I work for the Courage Campaign as the California field manager, and helped to organize this rally.
Last weekend, more than 2,000 people took to the streets to expose the secret billionaires cabal hosted by the Koch brothers near Palm Springs, California. Charles and David Koch invited powerful multi-millionaire conservatives to join them for a weekend at a posh resort to strategize and finance their nefarious plan to squeeze working families, gut social programs, destroy our environment for their profit, and buy our elected officials. The Courage Campaign, joined by an outstanding coalition, were there to let them know they can't come to California to do their dirty work in secret.
The Courage Campaign coordinated a diverse coalition of organizations, bringing together activists – with a broad array of concerns about the Koch brothers – to counter the billionaires cabal. Our partners include Common Cause, CNA, AFSCME, HCAN, Greenpeace, California Student Sustainability Coalition, CREDO, MoveOn, COPEPINK, The Ruckus Society and The Other 98%. My role was to coordinate logistics for the coalition, which is a cohesive panoply of groups committed to hold billionaires accountable for the damage they have done (and stop them before they cause any further harm). This demonstration is the kickoff for national campaigns for corporate accountability and good government this year.
See the flip for more.
United by common values, our coalition developed a series of activities designed to expose the Koch brothers through raising awareness, engaging in analysis of the problems and solutions, and inspiring displays of people power through non-violent civil disobedience. The various aspects of the action were referred to as “Uncloaking the Kochs” (panel), “Koch-Busters” (rally), and “Quarantine the Kochs” (direct action). Each organization and individual brought unique skills to the table and we coordinated our efforts to create a multi-layered demonstration that has sparked public interest and earned considerable media attention.
Common Cause hosted a panel, “Uncloaking the Kochs,” in a nearby movie theater, and you can view that at Common Cause’s youtube page. Over 350 attendees attended the panel on the Koch brothers influence on our political process, including panelists including Erwin Chemerinsky, dean of UC-Irvine’s law school, Van Jones, Bob Edgar, and Lee Fang. The panel discussion and the rally was broadcast on ustream so many more participated from around the globe.
At the conclusion of the panel, Rick Jacobs led the attendees to the rally outside the Rancho Las Palmas resort. I spoke with a woman who was standing with me at the very front line of the protest outside the resort after the people had taken over the street and 25 had been arrested.
“I’ve lived here for my whole life and I’ve never seen anything like this before. I heard about Van Jones speaking on a panel this morning, so I just came for that [shows me signed copy of his book]. But then this nice man [Rick] announced there was a rally too, so I followed him out here. When I went outside, there were thousands of people in the street. This is very important to our democracy. I can tell you are one of the organizers because of that thing [points to the massive walkie-talkie strapped to my hip] and I just want thank you for doing this.”
I thanked her for being part of this.
You can watch the rally speakers at Common Cause’s youtube page, where you can find some of these interesting videos.
Sarah Callahan introduced Jim Hightower who introduced Rick Jacobs. The crowd cheered as Rick pointed at the resort and declared, “we have a right to shine a light on legalized bribery and that’s what we’re going to do!”
You can see the video of Rick’s speech posted above. Rick introduced a local resident who spoke about how much pollution impacts his community.
Lyneva Motley, a Board member of ACCE introduced Estela Lopez, who lives nearby in Riverside County with her husband and three children. The bank foreclosed on her home in October and her family fears that they will be evicted. She is fighting for her home as the bank refused to accept their monthly payments.
“We work hard to afford our home. I am here today because I am sick an tired of the big banks taking advantage of everyday, hard-working working families. i am tired of hearing about banks getting bailed out, while we the people get kicked out – out of our homes.
I am tired of people like the Koch brothers and their friends who come here to plot and plan how to stop regulation of the banks, how to keep wages low, how to defund schools and community programs, and leave hard-working families in the dust. I am fighting back. I am fighting for my home, but I am also fighting for our community and our country.
As long as big banks and corporations (aided by people like the Koch brothers) get to do whatever they want, we are in trouble. We the people need to take our country back from big corporate interests!”
