by Sandy Mayes

The US military will have to think twice before it ever again tries to use Olympia, WA as a launching point for war.

For 13 unforgettable days in November, people in this small community engaged in a courageous and spirited campaign of resistance to the war in Iraq. Sixty-six arrests were made and untold numbers were assaulted by police during a campaign which made national and international news. Day after day, and night after night, people put their lives on hold and their bodies on the line to prevent movement of military equipment from the Port of Olympia to nearby Fort Lewis.

Friday, Nov. 9. War resisters take control of the entrance to the Port of Olympia for the first time. (Photo by Rob Whitlock)

Saturday morning, Nov. 10. Supporters provide food and water to activists at the Port of Olympia main gate blockade. There were no donuts left for the riot police. (Photo by Rob Whitlock)

Olympia riot police arrive on the scene at the Port of Olympia main gate. Saturday morning, Nov. 10. (Photo by Anne Fischel)

Blockaders at the Port of Olympia main gate stand their ground as riot police approach, Nov. 10. (Photo by Jennifer Pellinen)

Police douse main gate blockaders with pepper spray at close range over and over. Nov. 10, Port of Olympia. (Photo by Anne Fischel)

After dousing protesters with pepper spray, police use batons and brute force to remove them from the Port entrance. Nov. 10, Port of Olympia. (Photo by Anne Fischel)

Police continue dousing protesters with pepper spray, and using batons and brute force to remove them from the Port entrance. Nov. 10, Port of Olympia. (Photo by Rob Whitlock)

Police use pepper spray on anyone in the vicinity of the Port entrance. Saturday, Nov. 10. (Photo by Jami Williams)

After witnessing the police assault on protesters at the Port gate, Karin Craft displayed this message, which became a defining slogan of the port protests. She later testified to City officials about what she saw that day, Nov. 10. (Photo by Jim Mayfield)

After being covered with pepper spray and brutalized by police at the main gate of the Port, Andrew Yankey quickly returned to his work on the OlyPMR media team, Nov. 10. (Photo by Jay Stewart)

This protester is struck hard with a police baton after being pepper sprayed at 4th and Plum, Nov. 10. (Photo by Rochelle Gause)

After police pepper sprayed her, knocked her to the ground with a baton, and stepped on her ankle, this terrified injured protester crawled to escape, Nov. 10. (Photo by Rochelle Gause)

The first of 2 “hard” blockades near the entrance of I-5 in Olympia, Nov. 10. (Photo by Jim Mayfield)

Police fire pepper balls to defend themselves against activists who are sitting with arms locked together. I-5 entrance at Union and Plum, Nov. 10 (Photo by Jennifer Pellinen)

Police officer digs his finger into the eye socket of a hard blockader as he lifts him off the ground. I-5 entrance at Union and Plum, Nov. 10. (Photo by Jennifer Pellinen)

Multi-tasker Phan Nguyen seems to always be where he is needed whether doing media work for OlyPMR, acting as a street medic, or doing jail and legal support. Port of Olympia, Nov. 11. (Photo by K. Schultz)

Sunday, Nov. 11. Local residents give personal testimony on the abusive tactics by the Olympia Police Department during ongoing Port of Olympia protests. The testimonies were presented at a City Hall forum at the invitation of City Councilmember TJ Johnson, who is seated third from left in the back. (Photo by Jay Stewart)

Activists sit down in front of a truck carrying military equipment thus taking control of the Port entrance for the second time in 5 days, Tuesday, Nov. 13. (Photo by Phoebe Blanding)

A truck carrying military equipment is forced to back up inside the Port gate when blockaders refuse passage, Teusday, Nov. 13. (Photo by Rob Whitlock)

The Women's Caucus solidarity action embodied the blockade on the night of Nov. 13 at the Port of Olympia.

Police confront the Women's Caucus, Nov. 13. (Photo by Rob Whitlock)

Members of the Women's Caucus anticipate the pepper spray police had repeatedly threatened to use on them if they did not leave the road, Nov. 13.

