Preparing to Protest - A Seminar in Resistance

by Zach Lindsey

"Eternal vigilance is the price of liberty," is carved in romanesque letters on the National Archives in Washington, DC.

A few blocks away in the Warehouse Theatre, members of OurSpringBreak.org, the SDS, Code: Pink, SPAN and other protest groups spent the whole day practicing protests.

By the time Sarah Tombler arrived from Northampton Community College, a veteran of Code: Pink was role-playing to prepare for the series of coordinated demonstrations, marches and theater productions that will be taking over the streets of Washington, DC on March 19.

"When you’re panicking, you stop taking in information," said the Code: Pink representative.

So expose the kids to what they might see and feel. Sure, the "cops" are other students, laughing and whining and waving batons made of newspapers. And they’re giggling and cursing.

But this is about grounding.

"Taking a moment to feel your feet on the ground can help you make a conscious decision," the Code: Pink rep told the room.

The important thing is being prepared for the experiences you’ll deal with. So they’re all being placed in two lines. One side represents protesters; the other represents employees trying to get to work in a building being blockaded.

These practice employees have imaginary rent and imaginary families. And Sarah has to tell them, you’re not going to work today. Even in this mock scenario, it’s hard not to break the blockade. It’s hard not to let someone through, to say, "OK, I understand your position too, and I want you to go to work and provide for your family. You are like us. You are no better, or no worse, than us. But our political opinions insist that we are here, today, standing against you walking in to your job. Because you may not understand, but you work for a corporation that has performed actions that we, as American citizens, fundamentally oppose."

The Code: Pink rep shares other tips with the ready protesters.

"I’m not expecting an escalade of violence," said the Code: Pink rep. And the cops aren’t expecting violence either. Non-violence can be a way of life, but it can also be a particular political choice. And that’s what it is here—a choice the various organizations protesting the United States’s actions in Iraq are holding to.

DC is used to protesting. It is a city whose laws are built around protesters. That may be part of what makes this country, and what makes this particular place, so great.

"You’re not acting alone, and you’re not just acting today," the Code: Pink representative reminds us. "You are acting as part of a long and proud tradition."

She explains one of the prime points of the new protest movement: affinity groups.

"When we go out on Wednesday, there are a number of different configurations you might find yourself in," she says.

This is where the concept of affinity groups comes in. What’s an affinity group? When she asks a local protester, he says, "An affinity group is a group that has your back.."  

That’s the simple explanation. The more complex explanation gets into how, today, there is a massive coordination among protest groups. Every group is independent. OurSpringBreak.org has a totally different membership than the SDS, for example. But despite their independence, they are connected in goal and reason. Affinity groups represent your ‘buddies.’ You can call on them when you need them. Some members of affinity groups are medics, some members are lawyers, some members are just simple protesters with connections. But everyone has their role, and that what is so important to the modern war protester. Each connection is important. Each and every friend you meet has your back, be it through medical support or monetary support, or another support system.

And the Code: Pink volunteer reminds the group of that at any time, she can, and will, support you. We all have each others' backs.

"How did you feel?" she asks one protester, after faking her arrest.

"I felt it was my fault," says the girl.

"Fight that feeling."

We all have a place where we feel out of control. The protesters express their own places: power grabs on the student newspaper they work for, property laws, police, how local taxes get spent. Even heights. We each break at certain things.  The Code: Pink representative is trying to teach these activists how not to break.