OCCUPATION PROJECT ROLLS INTO McCAIN’S WORLD<\/p>\n
By Bill Rau for www.consumersforpeace.org<\/p>\n
Washington, D.C.
\nFebruary 5, 2007<\/p>\n
The arrests started just five minutes after people
\nentered Senator John McCain\u2019s (R-AZ) office in the
\nSenate Office Building. The first of a planned
\nthree-month series of occupations of U.S. legislators\u2019
\noffices was designed to demand specific action to
\nquickly end the U.S. war in and occupation of Iraq.<\/p>\n
About 50 people, representing nearly twenty
\nparticipating organizations, took part in the
\nnonviolent civil disobedience. Both TV and print media
\ncovered the event.<\/p>\n
The nonviolent actions will re-occur over the next two
\nto three months, both at the U.S. Congress offices and
\nthe state offices of Senators and Representatives.
\nAlso, on February 5th, events were held at McCain\u2019s
\noffice in Phoenix and the state offices of the two
\nsenators from Illinois\u2014 Barack Obama and Richard
\nDurbin, the Senate Majority Whip.<\/p>\n
The occupation called upon Senator McCain\u2014as it will
\nin all subsequent actions\u2014to:<\/p>\n
\u00b7 Publicly declare that he will vote against further
\nfunding for the war and occupation;
\n\u00b7 Introduce legislation to provide full benefits and
\nquality health care to returning service men and
\nwomen;
\n\u00b7 Introduce a companion Senate Resolution to
\nforthcoming HR Resolution 508;
\n\u00b7 Introduce legislation to provide funds for
\nreconstruction in Iraq by neutral humanitarian
\norganizations.<\/p>\n
According to Zanne Joi, a member of Code Pink: Women
\nfor Peace, the occupation of Senator McCain\u2019s office
\nwas designed to appeal to his conscience, as he had
\nbeen subject to violence as a prisoner of war in Viet
\nNam.<\/p>\n
Joi said that arrest was a risk necessary to
\ndemonstrate people\u2019s commitment to ending the U.S.
\nmilitary actions in Iraq. Speaking outside McCain\u2019s
\noffice, Gael Murphy, also of Code Pink, said that
\narrest was less a risk than was taking no action
\nagainst the war.<\/p>\n
Following a briefing and making plans to deal with
\npotential arrests, the demonstrators gathered in the
\nhallway outside of Senator McCain\u2019s office. Photos of
\nIraqis affected by the war and occupation were
\ndisplayed. The names and ages of both Iraqis and U.S.
\nmilitary personnel killed during the occupation were
\nread out. The naming continued as they entered
\nMcCain\u2019s office. After each name, others chanted, \u201cWe
\nremember you.\u201d Another song included the line: \u201cCut
\nthe funding for the war, or we\u2019re going to block your
\ndoor.\u201d<\/p>\n
Nine people were arrested by the U.S. Capitol Police
\nwho knew of the planned action beforehand. The police
\nwoman who met the group when it first arrived was very
\naccommodating, clear but flexible in her directions
\nabout noise and keeping a path clear in the hallway.
\nAnother officer dismissed the complaints of a McCain
\nstaffer to stop the photography in the office. \u201cShe
\nhas a right to take photographs,\u201d the officer was
\noverhead to say to the staffer. At the same time, the
\nten or so police who broke up the occupation were very
\nspecific and official when they ordered people to
\nleave the office or face arrest.<\/p>\n
Those arrested were led away in hand constraints.
\nAmong them were Kathy Kelly and Jeff Leys of Voices
\nfor Creative Nonviolence which has organized the
\ncampaign. During the occupation of McCain\u2019s office,
\none member of the group kneeled on the floor with a
\nblack hood over his head. His T-shirt read, \u201cShut down
\nGuantanamo.\u201d He, too, was arrested.<\/p>\n
It was hard watching people being led away, hands
\ncuffed behind their backs. But I admired their
\ncontinued vocal statements against the war as they
\nwere taken down the hallway and eventually to jail for
\nprocessing.<\/p>\n
For me, observing the occupation (a word that neatly
\nparallels, but in contra-distinction to the Iraq
\noccupation) was a rare event. I tend to avoid much
\ninteraction with \u201claw makers,\u201d except for an
\noccasional letter to my senators and representative.
\nOn one level, I admire the determination and courage
\nof people who regularly voice their opposition to so
\nmany harmful U.S. policies and actions. At the same
\ntime, I wonder: Does it change congressional
\ndirection? Aren\u2019t most members of Congress so embedded
\nwith corporate views of well-being and U.S. \u201crights\u201d
\nin the world that they don\u2019t see alternatives to
\nnarrow visions of \u201cnational security\u201d? While I tend to
\ndwell on those \u201cbig\u201d issues, it is good to see and
\nhear small and large groups clearly express viable
\nalternatives through nonviolent actions.<\/p>\n
February 5th was chosen as the date to kick off the
\ncampaign as it was the fourth anniversary of Colin
\nPowell\u2019s speech at the U.N. during which he made false
\nand distorted arguments to justify the invasion of
\nIraq in 2003. It also was the day that the U.S.
\nadministration asked Congress for another $100 billion
\nto continue the war.<\/p>\n
A number of local actions are being organized for
\nFebruary, March and April as a part of the campaign.
\nMore information is available at the website of the
\nCenter for Creative Nonviolence
\n(https:\/\/www.vcnv.org\/), Occupation Project.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
OCCUPATION PROJECT ROLLS INTO McCAIN’S WORLD By Bill Rau for www.consumersforpeace.org Washington, D.C. February 5, 2007 The arrests started just five minutes after people entered Senator John McCain\u2019s (R-AZ) office in the Senate Office Building. The first of a planned three-month series of occupations of U.S. legislators\u2019 offices was designed to demand specific action to… Continue reading OCCUPATION PROJECT ROLLS INTO McCAIN’S WORLD<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-60","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized","entry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/grassrootspeace.org\/traprock_blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/60","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/grassrootspeace.org\/traprock_blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/grassrootspeace.org\/traprock_blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/grassrootspeace.org\/traprock_blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/grassrootspeace.org\/traprock_blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=60"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/grassrootspeace.org\/traprock_blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/60\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":150,"href":"https:\/\/grassrootspeace.org\/traprock_blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/60\/revisions\/150"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/grassrootspeace.org\/traprock_blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=60"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/grassrootspeace.org\/traprock_blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=60"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/grassrootspeace.org\/traprock_blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=60"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}