[The following is an article I wrote for the upcoming Works In Progress. It will be out Friday.]

The Trials of the Oly22
by Pat Tassoni

On August 20th, the first Stryker brigade soldier died in Iraq. Sgt. DeRoo was previously stationed at Fort Lewis and possibly he, his brigade and their equipment and passed through Olympia during the last weeks of May this year. He or just his fellow brigade members and their equipment was greeted by hundreds of demonstrators during this time as an 11-day protest of the Port of Olympia occurred in an attempt to stop war shipments bound for Iraq that resulted in 37 arrests. Demonstrators brought to the attention of the Port of Olympia officials, the wider community and eventually the world, their perspective that the war in Iraq is illegal and the Olympia community and the Port of Olympia should not be complicit in and profiting off the war crimes of a continued presence there. If the port officials had listened, Sgt. DeRoo may still be alive, and many more to come including Iraqis need not die.

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The Army contracted with the Port of Olympia for the first time in nearly two decades and began transporting war equipment including 300 Stryker vehicles in mid-May. The United States Naval Ship Pomeroy came into the Port on the evening of Memorial Day to deliver the equipment to Iraq. This issue prompted a continual protest presence at the Port and daily corner demonstrations and street marches. During the first week of direct actions, 14 were arrested by the Olympia Police on Marine Drive for ‘pedestrian interference’ as unfair consideration was given by them to the military convoy’s access to the roads over those of community members by inappropriately rerouting and escorting the convoy through local access roads and arresting pedestrians. None of those cited and arrested have been charged with that crime from the city’s prosecutor’s office. If the prosecutor believes that the police acted in bad faith, in a biased manner or illegally, they often do not pursue charges against the arrested and hope to let the issue go away. The police know this too -- that it is not always about getting the criminal -- but they still take particular action to achieve a short-term political goal. In this case, clearly deciding that one group’s interests are more important than another’s and removing any barriers to that interest. It has also come to light that the OPD has made the decision to destroy their videos from the time, which may have been illegal.

One activist during this time, Drew Hendricks, was arrested and originally prosecuted by the county with a felony trespassing charge. How exactly does a citizen trespass on public property, like the Port? How is a constitutionally-protected demonstration against a government agency, like the Port, considered criminal? When the prosecution could not make the case stick before a judge, it was dropped to a misdemeanor charge which will eventually be dismissed with a one-year deferred sentence and a fine of less than $50 for court costs that Hendricks took.

The next week with the imminent arrival of the USNS Pomeroy hundreds of community activists took the protest to the Port gates. There they were confronted by many jurisdictions of police who used disproportionately violent responses (pepper spray, unnecessary and excessive force, withholding of medical care, and mass arrests) against the non-violent protestors. Demonstrators held a teach-in led by International Politics and Middle East Professor, Steve Niva; had a public party; and staged a die-in as the USNS Pomeroy left the port. The police used flawed and slanted political logic by demanding that demonstrators remove a base-camp from a parking lot because “it would attract homelessness.