When John Majercak joined Indivisible Northampton-Swing Left Western Massachusetts (IN-SLWM) in January, he had little experience as an activist. By September, he had organized a successful protest urging an end to the partnership between Houston-based Avelo Airlines and U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE).
This first standout against Avelo, at an overpass near Connecticut’s Bradley International Airport on September 14, drew more than 160 people. Bearing banners and signs, they urged local travelers to boycott Avelo, which had agreed to help ICE with deportations in April. The boycott is one of Indivisible’s many suggestions for strategic noncooperation as part of its One Million Rising campaign against authoritarianism.
Majercak, who spent most of his career working with environmental nonprofits, chose to volunteer with IN-SLWM because of its large reach and strong infrastructure. In addition to helping with the group’s social media, he organized earlier overpass standouts and anti-ICE protests. As suggested by Indivisible, he and his wife held several One Million Rising meetings at their house this summer with neighbors and pickleball friends to get others engaged.
“The movement has grown a lot since January, but we’ll need a lot more people for a national strike or other massive action,” Majercak says.
Grounding Avelo
Indivisible and other groups across the country have staged protests against Avelo since ICE began using the airline for deportations out of Arizona in May. This includes protests at Tweed New Haven Airport, which is a major hub for Avelo. The company also flies out of airports in Manchester, New Hampshire, and Portland, Maine. It is scheduled to begin commercial flights out of Bradley in October.
“Like many others who joined our protest, I fly in and out of Bradley airport but didn’t know of any actions there. I put a notice for a standout at Bradley on the Mobilize calendar, which reached people from all over the region, and made posts on many different types of social media,” Majercak notes. “We asked other groups in the area to co-sponsor and publicize the event, and many jumped right in. Some were already working on this issue, too, so that helped a lot.”
In addition to Indivisible North Central CT, which took the lead on logistics, these groups included Rise Up Western Mass Indivisible, Indivisible South Windsor, Indivisible North Quabbin, Franklin County Continuing the Political Revolution, Quiet Corner Indivisible, Indivisible Easthampton, Connecticut Democratic Socialists of America, Indivisible Mansfield and Beyond, and No Kings Westfield.
“I was just one person with a lot of help,” Majercak says.
Pre-event press coverage drew multiple online threats of violence, which Majercak and his groups took seriously. Police drove by but did not interfere with the standout, which was supported by a large group of volunteer marshals. Majercak and others also took advantage of available deescalation training provided by Indivisible Worcester, Right to Be, and the American Civil Liberties Union.
The Bradley standout received print and television coverage and a strong response on social media. In his posts, Majercak tags Avelo Airlines, Bradley International Airport, and Indivisible, and he includes links to Ground Avelo, a national website with lots of good information on the boycott and an online pledge. He also posts contact information for the Connecticut Airport Authority (CAA), which oversees the Bradley facility. In addition, the coalition is sharing information on flight attendant union safety concerns about ICE flights, as well as the disconnect between Bradley’s anti-human trafficking effort and Avelo’s ICE activities.
“As a result of our actions, which include a lot of phone calls and emails, the CAA board president and executive director have agreed to meet with us,” Majercak says. “We hope that a boycott of Avelo will eventually make the company realize that its partnership with ICE was a bad business decision — and make other airlines think twice about partnerships of their own.”
Majercak plans to keep inspiring activists via social media and at local events to take the Ground Avelo pledge and contact the CAA. Other Indivisibles and the Connecticut chapter of Democratic Socialists of America are working to get a permit to rally on the grounds of Bradley airport and schedule regular standouts there.
A Common Spark
Majercak is committed to continuing this and other work with Indivisible. He particularly appreciates that the leaders of IN-SLWM gave him good support while letting him organize actions and campaigns that fit with the group’s strategy — without a lot of meetings.
“Many of us just want to get something done without spending time with formal committees and Zoom calls,” Majercak says. “For the Bradley standout, we communicated through a Slack channel and a Signal group and then discussed next steps in person during the standout.”
Majercak continues to follow up with those who came to his summer One Million Rising meetings but have yet to get involved. He and others are coordinating with The Real Majority in Holyoke to dissuade city councilors who want to cooperate with ICE because they’re afraid to lose federal funding. Plans are also underway for the first in a series of standouts at Citizens Bank locations to draw attention to its financing of private companies that build ICE detention centers.
“Having many groups participate makes a much bigger statement, shares the work, and builds relationships for other actions,” Majercak notes. “It’s clear that we share a common spark. We want to help others not ‘obey in advance’ and strongly resist the wannabe dictator. People are horrified and wonder what they can do. The energy so far has been impressive.”
Want to join the Avelo boycott? The Indivisible Massachusetts Coalition Coordinated Action Dispatch Team has created a toolkit for other groups to use. Access it here.
John can be reached at johnmajercak@proton.me.
