4pm-6pm GPO VIGIL; Free Bradley Manning! Demilitarise Shannon! End the War!

by Today D.C. Fri Apr 08, 2011 10:04 Washington D.C. U.S.A.

National Campaign for Nonviolent Resistance

WHAT: “Operation DISARMageddon” calling for re-directing resources away from wars, preparations for wars, global militarization and death- by-nuclear radiation and ecosystem destruction toward resource development for diplomacy, conflict resolution; toward local community resource development worldwide; toward subsidies for energy conservation and efficiency measures, and toward development of a green, clean and safe renewable energy infrastructure.

WHEN: Friday, April 8, 2011 - 12 P.M.

WHERE: The Pentagon – Arlington, Virginia

WHO: Lead Sponsor: National Campaign for Nonviolent Resistance

And…
Climate SOS
Code Pink
Fellowship of Reconciliation
Jonah House
National War Tax Resistance Coordinating Committee (NWTRCC)
Nukewatch
Peace Action
SOA Watch
Soulforce
United National Anti-war Committee(80 groups)
Veterans for Peace
Voices for Creative Nonviolence
War Is A Crime.org
War Resisters League
Washington Peace Center
Witness Against Torture
Women's International League for Peace and Freedom, among others…

WHY:

On Friday, April 8 at approximately 12 P.M., a group of citizen activists organized by the National Campaign for Nonviolent Resistance plans to gather at the Pentagon in Arlington, Virginia, as part of “Operation DISARMageddon” to seek a meeting with Secretary of Defense Robert Gates in order to discuss bringing an end to U.S. wars, war-making and the resultant destruction of the environment. We call for a conversion of the military industrial complex to one focused on "tried and true" conflict resolution strategies to resolve conflicts and disagreements.

The U.S. military uses more petroleum than any other single entity in the world, and it is responsible for releasing immeasurable amounts of lethal toxic chemicals into the air, soil and water in the course of maintaining military bases in the U.S. and around the world.

The Pentagon engages in rampant death and destruction in such countries as Afghanistan, Iraq, Pakistan and Yemen and other parts of the world. Besides the toxic chemicals, the military uses depleted uranium ammunition, with disastrous, long-term harmful health effects on all who inhale it and their offspring in the form of genetic defects. Most recently this illegal weapon has suspected to have been used in Libya. Thus, the activists are seeking a meeting with the Secretary of Defense to discuss both the excessive warmongering and the ecocide being committed against Mother Earth by the Pentagon.

Additionally we plan to:

1.Call for drastic cuts in the military budget which is unacceptable and an unreasonable, out-of –balance investment of taxpayer dollars in the US-Global military-industrial complex.

2.Assist in facilitating the re-direction resources for current wars and occupations utilizing US military forces, hired mercenaries, National Guard, or other agents of the US government;

3.Encourage the development of a Department of Peace to assist in promoting a culture of peace, diplomacy and conflict resolution studies and practices in all our public institutions.

4.Call for the conversion of the military economy into one which supports local communities: schools, hospitals, workers, attendance at colleges and universities and the development of a safe and sustainable infrastructure.

5.Call attention to the need to re-direct resources immediately to the environmental clean – up operations caused by past wars.

6.Urge Pentagon officials to stand up to those who would profit from making nuclear reactors, (on earth and in space) only funding reactor clean –up and weapons dismantlement programs, in order to comply US treaty obligations and in order end the nuclear nightmare NOW!
Activists have come together from across the country to express their convictions about these goals.

NCNR organizer, Joy First, from Wisconsin, expressed her concern: “We are personally and collectively dismayed by the unlawful, horrific suffering and harm done to persons and to the environment in our names.”
Representatives from eighteen different organizations are sponsoring the call to meet with Robert Gates. Long-time peace activist, Beth Adams from Massachusetts, remembers that “Dwight D. Eisenhower warned us about an excessive military-industrial complex for the first time in his farewell address of January 17, 1961.”

"In the councils of government, we must guard against the acquisition of unwarranted influence, whether sought or unsought, by the military industrial complex. The potential for the disastrous rise of misplaced power exists and will persist….”

"We must never let the weight of this combination endanger our liberties or democratic processes. We should take nothing for granted. Only an alert and knowledgeable citizenry can compel the proper meshing of the huge industrial and military machinery of defense with our peaceful methods and goals, so that security and liberty may prosper together."
Max Obuszewski of the Pledge of Resistance-Baltimore believes that “Citizen activists must address the serious problems caused by the Pentagon both in the U.S. and in countless countries around the world.”

“Global Militarization is of great concern,” said Malachy Kilbride, from Arlington, VA., who notes that “the U.S. provides billions of dollars to countries which repress its citizens and neighbors.”

Among the issues of concerns on April 8th is: that the U.S. government supports and trains death squads in Colombia and Indonesia and trains Latin American soldiers at the Western Hemispheric Institute for Security Cooperation, formerly the “School of the Americas.” Many of these soldiers have engaged in rampant human rights abuses. Additionally, the Pentagon has recently established AFRICOM in order to ensure more U.S. intervention on the continent of Africa. It has come to our attention that. Sadly, torture continues at Guantanamo Bay, at Kandahar, at Bagram AFB and other “black sites” around the world. And American Citizen PFC Bradley Manning is being held in solitary confinement for close to a year at Quantico AFB in Virginia in conditions constituting torture, against the objections of the Psychologists for Social Responsibility.

