Late September 2011 I was fortunate to catch up with Asheville’s own activist and author Clare Hanrahan to conduct an interview prior to the demonstrations that would become Occupy Asheville. This excerpt is from a longer article I published last year covering the ten year anniversary of the U.S. lead occupation of Afghanistan (After the War: The Grassroots Peace Movement in Asheville). Recently Hanrahan was found guilty of impeding traffic by the Buncombe District Court from warrants served back in November 2011 following the November 2 Occupy Asheville demonstration. Rather than facing 12 months probation, she declined and offered to serve active sentence.
The judge reduced the sentence to one day time served.
I felt that it was rather timely to republish this excerpt.
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On a cool Fall day in late September, I managed to catch up with a woman and local fixture in Asheville activism by the name Clare Hanrahan. After several weeks of working around her busy schedule, I received a call from Clare asking if we can meet just in front of the court house located at Roger McGuire Green. She asked how she can recognize me. I said I’ll be a tall thin guy with shaggy red hair. She said I would recognize her as a spirited war resister with streaks of pink in her hair.
A youthful 62, Hanrahan was seated on a park bench awaiting the arrival of several dozen people that in several days, on October 1st, would evolve into what would be known as Occupy Asheville, a movement in solidarity with the Occupy Wallstreet demonstration that began on September 17th of 2011 in New York. I asked regarding her role as an activist in this area: as a participant in No-Nukes rallies and as a founder of the Asheville Chapter of Women In Black.
“I’m an eclectic anti-authoritarian”, she began. “I participate to speak up against injustice and to teach others to hone tools of non-violence, though I believe we are eons away from that.” Pointing towards a magnolia tree some twenty feet from us, she explained that she had chained herself to that tree to prevent its removal along with the adjacent Pack Tavern to be replaced with a condominium by “a greedy developer.” In 1901, philanthropist George Willis Pack donated the land in perpetuity to the people of Asheville.
“There were no restrooms of course, so the firemen next door allowed me to use theirs when I needed to take a break.” Images of Hanrahan tethered to the tree made the rounds in newspapers and the Internet. As successful as she was in this case, she was not able to save any of the targeted pear trees that were removed from downtown Asheville. After several days of being chained to one of the trees, she finally relented adding “I was told that they would not be cut down until after they have bloomed. That’s all I asked for, I told them.”
“I persist because it’s the right thing to do—not because it’s always effective”, Hanrahan added. I asked her about her involvement with the WIB and if she felt that her years of participation had any effect—if she and others were intent on continuing and if there will be future generations of activists to pick up the gauntlet.
“The WIB held that space for free speech so that it would not be forfeited.” At the peak of the war, the city of Asheville was persist ant in curbing demonstrations against the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq. Though it was unpopular at the time to speak out against the bush wars, Hanrahan asserted that “You cannot sanitize free speech where it has no impact.”
“But you go where you are touched most—you can’t tend to all causes,” she clarified. “The cost of war is for generations. We create homeless vets, the unemployed… I’ve met many people from different walks of life while standing with that tree.”
Coming around to the Wallstreet protests and the anger being demonstrated by a hurting middle class, Hanrahan confessed that “You caught me in a pondering time of my life: how we are all complicit [in] wars, the economy, the earth…I want to give up every few weeks.”
“Younger people seem less patient in dealing with the long term commitment to civil disobedience– they are more inspired by current urgency. Standing on lines seems futile. The seem to have a case of oppositional defiance disorder. This meeting here today [for Occupy Asheville] was started at the Mellow Mushroom [Pizzeria]– it was very spontaneous.”
“I’ll persist till the end,” she continued. “At 62, I may have another 30 years. And we need to build relationships—trust each other and find peaceful methods of resistance. We Americans are a subdued people, but were are not defeated yet.”
Commenting on the current riot control of protesters on Wallstreet in New York, Hanrahan remarked “ A peaceful or violent demonstration will dictate the appropriate response from the police. [We] must practice non-violent resistance.” Hanrahan remarked that most of our elected officials are “meaningless choices. But that doesn’t mean you don’t go out to vote. It’s a way of making your voice heard. And there are other ways to vote—speaking out on streets!”
“I can’t strap myself to every tree”, she added “That would be ridiculous.”
Capping off where we started discussing the effect she and others had on raising awareness of social issues, Hanrahan stated “Ten years back, When I stood at the Vance Monument, no one else was there. But then another would come—then another.”
Hanrahan seemingly off topic pointed towards some newly designated parking spaces just adjacent to the park. “We treat cars with more respect than people”, she declared.
“Wealth for me is a breeze; sitting in a park, watching children play. Sitting on a bench, talking to you. I chose to live simply—not to have lots of money.” A fellow named Noah approached Hanrahan with whom she was acquainted. I thanked her for her time. Noah then accompanied Hanrahan to the Magnolia Tree as she explained the history of the tree and the adjacent building. I managed to take a few quick photographs of Hanrahan with tree. The images were unique in the fact that she was unrestrained and the tree was in no danger at this time of being cut down.
In time, a few people began to gather at the stage of Roger McGuire Green—then another.
All images and copy © Joe Longobardi. All Rights Reserved. joelongobardiphotography.com/
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