The People's Arms Embargo

Photos: David Solnit, Franklin Sterling and Janie Kesselman

(Travis Air Force Base, Fairfield CA, Nov. 20) In the pre-dawn hours of a cold and drizzly Wednesday morning, a new nonviolent campaign, “The People’s Arms Embargo," was born. Despite the ominous weather, 60-75 people converged at Travis Air Force Base with the intention to form "human blockades" at all of the base's entrances. Their goal: To peacefully block the weapons supply chain, from Travis to Israel, of US bombs and military supplies that aid in the ongoing horrors of genocide.

In honor of World Children’s Day, many brought mock child-size corpses wrapped with "bloody shrouds" to symbolize the heaviest casualties of Israel's genocide: tens of thousands of innocent Palestinian children.

Travis, the largest U.S. air force base in the country, is just 50 miles from SF. It has four gates: Main Gate and nearby Hospital Gate, North Gate and Commercial (South) Gate. “We are placing our bodies between the bombs and the children of Gaza by blocking workers from loading the bombs onto planes headed to Israel,” said longtime Quaker peace activist and co-organizer David Hartsough.

Blockaders and supporters initially gathered at different "staging areas” from which they dispersed to designated gates. Using long banners and signs, peaceful human blockades were formed at all four gates. The South Gate group formed 2 consecutive waves of blockades, prolonging the disruption of “business as usual” further.

Police officers from Fairfield, Vacaville, Suisun, Benicia, and Dixon, as well as Solano County Sheriffs promptly arrived at the various blockade sites, giving orders to “leave the roadway immediately.” Fairfield police records reported 28 arrestees.

All arrestees were handcuffed, put in police vans, taken to Fairfield jail and placed in a large open aired space to be questioned. Most first-time Travis arrestees were cited and released by 11am, bypassing jail. The ten remaining, eight of whom were “repeat offenders," were booked, fingerprinted and placed in jail cells.

One male was placed in a cell alone and the nine others, all women, were placed in a single large cell with windows facing the working desks of the jail staff. Throughout the afternoon the women shared stories, social justice songs and even dances. Everyone was eventually released by 4pm.

All arrestees were given citations to appear in Fairfield Superior Court on various dates in January. In all prior anti-genocide blockade actions at Travis not a single arrestee has faced prosecution or a judge.

Participants of the People’s Arms Embargo are diverse in terms of age, experiences, occupation, and more. Most are greater Bay Area/Sacramento residents, but one came from San Diego; one arrestee, a philosophy professor at Contra Costa College, is involuntarily on paid leave because he discussed the taboo subject of genocide on a faculty list serve; there were students, retirees, teachers, engineers, ministers and healthcare workers, including two physicians; many were elders in their 70’s and 80’s, but some were younger adults in their 20’s, and 30’s; at least 4-5 are first time ever “arrestees."

What participants share in common is an urgency to impede the US role in genocide by blocking the weapons supply chain at Travis. An additional goal is to expand the consciousness of Travis personnel and surrounding communities about their own direct or indirectly complicity in these horrific crimes against humanity committed with US tax dollars.

Participants handed out informative flyers to many drivers who were delayed during the blockades. The flyers explained that Travis’s role as a U.S. weapons transporter make it directly complicit in Israel’s yearlong genocidal slaughter in Palestine. Additionally, the transport of weapons to Israel violates numerous federal and international laws and treaties that prohibit arming countries committing war crimes.

The People’s Arms Embargo organizers call on the Bay Area community to join them. “If the U.S. government won’t stop shipping arms to Israel then 'we the people,' must stop it. We will keep coming back, using nonviolent and persistent resistance, until Travis AFB is no longer part of the weapons supply chain that is aiding this horrific slaughter. We desire peace, justice and equality for all people from the river to the sea,” declare the organizers.

For future actions, the campaign needs volunteers for various roles, not just human blockaders. They invite other peace and justice organizations to join the over 20 organizations already signed on as endorsers and sponsorers of the People’s Arms Embargo coalition.

For more information please contact: Wynd Kaufmyn(kaufmyn@aol.com) or Toby Blomé (toby4peace@sonic.net)

BACKGROUND:
After over a year of massive and persistent protests and organizing across the country against genocide that have included encampments and “occupations” at university/college campuses, U.S. federal buildings, congressional offices and homes of US officials, ongoing disruptions of congressional hearings, birddogging key U.S. officials, hunger strikes for Gaza, innumerable mass marches and rallies, blocking traffic on U.S. highways and bridges, passage of local ceasefire resolutions, ongoing petitions, phone calling and letter writing campaigns, and much more, President Biden and Congress are refusing to serve the will of over 70% of the American public: NO MORE MILITARY AID TO ISRAEL!

