Vets, military families protest against war funding, 14 arrested

[babylonsister]

http://www.afterdowningstreet.org/?q=node/21832

Vets, military families protest against war funding, 14 arrested
Submitted by davidswanson on Fri, 2007-04-27 16:03. Nonviolent Resistance

For Comment: April 26, 2007
Tina Richards, 573-247-8059
Pete Perry, 571-271-1313

WASHINGTON – Today the US Senate voted to approve its revised form of
the military supplemental, and within the same hour 14 peace activists
were arrested inside a Senate office building.

The Senate voted 51-46 to pass the $124.2 billion spending bill at
around 1 p.m. At the same time a coalition of military families,
veterans and anti-war groups held a dramatic protest inside the atrium
of the Hart Senate Office Building. The protest featured the reading
of letters from military families calling for a swift end to the
occupation of Iraq, two 600 square foot banners and a funeral honoring
the next fallen soldier.

The arrests began to occur during the funeral portion of the protest
alongside the giant Alexander Calder statue in the center of the
atrium. Among those arrested were, Rev. Lennox Yearwood of the Hip-Hop
Caucus and Adam Kokesh with Iraq Veterans Against the War who served
two tours in Iraq with the U.S. Marines.

"These are letters from Families who don't want their sons and
daughters to be sent off to Iraq for a third, sometimes even fourth
tour of duty," said Tina Richards, mother of Cloy Richards, a Marine
who served two tours of duties in Iraq. Others joined Richards in
reading several poignant letters.

Kevin Zeese, director of Democracy Rising was also arrested. Zeese is
a former independent candidate for the U.S. Senate from Maryland.

"We know that Bush may veto this bill, but we don't think it goes far
enough in bringing our troops home," said Pete Perry of the Washington
Peace Center. "Funding this quagmire for another year is not bringing
them home."

The citizen activist groups involved in organizing and participating
in today's dramatic protest included United for Peace and Justice,
Iraq Veterans Against the War, Military Families Speak Out,
GrassrootsAmerica4Us.org, Washington Peace Center, Voters for Peace,
Democracy Rising, Artists Against the War and Code Pink.

Footage of the protest can be found on YouTube and Google Video.

[Peace Patriot]

1. Kudos and laurel wreaths to these vets, their families and those who truly

support them--peace activists!

I can't praise these vets and their families highly enough. With so much to lose--their careers, their reputations, their military friendships--they speak out. With so much brainwashing and emotional conflict and pain to overcome, they speak out. And go to jail! To stop others from dying! To save others from what THEY have suffered!

Being a peace activist in the midst of a fascist junta is not easy. But being a vet peace activist is yet more difficult. It can be redemptive. It can stop the nightmares. It can channel anger toward the right goals. But it is so hard to reach that point, where you can objectively see what you yourself were a party to, and renounce it. We all naturally want to feel that what we have done is for the good. And nobody wants to feel used--to feel like cannon fodder. Self-justification by the soldiers that the Bush Junta is sending to Iraq and Afghanistan is understandable. Those who rise above this self-justification are truly extraordinary people, with uncommon moral courage. I salute them!

Physical courage can be admirable. But moral courage is yet more awesome. Add to this the prospect of jail, and potential mistreatment by Bush Junta operatives, while incarcerated--especially after suffering service in Iraq--and praise of these veterans cannot be overstated. Bless them and their supporters! They ARE America. They ARE democracy. They speak and act for us all!

[babylonsister]

2. Yes, indeed. These people are my heroes! And every bit of press

they get, with every arrest, will bring us closer to the end of this nightmare.

[EFerrari]

3. We will not stop until this illegal occupation is ended and our troops are home.

We will not stop.

K&R

[gratuitous]

4. Remember: These people represent the majority in America

This isn't "fringe" or "left wing," this is mainstream America, the center of the center, 60% of the electorate speaking in the atrium. But I have yet to see that fact prominently mentioned in any of the popular media coverage, if any coverage is made at all.

