Stop the Draft Protests, Oakland Army Induction Center, October 1967.
Stop the Draft Protests, October, 1967
The peace movement tried to stop the draft with non-violent civil disobedience in Oakland, Caifornia, in October and again in December, 1967. The day began with blocking the entrance to the Oakland Army Induction Center. Sit-in participants included Joan Baez, whose arrest Harvey recorded in the film No Greater Cause. This YouTube clip from the film shows her getting into the paddy wagon.
Once the doorway was cleared and police lined the streets, the first buses full of draftees arrived and went into the draft center. After this, more police arrived and the sidewalks were entirely cleared of protesters. A second wave of buses then arrived surrounded by huge numbers of police and more draftees entered the building. It was an unprecedented display of public opposition to the war in Vietnam and to the draft itself. It would be followed two months later with another attempt to stop the draft and more mass arrests. And it was the beginning of an upsurge of rebellion and resistance by the GI’s themselves who provided leadership for the peace movement from then on.
All images are copyrighted © Paul Richards 2001-2013.
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