Indeed, on the very day of the Travis action, the U.S. Senate, including California Senators Padilla and Butler, overwhelmingly voted against Sen. Bernie Sanders resolutions to restrict shipment of U.S. weapons to Israel! The day after the Nov. 20th action, the International Criminal Court (ICC) issued arrest warrants for Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu and his former Defense Minister, Yoav Gallant for war crimes and crimes against humanity committed in Gaza. Yet, the U.S. is moving forward on sending $20 billion more in military aid to Israel, as well as more US troops.

“If the U.S. government won’t stop shipping arms to Israel, then we will establish a People’s Arms Embargo to stop it ourselves. We will persist until the weapons supply chain that is aiding the horrific slaughter and forced starvation in Palestine is aborted at Travis. We desire peace, justice and equality for all people from the river to the sea," say the organizers.

Note: This new campaign is an offshoot of monthly anti-genocide blockades that took place at Travis between December ’23 and April ’24. Many of the participants and the leading organizers of this new coalition were intimately involved in the earlier Travis actions. The local Fairfield police had been getting progressively more aggressive with each consecutive Travis protest, and numerous protesters sustained significant injuries in March and April. Two of the People’s Arms Embargo organizers met with the Fairfield police chief and staff months ago to deliver a complaint about the unnecessary and excessive use of force by some officers on peaceful demonstrators. Organizers and participants were pleased that on Nov. 20th no notable police aggression was displayed by any of the five law enforcement agencies involved. (Though some handcuffs and restraints were applied unnecessarily tight).

NOTABLE ADDITIONAL DETAILS
The People’s Arms Embargo was met with unexpected challenges and surprises:

-Days before the action, Fairfield police notified organizers that they would not allow vehicles to park near the North and South gates, forcing organizers to coordinate car shuttles at the last minute.
-Over 20 FBI agents showed up at one staging area in the dark of the early morning, then disappeared.
-Though the Main & Hospital Gates, located at the end of the largest artery into the base, Air Base Parkway, had been barricaded by the police in previous publicized actions, this time it was left wide open.
-The North Gate, a major entry gate for Travis airmen, was closed to incoming traffic initially in the morning, then later opened.
All of these unexpected surprises kept us on our toes, needing to shift strategies from moment to moment.

REPORT from COMMERCIAL GATE (“South Gate”):
Per Occupy Beale and Friends: “We arrived at the South Gate shortly before 6 AM, via car shuttles. There was a short line of cars/trucks. There were 7 of us to start. We had several banners and signs, and shrouded babies. Later, after the three shuttle drivers arrived on foot, we started preparing to blockade the road. About 7 AM the first group of 3 blocked the road with a long banner that said, 'No Arms for Genocide.' Shortly after that, a group of county sheriffs arrived and ordered us to get out of the road. The blockaders were handcuffed and taken across the federal demarcation line to a waiting wagon. After about half an hour, a second group of three blocked the road with the same banner. Minutes later police approached and ordered us again to get out of the road. Blockaders were again handcuffed and loaded into the opposite side of the police wagon.

The support folks left the south gate at about 8 AM, and the police wagon filled with the 6 arrestees drove through the base, eventually ending up at the main gate, where we waited as others were arrested. They added a couple of main gate arrestees to the van, then drove us to the City Jail, where about 10 others were gathered in an outside covered area."

REPORT from MAIN/HOSPITAL GATES & NORTH GATE:
Initially all of the folks who were planning to go to the North Gate met at their staging area, but soon learned that the North Gate was already closed by authorities. They ultimately joined the Main/Hospital Gates action to provide additional support at the multi-laned entrance. There were many who acted as important supporters, holding banners and signs along the side of the road and in the divider while the Hospital and Main Gates were blocked. The Main Gate blockade lasted for over 20 minutes, while police gave repeated dispersal orders. 12 were eventually arrested. Soon police in riot gear marched to the nearby Hospital Gate blockade and again gave dispersal orders. Three more were arrested.

Eventually a "second wave" with 2 more blockaders stretched a long banner across the Hospital gate entrance. It soon became apparent that police had detoured traffic away from Air Base Parkway, emptying the road of new vehicles, and, in essence, assisting us in our blockade. The “second wave” blockade was thus aborted.

Learning that the North Gate had reopened to incoming traffic, two remaining blockaders, a driver and a KPFA radio reporter hustled over toward the North Gate, about 2 miles away. The driver dropped off the 2 blockaders and reporter onto the 2-lane narrow North Gate Rd. that leads to the North Gate, a half mile further down.