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Alex Svoboda One Year Later

Matthew Gregory
NFP State Office Manager

Last month marked the one-year anniversary of the Industrial Workers of the World (IWW) solidarity march in North Providence, Rhode Island. On August 11, 2007, 36 IWW members and supporters marched on a local chain restaurant, Jackie’s Galaxie. The Providence IWW accused Jackie’s of openly and knowingly supporting the Queens, New York-based HWH/Dragonland, a dry goods supplier notorious for its slave labor conditions of 100 hours per week, sub-minimum wages and no overtime benefits.

En route to Jackie’s Galaxie, the demonstrators were cordoned onto the sidewalk by the North Providence Police, who then began to shove and manhandle the demonstrators.

The situation escalated when officers went after Providence IWW member and former Nebraskans for Peace member Alexandra Svoboda. Three officers assaulted her simultaneously, causing the severe dislocation of her knee, which bent her leg in the wrong direction. The gruesome photos of the police assault sent shock waves through Rhode Island and Nebraska. It didn’t stop with Alex helplessly pinned to the ground, as officers pepper-sprayed other demonstrators concerned about Alex, and arrested Jason Friedmutter, also a Providence IWW member.

Alex ultimately sustained a torn popliteal artery in her knee, a detached fibula, multiple torn ligaments, tears in both menisci and nerve damage. Doctors stated that if the surgery hadn’t gone as well as it did, plans for amputation would have ensued.

To add insult to injury, the City of North Providence charged Alex with three felony counts of assaulting an officer, one count of resisting arrest and one count of disorderly conduct, although the felony charges have been reduced to misdemeanors. Disturbingly, the officers who brutalized Alex are still on active duty today.

Despite the police attack, the march continued and the Providence IWW confronted owner Jackie Kho with members of the media present. Victory came a few weeks later when Jackie’s Galaxie agreed to drop HWH/Dragonland for good, and eventually four more restaurants dropped HWH as their supplier.

I caught up with Alex by phone at her home in Providence, where she lives in a house with ten other people, who have been more than accommodating to her situation. Immediately after her injury, she was moved from the third floor to the ground floor for easier access, and everyone has continued to help out ever since. She told me she was pleased with the turnout of rallies that took place Sunday August 10 and Monday the 11th in Rhode Island. They were attended by Wobblies from around the region as well as by local members of the community, and they garnered a fair amount of media coverage.

From there, I moved on to her medical condition. Alex has undergone hundreds of hours of physical therapy and rehabilitation and has successfully regained strength in her leg, leading to her first bike ride in ten months. She now rides on a regular basis four to five times a week on an adult tricycle. But it hasn’t been all smooth sailing. Doctors said her recovery has been “fantastic” but it is a learning process both for the doctors and for Alex. “There is a frustrating lack of knowledge of my injuries since no one has dealt with this,” she said. This has sometimes led to a week-by-week prognosis as her rehabilitation progresses. A date to surgically repair her knee has not yet been set, pending rehab and nerve regeneration.

I sensed less optimism when I broached the subject of her charges and the trial. Jason, her co-defendant, has obtained a public defender, and their cases have been moved to RI Superior Court for a more expedient trial. At the time of writing, Alex and Jason have a pre-trial conference scheduled for August 28, and the actual trial will be sometime in early 2009. This has the potential to drag out for many more months and possibly years, but Alex and her supporters are unwavering in their call for all charges to be dropped.

Towards the end of our conversation, I asked her if she had any reflections on the last year. She had this to say: “My friends, going to out to Whiteclay, Nebraska, and being a member of Nebraskans for Peace influenced the person I am today and are responsible for the battles I wage. I’ve been in contact with a man in Florida who heard about my case and it’s inspired him to come back fighting stronger, and to stand up for the injustices of the world. I am happy to pass along the inspiration that I received.” And her final thoughts: “When the incident in Rhode Island happened, there was a tremendous outpouring of support from Nebraska, which didn’t surprise me in the least. Nebraskans take care of their own.”