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February
8, 2002
Cockburn/St.
Clair
Dita
Sari Tells Reebok
to "Shove It"
February
7, 2002
Patrick
Cockburn
Taliban's
War on Chess
John Chuckman
Howdee,
Dick!
Tariq
Ali
Mullahs
and Heretics
February
6, 2002
Amira
Hass
On
the Edge of the
Non-Violent Demonstrations
Vivian
Berger
Sentenced
to Rape
Vladimir Georgiyev
Russian Intelligence:
War on Iraq Begins in Sept.
Tom Turnipseed
"Axis
of Evil" a Cover for Corporate Corruption?
David
Vest
The
Enron Creature
February
5, 2002
Norman
Madarasz
Dispatch
from Pôrto Alegre
Tom Malinowski
What
to do with
Our "Detainees"?
Dita Sari
Why
I Rejected the
Reebok Human Rights Award
February
4, 2002
Eric Miller/Beth
Daley
Five
Weapons Systems
That Bilk the Taxpayers
Kenneth
Roth
Dear
Condoleezza,
You've Misstated the
Geneva Convention
Robert
Jensen
The
Occupation Must End
Shahid
Alam
How
Different Are
Islamic Societies?
David
Vest
Everybody
Says I Loathe You
John Chuckman
American
Politics of Grief
February
3, 2002
Zoltan
Grossman
War
and New Military Bases
February
2, 2002
Francis
Schor
Carlucci's
Strange Career
February
1, 2002
Dr. Susan
Block
The
Great Ashcroft Cover Up
Jeremy
Voas
Why
We're Suing Ashcroft
David
Vest
10
Things I Know About Him
January
31, 2002
Rahul
Mahajan
The
State of the Union:
A New Cold War
Dave Marsh
Miles
Copeland, War
and the Future of Music
John Pilger
The
Colder War
Alexander
Cockburn
American
Journal:
Killer Dog, Weird Couple
Dr. Susan
Block
Blowback
and Daniel Pearl
January
30, 2002
Jeffrey
St. Clair
Linda
Lay, Hill and Knowlton and the Tears of a Clown
Jack McCarthy
Free
Noelle Bush!
Michael
Ratner
Memo
to Bush: Adhere to
the Geneva Convention
Jay Moore
Proud
to be an American?
Susan
Block
The
Great Pretzel Swallower
and Guantanamo Porn
January
29, 2002
Gary Leupp
Why
This War Was, and Remains, Utterly Wrong
Alexander
Cockburn
The
Birds of Kandahar
Patrick
Cockburn
Afghan
Opium Trade
Back in Business
January
28, 2002
Larry
Chin
Brosnahan
for the Defense
Mokhiber/Weissman
Tyranny
of the Bottom Line
George
E. Curry
Civil
Rights Nominee Called Affirmative Action "Racist"
Sen. Russ
Feingold
Campaign
Finance Reform?
Think Enron
John Chuckman
Liberal?
Media?
A Photographic Journal of Life
in an Afghan Refugee Camp
By Judith Mann
Resources:
100s of Links
About 9/11
CounterPunch:
Complete
Coverage of 9/11 and Its Aftermath
Five
Days That
Shook The World:
Seattle and Beyond
By Alexander
Cockburn
and Jeffrey St. Clair
Photos by Allan Sekula
(Click Here to Order from CounterPunch
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War Diary
CIA's Assassination Plan a History of
Torture in US Prisons
bin Laden and Bush
Business Connections
Aisha Ikramuddin on the Hidden Hype
of US Food Bombs
Peter Linebaugh on
Pakistan
Christopher Hitchens' Love for Mrs. Thatcher
Jiang Zemin Tells Bush:
Nuke 'Em
Search
CounterPunch
Read Whiteout and Find Out
How the CIA's Backing of the Mujahideen Created the World's Most
Robust Heroin Market and Helped to Finance the Rise of the Taliban
and Osama bin Laden
Whiteout:
CIA, Drugs & the
Press
by Alexander
Cockburn
and Jeffrey St. Clair
The New Crusade:
America's War on Terrorism
By Rahul Mahajan
The Memphis Blues Again:
Six Decades of Memphis Music Photographs
Photos by Ernest Withers
Text by Daniel Wolff
The New Intifada:
Resisting Israel's Apartheid
Edited by Roane Carey
A Pocket Guide to
Environmental Bad Guys
by James Ridgeway
and Jeffrey St. Clair
The
Phoenix Program
by Douglas Valentine
Al Gore:
A User's Manual
by Cockburn
and St. Clair
Buy
This Explosive
New Book at an
Amazing Discount!
Reviews of Gore:
a User's Manual
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February 8,
2002
Criticize Cheney,
Go to Jail
Two Days in the Life
of an Environmentalist
By John Blair
Day One
Tonight I was arrested for nothing more than exercising
my rights as a citizen in what I thought was a free country.
Dick Cheney came to my town to stump for one of the Environmental
Dirty Dozen, Indiana 8th District Congressman John Hostettler.
I had made up a sign which stated, "CHENEY-19th
Century  Energy Man." The event was
held at the convention center across the street from Evansville's
government center. I walked down the street with my sign in hand
to a location that I thought would at least be visible to the
people entering the $100 to $1000 event.
