiet coercion of filling out forms. I wore out the tread on my tires shuttling back and forth between city offices. So I say: use the state. Grow it when necessary to prevent suffering. Fear it always, and work towards its inevitable dismantling, along with the economic system it makes possible.
I have not seen most of the people I worked with for many years. I know that many of them are still doing the day-to-day work of opposing war and oppression, long after the carpetbaggers like me burnt ourselves out. I will always admire their passion, their commitment. My fellow activists gave me the great honor of being the individual recipient of the permit for this event. The local paper said we got 1,000 people to the event; our count was closer to 2,000. I keep the permit framed in my office still. It's a record of a small victory, and a far greater failure.
Friends,
I am pleased to announce that the city of Hartford has agreed to grant us street marching permits for our demonstration on March 19th - with no fees attached. I am including the statement from the organizing committee of Connecticut United for Peace with more details below. We will be marching on our original route - meeting at Capitol Ave and Broad St. through the neighborhood streets of Frog Hollow and down Park Street to Barnard Park. Park Street is "legally closed" due to construction on a section that is outside of our march route, and for that reason we will be marching on the sidewalks of Park Street.
As you may know, the St. Patrick's Day Parade has been rescheduled for this Saturday as well, and the city police have assured us that the Parade will not interfere with our demonstration. It may; however, make parking tight. We strongly recommend car pooling. Please consult www.ctunitedforpeace.org for directions and parking suggestions. We are currently working on getting details from the city about street closures and possible parking options, so please keep checking www.ctunitedforpeace.org for updates.
Finally, it's supposed to be a beautiful day - so please join us and bring friends!
Kasha Ho'okili Ho
March 19 - Bring the Troops Home Now - Demonstration
11:00 assemble at corner of Capitol and Broad St, Hartford
Pre-March Rally with Speakers and Music
12:00 March to Barnard Park (South Green)
1:00 Rally at Barnard Park - corner of Main St, Wethersfield, and Maple Ave.
More info: http://ctunitedforpeace.org/
Victory for Free Speech and the Antiwar Movement in Hartford!
Following two weeks of intense political and legal campaigning by antiwar and community activists, on Thursday, March 17, the City of Hartford officially conceded CT United For Peace and the American Friends Service Committee a permit to march on the residential streets of Frog Hollow and dropped any pretense of charging us police or other fees. To our knowledge, this is the first time in nearly a decade that a mass political mobilization will march in the streets of Hartford. It is an important free speech victory for all community groups in Greater Hartford that have for years been dissuaded from street protests for lack of corporate sponsorship or other means of paying exorbitant fees.
The victory was not complete: the City permit requires us to step onto the sidewalk once we've reached Park Street. Even so, winning this battle provides a vital starting point for future mobilizations and posed the first successful challenge to the City's anti-democratic policy on political street marches.
In accordance with the November anti-war conference resolution passed by a plenary of 250 activists from around the state, the ad hoc organizing committee has successfully secured the permits necessary to ensure a safe and peaceful demonstration in Hartford on Saturday, March 19 -- the Global Day of Action Against the Occupation of Iraq. As planned, the pre-rally at Minuteman Park (corner of Capitol and Broad) will begin at 11AM, to be followed by the march through Frog Hollow at 12 Noon and the rally in South Green Park at 1PM.
This victory is a testament to the resurgent strength of anti-war forces in Connecticut, and it sets the stage for what is expected to be the largest mass mobilization against the occupation of Iraq since the invasion two years ago. Moreover, we have set a legal and political precedent that lays the groundwork to accommodate ever larger street mobilizations in the future. None of this could have been accomplished without the collective political pressure that activists from around the state have applied to their elected officials and to the City of Hartford. Several key community organizations and constituencies in Hartford rallied to our defense and showed unyielding support for the cause of the anti-war movement and the First Amendment. We have given the Mayor not a moment's rest since the first sign of hesitancy on his part -- going so far as to corner him, as our union brothers and sisters did, at his own State of the City gala to assert the right to march in the streets of Hartford.
In addition to all of the activists who called the City over the last two weeks to demand our right to free speech, thanks is owed to our negotiating team, which withstood the City's repeated attempts to delay, misdirect and obfuscate at every turn. They are Meg Scata, Kasha Ho, Peter Goselin, Freddie DeBoer, Luz Santana and Milly Guzman-Young. Lori Rifkin of the Connecticut Civil Liberties Union also deserves special thanks for her legal counsel throughout this difficult process.
We look forward to seeing all of you on the streets of Hartford tomorrow, March 19.
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