Above: After building a statewide campaign for healthcare as a human right led by the Vermont Workers Center, Vermont passed a law that provided for universal healthcare. In 2015 the governor said he could not find a way to fund it and abandoned the law (Photo: Vermont Workers’ Center).
Video from Vermont Digger, healthcare advocates sing while Governor Shumlin enters chamber:
Health care protesters disrupt inauguration, demand healthcare is a human right
Common Dreams reports on a sit-in at the Vermont legislature on January 8, 2015:
Protesters occupied the chambers of the Vermont Statehouse Thursday afternoon, saying they refuse to leave until legislators meet their demands to respect the first-ever U.S. law for universal, publicly-funded health care, won by social movements nearly four years ago yet stymied by the governor last month.
The Vermont Workers Center is pushing the legislature to proceed to funding the universal health care plan even without Governor Shumlin. The Burlington Free Press reported:
The protesters, organized by the Vermont Workers’ Center through the Health Care is a Human Right Campaign, demanded that House Speaker Shap Smith, D-Morristown, schedule a public hearing on single-payer financing by Jan. 29.
James Haslam, executive director of the Vermont Workers’ Center, called the day’s demonstration “incredibly effective overall” and said “it was absolutely peaceful and civil.”
“We came here today with hundreds of people to say … that this is something that is far too important to not move forward on,” Haslam said.
Haslam told Vermont Digger that the failure to live up to health care being a human right was part of the democracy crisis in Vermont and the nation:
Haslam says he wants to see full participation in the legislative process so that decisions are made “for the benefit of people and not just the large corporations.” He pointed to the lowest voter turnout in history of the state in the last General Election as evidence that people have lost trust in state government. “We want to make sure democracy works for everyone,” Haslam said. “Some people in this building are not used to this sort of thing, but a lot of people who don’t spend a lot of time in this building don’t have a lot of faith in it.”
The protest was designed to coincide with the inauguration of Governor Shumlin. Common Dreams reported:
Immediately preceding the occupation, nearly 200 protesters had filled the halls of the statehouse, singing, “We have come too far, we won’t back down. We’ll flood these halls with justice, the time is Now!”
According to the Burlington Free-Press “As of 5:30 p.m., the protesters remained seated on the floor of the House chamber, long after the sergeant-at-arms had instructed them to prepare to leave the building.”
According to tweets, 30 people were arrested. Vermont Digger reports:
The protesters were ushered out by state police just after 8 p.m. after being given a dispersal order. Most of the protesters offered little resistance, but at least one woman went limp and had to be dragged out. They were issued citations to appear in Vermont Superior Court, Washington County Criminal Division, to answer charges of unlawful trespass, according to the state police. Nine of the demonstrators were also cited for resisting arrest, police said.
They continued to sing as they were arrested:
More photos and tweets below.