Rep. Dennis Kucinich (D-Ohio) spoke out Saturday at Seattle Hempfest, comparing the cannabis movement’s momentum to the Arab Spring.

“Open America! Show yourself! Mass action!” the Congressman told the crowd.

“This is why, and how, recent mass movements for freedom in Tunisia and Egypt gained momentum,” Kucinich said.

​”This is how Gandhi’s march to the sea cast off the British Empire. This is how America’s suffragettes gained for women the right to vote,” he said.

“This is how Dr. Martin Luther King’s March on Washington became a pivotal moment in the history of the Civil Rights movement.”

Kucinich joined dozens of other speakers, including Seattle Mayor Mike McGinn and Congressional candidate Roger Goodman, at the cannabis “protestival” over the weekend.

Seattle Hempfest, for the first time this year, ran three days, beginning on Friday rather than on Saturday.