was not only about getting the Bush administration out of office but also about " a better world is possible". There were meetings, activities (such as community gardening, working in the art space creating signs and banners) classes, and additional marches all week long. The focus of the nonviolent civil disobedience action on the 31st was "what does true security look like?" Many groups of people planned on showing up at or near Herald Square to model what true security looks like to them. This was nonpermitted and therefore we knew we were at risk of being arrested. Those of us who chose to participate felt that it was our only way of withdrawing our consent and saying NO to this administration. We didn't get very far. We chose to walk into the street (which was closed anyway) and not retreat when the police told us to. As it happened, one member of our group who has Parkinson's disease fell and the police rushed up to drag him away. Even with his obvious disability, the police were angrily trying to drag him across the street. We all sat down around him and locked arms. So we were all arrested and taken to the pier which was a huge warehouse set up with large cages (18x24) rimmed with razor wire, 100 or more people to a cage. The floors of this facility were caked with layers of diesel fuel, antifreeze, oil, and fiber glass resin. Apparently this had been a facility for bus maintenance. It stunk and seemed toxic. We stayed there for 14 hrs with no recourse but to sit or lay directly on these floors. Many people left there with chemical burns, contact dermatitis, sore throats, etc. finally they began to move us to the NYC jail in small groups.

Twogirls on my bus passed out after we sat enclosed in the bus ( in wire and plexiglass cages) for over an hour. No one would answer our calls to see if they were still breathing. It took 15 minutes to get someone to open the door and look at them. One was taken to medical and given an iv. She was hypoglycemic. The next 34 hours were spent being locked in a cell for hours on end then brought out only to be moved to a different cell and locked up there for hours. We were daisy chained everywhere we went. And sometimes were left chained to a post in a hallway. Occasionally we were given stale bread and cheese and over ripe fruit. We were told we weren't entitled to soap for washing after using the bathroom, or blankets. If we wanted to sleep we laid on the floor. 20 hrs went by before we were allowed a phone call and no legal counsel was allowed. Many of the officers were verbally abusive calling us "fucking assholes", etc. and my arresting officer told me twice that I would not get out before the convention was over. He also told me he was a diehard republican and baited me on more than one occasions, getting other officers to join in with the baiting.

All this, and we were only charged with violations which are the equivalent of a traffic ticket. The law states that you must be arraigned within 24 hrs or they have to release you. The Nat. Lawyers guild filed the writ demanding we be released. The DA and the police dept appealed it and we had to wait overnight until they resumed the arguments in court on Thur. As you probably read, the judge sided with the NLG and levied the fine on the city of $1000 for every person not released by 5pm. By 7pm they were herding us out but not before they demanded we sign a paper which they would not allow us to read. The paper was a summons to return to court at a later date. When we asked to read it before signing we were threatened. They said we didn't have time for us to read it and if we refused to sign we would be returned to the cell block where we could wait until the next day to see the judge.

I talked to many people who were swept up in arrests (sometimes by throwing huge nets over people) and had been on their way to the store, picking up dry cleaning, coming out of the library, etc. I was saddened by the situation of a young German girl in my same cage, who was in NY as a tourist. She had gone to Ground Zero, unaware of any demonstrations. I can't imagine what was going through her mind in those 2 days she spent in jail.

The most amazing thing was that the whole time we were in jail, there were between 200-300 people across the street dong jail support (all day and all night). Sometimes we could hear them singing just to let us know they were out there. They were there to welcome anyone who was released. Each person was welcomed by the whole crowd cheering, then being encircled with loving arms. They had food and drink available and wanted to know exactly what you needed. At that moment, all I needed was an ice cold diet Dr. Pepper and within minutes my friend Lev, had sprinted to the deli and back.

By the end of the evening, we were all heading down to Union Square ( I couldn't believe I was going there with out a bath, clean clothes or having brushed my teeth in over 48 hrs) The square was a crush of people. It was a protest but it was joyous. People were dancing, singing, having a party. (The police had actually given permission with the hopes that it would keep people away from Madison Square Garden.

So what it comes down to is that the city (with a mandate from the Bush admin.) will tell us if, when, and where we are entitled to free speech or to voice our dissent. That way they can easily manage the media coverage, visibility etc. Protests and nonviolent civil disobedience are tactics and have been proven to work in the past. (Women's right to vote, civil rights movement) Starhawk writes in her book, "Webs of Power", "Strategic nonviolence withdraws consent from the structures of oppression, refuses compliance, and eventually delegitimizes them. It involves not obedience but civil disobedience, the conscious and public breaking of an unjust law."

And from George Lackey, "this form of direct action puts the power holders in a dilemma: if they allow us to go ahead and do what we intend to do, we accomplish something worthwhile related to our issue. If they repress us, they put themselves in a bad light and the public is educated about our message."

The Nat. Lawyers guild is working on class action suits addressing the harsh treatment and abuse of civil rights that took place in jail. We'll see what happens.

Thank you so much for our support and concern. I'll be writing to many of you individually asap to express my thanks for your support, both financial and energetically.

Love,

Lori Ramirez

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