{"id":34228,"date":"2016-03-25T11:15:01","date_gmt":"2016-03-25T15:15:01","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/stateofthenation2012.com\/?p=34228"},"modified":"2016-03-25T15:52:43","modified_gmt":"2016-03-25T19:52:43","slug":"thousands-pledge-to-get-arrested-in-d-c-protests-next-month","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/stateofthenation2012.com\/?p=34228","title":{"rendered":"Thousands Pledge to Get Arrested in D.C. Protests Next Month"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><!--more--><\/p>\n<header class=\"articleheader\">\n<figure class=\"figurearticlefeatured\">\n<div class=\"featured-container\">\n<h5><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"attachment-isc-bbn-full size-isc-bbn-full wp-post-image\" src=\"http:\/\/media.breitbart.com\/media\/2016\/03\/occupyarrest1-640x480.png\" alt=\"STAN HONDA\/AFP\/GettyImages\" width=\"640\" height=\"480\" \/>STAN HONDA\/AFP\/GettyImages<\/h5>\n<\/div>\n<\/figure>\n<p class=\"byline\"><span class=\"by-author\"><span class=\"by\">by<\/span> AARON KLEIN<br \/>\nBREITBART<\/span><\/p>\n<\/header>\n<div class=\"entry-content\">\n<div id=\"ooya_V4bHV4MTE61zztlyP0HTHCzAklpMeIDg\" class=\"ooyala_embed S\" data-iscv-cat=\"Big Government\" data-iscv-tags=\"2016 Presidential Race,Big Government,Breitbart Jerusalem\" data-iscv-autoplay=\"true\">\n<div class=\"innerWrapper\">\n<div class=\"plugins\">\n<h2><strong>The leaders of Democracy Spring, a coalition of far-left groups plotting a mass civil disobedience movement to begin next month, told Breitbart News they have already confirmed 2,912 protesters who pledged specifically to risk arrest.<\/strong><\/h2>\n<p>Those protesters signed an option on the coalition\u2019s <a href=\"http:\/\/www.democracyspring.org\/\" target=\"_blank\">website<\/a>\u00a0explicitly\u00a0stating, \u201cI pledge to be one among thousands who will risk arrest to save democracy in DC between April 11 \u2013 16.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Other pledge options for protests include:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>*I pledge to come to Washington DC to support the sit in through legal protest but cannot risk arrest.<\/li>\n<li>*I want to join the march from Philadelphia to Washington DC, sometime between April 2 \u2013 11.<\/li>\n<li>*I want to volunteer to help organize this campaign.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>Kai Newkirk, Democracy Spring\u2019s campaign director, explained that his team called each of the 2,912 protesters pledging to risk arrest and spent about twenty minutes on the phone expounding on the movement\u2019s goals as well as helping to coordinate travel and logistics.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cPeople are coming from Montana, Seattle, and other states around the country,\u201d Newkirk told Breitbart News in a phone interview. \u201cThey are driving, taking buses, flying, because there are so many people from across the political spectrum that are just tired of the <em>status quo<\/em> of a democracy that works for the super rich and not for the everyday American. They want to take this stand to say enough.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Newkirk said he is \u201cconfident\u201d that \u201cif Congress doesn\u2019t respond to our demands and they would rather send people to jail, then it will be the largest civil disobedience of the century.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe are committed to non-violence,\u201d he stressed. \u201cThat is the principle of our campaign.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Newkirk\u2019s statements were affirmed by Peter James Callahan, communications director for Democracy Spring, who joined Newkirk on the phone for the Breitbart News interview.<\/p>\n<p>Next month\u2019s Democracy Spring chaos is set to begin with a meetup on April 2 at the Liberty Bell in Philadelphia. The group then plans to march across the East Coast and initiate a sit-in in Washington, DC, starting April 11.<\/p>\n<p>Updates to the group\u2019s website stress April 11 as the intended main escalation.<\/p>\n<p>The updated logistics page now <a href=\"http:\/\/www.democracyspring.org\/logistics_dc\" target=\"_blank\">states<\/a>: \u201cWe want to make the biggest impact on day one: Monday, April 11th. With massive participation on April 11th, we\u2019ll have the momentum and energy to break through as a national media story and mobilize the support to carry us through the 16th and beyond.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Newkirk confirmed that the plan is to start with a big splash on April 11.<\/p>\n<p><strong>\u2018Largest civil disobedience action of the century\u2019<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Last week, this reporter penned a\u00a0<a href=\"http:\/\/www.breitbart.com\/big-government\/2016\/03\/16\/anti-trump-groups-threaten-largest-civil-disobedience-action-of-the-century\/\">widely-read article<\/a>\u00a0documenting that with little fanfare and almost no news media attention, some of the same radical groups involved in shutting down Donald Trump\u2019s Chicago rally\u00a0earlier this month\u00a0are plotting a mass civil disobedience movement under the banner of Democracy Spring.<\/p>\n<p>They intend to march across the East Coast in order to spark a \u201cfire that transforms the political climate in America.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Democracy Spring \u00a0is threatening \u201cdrama in Washington\u201d with the \u201clargest civil disobedience action of the century,\u201d replete with the arrest of thousands of their own activists.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe will demand that Congress listen to the People and take immediate action to save our democracy. And we won\u2019t leave until they do \u2014 or until they send thousands of us to jail,\u201d the Democracy Spring\u00a0<a href=\"http:\/\/www.democracyspring.org\/\" target=\"_blank\">website<\/a>\u00a0declares, channelling rhetoric from the Occupy movement.<\/p>\n<p>The group is backed by numerous organizations, including the George Soros-funded groups MoveOn.org, the Institute for Policy Studies, and Demos.