[Peace Patriot]

5. Good point! The opposition to the war is even higher than that.

I've seen polls that put it at 75%. I additionally saw a poll last summer with 84% (!) of the American people opposed to any US participation in a widened Mideast war.

And in truth the majority of Americans opposed the Iraq War from the beginning. 56%! Feb. '03.

56% would be a landslide in a presidential election (and more than likely was).

There are two reasons, I think, why the the war profiteering corporate news monopolies do not connect the dots between these amazing figures on opposition to the war, and peace protesters. One is that they are profiteering from the war, with news/opinion policies dictated by 5 rightwing billionaire CEOs. That's the obvious one. The not so obvious one is that they have been conspiring all along to FOOL the American people into believing that OTHER Americans have gone nuts, and support fascism and war, and that these others are the majority. They also, in my opinion, directly conspired in the theft of the 2004 election (by doctoring their exit polls--Kerry won--to fit the results of Diebold/ES&S "trade secret" vote counting software--Bush won.)

The wonderful thing is that the American people are learning to ignore the corporate news monopolies, and I think many of them are onto the anti-brainwashing technique of just presuming that the opposite of what they are saying is pretty close to the truth. You can't go far wrong making that assumption. You want to know what's going on? Just reverse what the war profiteers are telling you. This even works sometimes on basic facts. Bush is President? No way. He may have the naked power but he has no legitimacy. He was not elected, either time. Alberto Gonzales is AG? Not really. Karl Rove is AG. The Bush Junta is torturing prisoners to "keep us safe." Think about THAT one. (What ARE they torturing prisoners for?). (I mean, these are rat-bastards who outed an entire CIA WMD counter-proliferation network, whose job it was to detect and interdict illicit WMD movement and keep WMDs out of the wrong hands. The Bush Junta is "keeping us safe"? Right.)

There is an interesting side effect to propaganda. After a while, the human brain wakes up and says, "Wait a minute...!" And starts rebelling. And starts thinking how to free itself from the confines of stupefying repetition of the same lies over and over again. I know about this. I was educated in a "conservative" Catholic grade school. The human mind--beautiful creative organism that it is--rebels, seeks truth, poses opposites to brainwashing "talking points," hungers for real information, finds kindred souls, and, given even the tiniest of windows of opportunity, throws off its shackles.

That is what we are seeing happening in the USA today. And it is a wonderful thing to behold. So don't worry about what the war profiteering corporate news monopolies are covering or not covering, or the latest lies they are telling--except for gathering ammunition for when we restore our right to vote, and have the power to dismantle these monopolies. They are increasingly irrelevant. People don't believe them.

But do work on the subtler game they are playing, of demoralizing and disempowering the great progressive American majority--making us feel isolated and alone, and in the minority. The best way to do this is talking to people, in person and on the internet. Also telling them the truth about the election system, and encouraging activism on demanding vote counting that everyone can see and understand. And peace protests. Active, visible protest. Peace protests have ripples throughout society, even when it is poorly covered in "the news." People hear about it anyway--sometimes in utterly mysterious ways. It is very heartening and empowering. Cindy Sheehan may have no idea what she did, when she went to Crawford--in terms of its earthquake-like awakening of many people, people she will never know. It rumbled through the land. It got publicity, yes--as the corporate media tried to create a "star" that they could then debunk and abandon (they are so insidious!). But that's not what I mean. That it got publicity. What I mean is something deeper, something spiritual that happens, among humans, when somebody makes a stand for peace and justice, however lonely that stand may be. Sheehan's protest would have had the same effect without corporate media publicity. People would have found out. They would have felt it. Because...because it was an expression of themselves, of their own hearts. It was tuned to the heart. It was genuine. It came from her deepest being to ours. And that part of ourselves has nothing to do with the corporate news monopolies--those callous, heartless, and profoundly dead organizations. Like Bush, they may have naked power but they have no creativity and no soul.

Protest moves people, in their souls. And this phenomenon operates outside of the restrictions that fascists are forever trying to put on it.