THIS WAS WORTH GETTING UP AT 4:00 IN THE MORNING

The Picket the Profiteers Action in New York City

All this happened yesterday, Sunday, March 3rd. The setup group -- which included me -- was to meet at 10:30 in front of Pfizer headquarters, near the corner of 42nd St. and 2nd Avenue. Carol and I agreed that we were not going to attempt driving down there and back at one day -- the days when I could do that easily are well behind me. Yet to make it to Poughkeepsie and the Metro-North train that would get us there in time, we knew we had to get out of bed at 4 AM. 

For me, there was no question about going down. I had promised them that I would deliver 2 dozen posters that I had designed and printed; moreover, I had agreed to lead the chanting as part of the warm-up. There was no way I was going to renege on either. As I drove to the train station, I burst into song. Carol said, "you're in a good mood, this morning!" and I was. Carol was quieter.  I hadn't asked her to come with me because I didn't want her to feel obligated, but, angel as she is, she volunteered to accompany me, and I gladly accepted. It was not the first time in our marriage that we had done such a thing.  56 years earlier, we had driven down to Washington DC and were in the crowd that heard Martin Luther King Jr. deliver his immortal "I have a dream" speech. And -- 56 years later -- as I drove us both to the Poughkeepsie train station -- I silently wondered if the forthcoming demonstration might in some small way have some of the significance that the earlier event had.  As it turned out, I needn't have wondered: It did. 

We got there some 15 minutes early; we were the first there except for one photographer. But soon, there appeared, towing a rolling case, Bob Lederer, the leader of Picket the Profiteers. He withdrew from the case a pole and a small horn-shaped outdoor loudspeaker,  looking at both speculatively,  wondering how to set them up. I believe he mentioned that he had been loaned the equipment from a cosponsoring organization whose name, unfortunately,  I forget.  But he had plenty of cosponsoring groups to choose from. In his press notice released today, Bob writes:

Based out of the Campaign for New York Health, Picket the Profiteers is cosponsored by these cosponsoring organizations:

• ACT UP/NY
• Democratic Socialists of America
• Fight Back Bay Ridge
• Healthcare Equity Action League of New York
• International Action Center
• International Socialist Organization NYC
• Metro New York Health Care for All
• Peoples Power Assembly
• Physicians for a National Health Program – NY Metro
• Rise and Resist
• Students for a National Health Program
• Uptown Progressive Action

It shouldn't surprise anyone that there is a large community of activist groups in New York City, a  network doubtless known to Lederer, who is Executive Director of Physicians for a National Health Program - New York Metro Chapter. And, as it happened, the Students for a National Health Program had had an event at Columbia University the day prior. The date for our demonstration was set with the hope that many of these students might be interested in joining us the next day. It turned out that 50 or 60 of them did.  So, as Bob set up the audio equipment, the  demonstrators from all the groups listed above kept arriving, and arriving, and arriving -- in all amounting, according to Bob, to as much as 250! This seems a plausible number so far as I am concerned.

And the police were arriving, too. Bob pointed out to me the steel barriers that had been stacked against the building. "The police brought those to contain us," he said. "Our job is to evade them, if we can."  But the police had a point: Our occupying the entire depth of the sidewalk was illegal; for it blocked access to non-demonstrators who had their own pedestrian purposes for using the sidewalk. The barricades were supposed to guarantee them access, yet allow us to have our demonstration. Only one was deployed. 

One of the policemen wore double bars on his shoulders. I had never seen a police Captain before. He seemed a bit tense, as if he were wondering whether he'd have trouble controlling us -- or his own men, maybe? 

Then someone thrust a bull horn into my hand, and told me to start doing my thing, which was to bark out brief punchy slogans such as

Greedy Pharma kills!

Stop the profiteers!

and 

Down with Big Pharma!

Up with our health!

I gave it everything I had, with spark and passion I didn't know I could muster at any time -- let alone after having had a only a few hours of sleep. But assaulted as I had been -- along with everyone else -- with daily news of corruption and abuse, and feeling impotent to do anything that would make a difference, there I was doing something, and that sustained me --for a while. I'm sure the crowd felt the same way; they had plenty of passion too, and their fervor echoed mine.  I felt deeply linked to these people; we were all in this together. At the very end I ran out of strength, and handed off the bullhorn to a young woman who finished with a flourish. It was all I could do to keep standing.

After the rally at Pfizer, the crowd made its way up 42nd Street to a second rally at the New York Public Library. And we were accompanied by a squad of police officers escorting us,  walking with us or riding on motor scooters,  and it occurred to me that the police were there not only to control us  -- though we really didn't need controlling -- but also to protect us from traffic, or any other danger. I felt safe with them.

Yes, the speakers were inspiring, deeply moving, and I could go on and on about them. A couple of images stick in my mind: When we were crossing the street, a crew of  our marshals -- volunteers -- stood athwart the street with with arms extended to the sides, with each hand gripping that of the person on the side, to form a living wall to block traffic, and let us cross in safety (the Police were there, too!) It seemed to symbolize the sort of fellowship we were going to need in the future.  I wish I had taken a picture of it.

Somebody did take a picture starkly reinforcing the reason we were there in the first place. It was a message to Big Pharma, and to the health insurance industry in general:

And I had a flash: To those folks high up in their posh offices, we were nothing more than a herd of cows to keep milking while we had anything of value in us. But once there was nothing left in us to extract, we could be disposed of, so far as they were concerned, Bring on more warm bodies!

The whole event was too big for me to do justice to.  I didn't even try, knowing that Mike D'Elia made a video of virtually the whole thing.  The whole video does it justice, but I encourage you to pay attention to the speeches starting at 1:53 and at 33:54.

Picketing the Profiteers Action in New York 3/3/2019

When you click on the link you will see on the left Assembly Member Richard N. Gottfried, who introduced this legislation in 1992 and has championed it ever since. With State Senator Gustavo Rivera, he is Co-Sponsor of it.  Gottfried arrived early, stayed late, and chanted with the rest of us. 

You'll see quite a few wearing white coats. These are authentic; the wearers are either in the medical profession, or training for it.

When it was all over, Carol and I made our way back to Grand Central station, and we saw clusters of family groups and other groups pursuing their pleasures, and it occurred to me that these folks were also involved in all this -- only they didn't know it. Probably they had never heard of the New York Health Act, nor for Medicare for All. That was our big task -- showing them, dramatizing to them what's at stake here. Only when the governing powers become aware that the once sleeping masses have awakened to their interest will the powers realize that it's to their interest to listen to them -- and act!

Best,

Dio

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PPS: We know that there are plenty out there who have stories to tell -- stories of your trying to cope with our dysfunctional healthcare system. Trouble is, we don't know what these stories are! That's where you come in. If you have a story to tell, you can email me at indivisible12401@gmail.com. You can be as anonymous as you like. Thanks!