admiration
My cousin was arrested for civil disobedience. This is an email she sent me describing her experience.
>"Civil disobedience becomes a sacred duty when the State becomes
> lawless or, which is the same thing, corrupt." Mahatma Gandhi
>
> Dear friends, family, and loved ones,
>
> On Monday, August 7 I was arrested for protesting logging in the
> largest wild, undeveloped forest on the west coast. I would like to
> explain what compelled such drastic action and share some reflections
> from my 24 hours in jail.
>
> In 2001, the Roadless Area Conservation Rule set aside 59 million
> acres of the most pristine forests in our country. These public
> lands, lands owned by every American, were to be protected for
> recreation values, wildlife habitat, and future generations.
Roadless
> areas represent our natural heritage, with towering forests and wild
> rivers that support unique and cherished wildlife. Over two million
> Americans wrote letters in support of the roadless policy, more than
> any other policy in history.
>
> Late last year, the Bush administration overturned the rule and
> replaced it with a weaker one that allows state governors to petition
> for roadless forest protection in their states. Oregon, Washington,
> California, and New Mexico sued the federal government for the repeal
> and their disregard of public opinion. The Bush administration
> guaranteed protection for roadless areas until governors completed
> their petitions, but quickly dropped this promise and announced two
> clearcutting projects in southern Oregon roadless areas. Our
governor
> wrote a letter to the administration demanding that they keep their
> promise, but the administration looked the other way and continued
> with their plans. This is blatant disrespect for our state's
rights.
> This also sets a precedent for logging roadless forests across the
> country.
>
> In June, the federal government auctioned off these majestic
> old-growth forests to the timber industry for less than the price of
> firewood. Even the conservative Oregonian newspaper called these
> logging projects "a total waste of time, money and public trust in
the
> Forest Service [. . .] This sale makes no economic or environmental
> sense. It is only the Bush administration forcing its way into a
> roadless Oregon forest, just to prove that it can" (June 10).
>
> As an American, I am outraged at the deceit and corruption
represented
> in these clearcutting projects. As a native of the Pacific
Northwest,
> I am devastated to see our legacy forests fall for the sake of a
quick
> profit.
>
> For two years, I have worked to renew protection for these wild
> forests. I have organized communities, called elected officials,
> worked with the media, written letters to the editor, and more.
Alas,
> none of this could stop the greed of a few wealthy, powerful
> individuals. I decided to take things a step further.
>
> On Monday, logging began in a roadless area for the first time in
over
> a decade. I joined over 100 protestors in southern Oregon to
> demonstrate opposition to the destruction of an American legacy. I
> also joined 11 others in an act of civil disobedience.
>
> In his Letter from Birmingham Jail, Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.
wrote,
> "As in so many past experiences, our hopes bad been blasted, and the
> shadow of deep disappointment settled upon us. We had no alternative
> except to prepare for direct action, whereby we would present our
very
> bodies as a means of laying our case before the conscience of the
> local and the national community."
>
> Seeking to draw media attention and raise public awareness on the
> values of roadless areas and the precedent being set, we formed a
> peaceful blockade in front of the Siskiyou National Forest office.
We
> then sat down in Medford's main street with potted trees and a banner
> that read "Roadless is Priceless." The police quickly moved in and
> arrested us, charging us with disorderly conduct. Our arrest made
> national press. I was featured being interviewed and cuffed on
> southern Oregon's three TV stations.
>
> Jail is hardly a vacation. After being in a holding cell with my
> fellow female protestors for four hours, we had to strip and change
> into jail clothes (which, despite being hideous, are surprisingly
> comfortable). Along with two other women from our group, I was
> assigned a jail cell that already held four other women (mostly there
> on drug-related charges). The women were surprisingly welcoming,
> friendly, and supportive of our cause.
>
> The cell was cold, bright with fluorescent lights, and rank with
> despair. Dinner looked and smelled worse than dog food. Most of the
> cops were respectful, but some were cruel. They yelled, told us we
> had no rights, made condescending remarks. One "perk": our cell had
> cable TV. I never imagined I'd spend a night in jail watching the
> Princess Bride.
>
> Sleep was slow to come that night, but when it did my dreams were
> vivid and frightening. At 4 am, two officers hauled the girl in the
> bunk below me off to prison. She was pregnant and battered by her
> boyfriend.
>
> Being locked away is a strange and disgruntling experience, but it
> allowed me time to reflect on the current predicaments of our
> society. Henry David Thoreau wrote, in his essay On the Duty of
Civil
> Disobedience, "Must the citizen ever for a moment, or in the least
> degree, resign his conscience to the legislator? Why has every man a
> conscience, then? I think that we should be men first, and subjects
> afterward. It is not desirable to cultivate a respect for the law,
so
> much as for the right."
