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An Open Letter To Cecily McMillan

By Robert J. Burrowes

24 May, 2014
Countercurrents.org



Dear Cecily

I have been reading accounts of your recent trial and conviction following
your arrest at the Occupy Wall Street celebration at Zuccotti Park in
2012.

I found your brief statement at sentencing – http://justiceforcecily.com/
– and your statement to your supporters –
http://www.truthdig.com/report/page3/they_cant_outlaw_the_revolution_20140518
– both insightful and evocative and it brought to mind the compassionate
and powerful statements of the great nonviolent activists – such as
Mohandas K. Gandhi and Martin Luther King Jr. – who have gone before you.

I write this open letter to you in the hope that it will inspire you and
our fellow nonviolent activists to consider one other course of nonviolent
action that we can take in our efforts to create the world of peace,
justice, sustainability and love for which so many of us strive.

In writing to you I admit that I am asking you and others to consider
something for which you might not feel ready but if I don't ask you and
our fellow activists, then who can I ask?

In asking you to consider this course of action, I also admit that it has
taken me the experience of some 30 arrests for nonviolent acts of
conscience (with a variety of outcomes including jail terms, imprisonment
as a psychiatric patient and forcible injection with 'anti-psychotic'
drugs, seizure of my bank account, garnishee of my wages, bankruptcy and
seizure of my passport) and I confess that I have been slow to learn and
come to the suggestion that I make to you now. But every time I have
appeared in court my conscience, principles and love for all that lives
have been trashed in favour of laws that, for example, made my swimming in
front of a nuclear warship to impede its entry to an Australian port,
sitting in front of a bulldozer in defense of old-growth forests or
'trespassing' at a US military base located on land stolen from indigenous
people 'illegal'.

So you see, as I read accounts of your trial, I am reminded of my own
trials, those of my wife and fellow nonviolent activist, Anita McKone, as
well as the trials of many other activists that I have followed over the
past three decades. I am also reminded of the analyses of the legal system
offered by people as diverse as Karl Marx, Leo Tolstoy and Gandhi, each of
whom clearly identified the primary role of the legal system: to inflict
violence in defense of elite interests.

That is why it did not surprise me, as Chris Hedges noted, that Judge
Ronald A. Zweibel 'was caustic and hostile to McMillan and her defense
team during the trial. He barred video evidence that would have helped her
case. He issued a gag order that forbade the defense lawyers, Martin
Stolar and Rebecca Heinegg, to communicate with the press. And,
astonishingly, he denied McMillan bail.' See 'They Can't Outlaw the
Revolution'
http://www.truthdig.com/report/item/they_cant_outlaw_the_revolution_20140518
It also did not surprise me that Zweibel protected Grantley Bovell, the
plainclothed police officer who assaulted you at Zuccotti Park, against
challenges to his credibility and hid Bovell's history of violent
misconduct and corruption as a police officer from the jury. See 'NYPD
officer embroiled in assault trial sued by another Occupy campaigner'
http://www.theguardian.com/world/2014/apr/04/nypd-officer-lawsuit-bovell-guest-mcmillan-occupy
Nor did it surprise me that prosecutor Erin Choi and Assistant District
Attorney Shanda Strain ridiculed your testimony and accused you of lying.
See 'Occupy Wall Street Protester Cecily McMillan Sentenced To Three
Months In Jail'
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2014/05/19/cecily-mcmillan_n_5349501.html

Sadly, I have seen such things in courtrooms many times. I have also
watched a judge manipulate a jury. But sometimes you need to witness
something very many times before you realise that it is not just an
aberration; it is systemic. As I said, I have been slow to realise the
nature and full extent of the violence inflicted by the legal system but I
know it now. See 'The Rule of Law: Unjust and Violent'
http://www.countercurrents.org/burrowes130813.htm

And one reason I finally understood this violence is because I now know
that all perpetrators of violence – irrespective of whether they inflict
their violence institutionally or directly – such as Judge Zweibel,
prosecutor Choi, Assistant District Attorney Strain and police officer
Bovell, have certain psychological characteristics: they are terrified,
self-hating and powerless as well as devoid of love, compassion, empathy
and sympathy as a result of the violence inflicted on them when they were
children. See 'Why Violence?' http://tinyurl.com/whyviolence and 'Fearless
Psychology and Fearful Psychology: Principles and Practice'
http://anitamckone.wordpress.com/articles-2/fearless-and-fearful-psychology/

Obviously, no doubt like you Cecily, I sincerely hope that Judge Zweibel,
prosecutor Choi, Assistant District Attorney Strain and officer Bovell
find the courage to seek the emotional support they need to heal from the
psychological damage they suffered as children. For, as you so clearly
stated, whatever violence they inflict on us, our world includes love for
them as well.

In the meantime, here is my suggestion for you to consider as you ponder
an appeal.

As you, I and many others continue our nonviolent struggle to create a
world of peace, justice, sustainability and love for all, while both in
and out of prison, one of the issues that we must address is this: How can
we nonviolently resist legal systems that, by elite design, perpetrate
injustice and inflict violence?

I now believe that one important way for us to do this is for powerful
individuals to noncooperate with courts (which delegitimizes the process
and makes judges powerless). By refusing to participate in the delusion
that courts are concerned with justice (by refusing to enter a plea and to
present any defense whatsoever), the resister will no doubt end up in
prison and, in the era of privatized prisons when maximum prisoners means
maximum profit, any prison term might not be brief.

The point, however, is simply this: There is no point speaking when a
judge's fear makes them incapable of listening. And until we make it clear
that we are fearless enough to no longer submit under threat of the legal
system's violence, legal action will remain a key tool in the elite's
armory against us. Moreover, every time we participate in the legal
system, we legitimize it in the eyes of the 99%. Our message should be:
The rule of law is the rule of elite violence.

In simple English: The legal system is a 'stacked deck' and the only
winning move is not to play.

Hence, it is apparent to me, our strategy to remake society in accord with
principles of justice and love must include recognition of the fact that
the legal system is part of what must be removed. More sophisticated
methods for dealing with conflict and violence – ranging from listening
and needs-based processes to truth and reconciliation commissions as well
as nonviolent action – have long existed.

So the sooner we embrace wholesale noncooperation with the legal system as
part of our strategy the better. Of course, many political prisoners, such
as those at Guantanamo and elsewhere, noncooperate with particular abuses
by the legal system already. But we need to expand this noncooperation.
Like you, I have spent time in prison where the typical prisoner is
someone who is poor, indigenous or marginalised in some other way. My
experience is that many of these prisoners would be happy to noncooperate
with courts and other legal processes which they are well aware abuse them
too. They just need a reason for doing so and to feel the solidarity that
arises in a shared struggle in which all can participate equally.

Anyway, whatever you decide in this instance Cecily, I appreciate your
enormous courage on behalf of us all.

For a world of truth, justice and love; Robert

P.S. You might also be interested in joining the worldwide movement to end
all violence. If you are, then, once you have the opportunity to do so,
you can sign online 'The People's Charter to Create a Nonviolent World'
http://thepeoplesnonviolencecharter.wordpress.com

Robert J. Burrowes has a lifetime commitment to understanding and
ending human violence. He has done extensive research since 1966 in an
effort to understand why human beings are violent and has been a
nonviolent activist since 1981. He is the author of 'Why Violence?'
http://tinyurl.com/whyviolence His email address is [email protected]
and his website is at http://robertjburrowes.wordpress.com



 

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