Activist and Code Pink founder Medea Benjamin, whose group is a pro-peace feminist organization, was walking the halls of Congress when she spotted Rep. Darrell Issa, R-Calif. She asked him about Israel’s attack on Qatar and his reply was “Go away.”

She followed him a few feet into his office to repeat her question and he instructed his staff to “take her phone.” Capitol Police were called, and Benjamin was arrested on a charge of “impeding a congressman.” She has a court date in October. 

This arrest is absurd. Don’t our taxpayer dollars fund the Capitol building? Shouldn’t we all have the right and opportunity to walk through the building to stop and talk to our elected representatives whose salaries we pay? Issa, whose brusque behavior was caught on video, was never “impeded.” 

Federal law says that anyone who “forcibly assaults, resists, opposes, impedes, intimidates or interferes with” certain government officials engaged in official duties shall be fined and imprisoned by up to a year. I saw the video. The only way Issa was “impeded” was by a question. She at no time put her hands on him, resisted him or interfered with him. Arresting and charging her is overreach designed to intimidate and to frighten people from going to places where we are fully entitled to be. 

Benjamin’s arrest is not the first attempt to criminalize dissent in this era of lies and misinformation. When National Guard troops roam the streets of Washington, D.C., randomly stopping, arresting and deporting people, detaining Benjamin is business as usual in this repressive regime. 

Consider Sen. Alex Padilla, D-Calif., who entered a news conference to ask a question and was wrestled to the ground and handcuffed by federal agents. They claimed they acted to protect Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem. He was held for a brief period but received no apology. Instead, federal agents claimed Padilla did not identify himself as a U.S. senator. He says he did and furthermore he was in a federal building in California, the state he represents. Their physical attack on him was just another part of the Trump sideshow designed to intimidate. 

One of the most egregious efforts to criminalize dissent happened when Rep. Monica McIver, D-N.J., was indicted on two felonies and one misdemeanor for “assaulting, resisting, impeding and interfering with federal law enforcement officers.” Having seen the video and been apprised of the circumstances, nothing could be further from the truth. McIver and other New Jersey elected officials were simply doing their jobs when they made an oversight visit to Delaney Hall. Each felony count carries a possible sentence of eight years and the misdemeanor could bring a year. McIver is scheduled to go to trial in November. 

Meanwhile, right-wing extremist Rep. Clay Higgins, R-La., introduced a measure to censure McIver and remove her from the Homeland Security Committee. While Republicans have tended to vote in lockstep, on Sept. 3 the Higgins motion failed 215-207. Five Republicans opposed the censure, and two voted “present.” The effort to intimidate McIver failed. 

While the vote to censure McIver failed in September, Rep. Al Green, D-Texas, was censured because he interrupted the president’s address to a joint session of Congress in March, shaking his cane and shouting that the president had no mandate. The 224-198 May vote had 10 Democrats voting with Republicans. When the censure resolution was read, Green and several other Democrats sang “We Shall Overcome” so long that House Speaker Mike Johnson had to call a recess. Green faces no fine or jail time for the censure, but his congressional seat was one of those eliminated in Texas’ redistricting. 

The effort to criminalize dissent is an effort to silence us. But there are resisters who will not be silenced, resisters who will not be moved. Thanks to Medea Benjamin, Monica McIver, Al Green and all of those who understand that silence is complicity. 

The writer is a D.C.-based economist and author.