Wednesday, December 12, 2018

From The Living Archives Of Boston Veterans For Peace-They Ain't Your Grandfather's Veterans- From The Executive Committee-Signing Up For Civil Disobedience Training May 5th


From The Living Archives Of Boston Veterans For Peace-They Ain't Your Grandfather's Veterans- From The Executive Committee-Signing Up For Civil Disobedience Training May 5th  


By Site Manager Greg Green
    

[Ralph Morris who has lived in Troy, New York most of his life, been raised there and raised his own family there, went to war, the bloody, horrendous Vietnam War which he has made plain many times he will never live down, never get over what he did, what he saw others do, and most importantly for the long haul, what his evil government did with no remorse to people in that benighted country with whom he had no quarrel never was much for organizations, joining organizations when he was young until he came upon a group formed in the fire of the Vietnam War protests -Vietnam Veteran Against the War (VVAW) which he joined after watching a contingent of them pass by in silent march protesting the war in downtown Albany one fall afternoon. Somebody in that contingent with a microphone called out to any veterans observing the march who had had enough of war, had felt like that did to “fall in” (an old army term well if bitterly remembered). He did and has never looked back although for the past many years his affiliation has been with a subsequent anti-war veterans’ group Veterans for Peace.  

Sam Eaton, who has lived in Carver, Massachusetts, most of his life, been raised there and raised his own family there, and did not go to war. Did not go for the simple reason that due to a severe childhood accident which left him limping severely thereafter he was declared no fit for military duty, 4-F the term the local draft board used. He too had not been much for organizations, joining organizations when he was young. That is until his best friend from high school, Jeff Mullins, died in hell-hole Vietnam and before he had died asked Sam that if anything happened to him to let the world that he had done things, had seen others do things, and most importantly for the long haul, what his evil government did with no remorse to people in that benighted country with whom he had no quarrel. As part of honoring Jeff’s request after Sam found out about his death he was like a whirling dervish joining one anti-war action after another, joining one ad hoc group, each more radical than the previous one as the war ground away, ground all rational approach vapid, let nothing left but to go left, until the fateful day when he met Ralph down in Washington, D.C.

That was when both in their respective collectives, Ralph in VVAW and Sam in Cambridge Red Front, were collectively attempting one last desperate effort to end the war by closing down the government if it would not shut down the war. All they got for their efforts were tear gas, police batons, arrest bracelets and a trip to the bastinado which was the floor of Robert F. Kennedy stadium which is where they would meet after Sam noticed Ralph’s VVAW pin and told him about Jeff and his request. That experience would form a lasting friendship including several years ago Sam joining Ralph’s Veterans for Peace as a supporter, an active supporter still trying to honor his long- gone friend’s request and memory.

No one least of all either of them would claim they were organizing geniuses, far from it but over the years they participated, maybe even helped organize many anti-war events. One day their friend, Josh Breslin, who writes a by-line at this publication, and who is also a veteran asked them to send some of events they had participated in here to form a sort of living archives of the few remaining activist groupings in this country, in America who are still waging the struggle for peace.

Periodically, since we are something of a clearing house and historic memory for leftist activities, we will put their archival experiences into our archives. As mentioned above Sam and Ralph “met” each other down in Washington, D.C. during the May Day anti-war demonstrations of 1971 when out of desperation clots of anti-war radicals, veterans and civilians alike, tried unsuccessfully to shut down the government if it would not shut down the war. They “met,” their in forever quotation marks not mine, on the floor of Robert F. Kennedy football stadium after they had been arrested along with members of their respective collectives, Ralph’s VVAW and Sam’s Red Front Brigade after getting nothing but tear gas, police batons and a ride in the paddy wagon for their efforts. What they were doing, what for each of the them, according to Josh Breslin who met them shortly after they got “sprung,” also then a member of VVAW and also arrested but had been held in a D.C. city jail, were their first acts of civil disobedience. The first of a long time of such actions which is the lead in to the archival material presented in this piece.

Josh, who introduced the pair to me several years ago when I first came on board to manage the day to day operations of this publication after Allan Jackson, aging and ready to retire, brought me on board for that purpose so he could work on where the publication was heading. He mentioned the Washington action as their calling card although then, in 1971, I was about a decade too young to have realized what they were doing and how important it was for their future political trajectories, their political commitments to “fight the monster,” their term, on the questions of war and peace and other social issues. Not have realized, not having done any such actions how important civil disobedience, or the threat of such actions was, is to their political perspectives.

By the way, as Josh was at pains under pressure from Ralph and Sam, to report to me that May Day action was not the first attempt by either man to “get arrested,” to “put their bodies on the line” as Sam articulated it to me one night when we were putting this piece together. May Day was just the first time when the cops, National Guard, Regular Army was willing, with a vengeance, to take them up on the offer. Both men had tried repeatedly to get arrested “sitting down” at their respective local draft boards in Carver and Troy in order to warn off young men on signing up for the draft. Maybe it was the nature of the times but the local police would not arrest them.]

And here in 2018 they go again
From The Executive Committee-Signing Up For Civil Disobedience Training May 5th –use this thread to reply
As many of you know Chapter 9 is committed to supporting the efforts of the Poor Peoples Campaign which is planning a series of weekly actions from mid-May to mid-June (see below for the now well-worn pitch by Coordinator Dan Lane to inspire us to work hard on this). Smedley and others are organizing the War Economy actions around Memorial Day weekend. Those actions include the possibilities of civil disobedience and risk of arrest.
The National Poor Peoples Campaign coalition has insisted that those who may be committed to acts of civil disobedience have prior training as part of that commitment. There have already been several sessions in Boston and out in the Western part of the state. The next session is scheduled for Saturday May 5th. If you are interested in participating in this session contact Allan  Jackson through this thread for more details. Thank you, the Executive Committee   
The campaign has a series of tasks that need to be done centered on this first action. See attached list. Jeff and I, and I assume Dan in spirit, have committed Smedley to coordinate the Safety section that day. (Beyond that we will see but I suspect we will also do so for the War Economy Week as well). This is stuff that we do all the time and seemed like our natural intersection point which allows Smedley and others to be recruited to various tasks which they are comfortable with.

We are looking for a vote to confirm that we are on board as an organization to coordinating this safety section of the May 14th action. Later Al

I guess when I said we do this stuff all the time I assumed that was self-explanatory but the key thing is that we coordinate to make sure the event goes off safely and that we protect our people in all ways as we do in our own demonstrations, marches, etc. This is not a peace-keeping type situation where we expect the Alt-Right, etc. but more keeping things together so all the actions including the direct actions go as smoothly as possible which means those who take on tasks like marshaling and such will not risk arrest.
As for marshals which will be VFPers and others we would make sure they know what they are doing and are easily identifiable to the marchers and close by as civilian observers when the direct actions start. I am assuming Dan Luker would be the lead marshal on this. De-escalators would be picked to troubleshoot any problems in the crowd or from the sidelines keeping things calm. As we know from our own marches straggles can get lost, etc. so somebody needs to take up the rear and make sure our people get to where they need to go.  Legal observers would be from National Lawyers Guild and we would make sure they know who we are and we know who they are and report any incidents to them. Medics would be street medics we have worked with before who tend to run their own operation but we would keep lines open with them. We would make sure we have adequate supplies of water and other materials and assign someone to be in charge of that along the route, at rally and gets cleaned up. All of this is just a broad outline and will get better flushed out if we take charge and as the overall strategy unfolds. 
As I write this I realize once again that this is all stuff we have done before except we will be working with many other people on this.      

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