Anti-war demonstarors block freeway on ramp

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Anti-war demonstarors block freeway on ramp

Submitted by listening on Sat, 11/10/2007 - 1:25pm.

Anti-war demonstrators have "locked down" on Plum Street freeway on ramp to I-5 North.

After numerous incidences of police brutality this morning in which an Olympian photographer was pepper spread, bystanders were sprayed with pepper spray, and protesters were beaten and directly aimed at eyes with pepper spray, blockades continue through the streets of our home.

Olympia Port Militarization Resistance have successfully blocked military convoys from reaching Fort Lewis. During convoy movements on Wednesday nights support was seen by soldiers moving Stryker vehicles with raised fist and peace signs as demonstrators chanted, "Love the soldier. Hate the war."

For more information contact Anna-Marie Murano at ammurano@gmail.com, 360-878-9644.

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The hell??

Submitted by paisleyboxers on Sat, 11/10/2007 - 4:25pm.

What is the purpose of blocking an onramp?!?!. it would seem to me that that type of action only draws attention to unorganized and unclear thought revolving around some bad protest decisions. That is unintelligent behavior beyond the point of reward.

Friendblog: None are known to exist since bloggers don't have friends.

They were blocking the

Submitted by Rob Richards on Sat, 11/10/2007 - 4:31pm.

They were blocking the onramp to keep the vehicles from leaving. Have you been paying attention?

I have been a busy beaver.. and NO I haven't

Submitted by paisleyboxers on Sat, 11/10/2007 - 4:36pm.

I don't think that preventing vehicular traffic to and from the freeway (obviously to Ft Louis) makes a different at all. I really honestly think think that is a huge waste of time. Aren't those vehicles empty?

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Empty except for the souls of the dead from this war.

Submitted by Rob Richards on Sat, 11/10/2007 - 4:39pm.

It's called protest. I know you don't understand it, but it's what keeps America fresh and innovative and allows it to thrive.

Rob..

Submitted by paisleyboxers on Sat, 11/10/2007 - 4:50pm.

I know the exact location your sitting at.. and if you want I could walk over and grab you and we could talk about my obvious ignorance over the lunch I am happy to buy you.. and I think you know I am very familiar with protest.

But in the meanwhile.. I really don't see the importance of yelling at horses no riders.

Does it ever occur to any of the 20 someyearold protesters that ambulances .. and people with serious places to be are going to need access to an established route? Those vehicles have no war inside. It is a stupid act.

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Diversity of Tactics

Submitted by DrewHendricks on Sat, 11/10/2007 - 5:38pm.

If you don't like these tactics, please try stopping the war in your own ways. Let us know how it went.

Drew...

Submitted by paisleyboxers on Sat, 11/10/2007 - 10:28pm.

You and I have shared meetings sandwiches and some crazy times.. and neither of us can stop a war.

My brother and sister are both in iraq. I can't stop that either. But the Freeway block? That is just an example of people not knowing what to do and having no plan.

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I've never seen you at a protest.

Submitted by Rob Richards on Sat, 11/10/2007 - 6:29pm.

Unless you count the fish suit thing.

I think we all need to be a bit more libertarian about this whole thing. Let em do what they want, they aren't hurting anybody, except people profiting off of war. If an emergency vehicle needed to get through, I'm sure they would let them, at least I hope they would have.

If the emergency vehicle

Submitted by Norm on Sat, 11/10/2007 - 6:38pm.

If the emergency vehicle could get through all of the stopped cars.

FYI: Protesters directed

Submitted by RockyMcRockerson on Sat, 11/10/2007 - 9:01pm.

FYI: Protesters directed "civilian" traffic past the blockade. Protesters at the freeway on-ramp did not attempt to block anything that was not a truck loaded with military cargo or a military vehicle. No one who wasn't driving military equipment was prevented from leaving Olympia at this exit. When the police arrived, they stopped all traffic while they proceeded to arrest the protesters in the blockade.

Doesn't..

Submitted by paisleyboxers on Sat, 11/10/2007 - 7:59pm.

Doesn't bringing 50 houseless people to a Tuesday city council meeting to sign up and speak against Doug Mah and Jeff Kingsbury's sidewalk ordinance count as an organized protest of a business based decree against poor people?

I really thought we made a difference that night. From there a poor peoples union started and then a camp Quixote.

Those were huge events that I feel I was lucky to be a tiny part of.

The ordinance got passed anyway. Meta lost the council seat race.. and the guy who penciled the framework for anti-poor laws won.

