SUBSCRIBE TO OUR FREE NEWSLETTER
Daily news & progressive opinion—funded by the people, not the corporations—delivered straight to your inbox.
5
#000000
#FFFFFF
5
#000000
#FFFFFF
Peace Coalition Warns Rightwing Militias Threaten Democracy
Ballots Not Bullets points to cases in Nevada and Oregon to show danger posed by groups like Oath Keepers
May 20, 2015
A coalition of peace groups is sounding the alarm over what it calls a growing trend of violent actions by anti-democracy militias, and say they will work to stem the tide of such forces nationwide.
Ballots Not Bullets was created this year by organizations including the Coalition to Stop Gun Violence and the Center for Biological Diversity. The coalition is governed by three principles:
- The Second Amendment doesn't confer the right to shoot or kill federal officials solely because one concludes that the government is tyrannical.
- The Constitution addresses redress of grievances, eliminating the need for violence.
- Rule of law must be enforced in order to eliminate establishment of a precedent that threatens freedom.
To raise awareness about extremist groups using weapons and intimidation to influence public policy, the coalition is pointing to a case in Oregon where armed conservative activists are guarding a mine in Medford over a legal battle with the Bureau of Land Management (BLM).
Sugar Pine Mine owner Rick Barclay summoned members of the Oath Keepers to guard the site after BLM issued a stop-work order over unauthorized equipment in March. According to Reuters, the guards were still on site Tuesday.
Ballots Not Bullets members said the chain of events is similar to the stand-off in Nevada last year between federal agents and ranch owner Cliven Bundy, which occurred after BLM sought to seize Bundy's cattle when he refused to pay grazing fees.
"It is a rejection of any kind of democratic compromise and the endorsement of the use of weapons and violence to get your way," Mark Potok of the Southern Poverty Law Center told Reuters, speaking of the militias.
The Durango Herald in Colorado reported that residents in Medford are frightened by the intimidation tactics.
"They're acting like boys in a schoolyard, and they're getting away with it," Rose Chilcoat, associate director of Durango-based Great Old Broads for Wilderness, told the Herald. "You can't take the law into your own hands."
An Urgent Message From Our Co-Founder
Dear Common Dreams reader, It’s been nearly 30 years since I co-founded Common Dreams with my late wife, Lina Newhouser. We had the radical notion that journalism should serve the public good, not corporate profits. It was clear to us from the outset what it would take to build such a project. No paid advertisements. No corporate sponsors. No millionaire publisher telling us what to think or do. Many people said we wouldn't last a year, but we proved those doubters wrong. Together with a tremendous team of journalists and dedicated staff, we built an independent media outlet free from the constraints of profits and corporate control. Our mission has always been simple: To inform. To inspire. To ignite change for the common good. Building Common Dreams was not easy. Our survival was never guaranteed. When you take on the most powerful forces—Wall Street greed, fossil fuel industry destruction, Big Tech lobbyists, and uber-rich oligarchs who have spent billions upon billions rigging the economy and democracy in their favor—the only bulwark you have is supporters who believe in your work. But here’s the urgent message from me today. It's never been this bad out there. And it's never been this hard to keep us going. At the very moment Common Dreams is most needed, the threats we face are intensifying. We need your support now more than ever. We don't accept corporate advertising and never will. We don't have a paywall because we don't think people should be blocked from critical news based on their ability to pay. Everything we do is funded by the donations of readers like you. When everyone does the little they can afford, we are strong. But if that support retreats or dries up, so do we. Will you donate now to make sure Common Dreams not only survives but thrives? —Craig Brown, Co-founder |
Our work is licensed under Creative Commons (CC BY-NC-ND 3.0). Feel free to republish and share widely.
Nadia Prupis
Nadia Prupis is a former Common Dreams staff writer. She wrote on media policy for Truthout.org and has been published in New America Media and AlterNet. She graduated from UC Santa Barbara with a BA in English in 2008.
A coalition of peace groups is sounding the alarm over what it calls a growing trend of violent actions by anti-democracy militias, and say they will work to stem the tide of such forces nationwide.