<\/p>\n<p>The pro-<span class=\"scoreregex\" data-govtrackid=\"400357\" data-title=\"Sen\" data-first=\"Bernie\" data-last=\"Sanders\" data-party=\"I\" data-state=\"VT\" data-grade=\"F\" data-average=\"16\" data-link=\"B\/400357?utm_campaign=breitbartapi&amp;utm_medium=api&amp;utm_source=breitbart\" data-image=\"400357.jpeg\" data-ispresidentialcandidate=\"\" data-ismemberofcongress=\"\" data-presidentialprofileurl=\"\" data-prescandidatecomparisonurl=\"\">Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT)\u00a0<\/span>16%\u00a0MoveOn.org has been playing a prominent role in organizing anti-Trump activism, including in the recent\u00a0<a href=\"http:\/\/www.breitbart.com\/big-government\/2016\/03\/14\/sanders-support-group-sent-members-to-protest-trumps-nixed-chicago-event\/\" target=\"_blank\">shutdown<\/a>\u00a0of the billionaire\u2019s rally\u00a0at the University of Illinois at Chicago Pavilion.Another group endorsing Democracy Spring is the Democratic Socialists of America (DSA). The DSA\u2019s Chicago branch drove protesters to the nixed Chicago Trump event, as this reporter <a href=\"http:\/\/www.breitbart.com\/big-government\/2016\/03\/14\/sanders-support-group-sent-members-to-protest-trumps-nixed-chicago-event\/\" target=\"_blank\">exposed<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>The AFL-CIO, the nation\u2019s largest labor federation,<a href=\"http:\/\/www.commondreams.org\/newswire\/2016\/03\/03\/afl-cio-all-behind-democracy-spring\" target=\"_blank\"> announced<\/a> in a press release earlier this month it is \u201call in behind Democracy Spring,\u201d perhaps indicating significant mobilization.<\/p>\n<p>What do the radicals claim to\u00a0want?<\/p>\n<p>Despite the fact that many of the main groups endorsing Democracy Spring are funded by billionaire Soros, the group complains that \u201cAmerican elections are dominated by billionaires and big money interests who can spend unlimited sums of money on political campaigns to protect their special interests at the general expense.\u201d<\/p>\n<blockquote><p>But if the status quo goes unchallenged, the 2016 election \u2014 already set to be the most billionaire-dominated, secret money-drenched, voter suppression-marred contest in modern American history \u2014 will likely yield a President and a Congress more bound to the masters of big money than ever before.<\/p>\n<p>The stage is set for a bold intervention to turn the tinder of passive public frustration into a fire that transforms the political climate in America, that sparks a popular movement that can\u2019t be stopped.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p>The group continues:<\/p>\n<blockquote><p>We will demand that Congress listen to the People and take immediate action to save our democracy. And we won\u2019t leave until they do \u2014 or until they send thousands of us to jail, along with the unmistakable message that our country needs a new Congress, one that that will end the legalized corruption of our democracy and ensure that every American has an equal voice in government.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p>The leaders of the group have already held training sessions, the website says. Democracy Spring states it is requiring \u201cmandatory nonviolent civil disobedience trainings twice a day for those risking arrest from April 11th-16th.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>For those arrested, the group says it has already secured the legal aid of an unnamed lawyer \u201cwith decades of experience with civil disobedience cases.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cHe is leading a team of pro-bono lawyers who will provide legal counsel and representation for all participants who risk arrest as part of this campaign,\u201d the website continues.<\/p>\n<p>Democracy Spring is threatening \u201cdrama in Washington\u201d that cannot be ignored: \u201cWith hundreds of patriotic Americans being sent to jail, day after day for at least a week \u2014 simply for sitting in to save our democracy \u2014 the drama in Washington will rock the business-as-usual cycle of this election and catapult this critical issue on to center stage.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>The group says that it is not plotting violence.<\/p>\n<blockquote><p>The website posts the following\u00a0<a href=\"http:\/\/www.democracyspring.org\/faq\" target=\"_blank\">rules<\/a>\u00a0for those engaging in civil disobedience:<\/p>\n<p>We will use no violence, verbal or physical, toward any person.<\/p>\n<p>We will maintain an attitude of openness and respect toward all we encounter in our actions.<\/p>\n<p>We will not destroy or damage any property.<\/p>\n<p>We will carry no weapons or any means of physical defense, including shields.<\/p>\n<p>We will not wear masks or otherwise conceal our faces or identities.<\/p>\n<p>We will exercise personal and collective responsibility to ensure that all participants adhere to this agreement.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p>Despite the involvement of groups active in opposing\u00a0Trump, Democracy Spring\u2019s website does not mention Trump by name. In December, Newkirk\u00a0<a href=\"http:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=5IJNEFQgWUI\" target=\"_blank\">interrupted<\/a>\u00a0Trump at a CNN-hosted GOP debate, saying,\u00a0\u201cThe American people deserve free and fair elections, not billionaire auctions.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p><em>With research by Brenda J. Elliott.<\/em><\/p>\n<p>___<a href=\"http:\/\/twitter.com\/brendajelliott\" target=\"_blank\"><br \/>\nhttp:\/\/www.breitbart.com\/big-government\/2016\/03\/24\/thousands-pledge-to-get-arrested-in-d-c-protests-next-month\/<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-34228","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/stateofthenation2012.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/34228","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/stateofthenation2012.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/stateofthenation2012.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stateofthenation2012.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stateofthenation2012.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=34228"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/stateofthenation2012.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/34228\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/stateofthenation2012.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=34228"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stateofthenation2012.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=34228"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stateofthenation2012.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=34228"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}