Is it only in the Free State where can you go from helping fellow liberty activists move to their new digs–where 20 fellow freedom fighters show up for a 12 hour, three-truck move!–to almost getting arrested?
On January 30, 2010, I decided to take a break from the moving activities to join about ten other activists at the Hillsborough Correctional Facility in Manchester. We gathered to protest the arrest on January 16 at a 420 Rally in Veterans Park in downtown Manchester of one of our own, Mike Tiner, AKA John Doe or Big Mike (we have a lot of Mikes in the movement, and since Big Mike is not big, his moniker makes perfect sense to us).
Tiner was arrested for “assaulting an officer,” a trumped-up charge based on his elbow grazing the arm of a clown in a blue costume. Judge for yourself. Tiner is being held incommunicado, letters sent from Mail to Jail are being returned, no one has been able to contact him or determine that he is unharmed.
The low-down: I arrived in the nick of time (4:19 p.m.), smoked a joint in front of the jail while inmates banged against their cell windows in support. Our group split up, half of us walking around the jail, an ominous bricked building with horrendous slit-eyed windows, trying to get someone inside to take down the phone number where Mike can reach fellow activists. An inmate wrote down the phone number. Who knows if Mike will get it?
When we got back to the entrance, Rich Paul was returning from a foray into the belly of the beast where he apparently harangued the petty tyrants inside. [Aside: Personally, I think more can be accomplished by being civil. Don't get me wrong, we all know I have a motherfucking dirty mouth, I just don't think these situations are the time and place. Ultimately, one of our goals is to make Joe Six Pack see that the system is just a gang of thieves writ large. Our position is the sympathetic one, and we should work at exploiting those sympathies.]
Moments later, squad cars arrived. Rich Paul introduced himself to one of the officers, shaking his hand, and telling him that he was glad to see him since his friend had been kidnapped. The officer headed over to talk to the warden and after a brief discussion, the cops returned to our merry crew and warned us that we must leave or face arrest. When I tried to get them to explain on what charge–trespass–how can you trespass on public property?–we are again told we must leave immediately or face arrest, and if we come back next week, we will all be arrested.
I believe if we can get enough activists to another protest, they will be unable to arrest us all. As someone succinctly put it on Facebook: “There are more of us than them, it’s time we started acting that way!” What’s the magic number? Thirty? Fifty? A hundred? Two? Do we have enough activists who are willing to get arrested over this?
This question is intensely personal. I applaud and hail as heroes the activists who can and do walk down this path of civil disobedience. But I don’t know if I can. It’s not that I’m chicken per se (although, honestly, the idea of the Big House does not warm the cockles of my heart), it’s just that I feel like I can accomplish more from the outside. I have a husband and dog. A day job. I write. Do FIJA outreach. Plan the annual Porcupine Freedom Festival. But part of me feels these are lame excuses. That the time has come to push hard, to say enough is enough. And, if I do attend the protest, is it okay to bow out before push came to shove, assuming they gave us a warning first? Does this defeat the purpose? If a hundred activists show up, but not enough are willing to be arrested, to gum up the system, does that play into their power-high, does it tell them we’re scared? (Fear of monsters is perfectly NORML.) Or, is even a handful who are willing to take a stand, enough?
I appreciate that ending Prohibition is not everyone’s cuppa, and some local activists may be hesitant to support this issue. To them, I say, Big Mike’s act of civil disobedience–smoking a joint in public–is not what he was arrested for, he was arrested for touching a tax-feeder. He is a political prisoner. He is a poster child for abuse of power. Your support would be against the system itself, against their incessant bullying. They arrest and terrorize peaceful people for victimless crimes because they can. Because we let them.
Fellow activist have devised a tongue-in-cheek campaign called C.R.A.P. (Citizens Resisting the Assault of Police Officers) to provide “medical aid” to the “injured” officer.
To support this, they ask that you:
1.Write a letter to the Manchester Police.