As I stood across the street from the
people who were entering the event, I was approached by a plain
clothes policeman. The cop confronted me saying that Protesters
were not allowed in that area. I asked why since it was clear
that everyone but protesters were allowed in the area in which
I was standing. In fact, the whole incident took place as the
public employees who worked at the government complex walked
by without being accosted by the police at all.
It was clear that I was singled out only
because I had a sign.
In the course of our conversation, several
other cops surrounded the scene, more out of curiosity than anything
else. I surprised myself with my calm demeanor but I will admit
to asking several questions concerning the 1st Amendment and
why others were allowed in the area and I was not.
The main cop informed me that if I did
not go more than a block away to the area he apparently had just
arbitrarily decided was to be used by protesters, that I would
be arrested. I complied and started to walk away. When I turned
to ask if it was OK to go to the parking lot where hundreds of
people were, either leaving work or arriving to attend the event,
he instructed his uniformed men to arrest me.
They failed to read me my rights. They
even talked among themselves what the charge should be. Finally
they decided to say it was "disorderly conduct."
An 87-year old man who was standing there
with me observed the whole thing and told the local media how
shocked he was about the whole thing. I was shocked too. I was
not in the least belligerent, although I did ask questions of
the officer who ordered my arrest.
What I was arrested for was exercising
my rights, not necessarily to protest since I had done none of
that. No, this was a preemptive arrest to assure that no one
going to the event would see any protesters let alone hear any
protesters.
I have learned a lot about civil liberties
in my years as a photojournalist and as an environmental activist.
I also understand the need for security, especially for people
like the VP. However, I was singled out simply because I was
carrying a sign that showed my disdain for Cheney. That is something
that certainly falls within the realm of rights our country's
founders fought to attain.
If you can be confronted by a cop simply
because you are carrying a sign, then it won't be long before
you will be subject to arrest for writing a letter to the editor
or speaking out about injustice. If I had been in an area that
was cordoned off or otherwise secured, there may have been reason
to tell me to leave, indeed I may have been subject to arrest.
But none of the people passing by were confronted by any authority.
They did not have a sign stating their views. They were not exercising
their free speech.
Frankly, I felt as if this must be akin
to the silence that was mandated by the Taliban towards Afghani
women. Events such as this will certainly quell the prospect
of protest of all official actions. I fear, that we have become
just what Osama Bin Laden wanted us to be when he ordered the
attacks on 9/11.
I am going to plead, "NOT GUILTY"
when I am required to go to Court. I will never say anything
more accurate in my life.
Day Two
It was difficult sleeping last night.
I stayed awake questioning whether this was all worthwhile. I
awoke early to make my court appearance on a disorderly conduct
charge. I got to court to find that the prosecutor had decided
that my charges should be increased to a Class A Misdemeanor
called Resisting Law Enforcement instead of the lesser charge.
So now I am facing what could be a year in jail for my political
crime of carrying a sign to a political event.
Some people have suggested that I was
marked before I even got there. I do not believe that to be the
case, but it is true that I am a very outspoken member of this
rather compliant and docile community. It has also been said
that I am courageous for what happened last night. I would beg
to differ since I had no intention of getting arrested and took
no pride in being forced to be a spectacle in my home town.
I had some great advice on the possibility
of bringing a Civil Rights action in Federal Court. I will consider
that path. However, I am trying to remain focused on what is
turning out to be the battle of my life with Peabody Energy and
their plans to build two 1500 MW power plants-one in Illinois
and one in Kentucky. The one in KY is in the comment period until
February 28. The comment period was supposed to end tomorrow.
Am I ever glad it was extended since I have not been able to
focus on that at all today.
Today has been a mixture of elation and
depression as people have called and written their support. In
fact, I arrived at my office after court to find my flag at half
staff and a Kleenex anonymously attached to my door. Very metaphoric.
Also on the positive front, a friendly
attorney, representing another client showed up in court and
offered me his services pro bono for my defense. I accepted.
Then, too, a local TV station has decided to do an in-depth (at
least for TV) analysis of the things that I am involved in from
the numerous environmental fights to winning the Pulitzer for
News Photography. No doubt that will be an ego boost but...
It does not in anyway make up for the
trampling my civil liberties took last night. In court this morning,
the Prosecutor tried to imply that I was being removed from the
scene because I was some sort of threat to Cheney. I guess the
pen is mightier than the sword.
In the affidavit, signed by the arresting
officer, it was stated that the boss cop told me to leave or
get arrested "at least five times." In fact, I was
told that only once and I then complied. But of course, they
had to make something up in hopes that I would come into court
this morning and bow to their injustice. I am not sure how to
counter the lie in the affidavit since my only witness is an
87 year old man with hearing problems.
That is what has been depressing today.
When the cops lie, what is anyone to do to defend himself.
John Blair
runs Valley Watch, an environmental group in Evansville, Indiana
that battles against big coal and the nuclear industry. In 1979,
he won the Pulitzer Prize for news photography. He can be reached
at: ecoserve1@aol.com
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