Democracy Spring

A group of Democracy Spring participants began a ten-day march from Philadelphia to Washington, DC,[7] on April 2, 2016. The initial events received wide coverage on social media, and on outlets like NPR and CSPAN, but cable news networks devoted little time to the protests.[8]

The protest began with a rally and participants included progressive political commentator Cenk Uygur, actress Rosario Dawson, educator and activist Lawrence Lessig, author Frances Moore Lappé,[9] Chris Hedges,[10] filmmaker Annabel Park, Ben & Jerry's founders, Ben Cohen and Jerry Greenfield,[11] and "many attendees sporting Bernie Sanders clothing and signs."[3][7][12][13][14] Demonstrators slept in local churches and at a tent set up near Union Station with a permit.[15]

The first day of nonviolent protest during the April mobilization drew over 600 people to the United States Capitol building, where over 400 were peaceably arrested.[4] 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, and reinstate mechanisms from the Voting Rights Act.[3] The group also demanded a hearing for President Barack Obama's Merrick Garland Supreme Court nomination, which was postponed by the legislature. NPR 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."[3][7]

Police arrested 85 activists on that second day, and organizers said it was the largest mass arrest at the Capitol building in history.[16] The second protest held hundreds of participants, many of whom were elderly.[16] More protests were planned daily throughout the week[3] and over 3,500 people across 33 states pledged to participate.[4] On the third day around 100 protesters were arrested.[17] A dozen protesters were arrested inside the Capitol building's rotunda and 130 arrested outside on the fourth day.[18] The dozen indoor protesters had zip tied themselves to scaffolding in an attempt to occupy the Capitol building.[19] By Saturday, over 900 activists had been arrested in total over the week.[5] The Independent Voter Project reported that by Monday over 1200 had been arrested in total.[6]

Democracy Awakening, which is closely aligned with Democracy Spring, followed up Democracy Spring's April's 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 cofounders, were among approximately 300 people arrested as part of the "Democracy Awakening" protests.[20][21]

In the leadup to the 2016 Democratic National Convention the strategic leadership of Democracy Spring issued four demands to the Democratic National Committee. The demands were that the party commit, within the first 100 days of a new Congress & presidential administration, to reverse Citizens United v. FEC, act to ensure publicly funded elections, and restore the preclearance provisions Voting Rights Act, which were made effectively unenforceable by Shelby County v. Holder.[22] The fourth demand, reflecting that the first three looked forward to January 2017, was that the Democratic Party immediately abolish the superdelegate 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[23] 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.[24]

The first day of sit-ins outside the Democratic National Convention resulted in more than 50 arrests.[25] On the third day of the convention Democracy Spring staged another sit-in, this time inside the convention perimeter, by "diverting and distracting" police.[26] This second action resulted in dozens more arrests.