On Nov. 13 counter-protesters – or haters, as they became known to the demonstrators – made their largest appearance at the Port. They tried to disrupt the women's blockade and hurled racist, sexist, and homophobic insults at protesters. One male hater exposed his genitals to the group of arrested women. Pictured here, they struggle but ultimately fail to make the peace sign. (Photo by Jim Mayfield)

Protesters are hit with pepper spray after stepping in front of a Stryker convoy as it takes a side exit from the Port of Olympia, Nov. 13. (Photo by Sandy Mayes)

An Army Stryker vehicle, fresh from Iraq, speeds through Capitol Way, and avoids the demonstrators. Nov. 13. (Photo by Jim Mayfield)

Nov. 16. Local high school and community college students gather on the steps of the State Capitol during a student walk-out in protest of the war in Iraq. (Photo by Anne Fischel)

One of many fine protest banners created by Olympia activist Lee Gilchrist is carried by jubilant demonstrators. Saturday, Nov. 17. (photo by Elliot Stoller)

Love the soldiers, hate the war. Olympia, Saturday, Nov. 17. (Photo by Elliot Stoller)

A joyous family-friendly event. Olympia Saturday, Nov. 17. (Photo by Elliot Stoller)

No war but class war. Olympia Saturday, Nov. 17. (Photo by Elliot Stoller)

What have we been waiting for? Olympia Saturday, Nov. 17. (Photo by Jay Stewart)

At the PMR rally on Nov. 17, participants of the women's solidarity action gathered on stage at the Port of Olympia plaza. (Photo by Elliot Stoller)

Resist while there is still time. (Photo by Elliot Stoller)

by Zoltan Grossman

I attended the Port of Olympia protests as a witness taking video documentation, much as I have in conflicts back home in Wisconsin. Some of these videos are posted at http://www.youtube.com/profile_videos?user=zoltangrossman .

I want to share some of my perspectives, not only on the street confrontations, but on the development of local antiwar activism as a social movement.

Riot police at the Port of Olympia, Nov. 11. (Photo by Jami Williams)

by Kyle Taylor Lucas

Though conspicuously absent from mainstream media coverage, evidence of authentic democracy was demonstrated by 39 women who locked arms and placed their bodies on the line at the Port of Olympia on Nov. 13. They took action for human rights and to stop use of the Port of Olympia as a revolving door to perpetuate war on an innocent nation, as well as to stop the killing and maiming of our men and women in the armed forces. They stood in solidarity on behalf of human rights and in support of Iraqi women who are being murdered and whose families, lives, country, and culture . . .

Police confront women's caucus, Nov. 13. (Photo by Rob Whitlock)

TJ Johnson interviewed by Janet Blanding

TJ Johnson leaves the Olympia City Council at the end of 2007 after having served a four year term. He is also a founding member of Olympia Port Militarization Resistance. Shortly after the protests at the Port of Olympia in November 2007, he was interviewed by Janet Blanding.

Janet Blanding: When the news hit that a military shipment would be coming through Olympia again, the rumor was that Thurston County Sheriffs would be providing security for the Port. Why was it that OPD (Olympia Police Department) ended up filling that role?

City Councilmember TJ Johnson hears testimony by local residents on the abusive tactics used by the Olympia Police Department during the November Port protests. (Photo by Rob Whitlock)

by Peter Bohmer,

Updated, December 9, 2007

"There's a time when the operation of the machine becomes so odious, makes you so sick at heart, that you can't take part, you can't even passively take part, and you've got to put your bodies upon the gears and upon the wheels, upon the levers, upon all the apparatus, and you've got to make it stop! And you've got to indicate to the people who run it, to the people who own it, that unless you're free, the machine will be prevented from working at all!"

--Mario Savio, the steps of Sproul Plaza, UC Berkeley, December 2, 1964

Protesters hold their ground in the first successful effort to block military equipment through the main entrance of the Port of Olympia, Nov. 9. (Photo by Gail Johnson)

War resisters built a structural barricade to block a side entrance to the Port of Olympia as part of the first successful attempt to block military equipment from moving through, Nov. 10. (Photo by Jennifer Pellinen)

Blocking the side entrance to the Port of Olympia, Nov. 10. (Photo by Anne Fischel)

Riot police use pepper spray at close range on people blocking the main gate of the Port of Olympia, Nov. 10. (Photo by Rob Whitlock)

Police confront women's blockade, Nov. 13. (Photo by Rob Whitlock)

Larry Mosqueda delivers a speech prior to the march on Nov. 17. Mosqueda was among the first people to organize against the resumption of military contracts with the Port of Olympia in 2004 after 17 years of no business with the military. (Photo by Jay Stewart)

After 2 weeks of war resistance at the Port of Olympia, over 400 people from all over the Northwest joined in a march and rally to protest the war and police violence, Nov. 17. (Photo by Jay Stewart)

Kyle Taylor Lucas, in background, gives one of the most inspiring speeches at the rally on Nov. 17. (Photo by Jay Stewart)

On the afternoon of Wed., Nov. 28, the final train of military equipment left the Port of Olympia, carrying, among other things, M1 Abrams tanks with depleted uranium armor. (Photo by Drew Hendricks)

by Aaron Hartwell

Three naval vessels that had agreed to attend Olympia's yearly Capitol Lakefair on July 20 and 21 have since declined to attend due to the inability of Lakefair planners to meet their security requirements. The ships that had originally accepted Lakefair's invitation to attend included the USS Ingraham which is armed with one Mk 75 76mm/62 caliber rapid firing gun, along with mk 32 asw torpedo tubes (two triple mounts), and one Phalanx ciws (an automated anti-missile system comprised of a 20mm M61 Vulcan Gatling-type rotary cannon linked to a radar system). The other two ships . . .

