April 2, 2003

The right targets

As a participant in peace demonstrations for over 35 years, I offer the following:

Civil disobedience is powerful and effective when used well; however, it works better as a precision instrument than as a club; it must be properly aimed so one doesn't hit one's friends. Example: Thursday morning, as I left the BART station and asked some demonstrators on the sidewalk for an update, a man approached. He declared that he was antiwar, but he was furious about the blocked streets, as his gravely ill sister could not get to her doctor.

The most successful civil disobedience campaigns are aimed at specific targets directly related to the cause. We must remember that not all of the businesses downtown are part of the "machine." Some business must go on as usual, such as patients visiting doctors (and vice versa); attorneys defending clients, including wrongfully detained immigrants (and protesters); and, of course, emergency vehicles. Also, many workers cannot afford to lose even a single day's wages.

Let us embody our principles and conduct ourselves accordingly, and let us be considerate. Peace and good will must begin with ourselves. If we alienate our friends, we certainly won't persuade our opponents.

D.C. Brown
San Francisco

Wasted police overtime

When I got off work tonight (about 7:30 p.m.), I saw no more than 20 protesters, on the corner of 22nd and Valencia, being followed by ten police vehicles, each filled with three police officers. The protesters were on the sidewalk.

What I saw made me concerned that our police force may be milking this opportunity to get overtime. I saw joking and smiling police (they were joking and smiling) driving around wasting my tax dollars. This war is already going to cost taxpayers plenty in the form of military weapons, troop transportation, military paychecks, and infrastructure to Iraq. I certainly hope that what I saw was an isolated incident. I hear the protesters are costing us money, but what I saw was wasteful on the part of the police.

Sherri Norris
San Francisco

Unbalanced coverage

I just want to thank you for providing what the San Francisco Chronicle and local TV news stations apparently couldn't provide: accurate, balanced coverage of the protests that took place last week in San Francisco.

On Friday, I came close to being arrested when the San Francisco Police Department, San Francisco Sheriff's Deputies, and the California Highway Patrol all converged, from both sides, on a group of protesters who were walking down the sidewalk past the Crocker Galleria. I managed to avoid being trapped by the cops and stood watching as the protesters were arrested.

The police formed a perimeter of billy club-wielding officers about 50 feet from the trapped protesters. I was standing outside this perimeter when I saw a member of the Channel 5 News crew pass through it with his camera. He was on a first-name basis with one of the SFPD officers and was allowed to pass without a problem. Soon after, Bay Guardian reporter Steven T. Jones, along with an Associated Press reporter, presented his press credentials to the cops, but they refused to allow him or the A.P. reporter access to the scene.

I've never been much of a conspiracy theorist, but perhaps this example of the chummy relationship between the SFPD and the local corporate media begins to explain the ridiculously slanted coverage of the protests that was provided by the local media.

David Lane
San Francisco

Ordinary people

In the days since last week's massive antiwar protests in San Francisco, I have heard a range of unproductive and derogatory stereotypes used to describe the demonstrators. A casual perusal of Letters to the Editor in several papers reveals terms like "naive," "posers," "lawless," "uneducated," "lazy" and comments that they "didn't look like the hard-working type." Television newscasters repeatedly referred to demonstrators as "rioters" and even "the hydra." As someone who was arrested on Thursday (3/20/03), my experience was quite a bit different. I saw a broad range of people who would not conform to any ready-made category. I saw teenagers, grandmothers, professionals of all sorts, students, workers, soccer moms, and unemployed folks. I met people with more "radical" political views and others with more "moderate" views. I saw some who would fit in at any shopping mall or PTA meeting in America, and others with a less mainstream appearance. I met some who were seasoned activists, but many more who were participating in this kind of activity for the first time. Everyone I met believed in and practiced the principles of nonviolence. The disparaging stereotypes employed by critics of this demonstration give the impression that protesters represent a narrow, irrelevant, and tiny minority, but I experienced something very different. In short, we were a large group of rather ordinary people driven to extraordinary measures by an extraordinary situation. We could no longer stand by and watch as our leaders recklessly ignore the principles on which our country was founded.