Include your ‘medical aid’ (cartoon band-aid) with a letter explaining its purpose, and your concern over Mike’s arrest and continued jail stay.Send ‘medical aid’ letters to:
Manchester Police
351 Chestnut St.
Manchester, NH 03103We also encourage you to call and ask about Mike, to let the police and jailers know we are still concerned about the treatment and continued detention of a peaceful man.
Manchester Police: (603) 668-8711
Hillsborough County Department of Corrections: (603) 627-56202.Contact your local media outlets.
Write,email, or call your local media (new stations, newspapers, radio stations, indie media) to bring attention to Mike’s situation and the CRAP campaign. (note: sending a band-aid with written letters may bring more attention to the story)
3.Write to Michael Big Mike Tiner to show your support.
Civil disobedience is not an easy form of activism; however, it is important that those who are brave enough to do it know they have support.Writing letters to Mike in jail has been made easy by our friends at Mail-to-Jail (click the link to type a letter to Mike, which will be printed and sent to the jail, free of charge). If you would rather write your own letter/postcard, you can send them to:
Michael Tiner
CCN: 46733
Hillsborough County D.O.C.
445 Willow Street
Manchester, NH 03103
My recommendations for another jail house protest would be:
- Make sure there are more than fifty activists on site, many with cameras;
- Drop press releases beforehand and invite local TV and media;
- Hold it on a Sunday, so if arrests are made, it’s only a slumber party;
- Arrange for a lawyer to be on call;
- Make bail arrangements;
- Act civil, remember that the camera is the new gun and we can show people, through our actions that we have the moral upper hand;
- Prepare mentally, think through what you personally are willing to do, where your line is.
I have less than a week to decide what to do. So do you. What’s it going to be?
Live free or die, baby! Surrealpolichick is a liberty activist and a Free State Project first 1,000 mover. She is the Porcupine Freedom Festival organizer, and has the quill crown to prove it. Surrealpolichick hails from South Africa, where, under the apartheid regime, her ideas about the evils of state power formed. Her personal mantra, which she coined on a beach in Goa, and which she believes encapsulates the ideals of voluntaryism, is: Chill Don't Kill. 
Good news!!! Big Mike was released from jail earlier today, January 3. Details on my end are a little hazy, but my understanding is he was released on PR (personal recon) after other Free Staters filled a motion on his behalf. (Shout out to Mike Barskey and others!) Big Mike was kept on 23 hour lock down during his 18-day illegal incarceration.
Awesome article, Carla. Regarding your questions:
But part of me feels these are lame excuses. That the time has come to push hard, to say enough is enough. And, if I do attend the protest, is it okay to bow out before push came to shove, assuming they gave us a warning first? Does this defeat the purpose? If a hundred activists show up, but not enough are willing to be arrested, to gum up the system, does that play into their power-high, does it tell them we’re scared? (Fear of monsters is perfectly NORML.) Or, is even a handful who are willing to take a stand, enough?
These are important questions. I don’t know the answers, but my instinct is as follows: every person should do what feels right for them. If you want to participate but bow out before getting arrested, do it. Will the government agents think they’ve won because some of us are scared? Maybe. But might they feel intimidated because some of us stood up to them a little bit? Probably.
I have some of my own questions. Is every person as good a writer as you, Carla? Does every person love as much as you do? Does every person have the same level of courage as each other? Do we each have our own strengths and abilities and desires? Will a different (even slightly different) path towards liberty work better for some than for others? Will a variety of tactics – a variety of battle-fronts against government – be harder for government to defend against than just a few or only one? Do you have the same views now as you did a year ago, or 5 years ago? Do our desires and needs – and indeed, ourselves – change over time? Might something that is wrong or pointless or too scary now, be worthwhile later?
Thank you for being you.
@Barskey: And thank you for being YOU too! You raise excellent questions. In particular, I fully embrace your idea of different paths to liberty. The Benevolent Dictator part of me
–I’m working on it!–needs to hear that!
That said, I do think we should be cognizant of the fact that there are more and less /effective/ ways to walk those different paths. For NH instate activists, there’s a class on Feb 20: http://www.facebook.com/search/?q=mike+ruff+activism+class&init=quick#!/event.php?eid=275892379882&index=1.
