Cops Plan Bloody Sunday

[litlehan$ <phidyas@yahoo.com>]

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------- Forwarded message follows -------

Please forward to interested parties
Subject: IMF/World Bank Protests in Washington D.C

Weathereport (2)
April 15, 2000 (late forecast)
Drizzly, with the impending clash of protesters and
police on the horizon. Expected confrontations at
6:00AM with continuing actions of civil disobedience
throughout the day.

The streets of Washington D.C. are lined with pork and lies. 
Reuters, AP, and other news wires are reporting the massive 
arrests (an estimated 600 at 12 midnight) of protesters in areas 
around the organizing centers. The convergence center has been 
transformed over the wires from a welcoming center to a terrorist 
boot camp, replete with discoveries of incendiary materials and 
"literature on how to make Molotov cocktails -- crude gasoline 
bombs which could be used in a riot." (Rueters). The crackdown 
will most certainly intensify. By the time you read this, the
first wave of affinity groups will have begun their campaigns at 
2:00AM to block support vehicles and personnel from setting up 
safety routes to and from the IMF building for attendees of the 
meeting. At 6:00AM, right about when you turn over in your sleep,
thousands upon thousands of protesters will descend upon the IMF 
building and other strategic locations to begin their actions of civil 
disobedience. Roughly an hour later, more buses with more 
activists from around the country are expected to drop off hundreds 
more into D.C. When you wake up, we will either be on the
streets or in jail.

And when you see us, in AP photos or clips on newscasts, 
remember that we are, first and foremost, scared. There is an air of 
confrontation tonight, this morning, and it is palpable, courtesy of a 
battalion of thirty cops in riot gear roaming the streets on sleek 
black motorbikes. But also remember that despite the threat of 
another Seattle, despite the riot gear and the tear gas, we'll be fine. 
Here's why.This afternoon Dan and I attended a nonviolent civil
disobedience workshop. They have been running all week, with up 
to three sessions a day in various locations around D.C. We were 
turned away from an earlier one because it was already filled to 
capacity.

When we returned to the First Soul Unitarian Church the room was 
packed with 75 to 100 people, mostly young, predominately white. 
The overcast day illuminated the church in a soft gray hue, making
everyone look tired. Dan and I retire to the back of the room as the 
workshop begins. We start with an unnerving sensitivity exercise.
Everyone was supposed to choose a partner and face each other 
sitting down. I partner with a woman who earlier helped me with a 
folding chair. We sit and listen as the workshop leader explains 
that one of the partners will tell the other their fears about what
they think might happen at the protests tomorrow. And after two 
minutes, the other person will sum up what the person says. It is 
ostensibly an exercise in listening and connecting with strangers, 
whether they are fellow protesters or the police. When the workshop
leader gave the word, I started. I told this stranger about my fear of 
dying. It's been on the back of my mind ever since I heard the story 
of Key Martin, a journalist who died two weeks after the Seattle
protests. He suffered from asthma, and the inhalation of tear gas 
from Seattle caused irreparable damage to lungs, which eventually 
killed him. I have asthma. I hadn't told anyone about how afraid I 
truly was until this exercise. She listened without judging. And 
when she summarized it back for me she made my fear sound
as natural as rain. When it was her turn, she looked me straight in 
the eye and told me she was not afraid. Not anymore. She had 
gone through training like this and has been in situations like this. 
And since she had no fear, it was easy to summarize. I repeated 
the phrase "I'm not afraid" over and over to her. It was not only 
easy, but soothing. The workshop leader called time. We shook 
hands and went on to different partners.

Two exercises later, I feel a tap on my shoulder. It was my first 
partner. She told me she was leaving the workshop to meet with 
her affinity group. But she wanted to tell me something that I have 
been thinking about all night. She wanted me to know that if and
when the tear gas comes out, she was going to look for me. She 
didn't know how she would find me but said that she would. And 
when she does she was going to help me get through it. I asked 
her name and I thought she said, " You and me." She smiles and 
walks out of the All Souls Unitarian Church.

p.
4/16/00
IBM 300GL


=====
"Be light as a bird, not as a feather." -- Valry

------- End of forwarded message -------


-----------------The Fourth World War Has Beginned-----------------
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