Code Pink on the Golden Gate

Posted on January 2, 2007 in Courage & Activism Occupation of Iraq

I hate situations where wrongs wrestle wrongs and tumble down into the sea, each perpetrator biting at the neck of the other. One of the stupidest and pointless acts of defiance practiced by Bay Area peace activists is the blocking of the bridges (see Officers won’t let protesters cross bridge/Traffic snarled as 10 CodePink members are arrested during vigil for slain GIs — all bikes and pedestrians barred for hours). There are contorted justifications indicating that because this is a war for oil and because automobiles use oil that this is a natural action to take. But this doesn’t bring people to the cause (and I wouldn’t be surprised if the protest was suggested by a government informer): it only angers them.

Code Pink demonstrators, however, had different plans for their march across the Golden Gate:

Before she was taken into custody, [Medea] Benjamin said that the group planned a “solemn march,” single-file, across the bridge, with no intention of disrupting tourists or traffic. They planned to meet another small group of protesters crossing from the Vista Point parking area on the north end of the bridge.

But police, citing security concerns, closed the sidewalk entrances, and a standoff ensued.

Police also beat up a KGO news cameraman (see CODEPINK Arrested and In Jail, Cameraman Assaulted and Injured) who attempted to film the spectacle.

Defining the bridge as an area open only to traffic and tourism even when nontourist pedestrians do not obstruct traffic defies Constitutional protections for speech. A Gandhian action that protestors might take at this time would be to show up at the bridge for the purpose of protesting the arrest of Codepink demonstrators. A disciplined march along the tourist walkways would show the absurdity of the policy.

Unfortunately, I do not believe that such a march is possible in San Francisco, given the proximity of universities such as Stanford and Berkeley. Intemperate student shock troops would undoubtably flood beyond the confines of the action and block the bridge itself.

Some years ago, when I asked one such protestor why he joined in such a disruption of traffic, he said “Because it was fun.” Organizers of events such as this should not think in terms of the numbers they plan to draw, therefore, but the commitment of those who will come in any case. A few cracks of the club on a few heads acting calmly brings much more sympathy to a fight than thousands of brats overwhelming the scene.

If you must take a stand for a right, you must be prepared to suffer and not inflict physical suffering on police, any kind of suffering on ordinary people. This is the way of peace.