Congressman McGovern: My Time Behind Bars with George Clooney

Tuesday, March 20, 2012

Jaclyn Cashman, GoLocalWorcester News Editor

Congressman McGovern arrested Friday outside Sudanese Embassy

Congressman Jim McGovern said he knew he would be arrested Friday for demonstrating outside the Sudanese Embassy. He hopes his actions will bring awareness to the genocide that is taking place in Sudan.

This is the third time Congressman McGovern has been arrested for protesting outside the Sudanese Embassy, but it is the first time a major celebrity was there to help generate national attention.

George Clooney is using his star power to help bring awareness to the problems surrounding Sudan that, if nothing is done, will result in more than 100,000 people dying from starvation.

Congressman McGovern said, “I spent four and half hours in a cell with him. He visited Sudan several times, which shows a lot of guts and courage. He didn’t have to speak out on this issue and get arrested, but he did and it brought a lot attention to an important issue. I have always been a fan of Clooney as an actor, but now I am a fan of him as a human being."

On Friday, police arrested Clooney, his father, Rep. Jim McGovern (D-Mass.), Rep. Jim Moran (D-Va.), Rep. John Olver (D-Mass.), Rep. Al Green (D-Texas), former Rep. Tom Andrews (D-Maine) and Martin Luther King III, son of Martin Luther King Jr.

McGovern knew he would be arrested

McGovern said, “We held a rally outside the embassy, technically on Sudanese property. We were told by police that we crossed the police line and after we finished our speeches we were given a warning and told to disperse and we didn’t disperse, so we were arrested.”

They were handcuffed, read their rights and put into a police vehicle and brought to a holding cells a few blocks away. Four hours later after being fingerprinted, photographed and paid a $100 fine, they were released.

McGovern knew he would be arrested, because it has happened to him twice before. He was arrested at the Sudanese Embassy for trespassing in April of '06 and '09. But it didn't create the same type of a buzz without Clooney.

McGovern says his position of power won’t be in jeopardy as a result of the arrest and he won’t lose any ranking in the House of Representatives.

Stopping the genocide

Activists and humanitarian groups accuse Sudanese President Omar al-Bashir of slaughtering his people and then blocking critical food and medical aid to the strife-torn region. Congressman McGovern wants countries like Russia and China, who have bankrolled Sudan, to put pressure on Bashir to allow international groups to come in and provide food to the Sudanese people. McGovern said there’s only six weeks until the rainy season begins and then the International community won’t be able to get food to these people and hundreds of thousands of people will starve to death.

Jail time talk with Clooney

Congressman McGovern didn’t talk about any of Clooney’s movies or Hollywood while sitting in jail with him and his fellow members of congress. McGovern said most of the conversations focused on what to do next to help stop the genocide. But he did admit there were some lighter moments. “Well, Congressman Olver got his fingers caught on the jail bars when the guard slid the cell door open and crushed Olver’s fingers. It doesn’t sound funny now, but at the time we all laughed. He’s fine now.”

Why protesting is important

Congressman McGovern graduated from Worcester Academy in 1977 and moved to Washington DC where he studied at American University. He said he was there at a time when lots of activists were protesting. He said, "I protested a lot of things in college. Protest is a very American thing. In some ways it is uniquely American. That is what our Country is about, to say what you believe in. Sometimes it is popular and sometimes it is not."

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