Last point, you said: “might something that’s wrong or pointless…” I’d get rid of the “wrong.”
@Jim: Sounds like a horrible experience. I’m saddened that such violence was done to you.
During my arrest in 2004, I was handcuffed, then kicked repeatedly. I have eleven broken bones. My left lung is permanently damaged. My left adrenal gland is damaged.
Yes, I am willing to get arrested. No, I’m not willing to “submit” peacefully. I am willing to defend myself.
“Concerning nonviolence, it is criminal to teach a man not to defend himself when he is the constant victim of brutal attacks.” – Malcolm X
Sorry! Here’s the link to the Feb 20 civ dis workshop: http://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=275892379882&index=1
There’s a parallel there between the FSP and the critical mass needed at a protest. You’d get 500 people out if they knew there would be 500 people out.
Your list is good – all three are essential: strategy, tactics, and logistics. Ignoring any one of those leads to failure.
I hear you, believe me. Some of the videos I see of police violence really fill me with rage – helpless people sitting on the ground in handcuffs, being smacked in the face with batons, non-resisting people being sprayed & gassed, even shot. I wouldn’t provoke a conflict, but in an event like that, could I sit quietly for the sake of my freedom and my family, or would I start chucking rocks? I don’t know. Short of that I agree with you – we can do much more out here than we can behind bars. Time in prison can be spent in advocacy too, I’m sure there are plenty of candidates in the prison population for voluntaryism (dedicated thugs aside).
Still I think of what can be accomplished with relative freedom, and even the kinds of non-violent resistance that can be effective in direct conflict, and I am forced to admit to myself philosophically that the violent reaction that feels natural is not the most useful when dealing with the state. Even basic self defense is liable to end with more injury and thus accomplish nothing. The police don’t give up when you beat one of them, they just call for backup. Eventually if you have a big enough crowd, they will start killing people. That’s *one* way to demonstrate that they are murderous thugs, but I don’t think that it’s the best.
I am moving to New Hampshire BECAUSE of the courage I see in others with civil disobedience. I used to be a minarchist. Then I would have advocated repealing the laws. But over the course of the last 6 months I’ve come to the conclusion that anarchy is the way, thanks to a few books I got from the LvMI. Since this conversion, I’ve come to the conclusion that nullifying the laws is the way for me. Although, I tend to take a different stance on the issue. I’m not one for crowds and protests, although I applaud those who are. Instead, I am more for simply ignoring the state and living life like a free individual would, and of course, willing to be arrested. None of the crimes I would commit would likely put me in prison for years and years. I understand the sentiment that one is more effective outside prison than inside. But chances are you aren’t going to get busted and sent in for too long either, so I wouldn’t worry about it being an either/or situation.
As far as knowing how far you are willing to take it, I would recommend planning it out all in advance. I imagine it will make your resolve stronger and take the fear out of it for you. Also, consider letting others know how far you are willing to go too, that way the ones who ARE willing to get arrested don’t feel betrayed on the spot by those who they thought were willing to go all the way when they split.
First of all, thank you Carla. This was the first write up I came across about what had happened to me once I was released from jail. I apologize for taking as long as I have to respond to it.
I have heard that there were over 100 activists that were planning to stage a sit-in demonstration of the Valley Street jail lobby on February 6th, 2010 had I not had any communication with the outside world and not yet been released.
While I am appreciative of that possibly happening, I am happier it didn’t come to that. You see, that entire time I was locked up my health, safety and well being were fine. The problem was that nobody knew and this was due to jail policy. I am planning to speak with somebody at the jail to see if there is a way we can prevent that from happening in the future.
I’ll be responding more to this thread later today.
Thanks for this post BigMike. It makes me feel better to know Free Staters aren’t getting the “Royal Treatment” by the guards or “thrown to the wolves” by the other inmates while in jail. That’s not to say it couldn’t happen, but your experience will help give me more courage to get arrested. I could chill in jail for quite a long time as long as I’m not getting my ass pounded.