>
> As I gazed at the concrete walls around me, I thought back on other
> great social leaders of the past… Martin Luther King, Jr., Gandhi,
> Rosa Parks... people who affected massive social change by rejecting
> the status quo and using civil disobedience and nonviolent resistance
> to relay their message for change. Rosa Parks, referring to her
> refusal to give up her bus seat, said "at the time I was arrested I
> had no idea it would turn into this… It was just a day like any other
> day. The only thing that made it significant was that the masses of
> people joined in."
>
> I do not advocate anything radical, only moral. Our government has
> deceived us. It is abusing its power within our country and around
> the world. What is happening right now in southern Oregon is a
> manifestation of the corruption and destructiveness of this
> administration. They aggressively promote clearcutting forests,
> polluting rivers, killing wildlife, lowering fuel efficiency and
> emission standards, modifying crop genetics, drilling in refuges, and
> much more. It is an outrage. Again I quote Thoreau: "How does it
> become a man to behave toward this American government today? I
> answer, that he cannot without disgrace be associated with it."
>
> I refer back to MLK's Birmingham letter: "You may well ask: 'Why
> direct action? Why sit-ins, marches and so forth? Isn't negotiation a
> better path?' You are quite right in calling for negotiation. Indeed,
> this is the very purpose of direct action. Nonviolent direct action
> seeks to create such a crisis and foster such a tension that a
> community which has constantly refused to negotiate is forced to
> confront the issue. It seeks so to dramatize the issue that it can no
> longer be ignored… The purpose of our direct-action program is to
> create a situation so crisis-packed that it will inevitably open the
> door to negotiation."
>
> I will continue to use every means I know to protect our forests,
> rivers, and wildlife. I am fortunate to know so many talented and
> compassionate people who will work alongside me. The community
> response I have received from this week's events have been uplifting
> and inspiring.
>
> In a quiet, scratchy voice, the 80-year-old man sitting with us in
the
> blockade he shared a story of Henry David Thoreau:
> After Thoreau was arrested for civil disobedience and protesting
> unjust taxes, his friend Ralph Waldo Emerson came to visit him in
> jail. Emerson asked, "Henry, what are you doing in there?" Thoreau
> replied, "Why, Ralph, what are you doing out there?"
>"Civil disobedience becomes a sacred duty when the State becomes
> lawless or, which is the same thing, corrupt." Mahatma Gandhi
>
> Dear friends, family, and loved ones,
>
> On Monday, August 7 I was arrested for protesting logging in the
> largest wild, undeveloped forest on the west coast. I would like to
> explain what compelled such drastic action and share some reflections
> from my 24 hours in jail.
>
> In 2001, the Roadless Area Conservation Rule set aside 59 million
> acres of the most pristine forests in our country. These public
> lands, lands owned by every American, were to be protected for
> recreation values, wildlife habitat, and future generations.
Roadless
> areas represent our natural heritage, with towering forests and wild
> rivers that support unique and cherished wildlife. Over two million
> Americans wrote letters in support of the roadless policy, more than
> any other policy in history.
>
> Late last year, the Bush administration overturned the rule and
> replaced it with a weaker one that allows state governors to petition
> for roadless forest protection in their states. Oregon, Washington,
> California, and New Mexico sued the federal government for the repeal
> and their disregard of public opinion. The Bush administration
> guaranteed protection for roadless areas until governors completed
> their petitions, but quickly dropped this promise and announced two
> clearcutting projects in southern Oregon roadless areas. Our
governor
> wrote a letter to the administration demanding that they keep their
> promise, but the administration looked the other way and continued
> with their plans. This is blatant disrespect for our state's
rights.
> This also sets a precedent for logging roadless forests across the
> country.
>
> In June, the federal government auctioned off these majestic
> old-growth forests to the timber industry for less than the price of
> firewood. Even the conservative Oregonian newspaper called these
> logging projects "a total waste of time, money and public trust in
the
> Forest Service [. . .] This sale makes no economic or environmental
> sense. It is only the Bush administration forcing its way into a
> roadless Oregon forest, just to prove that it can" (June 10).
>
> As an American, I am outraged at the deceit and corruption
represented
> in these clearcutting projects. As a native of the Pacific
Northwest,
> I am devastated to see our legacy forests fall for the sake of a
quick
> profit.
>
> For two years, I have worked to renew protection for these wild
> forests. I have organized communities, called elected officials,
> worked with the media, written letters to the editor, and more.
Alas,
> none of this could stop the greed of a few wealthy, powerful
> individuals. I decided to take things a step further.