But for the love of beer.. we were organized as f*&k. You planned everything.

That ended up being a brilliant protest .. and I am proud to call you a friend for our experiences together.

This blocking the freeway crap? It has bad stink on it.

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For the love of beer...

Submitted by Rob Richards on Sat, 11/10/2007 - 8:00pm.

I'm just messing with you.

And it doesn't stink as bad as... well never mind!

Those vehicles are being

Submitted by RockyMcRockerson on Sat, 11/10/2007 - 8:45pm.

Those vehicles are being returned, empty, to fort lewis to be refitted and shipped back to Iraq for the next round of war.

In case everybody forgot, 48 members of the Stryker Brigade out of Ft. Lewis died in the past year, and probably countless Iraqis, as a result of the deployment of these weapons. We are doing everything we can to actually stop the use of our port, our streets, and our city as a "revolving door" for the war machine.

The blocking tactics of the last couple of days have been unexpectedly effective. We have successfully blocked and delayed and frustrated the efforts of the military to effectively and efficiently continue the war in Iraq by preventing the flow of military equipment. Isn't it interesting that the criticism starts to roll in the moment we actually get something done instead of sitting around and yelling at the cops and tanks rolling by like we normally do?

Wait, wait

Submitted by Norm on Sat, 11/10/2007 - 8:51pm.

You consider this a "win" for the protestors? Because you slowed them down a bit?

You have a better idea? This

Submitted by RockyMcRockerson on Sat, 11/10/2007 - 8:59pm.

You have a better idea? This is an enormous fucking war involving the federal government, billions of dollars, and an immense infrastructure. We are a group of maybe 150 people in a small city in the Pacific Northwest. Given the circumstances, what we did was absolutely effective compared to the alternative of shouting from the sidelines. No, we don't expect to stop the war overnight. Any delay or block is a small victory that we have to build on. But please, continue to sit on your ass and complain about the rest of us who are actually doing something, instead of coming out here and supporting us. Maybe if less people sat around and criticized instead of doing something proactive we'd be making more progress. Why don't you go write your congressman or something. Cause we all know how well that works.

Yeah and..?

Submitted by paisleyboxers on Sat, 11/10/2007 - 9:33pm.

This is a sticky protest. I am not in favor of war.. but stopping the conduit of life for those who need to enter and leave Olympia to go on about thier own personal agendas does NOT mean that non-freeway-blockers are sitting on our collective asses.

Some of us are very involved and doing more constructive things to make our lives better and our children more informed. I may not be able to walk into Iraq and stop immediate family from pulling triggers and assisting death.. but.. you cannot impose your stupid unplanned strategy on those who who happen to have the unfortunate circumstance of living with people who would stop the flow of traffic to get a dumb fucking headline. I hate war too.. but blocking exits/entrances is self-righteous and idealistic to the point of being 16 years old and masturbating to guns and ammo.. or Matt's anarchy newgroup sites.

Friendblog: None are known to exist since bloggers don't have friends.

Hey man,

Submitted by Rob Richards on Sat, 11/10/2007 - 9:52pm.

You should try to relax a little. You're all worked up and barely making any sense. Nobody is going to listen to you if you yell and curse. This is not the Olympian comments, we try to keep it civil here. Trying typing a comment and deleting it, and then typing it again.

I realize your family is over there and that freaks you out, but it's not the protesters faults. They are doing good things here. If they do this here and people hear about it and start doing it other places it can start a larger movement, and if that movement becomes big enough it CAN have a real effect on the war. This is how every social movement in history has started. A few people in one place daring to push the envelope and then people in other places using the same tactics. Abolishment of slavery, workers rights, women's suffrage, civil rights, gay rights, the end of the Vietnam War. All of those movements started the same way. If this doesn't work, and doesn't spread, it doesn't hurt anything. It just puts us back at zero where we were.

Oh, and Norm, you'll probably sit on your ass no matter what these folks do, and that's OK. These types of protest tactics will eventually make it easier for you to come to protests. When they work, they work just the opposite of how you think they do.

I saw the olympian videos...

Submitted by paisleyboxers on Sat, 11/10/2007 - 10:08pm.

They are upsetting. I post because I don't see anyone pointing out what seems glaringly obvious to me.

Cut it with the not making sense garbarge. If I make a reference that is offensive or crazy.. then call me on it.

But don't pull the subtle, vague "you a loon" reference. I am betting I hit a nerve with the masturbation/anarchy reference?

