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
"Thousands of lives are on the line if this barbaric bill passes," said Kai Newkirk, mission director of Democracy Spring. (Photo: Our Revolution/Twitter)
#SitInSaveLives: Arrests Nationwide as Groups Mobilize to Stop Trumpcare
"Sometimes the consequences of legislation for real people can get lost. Nonviolent direct action can dramatize and clarify the reality."
Jul 06, 2017
| #SitInSaveLives Tweets |
Arrests were reported at sit-ins and protests outside the offices of U.S. lawmakers nationwide on Thursday as progressive groups mobilized in anticipation of a mid-July vote on the Senate GOP's Trumpcare bill, which would strip health insurance from 22 million people, dismantle Medicaid, and potentially kill thousands per year.
Democracy Spring, Our Revolution, Democratic Socialists of America, The Working Families Party, UltraViolet, and other organizations joined in what has been described as "a mass act of civil disobedience." The groups made one simple demand of the senators whose offices they occupied: Vote 'no' on the so-called Better Care Reconciliation Act.
Hundreds of activists across the country joined the action. Some delivered speeches from inside their senators' offices while others--like residents of Pennsylvania and Kentucky, home to Sens. Pat Toomey and Mitch McConnell--were forced to protest outside in the rain after being denied entry. Many arrests have been made, but the exact number is unknown.
Democracy Spring compiled a list of links to video streams of sit-ins across the country.
Haley Saucier explains why she is protesting and risking arrest by sitting in at Senator Cassidy's office #SitInSaveLives #StopTrumpCare pic.twitter.com/Wujk8sfm04
-- Emley Kerry (@emleykerry) July 6, 2017
Kai Newkirk, mission director of Democracy Spring, told Common Dreams that the goal of the day of action is to "move Americans to raise their voices against this attack on our healthcare even louder."
"Sometimes the consequences of legislation for real people can get lost. Nonviolent direct action can dramatize and clarify the reality," Newkirk said. "Thousands of lives are on the line if this barbaric bill passes. People in red and purple states across the country are sitting in today, willing to go to jail, to show just how wrong this bill is and how crucial it is that we escalate the fight to defeat it."
On January 20th, it begins...
Political revenge. Mass deportations. Project 2025. Unfathomable corruption. Attacks on Social Security, Medicare, and Medicaid. Pardons for insurrectionists. An all-out assault on democracy. Republicans in Congress are scrambling to give Trump broad new powers to strip the tax-exempt status of any nonprofit he doesn’t like by declaring it a “terrorist-supporting organization.” Trump has already begun filing lawsuits against news outlets that criticize him. At Common Dreams, we won’t back down, but we must get ready for whatever Trump and his thugs throw at us. As a people-powered nonprofit news outlet, we cover issues the corporate media never will, but we can only continue with our readers’ support. By donating today, please help us fight the dangers of a second Trump presidency. |
Our work is licensed under Creative Commons (CC BY-NC-ND 3.0). Feel free to republish and share widely.
democratic socialists of americaour revolutionrepublican partytrump resistancetrumpismultravioletus senateworking families party
| #SitInSaveLives Tweets |
Arrests were reported at sit-ins and protests outside the offices of U.S. lawmakers nationwide on Thursday as progressive groups mobilized in anticipation of a mid-July vote on the Senate GOP's Trumpcare bill, which would strip health insurance from 22 million people, dismantle Medicaid, and potentially kill thousands per year.
Democracy Spring, Our Revolution, Democratic Socialists of America, The Working Families Party, UltraViolet, and other organizations joined in what has been described as "a mass act of civil disobedience." The groups made one simple demand of the senators whose offices they occupied: Vote 'no' on the so-called Better Care Reconciliation Act.
Hundreds of activists across the country joined the action. Some delivered speeches from inside their senators' offices while others--like residents of Pennsylvania and Kentucky, home to Sens. Pat Toomey and Mitch McConnell--were forced to protest outside in the rain after being denied entry. Many arrests have been made, but the exact number is unknown.
Democracy Spring compiled a list of links to video streams of sit-ins across the country.
Haley Saucier explains why she is protesting and risking arrest by sitting in at Senator Cassidy's office #SitInSaveLives #StopTrumpCare pic.twitter.com/Wujk8sfm04
-- Emley Kerry (@emleykerry) July 6, 2017
Kai Newkirk, mission director of Democracy Spring, told Common Dreams that the goal of the day of action is to "move Americans to raise their voices against this attack on our healthcare even louder."
"Sometimes the consequences of legislation for real people can get lost. Nonviolent direct action can dramatize and clarify the reality," Newkirk said. "Thousands of lives are on the line if this barbaric bill passes. People in red and purple states across the country are sitting in today, willing to go to jail, to show just how wrong this bill is and how crucial it is that we escalate the fight to defeat it."
| #SitInSaveLives Tweets |
Arrests were reported at sit-ins and protests outside the offices of U.S. lawmakers nationwide on Thursday as progressive groups mobilized in anticipation of a mid-July vote on the Senate GOP's Trumpcare bill, which would strip health insurance from 22 million people, dismantle Medicaid, and potentially kill thousands per year.
Democracy Spring, Our Revolution, Democratic Socialists of America, The Working Families Party, UltraViolet, and other organizations joined in what has been described as "a mass act of civil disobedience." The groups made one simple demand of the senators whose offices they occupied: Vote 'no' on the so-called Better Care Reconciliation Act.
Hundreds of activists across the country joined the action. Some delivered speeches from inside their senators' offices while others--like residents of Pennsylvania and Kentucky, home to Sens. Pat Toomey and Mitch McConnell--were forced to protest outside in the rain after being denied entry. Many arrests have been made, but the exact number is unknown.
Democracy Spring compiled a list of links to video streams of sit-ins across the country.
Haley Saucier explains why she is protesting and risking arrest by sitting in at Senator Cassidy's office #SitInSaveLives #StopTrumpCare pic.twitter.com/Wujk8sfm04
-- Emley Kerry (@emleykerry) July 6, 2017
Kai Newkirk, mission director of Democracy Spring, told Common Dreams that the goal of the day of action is to "move Americans to raise their voices against this attack on our healthcare even louder."
"Sometimes the consequences of legislation for real people can get lost. Nonviolent direct action can dramatize and clarify the reality," Newkirk said. "Thousands of lives are on the line if this barbaric bill passes. People in red and purple states across the country are sitting in today, willing to go to jail, to show just how wrong this bill is and how crucial it is that we escalate the fight to defeat it."
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.