Return to the docks
Undaunted by police violence, Oakland activists push message of peace and social justice.

By T.J. DeGroat

JUST A MONTH after the April 7 Oakland police debacle that left dozens of peaceful protesters with welts the size of golf balls, hundreds of antiwar activists and concerned residents returned to the Port of Oakland May 12 to stand up to police brutality and to affirm the constitutionally protected rights of free speech and assembly.

With no interference from police, about 400 protesters marched behind a brass band from the West Oakland BART station to the docks. Demonstrators circled in front of five port gates belonging to APL, a shipping company that carries U.S. military cargo to Iraq, and Stevedoring Services of America, which received a $4.8 million government contract to manage the port in Umm Qasr, Iraq.

The action was as peaceful as any demonstration the Bay Area has seen in recent months and just the kind of success Direct Action to Stop the War, the main organizer, was hoping for, said Patrick Reinsborough, a DASW volunteer.

"[The protest] was a victory. It reaffirmed the ability of people power to shut down war profiteers in the Bay Area," he said. "It showed that we're not going to tolerate the kind of police brutality and attacks on civil liberties we saw on April 7."

"It's imperative that we come out here to assert our right to assemble. We have to keep showing up no matter what threats have been made," John Kraus of Oakland said. "We can't let police bully us into submission."

Oakland Police Department officials didn't go so far as to say the cops did anything wrong April 7 – not with pending civil liberties lawsuits over police tactics, which involved firing wooden dowels and other nonlethal projectiles at demonstrators – but spokesperson Danielle Ashford admits officers didn't try to disperse the crowd this time.

"This time was different. We had a totally different approach," Ashford said. "You just learn from each event, and we definitely learned from April 7. We're not experts in this, but we know now that communication is important and effective."

That increased communication between police and organizers was the only substantial difference between the planning of the April 7 and May 12 protests. On May 9, the OPD met with community leaders, union representatives, and port staff to designate liaisons, who worked together during the demonstration.

The meeting also helped community organizers persuade the OPD to drop plans to contain picketers in a protest pen about a mile away from the docks. As late as May 9, the police told DASW they were considering denying demonstrators access to the docks, said Liz Perlman, a DASW volunteer and a member of the Hotel Employees and Restaurant Employees International Union, Local 2850.

"It was mentioned as a possibility during the meeting, but by the end we were told it would not happen," she said. "But we took everything with a grain of salt."

Neither the OPD nor DASW requested a meeting before the April 7 protest. That's because the nonviolent antiwar group didn't expect the almost immediate attack by police, Perlman said. The post-April 7 backlash against the OPD gave the upper hand to DASW, allowing the group to force the meeting and urge police to adopt a hands-off approach, Perlman said. "We had the police on the defensive. The police were in a unique position because of what they did on April 7."

The peaceful demonstration succeeded in temporarily shutting down APL's operations. A ship that was set to dock at 7 p.m. was rescheduled to 11 p.m., an hour after the protest was to end. The delay caused longshore workers to receive the night off. APL also urged office workers to leave early, spokesperson Scott Daily said.

An SSA spokesperson said he wasn't sure whether his company took extraordinary measures because of the protest. The port was effectively shut down April 7, as much by the police presence as by that of protesters, but last Monday's effort was a much less disruptive event.

The fallout from the original protest continues, with at least two legal claims – the first step toward filing a lawsuit – filed against the city. The American Civil Liberties Union of Northern California is evaluating what happened and deciding whether to take legal action, said Mark Schlosberg, police practices policy director for the ACLU.

The Oakland City Council took further steps to appease protesters April 29 when members voted 7-1 to hire a three-person panel to investigate the events of April 7. City Council president Ignacio De La Fuente cast the lone dissenting vote because he said Oakland's Citizen's Police Review Board should be put to use. The OPD also is launching an internal investigation.

Besides the ardent antiwar demonstrators eager to target APL and SSA, the May 12 protest drew local residents who wanted to speak out against continuous problems between the OPD and the city's residents.

"Those things that [the police] did to you on April 7 are things they've been doing in our community year after year after year," said Gwen Hardy of People United for a Better Oakland.

Others were marching to call attention to the unmet needs of the people of Oakland. Clarence Thomas, a member of the International Longshore and Warehouse Union, urged the government to funnel more money into programs that will empower local communities.

The tax dollars going to companies that profit from the war are funds that "should be used for free health care services, that should be used for education, that should be used for day care services, that should be used to develop jobs here in the United States," he said.

DASW will continue organizing events to try to stop the violence abroad, the police brutality at home, and the attempts to silence dissenting opinions. Among its top priorities is curbing the increasing imperialism that is reflected in U.S. foreign policy, Perlman said.

"This country is trying to build an empire, and we are expected to be dutiful subjects," she said. "Conditions aren't going to get better, but worse. [The May 12] action was successful, but we have to keep working with other community groups to continue this movement."

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