Via @RickSterling99
Originally Published on PeoplesArmsEmbargo.org
At 7:30 a.m. on April 9, the heavy traffic flow into California’s Travis Air Force Base, the largest transport base in the country, came to a sudden stop. As they have done numerous times, the “People’s Arms Embargo” blocked the main road into the base. The action this time commemorated the recently deceased long-time peace advocate and civil rights activist David Hartsough, one of the co-founders of the Peoples Arms Embargo . David devoted much of his life inspiring others to use nonviolent mass civil disobedience/direct action as an effective tool to obtain meaningful social and political change. He was the catalyst that triggered the founding of the Peoples Arms Embargo, last November.Prior to David’s last arrest at Travis in November of 2024, of over 150 in his lifetime, David declared, “We are putting our bodies between these bombs and the children of Gaza by blocking workers loading these bombs onto planes headed to Israel.”
After a remembrance circle and tribute to David Hartsough, activists, donning the names of some of the youngest child victims, then moved out into the crosswalk to form their human blockade to oppose and impede U.S. complicity in war crimes at the intersection leading into the base. A large banner reading: “TRAVIS: NO GENOCIDE, NO DEPORTATIONS” communicated to the drivers our purpose. (Travis AFB has also been assisting in the illegal transport of immigrants without due process in recent mass deportations.)
With traffic into the base stopped, one large angry male driver immediately jumped out of his pickup truck, approached the blockaders with threatening body language and yelled, “I’m on your side but….” He finally thought better of it and returned to his truck. Many other impeded civilian and military base personnel were patient and a few indicated support for the protest. One lowered his window and said, “Palestine will be free!” Even prior to the blockade, as activists were preparing for the action in an adjacent plaza, many people on their workout machines waved and jumped up and down in support.
Via Michael Kerr
Those not blocking the intersection held signs and banners on both sides of the road, and some handed out flyers to the stopped cars. Three elder women stretched a second banner, “EVERY 15 MINUTES A CHILD in GAZA is KILLED,” across the adjacent “Hospital Gate” entrance.
In the meantime, prior to any other arrests, dress wedding, one of the two legal observers present that day, was abruptly arrested when ze was in the process of documenting badge information of the police officers who had gathered.
Much to the surprise of the People’s Arms Embargo, police vans carried the remaining 11 arrestees to the Fairfield police station, not the jail, as had happened in previous arrests. All arrestees were placed on chairs sitting outside under the warm morning sun, quickly processed, cited and released by 9:00 am, bypassing jail time altogether. All arrestees are ordered to appear in court on May 20, 2025 at the Solano County Superior Court.
Since October 2023, after numerous protests at Travis against U.S. complicity in genocide, that have included dozens of arrests, the DA has not filed any charges, including arrests made post-election. We know this could change at any moment.
The “Peoples Arms Embargo” has previously emailed the base commander Col. Jay Johnson. They provided the evidence that weapons are being sent to Israel from this air force base. They noted, “Sending these weapons breaks U.S. laws as well as international laws which we are all obligated to uphold.” They referred to a letter from Veterans for Peace which provides details on the laws which are being broken by sending weapons to Israel. The violations include the Conventional Arms Transfer Policy, Foreign Assistance Act, Arms Export Control Act, U.S.War Crimes Act, Leahy Law, and Genocide Convention Implementation Act. The People’s Arms Embargo concluded their letter by saying, “As commander of Travis AFB, you are especially responsible to ensure that TAFB is not complicit in genocide. Under the Nuremburg Principles, none of us can hide behind the excuse of ‘following orders’.”
The Peoples Arms Embargo has also sent letters to both the Base commander, Col. Jay Johnson and the Fairfield Police police, addressing the dangerous and threatening behavior of some of the base personnel in recent protests at Travis, as well as intolerable and illegal behavior by some Fairfield police officers. Two of the co-founders also met with the Fairfield police chief in person last summer to make a formal complaint of escalating police aggression that was being witnessed in earlier protests at Travis.Some improvements have been noticed since these efforts were made.
The activists plan to continue their regular nonviolent disruptions so long as the shipments to Israel continue:
“The worst tragedy of this horrific ongoing genocide in Gaza are the stolen lives of the children, and the unbearable conditions that the survivors of Palestine are forced to live under, with desperately inadequate food, water, and medical care, while under the constant terror of continuous bombardment.” says Toby Blomé, co-coordinator of the People’s Arms Embargo. “We will continue to come to Travis until the ongoing human slaughter funded by our tax dollars stops.”
Overall, the action had broad media coverage that included a a short headline story on Democracy Now (April 11) and even a mention in Michael Moore’s Substack post, Home of the Brave Most impressive was a very thoughtful and thorough front page story in the Herald-Tribune a local Vallejo paper with a history of a conservative, pro-military perspective!
We believe we are planting important seeds for societal change. We invite all to join us in this effort. Free Palestine!
The Peoples Arms Embargo’s next steps is to bring 1,000 activists out for a low-risk, totally legal assembly on Saturday, May 31 at Travis AFB. Please mark your calendars for this 100% green family-friendly protest. We will be doing this Flash Mob Dance to the tune: “War, What is it Good For?….Absolutely Nothing!” Stay tuned and bring friends to help us reach our goal.