City prosecutors learn the difference between a pedestrian on a sidewalk and a vehicle in traffic

by Mark Jensen

On July 18, a Tacoma judge dismissed thirteen cases stemming from last March's antiwar protests on the grounds that the statute under which defendants were charged was inapplicable. Tacoma Municipal Court Judge Pro Tem Karl D. Haugh's ruling dropped to ten the number of still unresolved cases stemming from March 2007 Port Militarization Resistance (PMR) protests during which police made a total of thirty-seven arrests.

Port of Tacoma, March 11, 2007. Police in full riot gear prepare to load into a bus dangerous offenders who would be charged with, among other things, violating traffic laws by wearing backpacks on a public sidewalk. No doubt the riot gear came in handy, if only to assist the police in attaining the proper mindset to enforce unlawful orders.

Photo by Carrie Lybecker

Five of the 23 activists arrested at the Port of Tacoma on March 11, 2007. From left to right: TJ Johnson, Dennis "Tenzing" Dutton, Patrick Edelbacher, Somerset Fetter (kneeling), and Phan Nguyen. With the exception of Johnson, all were charged with violating traffic laws, even though their arrests had nothing to do with traffic. No charges were filed against Johnson.

by Phan Nguyen

The case of the "Oly 22" port protesters ended in a dismissal on June 12 after Thurston County District Judge Susan Dubuisson faulted the government for "gross negligence" in failing to provide the final 16 defendants with important discovery material in a timely manner before a second trial.

Oly 22 defendants, legal team, and supporters celebrate outside the Thurston County Courthouse following the dismissal of misdemeanor trespass charges and a year of court proceedings. (Photo by Janet Blanding)

The preceding chart lists known deaths of the 3rd and 4th Stryker Brigades during their most recent deployments, to the extent documented by the US Dept. of Defense. The 3rd Stryker Brigade is currently serving its second tour in Iraq. Its Stryker vehicles and related equipment were shipped from the Port of Olympia in late May 2006, a month before the actual soldiers were sent to the Middle East. The original mission of the 3rd Brigade was to secure "enduring" (a.k.a. permanent) military bases in Mosul. However, upon arrival, almost half of the brigade was routed to Baghdad. The Mosul . . .

Chart compiled and created by Phan Nguyen.

Click here for a printable and readable version of this image as a pdf file

Trial for the remaining 17 defendants of the "Olympia 22" began on Monday, March 26. By Thursday, March 29, a mistrial was declared and information about surveillance on activists surfaced.

The 17 defendants had been arrested for trespass on May 30, 2006, while protesting the shipment of Army Stryker vehicles to Iraq from the Port of Olympia.

Monday, March 26

Detective Mike Hirte (center) with his superior, Chief Jim Chamberlain (right) in Thurston County District Court on March 29.

Attorney Larry Hildes speaks to a reporter as demonstrators protest the dirty tricks used by the prosecution and the Thurston County Sherriffs Office on March 30, the day after the mistrial for the Oly 22. (Photo by Robert Whitlock)

We will be there in our ports, our streets, in our media, our jails, our courtrooms, and everywhere else they dare commit violence in our name

[Speech delivered by TJ Johnson at the March 24 Olympia peace rally]

This week we mourn the fourth anniversary of the invasion of Iraq, an illegal and immoral act of aggression that many Americans now understand to be the greatest foreign policy blunder in US history. As we reflect on the past four years, it is also important to remember that the drumbeats of war began long before March 2003. In fact, they started just five hours after the terrorist . . .

Olympia City Councilman TJ Johnson climbs over a police barrier -- an act of civil resistance to shipments of military equipment to Iraq through the Port of Tacoma, March 11. He was attempting to deliver a Citizen's Injunction to halt military shipments through the port. (Photo by Carrie Lybecker)

Molly Gibbs read David Krieger's poem "Worse Than the War" just prior to crossing a police barrier at the Port of Tacoma, March 11. Along with 14 others, she was attempting to deliver a Citizen's Injunction to stop military shipments through the port. (Photo by Carrie Lybecker)

by Mark Jensen

tacoma, washington -- I arrived late at the arraignment of the "Tacoma 23" on Thursday afternoon, Mar. 15, but I was in luck. There was one seat left in the completely packed courtroom. I squeezed in next to Matt Batcheldor, a reporter from the Olympian, the only mainstream media journalist there.