>
> On Monday, logging began in a roadless area for the first time in
over
> a decade. I joined over 100 protestors in southern Oregon to
> demonstrate opposition to the destruction of an American legacy. I
> also joined 11 others in an act of civil disobedience.
>
> In his Letter from Birmingham Jail, Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.
wrote,
> "As in so many past experiences, our hopes bad been blasted, and the
> shadow of deep disappointment settled upon us. We had no alternative
> except to prepare for direct action, whereby we would present our
very
> bodies as a means of laying our case before the conscience of the
> local and the national community."
>
> Seeking to draw media attention and raise public awareness on the
> values of roadless areas and the precedent being set, we formed a
> peaceful blockade in front of the Siskiyou National Forest office.
We
> then sat down in Medford's main street with potted trees and a banner
> that read "Roadless is Priceless." The police quickly moved in and
> arrested us, charging us with disorderly conduct. Our arrest made
> national press. I was featured being interviewed and cuffed on
> southern Oregon's three TV stations.
>
> Jail is hardly a vacation. After being in a holding cell with my
> fellow female protestors for four hours, we had to strip and change
> into jail clothes (which, despite being hideous, are surprisingly
> comfortable). Along with two other women from our group, I was
> assigned a jail cell that already held four other women (mostly there
> on drug-related charges). The women were surprisingly welcoming,
> friendly, and supportive of our cause.
>
> The cell was cold, bright with fluorescent lights, and rank with
> despair. Dinner looked and smelled worse than dog food. Most of the
> cops were respectful, but some were cruel. They yelled, told us we
> had no rights, made condescending remarks. One "perk": our cell had
> cable TV. I never imagined I'd spend a night in jail watching the
> Princess Bride.
>
> Sleep was slow to come that night, but when it did my dreams were
> vivid and frightening. At 4 am, two officers hauled the girl in the
> bunk below me off to prison. She was pregnant and battered by her
> boyfriend.
>
> Being locked away is a strange and disgruntling experience, but it
> allowed me time to reflect on the current predicaments of our
> society. Henry David Thoreau wrote, in his essay On the Duty of
Civil
> Disobedience, "Must the citizen ever for a moment, or in the least
> degree, resign his conscience to the legislator? Why has every man a
> conscience, then? I think that we should be men first, and subjects
> afterward. It is not desirable to cultivate a respect for the law,
so
> much as for the right."
>
> As I gazed at the concrete walls around me, I thought back on other
> great social leaders of the past… Martin Luther King, Jr., Gandhi,
> Rosa Parks... people who affected massive social change by rejecting
> the status quo and using civil disobedience and nonviolent resistance
> to relay their message for change. Rosa Parks, referring to her
> refusal to give up her bus seat, said "at the time I was arrested I
> had no idea it would turn into this… It was just a day like any other
> day. The only thing that made it significant was that the masses of
> people joined in."
>
> I do not advocate anything radical, only moral. Our government has
> deceived us. It is abusing its power within our country and around
> the world. What is happening right now in southern Oregon is a
> manifestation of the corruption and destructiveness of this
> administration. They aggressively promote clearcutting forests,
> polluting rivers, killing wildlife, lowering fuel efficiency and
> emission standards, modifying crop genetics, drilling in refuges, and
> much more. It is an outrage. Again I quote Thoreau: "How does it
> become a man to behave toward this American government today? I
> answer, that he cannot without disgrace be associated with it."
>
> I refer back to MLK's Birmingham letter: "You may well ask: 'Why
> direct action? Why sit-ins, marches and so forth? Isn't negotiation a
> better path?' You are quite right in calling for negotiation. Indeed,
> this is the very purpose of direct action. Nonviolent direct action
> seeks to create such a crisis and foster such a tension that a
> community which has constantly refused to negotiate is forced to
> confront the issue. It seeks so to dramatize the issue that it can no
> longer be ignored… The purpose of our direct-action program is to
> create a situation so crisis-packed that it will inevitably open the
> door to negotiation."
>
> I will continue to use every means I know to protect our forests,
> rivers, and wildlife. I am fortunate to know so many talented and
> compassionate people who will work alongside me. The community
> response I have received from this week's events have been uplifting
> and inspiring.
>
> In a quiet, scratchy voice, the 80-year-old man sitting with us in
the
> blockade he shared a story of Henry David Thoreau:
> After Thoreau was arrested for civil disobedience and protesting
> unjust taxes, his friend Ralph Waldo Emerson came to visit him in
> jail. Emerson asked, "Henry, what are you doing in there?" Thoreau
> replied, "Why, Ralph, what are you doing out there?"