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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