Recommend a book to me then.. so I don't have entire offices and friend circles thinking I'm the politically active person and having a building of otherwise infored people writing off anarchism.. because I had some bad experiences with people who stole from me.

What I'm saying dear friend.. is to PLEASE point out my factual errors and give reference. But the crazy ticket doesn't work work so good.

Cordially, Mikey

Friendblog: None are known to exist since bloggers don't have friends.

You just read the first

Submitted by Rob Richards on Sat, 11/10/2007 - 10:17pm.

You just read the first sentence of what I wrote and responded to only that. I really wasn't calling you crazy, I just know how you get when you don't have your medicine.:) Mostly, I just wanted you to relax a little. All of this is theater. None of us are in control.

nope.

Submitted by paisleyboxers on Sat, 11/10/2007 - 10:33pm.

I read what you were saying that happened to be about me. The rest I wrote off as an insulting history lesson.

Anyway.. peace holmes. I'm off to go dream about code and paychecks.

Mike goes to sleep.. people misread my message.. G'nite!

Friendblog: None are known to exist since bloggers don't have friends.

Their goal was reached, you

Submitted by Norm on Sat, 11/10/2007 - 9:45pm.

Their goal was reached, you were nothing more than a bug that was swat. My idea is to not make yourselves look like a bunch of criminal thugs (the olympian video showed that very well) while you come up with a solid idea. What was the last poll on the numbers of us who want our forces out of Iraq? Compare that to the number of folks you have demonstrating like this and you should be able to see the problem with your strategy. You are going off at the proverbial "half-cock". Come up with another strategy, if you can't find one then try not to alienate everyone else in the process. Until I can go down to a protest without fear of running into idiots who want to chain themselves to things, sit in the streets, and piss off cops, I will continue to sit on my ass and remind you of your failed efforts.

Lead, follow, or get out of the way Norm

Submitted by Guglielmo on Sat, 11/10/2007 - 9:51pm.

You're only compounding the alienation you are so worried about. Kibitzing from the sidelines like an old goat may be fun but it doesn't help matters one bit. In fact it probably hurts.

Everyone is entitled to their opinion, no?

Submitted by Norm on Sat, 11/10/2007 - 9:56pm.

I'd say I'm pretty out of the way, I go down and watch at times, but don't tell me that I can't talk about it. If it hurts their cause, oh well, their cause is not going anywhere anyway. I'm kind of to the point of not caring. In fact I think I may go and look at what the reenlistment bonuses are at this point.

Your attention is the proof that you are wrong...

Submitted by DrewHendricks on Mon, 11/12/2007 - 1:02am.

If you're talking about the war, and how to resist it, then our action was successful. You might not realize that every Wednesday at noon, and every Friday at 6 or 7, there is a group in downtown Olympia which protests ALL war politely - by holding signs and not even shouting. And you're certainly not talking about that action, or about ending ALL war, or about how many massive crowds they draw, because they do not grow to massive numbers and they have even less effect on the immediate situation than our brief blockades.

That said, their long term presence and the OTHER organizing they do (civil disobedience and peacekeeping trainings, draft resistance, objector counseling, etc) is so deeply effective and a cornerstone of many other efforts, often discounted because it is like fish remembering the water they breathe and swim in... it just gets taken for granted.

It's not going to be apples OR oranges, it's going to take the whole fruit basket to get this done. And throw in a potato or two as well.

Correction: Protesters blocked Union & Plum

Submitted by listening on Sat, 11/10/2007 - 5:10pm.

Protesters blocked Union & Plum

Protesters also blocked the

Submitted by RockyMcRockerson on Sat, 11/10/2007 - 8:59pm.

Protesters also blocked the freeway on-ramp, in addition to union & plum.

That's funny

Submitted by Norm on Sat, 11/10/2007 - 6:16pm.

Right about the time this was posted I was using that freeway entrance and successfully made it through. I saw quite a few protestors walking back to the port, and a few hanging out by the rental car place, but I had no problems getting through. Did I come by a bit late? Did the police toss you folks onto the sidewalk before I got there?

#1?

Submitted by CIAGuy on Sat, 11/10/2007 - 9:36pm.

So in the Olympian video they say folks were arrested for "pedestrian interference?" Are the first arrests under this law?

Different law

Submitted by Guglielmo on Sat, 11/10/2007 - 9:43pm.

Not the same as the sidewalk ordinance. I'm pretty sure.

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