Press Release: Bay Area Victory and Rally to Stop Urban Shield and Police Militarization

For Immediate Release

Contact:
Ali Issa, War Resisters League, ali [at] warresisters.org, (718)310-9968

BAY AREA COALITION PUSHES URBAN SHIELD OUT OF OAKLAND FOR NEXT YEAR, BUT FIGHT AGAINST POLICE MILITARIZATION EXPO AND TRAINING CONTINUES

September 4th, 2014 -- In the wake of police violence in Ferguson, and as the national outcry police militarization grows across the US, a group of Bay Area organizations and War Resisters League organized a week of action and education against Urban Shield, a massive SWAT team training and weapons expo taking place from September 4-8 in Oakland, CA. According to an internal memo <http://bit.ly/Xp7Lmk> between the Alameda County Sheriff's office to the Board of Supervisors, Urban Shield 2014 will cost at least $1.7 million. National programs such as 1033 under the Department of Defense, and Urban Shield, under the Department of Homeland Security's Urban Area Security Initiative, are behind the militarization of US police forces.

The Bay Area coalition includes Critical Resistance, Arab Resource and Organizing Center, and other organizations led by communities most directly targeted by Urban Shield and other police militarization programs, including Black and Brown people, immigrants, Arabs and Muslims, trans and gender-non-conforming communities, and poor people. While the police occupation of Ferguson has been a particularly glaring demonstrations of these programs, effects also include; SWAT raids that disproportionately impact the Black community happening 100 times per day in the U.S. often under the banner of the War on Drugs; ICE raids that force immigrants into dehumanizing detention and deportation proceedings; and surveillance and infiltration of mosques and Leftist political organizations.

"For Arabs and Muslims" Lara Kiswani of the Arab Resource and Organizing Center said, "Urban Shield is a clear example of how our communities are used to justify the further criminalization and targeting of black and brown communities.  And it is also an opportunity for us to join forces to challenge militarism, policing and state repression because it impacts us all. Whether it is FBI visits at mosques, surveillance of our activism, or the policing of communities of color, we are all at the receiving end of the state violence that events such as Urban Shield make possible."

Urban Shield trains police military units not just from across California and the US (Urban Shield also takes place annually in other cities including Boston, MA and Dallas, TX), but all over the world, sponsoring joint training and collaborations between police forces internationally. Last year, Urban Shield included police-military units from Israel, Bahrain, Brazil, and Norway, and this year units from South Korea, Brazil and Singapore are confirmed to participate. The line between police and military is blurring as parallel military tactics are being deployed globally to repress dissent and increase state control over people who are calling for freedom and justice.

"People across the U.S. are waking up to police militarization" noted Ali Issa, National Field Organizer with War Resisters League. "The growth of a cross-community movement - which pushed Urban Shield out of Oakland for next year - means that days are number for programs like Departments of Defense's 1033 and Department of Homeland Security's Urban Shield."