Democracy Spring was a

progressive Progressive may refer to: Politics * Progressivism, a political philosophy in support of social reform ** Progressivism in the United States, the political philosophy in the American context * Progressive realism, an American foreign policy par ...

social movement organization A social movement organization (SMO) is an organized component of a social movement. SMOs are generally seen as the components of a social movement. The movement's goal that can be much more narrow, or much broader, than the SMOs' goals. Descrip ...

based in the

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territorie ...

that used campaigns of escalating nonviolent

civil disobedience Civil disobedience is the active, professed refusal of a citizen to obey certain laws, demands, orders or commands of a government (or any other authority). By some definitions, civil disobedience has to be nonviolent to be called "civil". Hen ...

to build active public support to "end the corruption of big money in politics and protect the right to vote for all Americans." The organization began as a coalition of "more than 100

groups" with a common interest in US federal legislation intended to reduce "the influence of money in politics" and "expand and protect

voting rights Suffrage, political franchise, or simply franchise, is the right to vote in public, political elections and referendums (although the term is sometimes used for any right to vote). In some languages, and occasionally in English, the right to v ...

." A ten-day non-violent protest march was held in April 2016 from

Philadelphia Philadelphia, often called Philly, is the largest city in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, the sixth-largest city in the U.S., the second-largest city in both the Northeast megalopolis and Mid-Atlantic regions after New York City. Sinc ...

Washington, DC ) , image_skyline = , image_caption = Clockwise from top left: the Washington Monument and Lincoln Memorial on the National Mall, United States Capitol, Logan Circle, Jefferson Memorial, White House, Adams Morgan ...

. Its demands included the passage of several bills such as those to improve voter rights and empowerment and require fair elections. During the course of the protest, 900 to 1,200 individuals were arrested. The group disbanded in 2019.

Actions

140-mile march to U.S. Capitol and sit-ins

A group of Democracy Spring participants began a ten-day march from

on April 2, 2016. The initial events received widespread coverage on social media, and outlets like

NPR National Public Radio (NPR, stylized in all lowercase) is an American privately and state funded nonprofit media organization headquartered in Washington, D.C., with its NPR West headquarters in Culver City, California. It differs from other ...

and

C-SPAN Cable-Satellite Public Affairs Network (C-SPAN ) is an American cable and satellite television network that was created in 1979 by the cable television industry as a nonprofit public service. It televises many proceedings of the United States ...

, while cable news networks devoted little time to the protests. The protest began with a rally and participants included progressive political commentator

Cenk Uygur Cenk Kadir Uygur ( ; ; born March 21, 1970) is a Turkish-American progressive political commentator, media host, attorney, journalist, and politician. Uygur is the creator of ''The Young Turks'', an American left-wing, sociopolitical, progressi ...

, actress

Rosario Dawson Rosario Isabel Dawson (born May 9, 1979) is an American actress. She made her feature-film debut in the 1995 independent drama ''Kids''. Her subsequent film roles include '' He Got Game'' (1998), ''Josie and the Pussycats'' (2001), ''Men in Bl ...

, educator and activist

Lawrence Lessig Lester Lawrence Lessig III (born June 3, 1961) is an American academic, attorney, and political activist. He is the Roy L. Furman Professor of Law at Harvard Law School and the former director of the Edmond J. Safra Center for Ethics at Harvard ...

, author

Frances Moore Lappé Frances Moore Lappé (born February 10, 1944) is an American researcher and author in the area of food and democracy policy. She is the author of 19 books including the three-million-copy selling 1971 book ''Diet for a Small Planet'', which the ...

Chris Hedges Christopher Lynn Hedges (born September 18, 1956) is an American journalist, Presbyterian minister, author, and commentator. In his early career, Hedges worked as a freelance war correspondent in Central America for ''The Christian Science Mon ...

, filmmaker

Annabel Park Annabel Park ( ko, 박수현) is a Korean Americans, Korean American documentary filmmaker, political activist and community volunteer. Early years Born in 1968 in Seoul, South Korea, Annabel immigrated to the United States with her family wh ...

Ben & Jerry's Ben & Jerry's Homemade Holdings Inc., trading and commonly known as Ben & Jerry's, is an American company that manufactures ice cream, frozen yogurt, and sorbet. Founded in 1978 in Burlington, Vermont, the company went from a single ice cream p ...

founders, Ben Cohen and

Jerry Greenfield Jerry Greenfield (born March 14, 1951) is an American businessman and philanthropist. He is a co-founder of Ben & Jerry's Homemade Holdings, Inc. Greenfield grew up on Long Island. He attended Oberlin College, where he was a National Merit Sch ...

