“It’s Our Moral Obligation to Disobey Unjust Laws” - Dr. Martin Luther King
After the election of Donald Trump, a number of individuals and groups convened to identify next steps for community self-defense. That group issued a set of principles of community self-defense which ground this open letter.
This letter springs from our concern about the criminalization of dissent and our desire to avoid putting folks at risk when they are making righteous demands from those in power. In the event guidelines for a June 30, 2018 event co-sponsored by MoveOn, CHILRA, ACLU-SoCal, and others, there is an expectation or understanding that folks who attend that event will not only obey law enforcement but will also cooperate with law enforcement if told to do so by event organizers (marshals). To us, this is dangerous and unacceptable.
Please click on Facebook Event Page link for June 30 “Families Belong Together” and scroll down to details section. The note (copied below) is posted at the bottom of this section.
Note: By choosing to attend this event, you are committing to participate nonviolently and in accordance with the law, to work to de-escalate confrontations with others, and to obey the orders of authorized event marshals and of law enforcement. You also acknowledge that you are solely responsible for any injury or damage to your person or property resulting from or occurring during this event and that you release all event sponsors and organizers (and their officers, directors, employees, and agents) from any liability for that injury or damage.
We see an irreparable harm in events calling out injustice cooperating with law enforcement because law enforcement is the edge of the knife of state violence. As we have seen in the J20 prosecutions, in order to defend dissent, we must stand together, exercise solidarity, and take collective responsibility. The language of disclaimers like those in the event page are starkly similar to law enforcement’s programs that claim to “predict” criminality and “suspicious” behaviour thus pathologizing and demonizing the very communities and principles the organizers of this event claim to support.
Furthermore, such disclaimers effectively tell folks they are on their own should something happen. We deeply believe we are in this together and that expressions limiting liability reflect a preferencing of organizational assets/liability over protecting people. Additionally, these statements limiting liability disincentivize folks from attending a rally if they feel they have something that could be put at risk.
At this point in time, it is critical we do not cooperate with law enforcement. This is a point in time when law enforcement continues to unmask itself at both federal and local levels as nothing but a tool of white supremacy. Attempting to place limitations on resistance to state oppression not only reinforces white supremacy but also strengthens the very oppressive systems we are fighting against. There is no room for white supremacy in our movements.
We demand that the organizers stop criminalizing dissent and immediately remove such disclaimers.
In full agreement that cooperating with law enforcement is a show-stopper. On another note, is that waiver of liability even enforceable? Mere attendance at a public event shouldn't be construed as assumption of risk.