Implications of Ojai Protest

Make no mistake. The infamous Ojai oak protest was not only about saving the trees. There is far more at stake here in the happy valley than the lives of individual arboreal elders.

There is a tendency for law and order to devolve into fascism, just as there is a tendency for anarchistic freedom to devolve into fascism. In Ojai a civilized protest was met with an overwhelming armed, armored, mounted response. Of course there was a reaction.

Many spectators who had gathered to observe the protest became active participants because they saw their park invaded by storm troopers. Persons on both sides of the tree issue had stood mesmerized by the emotional sight of a man clinging to a tree in order to save its life. Within minutes of the arrival of more officers with helmets and gas masks, even people who had been willing to see the trees fall were suddenly sitting on fences in protest or facing off deputies. Why?

The protest, in its final hours, was all about power. Who ultimately controls the park? How are decisions by the City Council to be enforced? When is it worthwhile to call out the riot squad--and when is it not? Most important, the question is: Who is overseeing the police departments and sheriff’s departments and National Guards in the year 2000?

The Ojai tree protest.

The Ventura Hell’s Angels event.

The World Trade Organization protests.

To the activists of the valley, we plead--it is past time that we demand that the legislators, our representatives, regain active oversight of all policing forces. We must immediately exercise our political freedoms if we hope to keep any freedoms at all.

LORI and LAWRENCE ANDERSON

Ojai