Legal Assistant Karen Weill and Attorney Larry Hildes at a Thurston County pretrial hearing for the "Olympia 22," March 20. (Photo by Sandy Mayes)

At the Port of Tacoma, Phan Nguyen speaks to the protections provided in the First and Fourth Amendments to the US Constitution, which allow him to carry a backpack (or in his case, a "frontpack") at a peaceful demonstration. His sign reads "Keep the 4th Brigade home." (Photo by Carrie Lybecker)

by Wally Cuddeford

The 4th Brigade, 2nd Infantry Division, a Stryker unit based out of Fort Lewis, was originally set to deploy in May of this year.1 However, George Bush's "Surge" strategy moved their deployment date up two months. [1] Because of this, the unit had to skip crucial desert training at Fort Irwin in California, and train only here at Fort Lewis. [2]

At the Port of Tacoma before protesters were confined to stand behing the white fog line, March 3. (Photo by Robert Whitlock)

A row of riot cops stands between the soldiers of the 4th Brigade bringing Strykers into the port, and the peaceful demonstrators who want to keep them home. Many of the troops flashed smiles, nods, peace signs and thumbs-up as they passed. (Photo by Zoltan Grossman)

Police using teargas on peaceful protesters at the Port of Tacoma -- still-image rendered from footage taken by Joseph La Sac on the evening Friday, March 10. La Sac is the University of Puget Sound student whose video camera was running as it was confiscated by police on March 6. The story received extensive media attention after he posted the video on YouTube and is the subject of an internal investigation with the Tacoma Police Department.

Amanda Askea, Rosie Math, and Brooke Stepp with copies of the Citizen's Injunction to Halt the Shipment of Military Material to Iraq. They were arrested for crossing a police barrier in an attempt to deliver the injunction at the Port of Tacoma, March 11. (Photo by Gail Johnson)

Olympia City Councilman TJ Johnson arrested for crossing a police barrier as he delivered a Citizen's Injunction to Halt the Shipment of Military Material to Iraq -- Port of Tacoma, March 11. (Photo by Gail Johnson)

From left to right are Karen Weill, Caitlin Esworthy, Jeff Berryhill, and Wally Cuddeford, following the arraignment of the latter three in Pierce County Superior Court on March 6, 2007. The three had been attacked by riot police while peacefully demonstrating against George Bush's troop "surge" at the Port of Tacoma on March 4, and then ironically charged with felony assault. The charges were summarily dropped at the start of the arraignment.

by Sandy Mayes

"Port Militarization Resistance is organized to end our community's complicity in the illegal occupation of Iraq by stopping the U.S. Military's use of the Port of Olympia."

PMR statement of purpose -- 1/21/2007

In May 2006, hundreds of US Army combat vehicles called Strykers rolled through the streets of our town and into our port for shipment to the war in Iraq. It wasn't the first time convoys of military equipment had been shipped to the war through the Port of Olympia, but never before did the cargo present such an immediate and visually graphic connection with that war.

Stryker convoy rolling through Olympia on Plum Street, May 2006. Photo by Sandy Mayes.

Local residents greet a Stryker convoy with a soon-to-be traditional Oly welcome, May 24, 2006.

In a historic ruling in the Thurston County District Court on Oct. 3, presiding judge Susan Dubuisson has allowed the necessity defense to be used in a case resulting from civil resistance against the Iraq war.

This is only the fourth time in Washington State that the necessity defense has been allowed in trial for a case of civil resistance, and possibly the first time in the United States to be allowed in the case of activists demonstrating against the Iraq War.

16 of the Olympia 22 celebrate outside of the Thurston County Courthouse after winning the right to argue "defense of necessity" for their upcoming trial. (photo by Pat Tassoni)

Members of the Olympia 22 wait in the courtroom for their pre-trial hearing to begin, October 3. (photo by Sandy Mayes)

The Olympia 22, six of whom are representing themselves, discuss several motions at a pretrial hearing in Thurston County District Court on October 3. (photo by Sandy Mayes)

by Pat Tassoni

On August 20, the first Stryker brigade soldier died in Iraq. Sargent DeRoo was previously stationed at Fort Lewis, and it was his unit's equipment which passed through Olympia during the last weeks of May this year. Eleven days of protest at the Port of Olympia attempted to stop war shipments bound for Iraq. Those protests resulted in 37 arrests. Demonstrators brought to the attention of the Port of Olympia officials, the wider community and eventually the world, the immorality and illegality of the war in Iraq. Protesters also pointed out that the Olympia community and the Port . . .