One of the speakers eloquently described his struggle with obtaining health insurance, and said that even though the “high-risk pool” for adults with pre-existing conditions created by President Obama’s health reform legislation wasn’t perfect (he described it as “a giveaway to insurance companies”), he’d be damned if he was going to let the Koch brothers and their billionaire cronies take away the only chance he has. I got chills because it’s true for all of us, not just people with preexisting conditions or asthma caused by dirty air or those who have lost their homes or who have been victimized in other ways.
We are all at risk when 2% of our population is allotted more of a voice than the rest of us and we must stand up together in unity against those who would seek to harm our health, our environment and our democracy to line their wallets. I’ll be damned if I’ll let them take our democracy, our economy and our lives for their profit.
Bob Edgar of Common Cause led the crowd in chants including “We are the leaders we have been waiting for” and reminded us we are the hope for our children before introducing a 13-year old who asked “the best question” during the morning’s panel, querying the Kochs about why they can’t use their money for good things that help people.
Then Bob introduced Joel Francis, a senior at Cal State-Los Angeles and a Marine Corps veteran. Joel has repeatedly invited Koch Industries CEO Charles Koch to a public debate regarding the Kochs’ funding of Prop 23 (which would have rolled back our clean energy law to protect polluters like the Kochs) and he stirred the crowd with his remarks about the interrelated problems (video) caused by the Koch brothers and their friends.
Jim Hightower deputized the crowd as members of the “People’s Center for Disease Control” and then Andrew Boyd and Jenny Binstock encouraged the crowd to move toward the entrance to the resort for a non-violent direct action to confront those meeting within the “faux adobe stylings” of the resort walls.
Earlier in the weekend, a GreenPeace airship flew over the venue to remind passers by of the dangerous and covert dealings going on in the resort.
We marched to the front entrance of the Rancho Las Palmas Resort where several dozen sherriff’s deputies in riot gear stood guard. Over 1000 people occupied Rancho Las Palmas Ave and Bob Hope drive (a busy intersection in Rancho Mirage) for at least an hour.
As I stood by the entrance to the resort surrounded by fellow activists, I saw people stepping into the driveway and marching right up to the police line. The attendees of the billionaires caucus inside the resort began lining up on the roof to watch what was happening outside. Folks with binoculars could identify them, which might be why the Kochs are now claiming that there was another event going on inside the resort (separate from them) – a conference for federal judges. How convenient.
The people crossed the police line in the resort driveway and at least two dozen people in hazmat suits stood face to face with the Sherriffs department deputies in full riot gear.
Thousands of us stood in solidarity as the young activists faced off with the police. One by one, they were cuffed and taken behind the walls of the resort. I watched as they were peacefully detained. The crowd chanted, “Arrest the Kochs, not the people!”
After at least an hour of occupying the intersection, the police attempted to communicate that they wanted us to disperse, but there was a problem with their PA system and no one could hear the announcements. The Riverside County Sheriff’s helicopter (which had been flying over the event in slow circles) swooped down alarmingly close and blasted a garbled message that I learned later was an order for the crowd to disperse. The lawn sprinklers turned on and a few activists got soaked (including me) as the jets splashed onto the sidewalks (I thought you weren’t supposed to water your lawn in the middle of the day in the desert).
As the crowd ceded the intersection, we chanted “We’ll be back!” We waved to the multi-millionaires and their myriad security personnel who had convened on the roof and front porch of the resort to watch the action.
Last week I stood in the street with more than 2,000 activists to telling the Kochs and their billionaires caucus in no uncertain terms that we know what they are up to, and we will expose their deeds to hold them accountable for their actions. We will quarantine the poison they have injected into our democracy to stop the spread of policies that degrade people, denigrate the environment, strip us of our health and our rights.
MORE PHOTOS::
photos of the event from the CA student sustainability coalition:
http://bit.ly/KochPhotos
and even more photos from our coalition:
http://www.flickr.com/groups/u…