Bundy's rebellion: saga or fiasco? part two
or, Why protests by groups of guys with guns are almost never a good idea.
If you're looking for a well-written, in-depth overview of the Malheur National Wildlife Refuge occupation, this piece in the Guardian is a good place to start.
Why is the Bundy group there if no one wants them?
It's been eight days since Ammon Bundy and his Citizens for Constitutional Freedom occupied the headquarters of the Malheur National Wildlife Refuge outside of Burns, Oregon. Their reasons? To prevent local ranchers Dwight Jr. and Steven Hammond from going to prison and to force the “tyrannical” federal government to return the wildlife refuge to ranchers. The Hammonds, after releasing a statement distancing themselves from Bundy, reported to authorities to begin their prison sentences on January 4. That leaves Bundy and his group in Oregon to dispute ownership of a bird sanctuary.
The occupied building has become a draw for right wing extremists, constitutionalists, conspiracy theorists, armed militia groups, Tea Party activists and anti-government radicals. Local ranchers and residents are also traveling to the refuge to provide support. Becky Kingen and her family visited from their ranch 112 miles south of Burns. “We’d like to thank them for what they’re doing here,” she told Yahoo News January 9. She and her family, said Kingen, appreciate the effort to raise awareness about what she says is an overreach of federal control of public lands.
However, not all the locals are so sanguine about the situation. To them, Bundy and his group are outside agitators. “They’re just using this issue to push their own agendas,” said Burns resident Beebee Stiz as she watched the protesters assemble for the initial parade on January 2. “I want them to go home. We take care of ourselves here.” A sign tacked to a nearby telephone pole on the first day of the occupation said,
Steve Grasty, the local judge who is against what he sees as excessive federal regulations, told the Guardian that he feared the Malheur takeover could severely impede the very efforts the militiamen say they support:
“Bundy just put us back a decade or two,” he said. “The message weeks, months, years from now – everybody will see this as a dangerous place to come. That just makes me sick.”
As Stiz noted, the Bundy group is not from Oregon. It hails from Nevada and has no affiliation with local militia groups. Indeed, it is clear that Bundy is stepping on local militia toes, particularly those of Brandon Curtiss, head of the Pacific Patriots Network who helped organize the initial protest. He told the Oregonian that he knew nothing about the occupation beforehand. Curtiss tried to get involved in the action a week later but was rebuffed by Bundy. Stewart Rhodes, president of anti-government group the Oath Keepers (noted for being a major participant in the Cliven Bundy standoff), read the following statement:
“By doing this, they have given Obama the best New Years present he could hope for – an example of militia movement/patriot aggression, which gives up the high ground while also having the least credibility and support from the locals possible, after lying to them, and also the least support from the patriot community, who were also blindsided by Ammon and Ryan Payne.”
The Harney County Committee of Safety, a group of citizens sympathetic to the cause (Bundy built their website) held a public meeting Friday evening (January 8) that attracted 100 people. The result was the draft of a letter to the Bundy group, saying: "We ask that you organize your people, explain that your point has been made and leave in a peaceful and honorable fashion . . ." It is unknown at this time whether the letter has been received by the Bundy group.
Native Americans want the world to know who the land really belongs to. On Wednesday morning (January 6), Paiute tribal chair Charlotte Rodrique held a press conference and made it clear that the Bundy group was encroaching on land considered sacred to the Paiute people.
“Armed protesters don’t belong here,” she said. “By their actions they are desecrating one of our sacred traditional cultural properties. They are endangering our children, and the safety of our community, and they need to leave. Armed confrontation is not the answer.”
The two men at the centre of Saturday's protest, Dwight Jr. and Steven Hammond, were also quick to distance themselves from the group. “Neither Ammon Bundy nor anyone within his group/organization speak for the Hammond family,” said their attorney, W. Alan Schroder, on January 3. The Hammonds surrendered to federal agents on January 4 to begin their prison sentences.
Remember, the Hammonds were the Bundy group's first reason for being in Oregon. That leaves them with the bird sanctuary. And birders aren't having it.
“Birders are angry,” Bob Sallinger, conservation director of the Audubon Society of Portland, told the New York Times. “Going in with guns and trying to take over public lands to pursue their own agenda is a crime, and it ought to be prosecuted.”
“Just a friendly warning from the birding and wildlife photography community to the Oregon terrorists,” wrote professional wildlife photographer Kevin Vang in a post on the Daily Kos that quickly went viral. “We are watching your every move, and we have been watching you for a long time.”
“We will #takebackmalheur from you terrorists, and will not rest until every one of you thugs and poachers is behind bars where [you] belong.”