, and "many attendees sporting

Bernie Sanders Bernard Sanders (born September8, 1941) is an American politician who has served as the junior United States senator from Vermont since 2007. He was the U.S. representative for the state's at-large congressional district from 1991 to 2007 ...

clothing and signs." Demonstrators slept in local churches and at a tent set up near

Union Station A union station (also known as a union terminal, a joint station in Europe, and a joint-use station in Japan) is a railway station at which the tracks and facilities are shared by two or more separate railway companies, allowing passengers to ...

with a permit. The first day of nonviolent protest during the April mobilization drew over 600 people to the

United States Capitol The United States Capitol, often called The Capitol or the Capitol Building, is the seat of the legislative branch of the United States federal government, which is formally known as the United States Congress. It is located on Capitol Hill ...

building, where over 400 were peaceably arrested. The group demanded a "Congress of conscience" pass laws related to voter representation that would encourage small political contributions, constrain large and undisclosed political contributions, end

gerrymandering In representative democracies, gerrymandering (, originally ) is the political manipulation of electoral district boundaries with the intent to create undue advantage for a party, group, or socioeconomic class within the constituency. The m ...

, and reinstate mechanisms from the

Voting Rights Act The suffrage, Voting Rights Act of 1965 is a landmark piece of Federal government of the United States, federal legislation in the United States that prohibits racial discrimination in voting. It was signed into law by President of the United ...

. The group also demanded a hearing for

President Barack Obama Barack Hussein Obama II ( ; born August 4, 1961) is an American politician who served as the 44th president of the United States from 2009 to 2017. A member of the Democratic Party (United States), Democratic Party, Obama was the first Af ...

Merrick Garland Supreme Court nomination On March 16, 2016, President Barack Obama nominated Merrick Garland for Associate Justice of the Supreme Court of the United States to succeed Antonin Scalia, who had died one month earlier. At the time of his nomination, Garland was the Chief ...

, which was postponed by the legislature.

found the event to be "cheery and peaceful" and a Capitol Police officer said that unless the protesters had outstanding warrants, they would "merely be processed, cited with a fine, and released." Police arrested 85 activists on that second day, and organizers said it was the largest mass arrest at the Capitol building in history. The second protest held hundreds of participants, many of whom were elderly. More protests were planned daily throughout the week and over 3,500 people across 33 states pledged to participate. On the third day around 100 protesters were arrested. A dozen protesters were arrested inside the Capitol building's rotunda and 130 arrested outside on the fourth day. The dozen indoor protesters had zip tied themselves to scaffolding in an attempt to occupy the Capitol building. By Saturday, over 900 activists had been arrested in total over the week. The

Independent Voter Project The Independent Voter Project (IVP) is a 501(c)(4) United States nonprofit organization. It launched in 2006 with a $1 million grant from John Moores. IVP seeks to re-engage nonpartisan voters and promote nonpartisan election reform through initi ...

reported that by Monday over 1200 had been arrested in total. Democracy Awakening, which is closely aligned with Democracy Spring, followed up Democracy Spring's April protest with a protest of their own in a similar fashion at the U.S. Capitol. Ben Cohen and Jerry Greenfield, Ben and Jerry's co founders, were among approximately 300 people arrested as part of the "Democracy Awakening" protests.

Democratic National Convention

In the lead up to the

2016 Democratic National Convention The 2016 Democratic National Convention was a presidential nominating convention, held at the Wells Fargo Center in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, from July 25 to 28, 2016. The convention gathered delegates of the Democratic Party, the majo ...

, the strategic leadership of Democracy Spring issued four demands to the

Democratic National Committee The Democratic National Committee (DNC) is the governing body of the United States Democratic Party. The committee coordinates strategy to support Democratic Party candidates throughout the country for local, state, and national office, as well a ...

. The demands were that the party commit, within the first 100 days of a new Congress and presidential administration, to reverse ''

Citizens United v. FEC ''Citizens United v. Federal Election Commission'', 558 U.S. 310 (2010), was a landmark decision of the Supreme Court of the United States regarding campaign finance laws and free speech under the First Amendment to the U.S. Constitution. It wa ...

'', ensure

publicly funded elections A publicly funded election is an election funded with money collected through income tax donations or taxes as opposed to private or corporate funded campaigns. It is a policy initially instituted after Nixon for candidates to opt into publicly f ...

