Aid & Abet

On Monday, March 19, my affinity group (Bay Rising), planned a protest, rally, and direct action at Chevron’s world headquarters in San Ramon, CA. The purpose of targeting Chevron was to link climate chaos, empire, and war for oil, and the event was timed to coincide with the fourth anniversary of the illegal war in Iraq as well as the introduction of the oil law into the Iraqi Parliament this month. If you want to know more about the oil law, you can read Antonia Juhasz’s editorial in the New York Times from March 13, 2007.

I was excited to work on this event because I’m not excited by rallies. I’m not excited by die-ins. Although I think both serve useful purposes, those types of events were not ones that I was ready to devote tons of time and energy to. The purpose of the direct action component of the event was to put our bodies on the line in a more-than-symbolic way and draw attention to the Iraq oil law by doing something that is not done every day, as well as to disrupt business-as-usual for this megacorp.

So what happened? Along with 11 of my friends and many supporters, I locked myself to oil barrels and blocked Chevron’s main gate from 6:30 a.m. until 11 a.m., when the action was declared a success and everyone unlocked. I was prepared to be arrested doing this. By blockading the main gate, every employee who went to work that day had to sneak in through a back entrance, and I’ll be that every employee who made it to work was thinking more about us than doing there job. In addition to disrupting Chevron’s day, we used banners and messages to get the word out to people passing by and everyone else through the media. Not only that, but there was amazing street theater performances of a funeral for the last piece of ice on earth, a tug of war between oil execs and “the people,” and an appearance by representatives of the Ronald Reagan Home for the Criminally Insane. At 9:00 a.m. there was a rally with lots of different speakers who are variously affected by Chevron’s policies, from Richmond, CA to Ecuador, to Iraq. Over 100 people attended, and considering that it was in San Ramon, was at 7 a.m., and competed with other anti-war events, that’s a huge number.

So what are my thoughts on this? First, Chevron is definitely media savvy. Prior to our arrival, they covered up their huge corporate sign that sits at their front entrance. When I heard that they covered it up, I thought they just threw a tarp over it. But, no, they had someone build a metal box that completely encased the sign, to prevent it from being prominently featured behind protestors in photos of the event. They also decided to not arrest any protesters, including those locked down at the front gate. It is better for them if the public does not see photos of protesters getting arrested at the front gates.

Why did I risk arrest? Because I am a privileged white American. To quote Propagandhi, “I recognize the irony that the very system I oppose affords me the luxury of biting the hand that feeds. But that’s exactly why privileged fucks like me should feel obliged to whine and kick and scream–until everyone has everything they need.” What does that mean? It means that I need to be doing everything I can to stop injustice, and I am often not doing enough. If it means that I need to put my body on the line and maybe spend some hours or days in jail to do it, fine. A temporary loss of liberty is not even a big sacrifice for someone like me who is relatively stable financially, has supportive friends, and an understanding employer.

Beyond that, I believe that for change to happen all avenues of protest and resistance must be explored and experimented with. We’ve done mass rallies, and they have been strategic and have made an impact. Now we need to try new things and re-experiment with old things. This war has entered its fifth year, and we need to do more to stop it. Climate change is now a crisis. Now is the time.

To do that, we need to act in a way that is strategic and self-reflective. The protest at Chevron was targeted, specific, and had a clear message. It was relevant. Direct action is just one tool of many that activists can be used strategically.

What I wanted most for the event and my participation in it was for other people, far and wide, to see it and be inspired to act in some large or small way themselves, just as I have been inspired by the recent actions in Tacoma and Pittsburgh. In the very least, I wanted prompt someone to ponder what was so important to me that I would risk arrest for it.

If you want to know more about the action as well as Chevrons link to war for oil, empire, and climate chaos, visit the Protest Chevron site.

Also, please visit Josh Russell’s blog, where he has an amazing wrap up with tons of photos and links to all the amazing press and media coverage, and read this post by organizer Jess at Wiretap Mag.

I’d like to publicly thank everyone who worked on this event. Working with such an amazing group of dedicated organizers was inspiring for me.

Oh yeah, and in that picture on the top, I’m the one sitting down on the far left.