Ballots Not Bullets was created this year by organizations including the Coalition to Stop Gun Violence and the Center for Biological Diversity. The coalition is governed by three principles:
- The Second Amendment doesn't confer the right to shoot or kill federal officials solely because one concludes that the government is tyrannical.
- The Constitution addresses redress of grievances, eliminating the need for violence.
- Rule of law must be enforced in order to eliminate establishment of a precedent that threatens freedom.
To raise awareness about extremist groups using weapons and intimidation to influence public policy, the coalition is pointing to a case in Oregon where armed conservative activists are guarding a mine in Medford over a legal battle with the Bureau of Land Management (BLM).
Sugar Pine Mine owner Rick Barclay summoned members of the Oath Keepers to guard the site after BLM issued a stop-work order over unauthorized equipment in March. According to Reuters, the guards were still on site Tuesday.
Ballots Not Bullets members said the chain of events is similar to the stand-off in Nevada last year between federal agents and ranch owner Cliven Bundy, which occurred after BLM sought to seize Bundy's cattle when he refused to pay grazing fees.
"It is a rejection of any kind of democratic compromise and the endorsement of the use of weapons and violence to get your way," Mark Potok of the Southern Poverty Law Center told Reuters, speaking of the militias.
The Durango Herald in Colorado reported that residents in Medford are frightened by the intimidation tactics.
"They're acting like boys in a schoolyard, and they're getting away with it," Rose Chilcoat, associate director of Durango-based Great Old Broads for Wilderness, told the Herald. "You can't take the law into your own hands."
Nadia Prupis
Nadia Prupis is a former Common Dreams staff writer. She wrote on media policy for Truthout.org and has been published in New America Media and AlterNet. She graduated from UC Santa Barbara with a BA in English in 2008.
A coalition of peace groups is sounding the alarm over what it calls a growing trend of violent actions by anti-democracy militias, and say they will work to stem the tide of such forces nationwide.
Ballots Not Bullets was created this year by organizations including the Coalition to Stop Gun Violence and the Center for Biological Diversity. The coalition is governed by three principles:
- The Second Amendment doesn't confer the right to shoot or kill federal officials solely because one concludes that the government is tyrannical.
- The Constitution addresses redress of grievances, eliminating the need for violence.
- Rule of law must be enforced in order to eliminate establishment of a precedent that threatens freedom.
To raise awareness about extremist groups using weapons and intimidation to influence public policy, the coalition is pointing to a case in Oregon where armed conservative activists are guarding a mine in Medford over a legal battle with the Bureau of Land Management (BLM).
Sugar Pine Mine owner Rick Barclay summoned members of the Oath Keepers to guard the site after BLM issued a stop-work order over unauthorized equipment in March. According to Reuters, the guards were still on site Tuesday.
Ballots Not Bullets members said the chain of events is similar to the stand-off in Nevada last year between federal agents and ranch owner Cliven Bundy, which occurred after BLM sought to seize Bundy's cattle when he refused to pay grazing fees.
"It is a rejection of any kind of democratic compromise and the endorsement of the use of weapons and violence to get your way," Mark Potok of the Southern Poverty Law Center told Reuters, speaking of the militias.
The Durango Herald in Colorado reported that residents in Medford are frightened by the intimidation tactics.
"They're acting like boys in a schoolyard, and they're getting away with it," Rose Chilcoat, associate director of Durango-based Great Old Broads for Wilderness, told the Herald. "You can't take the law into your own hands."
We've had enough. The 1% own and operate the corporate media. They are doing everything they can to defend the status quo, squash dissent and protect the wealthy and the powerful. The Common Dreams media model is different. We cover the news that matters to the 99%. Our mission? To inform. To inspire. To ignite change for the common good. How? Nonprofit. Independent. Reader-supported. Free to read. Free to republish. Free to share. With no advertising. No paywalls. No selling of your data. Thousands of small donations fund our newsroom and allow us to continue publishing. Can you chip in? We can't do it without you. Thank you.