, and restore the preclearance provisions

, which were made effectively unenforceable by '' Shelby County v. Holder.'' The fourth demand, reflecting that the first three looked forward to January 2017, was that the

Democratic Party Democratic Party most often refers to: *Democratic Party (United States) Democratic Party and similar terms may also refer to: Active parties Africa *Botswana Democratic Party *Democratic Party of Equatorial Guinea *Gabonese Democratic Party *Demo ...

immediately abolish the

superdelegate In American politics, a superdelegate is an unpledged delegate to the Democratic National Convention who is seated automatically and chooses for themselves for whom they vote. These Democratic Party superdelegates (who make up slightly under 15 ...

system as a show of good faith. Democracy Spring promised civil disobedience outside the convention if the demands were not met. Democracy Spring activists were barred from entry to the DNC's Rules Committee meeting where changes to the superdelegate system were being discussed. Activists claimed victory after the committee voted for a 2/3rds reduction in the role of superdelegates. The first day of sit-ins outside the

Democratic National Convention The Democratic National Convention (DNC) is a series of presidential nominating conventions held every four years since 1832 by the United States Democratic Party. They have been administered by the Democratic National Committee since the 1852 ...

resulted in more than 50 arrests. On the third day of the convention, Democracy Spring staged another sit-in, this time inside the convention perimeter, by "diverting and distracting" police. This second action resulted in dozens more arrests.

Demands

According to its website, Democracy Spring has identified the following measures whose adoption would "restore the people's voice in government": * Pass the Voting Rights Advancement Act (H. R. 2867, S. 1659) * Pass the Voter Empowerment Act (H. R. 12) * Pass the Democracy For All amendment (H. J. Res. 22, S. J. Res. 5) * Pass the Government by the People & Fair Elections Now acts (H. R. 20 and S. 1538)

Media

Notable participants and endorsers

The following individuals attended at least part of the April 2016 mobilization: *

, actress *

Sam Waterston Samuel Atkinson Waterston (born November 15, 1940) is an American actor. Waterston is known for his work in theater, television and, film. He has received a Primetime Emmy Award, Golden Globe Award, and Screen Actors Guild Award, and has receive ...

, actor *

, educator and activist *

Gaby Hoffmann Gabrielle Mary Antonia HoffmannStated on '' Finding Your Roots'', November 21, 2017 (born January 8, 1982) is an American actress. She initially found success as a child actress, appearing in ''Field of Dreams,'' ''Uncle Buck,'' and ''Sleeple ...

, actress *

, author *

, author * John Pudner, conservative political figure and founder of Take Back Our Republic *

, filmmaker *

Jodie Evans Jodie Evans (born September 22, 1954) is an American political activist, author, and documentary film producer. Evans served in the cabinet of California Governor Jerry Brown and managed his 1992 campaign for the presidency. Evans co-founded the ...

, political activist, author, and documentary film producer * Umi Selah, co-founder and mission director of the Dream Defenders * Ben Cohen,

co-founder *

, political commentator *

Medea Benjamin Medea Benjamin (born Susan Benjamin; September 10, 1952) is an American political activist who was the co-founder of Code Pink with Jodie Evans and others.

, activist and author * Joan Mandle, executive director of Democracy Matters * Adam Eichen, author The following individuals did not attend the April 2016 mobilization but offered an endorsement: *

Mark Ruffalo Mark Alan Ruffalo (; born November 22, 1967) is an American actor and producer best known for playing Bruce Banner / Hulk since 2012 in the superhero franchise of the Marvel Cinematic Universe, and in the television series '' She-Hulk: Attorne ...

, actor *

Noam Chomsky Avram Noam Chomsky (born December 7, 1928) is an American public intellectual: a linguist, philosopher, cognitive scientist, historian, social critic, and political activist. Sometimes called "the father of modern linguistics", Chomsky is ...

, public intellectual *

Frances Fox Piven Frances Fox Piven (born October 10, 1932) is an American professor of political science and sociology at The Graduate Center, City University of New York, where she has taught since 1982.

, public intellectual *

Zephyr Teachout Zephyr Rain Teachout (, born October 24, 1971) is an American attorney, author, political candidate, and associate professor of law at Fordham University. In 2014, Teachout ran for the Democratic Party nomination for governor of New York and los ...

, Law Professor and former candidate for Congress

References

External links

* * {{Portal bar, Politics, United States 2016 protests 2016 in American politics Nonviolent occupation Nonviolent resistance movements Progressivism in the United States Protests in the United States Social movement organizations Political funding Democracy movements