Here they are, thirteen of the May 30 arrestees commonly known as the "Olympia 22." Until now, media images of these intrepid local heroes have largely depicted them, here and elsewhere, being pulled by the hair, dragged in handcuffs and shot in the face with pepper spray -- all courtesy of local law enforcement. The Olympia 22 are: Maggie Belknap, Jeff Berryhill, Nick Bland, Dan Bolduc, Wally Cuddeford, Brendan Dunn, Katie Dunn, Jake Erwin, Rachel Graham, Sam Green, Ben Groves, Caleb Hollatz, Daniel Keesler, Lilia Lassiter, Nikki Miller, Phan Nguyen, Luke Noble, Molly Porter, Mat Slobodkin, . . .

May 30: Police at the Port of Olympia wore heavy armor to defend themselves from the threat of nonviolence. Photo by David Loren.

by Marco Rosaire Rossi and Sandy Mayes

Adolf Eichmann: . . . (A)t that time these crimes had been legalized by the state and the responsibility, therefore belongs to those who issued the orders.

Judge Benjamin Halevi: But you must know surely that there are internationally recognized Laws and Customs of War whereby the civilian population is protected from actions which are not essential for the prosecution of the war itself.

Adolf Eichmann: Yes, I'm aware of that.

Judge Benjamin Halevi: Did you ever feel a conflict of loyalties between your duty and your conscience?

Demonstrators march down State Avenue to the Port of Olympia to protest the use of the port to ship military equipment for the Iraq Occupation, May 30.

by Lindsay Adams

On May 30, twenty-two people were arrested at one of the largest turnouts at the protest against the shipment of Stryker brigades at the Port of Olympia, which began on May 22.

That evening, a group of 60-70 protesters marched from the Shell station on State and Plum to the gates of the Port of Olympia. Once the protesters arrived the gates were shut and more police arrived from both the Olympia Police Department and the Thurston County Sheriffs Department.

Steve Niva: "All respect from me for men and women fighting in Iraq for them doing the job that's been assigned to them. From me, no respect for the job they've been assigned to do."

May 30, 2006 -- Sheriff's deputies respond aggressively to peaceful protesters who lied on the ground just inside the Port gate after pulling it down. Photo by David Loren

May 30, 2006-- Protesters are pepper-sprayed as they lie on the ground inside the fallen gate at the Port of Olympia. Photo by David Loren

A statement from the newly-formed Port Militarization Resistance and

the Olympia Movement for Justice and Peace

In four years of the war in Iraq, over 2,500 US soldiers and over 150,000 Iraqis have died. Hundreds of billions of dollars later, our troops are still fighting in Iraq. The declared mission has been proven false and now civil war rages on. This is an illegal war founded on lies told by the Bush administration and sustained by Congressional acquiescence, Republican and Democrat alike.

The first of two human blockades on May 24 which eventually forced a

Stryker convoy to turn around and take another route through town to the

port. (photo by David Loren)

Jeff Berryhill passively resisting arrest on May 24. (photo by David Loren)

Another passively resistant arrestee. Between 5/22and 5/30, a total of 37 protesters were arrested. (photo by David Loren)

Stryker convoys rolling through Olympia on Plum Street, May 2006. (photo by Sandy Mayes)

After the gate came down, the patriots crossed over and peacefully held their ground, May 30. (photo by Carrie Lybecker)

Police shoot pepper spray point blank into peaceful protesters at close range. (photo by David Loren)

An OMJP sponsored article

by Alice Zillah

On June 23, the Olympia Movement for Justice and Peace sponsored a public forum to discuss the shipments of military supplies from the port of Olympia -- shipments which support the Iraq War and other Pentagon activities. After a 17-year absence, the military resumed using the port of Olympia in June, 2004.

(Photo by Robert Torre)

Strategizing event on July 9

by Emily Lardner

In the early 1930's, John Dewey wrote that the public has no hands except those of individuals. There is no public, only individuals who decide to act on behalf of themselves and of others, including people who live far away. The U.S. is engaged in a war that is illegal under international law, a war that has no justification. Hundreds of thousands of people are suffering and dying, their lives and homes are being destroyed. Hundreds of thousands of people in the U.S. have expressed their view that the war is wrong. A majority of Americans think the . . .

Military vessel, USNS Pililaau, carrying equipment back from the Iraq war, is the largest on record to unload at the Port of Olympia. (Photo by Robert Torre)