Civil Disobedience
[Headline] Bob Kafka
[Subheading] Bob Kafka is committed to activism, and he has learned where, when and how to channel his energy, Without street action, he says, legal victories are stale, and even good laws are toothless.

By Josie Byzek

Like Vikings laying siege to a medieval castle, ADAPT activists plug every human-sized hole in the exterior of the Georgia Nursing Home Association building, even parking in front of windows. ADAPT's top three chieftains-Bob Kafka, Stephanie Thomas and Mike Auberger direct the action from a nearby sidewalk. It's 2 p.m.

[image]
[image caption] Photo by Tom Olin

[paragraph continues] Once the building is secure, the activists sing and chant, "Our homes, not nursing homes" for hours to ward off the damp, cold November air.

"This isn't working. don't think this is working. We have to escalate," says Kafka. It's 5 p.m. Orders pass from unit to unit—blues first, then reds, followed by greens. "Fill the street. Take your ADAPT jewelry, don't bother hiding it from the cops!" In minutes the four-lane highway is closed down, hand-cuffed activists spanning from the tree-line to the association's lawn.

At 8 p.m. a tire truck pulls up behind the human harrier reef. Strong, sustained blasts from a fireman's hose could send the wheeled reef down hill, out of the highway, into the trees. It's Martina Robinson's first national ADAPT action. The 22-year-old Pennsylvanian glances nervously over to leadership. Kafka, Dylanesque hair held down by a cap, is cracking a joke to his wife, Stephanie Thomas. They're both engaged but calm. Robinson also calms down, realizing there will be no hoses tonight. Instead the fire department constructs portable light poles in the street so Fred Watson, director of the Georgia Nursing Home Association, can get a better view of the immovable roadblock.

No progress—Watson re-fuses A DAPT's demands. Again Kafka passes orders. Time to escalate. Handcuffs are unlocked and the activists start to march. It's 10 p.m. Miles and hours later, buoyed by anger and adrenaline, ADAPT activists burst into the Marquis, Atlanta's flag-ship hotel, surprising mem-[article cuts off here]

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ხუთ 18 ივლისი 2013

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პარ 13 ნოემბერი 2020

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• The Rolling Freedom Express & Washington DC, fall 2000

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