Stony Springs and the Civil Disobedience Tradition

	Throughout history, acts of civil disobedience--deliberate
violations of the law aimed at calling attention to or acting against
perceived injustice--have played a prominent role in efforts to change
society for the better.  In the United States, the names most commonly
associated with civil disobedience are Martin Luther King and Rosa Parks. 
	However, our nation has a long and rich history of civil
disobedience dating back to the beginnings of the American Revolution,
when colonists dumped three shiploads of British tea, valued at over
10,000 British pounds, into Boston Harbor in protest of the tax on tea
imported to the colonies. Organizers of the Underground Railroad helped
slaves escape to freedom, in defiance of the Fugitive Slave Act; slaves
remaining in captivity resisted by stealing and sabotaging property,
sometimes even burning plantation buildings down.  Women engaged in civil
disobedience as part of their struggle to gain the right to vote.  Tenants
who could not afford to pay their rent as a result of the Great Depression
often enlisted the aid of their neighbors to prevent landlords from
evicting them.  At about the same time, massive waves of sit-down strikes
at factories throughout the Midwest played a key role in winning national
legislation creating the minimum wage and the eight-hour day and
protecting the right to organize labor unions.  We are all familiar with
the central role of civil disobedience in the civil rights and antiwar
movements a generation later. Even during the relatively calmer 1980s, the
Sanctuary Movement helped thousands of people escape repressive US-backed
governments in Central America and settle in the United States, in
defiance of US immigration authorities who tried to send them home.
	The Monroe County Green Party is not involved as a party in
organizing or participating in acts of civil disobedience.  However, we
disagree with those who label the individuals who sat in the trees on the
Stony Springs property as mere trespassers.  Civil disobedience is a
time-honored and often effective means of redressing injustices when legal
means fail or are perceived to be ineffective.  
	We believe that a very good case can be made that an injustice was
perpetrated in this instance and that legal means for redressing it were
not proving to be very effective.  The sinkhole-prone land is clearly
unsuited geologically and ecologically for the proposed apartment complex. 
Moreover, it was patently unfair to ask taxpayers to foot most of the bill
for constructing an unneeded apartment complex that many of these same
taxpayers could not afford to live in, and destroying a dozen or more
acres of precious greenspace in the process.  Expressing concerns such as
these, an overwhelming majority of community members who spoke out
publicly about Canterbury Apartments opposed funding it, yet their
concerns and opposition were cavalierly dismissed by the majority of the
County Council that voted for public funding of the project.  Under these
circumstances, it is quite understandable that some would feel compelled
to violate the law in an effort to oppose the construction of Canterbury
Apartments.
	Under most circumstances, it is desirable and appropriate to obey
the law. However, laws exist (or should exist) to serve justice, and
justice is ultimately more important than the law.  Disobeying the law in
an effort to promote justice is, therefore, an honorable and often
correct choice. This idea was perhaps most succinctly expressed by Henry
David Thoreau who, while in jail for refusing to pay taxes that in part
went to support an unpopular war, was asked by a friend: "What are you
doing in there?"  His reply was: "What are you doing out there?"

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