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Interview With No Blood For Oil's Eric Laursen
Aired March 18, 2003 - 15:26 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
MILES O'BRIEN, CNN ANCHOR: Wee, just because war seems certain, anti-war activists say they're not going to sit quietly on the sidelines. From coast to coast they're vowing to greet war with loud, widespread civil disobedience. CNN's Maria Hinojosa live in New York with more on all of that. Hello, Maria.
MARIA HINOJOSA, CNN URBAN AFFAIRS CORRESPONDENT: Hi, Miles. Well, yes, in fact, activists are calling for an emergency rally. Even today they're saying is kind of their last-ditch effort. A no war rally here at Union Square in New York City.
And then, just to give you a sense, already the morning after the war starts, walk out, stay away. Then they have a couple of different meeting places. So the anti-war activists are ready and getting ready to take on different kinds of actions if and when war starts.
Joining me is Eric Laursen who is with a group called No Blood For Oil. And this group, Eric, was started specifically to deal with direct action, which is taking this anti-war activism to another level. So what are the plans that you have if war starts?
ERIC LAURSEN, NO BLOOD FOR OIL: Well, first thing is the day of invasion at 5:00, or the next day at 5:00 if the invasion starts at night, we're going to have a rally, a mass rally in Times Square here in New York City. We're hoping to get tens of thousands, if not more people to Times Square to literally convert that traffic hub into a space for protests against the war.
HINOJOSA: Now, you do a lot of direct action. You actually said that the term you want to use now is not civil disobedience but civil resistance. What are the plans for civil resistance, civil disobedience on a national scale?
LAURSEN: Civil disobedience means we're not just trying to show our opposition. We're to actually have -- make a difference in terms of whether this war can go ahead. In California, on the West Coast there's going to be an effort by activists to enter an Air Force base and to stop its operations.
HINOJOSA: And here in New York or in this area, what kinds of actions are you thinking about?
LAURSEN: There's a lot of things we're contemplating. We've had quite a few actions in recent weeks. We had a shutdown of one of the entrances to the Holland Tunnel several weeks ago. We want to actually make a difference here in terms of the institutions that make war. And so we're looking all over New York for where we can be most effective.
HINOJOSA: OK, well, thank you very much. Of course, the question for many of these activists is what happens when you take it to that level? Will that still encourage the very mainstream, very broad-spread people who have come to many of these demonstrations? Will they actually take to the streets and allow themselves to get arrested to protest this war once it starts -- Miles.
O'BRIEN: CNN's Maria Hinojosa at Union Square. Thank you very much.
TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com
Aired March 18, 2003 - 15:26 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
MILES O'BRIEN, CNN ANCHOR: Wee, just because war seems certain, anti-war activists say they're not going to sit quietly on the sidelines. From coast to coast they're vowing to greet war with loud, widespread civil disobedience. CNN's Maria Hinojosa live in New York with more on all of that. Hello, Maria.
MARIA HINOJOSA, CNN URBAN AFFAIRS CORRESPONDENT: Hi, Miles. Well, yes, in fact, activists are calling for an emergency rally. Even today they're saying is kind of their last-ditch effort. A no war rally here at Union Square in New York City.
And then, just to give you a sense, already the morning after the war starts, walk out, stay away. Then they have a couple of different meeting places. So the anti-war activists are ready and getting ready to take on different kinds of actions if and when war starts.
Joining me is Eric Laursen who is with a group called No Blood For Oil. And this group, Eric, was started specifically to deal with direct action, which is taking this anti-war activism to another level. So what are the plans that you have if war starts?
ERIC LAURSEN, NO BLOOD FOR OIL: Well, first thing is the day of invasion at 5:00, or the next day at 5:00 if the invasion starts at night, we're going to have a rally, a mass rally in Times Square here in New York City. We're hoping to get tens of thousands, if not more people to Times Square to literally convert that traffic hub into a space for protests against the war.
HINOJOSA: Now, you do a lot of direct action. You actually said that the term you want to use now is not civil disobedience but civil resistance. What are the plans for civil resistance, civil disobedience on a national scale?
LAURSEN: Civil disobedience means we're not just trying to show our opposition. We're to actually have -- make a difference in terms of whether this war can go ahead. In California, on the West Coast there's going to be an effort by activists to enter an Air Force base and to stop its operations.
HINOJOSA: And here in New York or in this area, what kinds of actions are you thinking about?
LAURSEN: There's a lot of things we're contemplating. We've had quite a few actions in recent weeks. We had a shutdown of one of the entrances to the Holland Tunnel several weeks ago. We want to actually make a difference here in terms of the institutions that make war. And so we're looking all over New York for where we can be most effective.
HINOJOSA: OK, well, thank you very much. Of course, the question for many of these activists is what happens when you take it to that level? Will that still encourage the very mainstream, very broad-spread people who have come to many of these demonstrations? Will they actually take to the streets and allow themselves to get arrested to protest this war once it starts -- Miles.
O'BRIEN: CNN's Maria Hinojosa at Union Square. Thank you very much.
TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com