America stands at a vital crossroads, requiring courageous steps toward conversion from the use of destructive force to ones which employ diplomacy and conflict resolution skills, that will transcend conflict and disagreements and thus avoid the looming threat of omnicide. And we say with one voice that the time is now for drastic cuts in military spending and the re-direction of resources for life-giving, sustainability projects in our communities and for environmental clean-up at military installations and weapons facilities such as Hanford nuclear weapons facility in Washington State and in communities affected by US wars around the world.

On April 8, citizen activists will go to the Pentagon for the fourth time in an effort to challenge the war machine. The National Campaign for Nonviolent Resistant intends to continue its work with organizations and people of conscience to protest U.S. government policies which cause suffering, death and destruction, even threaten life on Planet Earth.

by 25 arrested D.C. - Art - Dorothy Day Catholic Worker, Washington D.C. Sun Apr 10, 2011 05:34 Washington D.C. U.S.A.

Dear Friends,
I was preasent at yesterday's Pentagon action and offered support to those risking arrest (see below press release). As 25 friends were arrested for reading a letter to Secretary of War Gates just outside the pentagon metro entrance, over 30 people, holding big Bread and Puppet banners and other signs, kept vigil inside the fenced off "protest zone." Despite the fact that nobody risking arrest ever went limp, the Pentagon police were extremely aggressive towards the arrestees, including bending wrists and arms and shoving several people up against a post. We called on the police to be nonviolent and sang peace songs as our friends were taken away. For photos of the protest taken by Ellen Thomas see: below.
We keep our eyes on the prize and hold on!!!
With love and gratitude,
Art

Here are the photos I managed to take at the Disarmageddon rally at the Pentagon on April 8, 2011. I was told by the police that I COULD NOT take photos "inside the reservation," so I only got a few of the arrests, but there are some great shots of the marchers, with Carol Urner and WILPF leading the way!

DISARMAGEdDON PHOTOS
This online album has 17 photos and will be available on SkyDrive until 07/08/2011.
https://cid-c1018f6bbacab563.photos.live.com/browse.asp...hotos

Yes, We Can ...
Convert the War Machines ...
Provide for Human Needs ...
IN OUR LIFETIMES!
LET THE VOTERS DECIDE!!!

PENTAGON POLICE VIOLENCE AGAINST PEACEFUL PROTESTERS CALLING FOR END TO WAR AND HALT TO DESTRUCTION OF THE ENVIORNMENT

PENTAGON, WASHINGTON, DC – On April 8, 2011 at approximately noon, 25 civilian activists organized by the National Campaign for Nonviolent Resistance arrived at the Pentagon to deliver a letter asking for a meeting with Secretary of War Robert Gates in order to discuss bringing an end to U.S. wars and the destruction of the environment resulting from military policies.

Within less than three minutes, with the activists peacefully requesting that the Secretary’s office receive their letter, Pentagon police officers swarmed the scene, violently moving the activists from the area. They were violently pushed and shoved, the activists said. Several activists reported that the police almost knocked them over. A number of individuals had their arms forcefully and painfully wrenched behind their backs. Eve Tetaz, 80, was pushed to the ground. As the officers pushed the citizens towards the police vans, they did not ever announce to any individuals that they were being arrested.

The protesters were taken to the Navy Annex for processing where they were given a warning for failure to obey a lawful order. Once the Pentagon Police had the names of all the activists, they searched their system and found that eight of the 25 had been arrested at the Pentagon in the past. Those eight individuals were then given a citation for “disorderly conduct”.

The eight activists, David Barrows, Joy First, Alice Gerard, Malachy Kilbride, Max Obuszewski, Ned Smith, Eve Tetaz, and Paki Weiland will take their case to the courts on June 3, 2011. This action by the Pentagon Police was a blatant violation of their First Amendment rights. The activists were there within their legal rights, fulfilling their Nuremberg obligations, standing in a public access area. There was no disorderly conduct on the part of the activists. Rather, the police acted in a violent and unlawful manner towards the activists.

The citizen activists were attempting to bring to the attention of the Pentagon information on how the U.S. military uses more petroleum than any other single entity in the world, and it is responsible for releasing immeasurable amounts of lethal toxic chemicals into the air, soil and water in the course of maintaining military bases in the U.S. and around the world.

The Pentagon engages in rampant death and destruction in such countries as Afghanistan, Iraq, Pakistan and Yemen and other parts of the world. Besides the toxic chemicals, the military uses depleted uranium ammunition, with disastrous, long-term harmful health effects on all who inhale it and their offspring in the form of genetic defects. Most recently this illegal weapon is suspected to have been used in Libya. Thus, the activists were seeking a meeting with the Secretary of Defense to discuss both the excessive warmongering and the ecocide being committed against Mother Earth by the Pentagon.

This action was endorsed by the National Campaign for Nonviolent Resistance, Climate SOS, Code Pink, Fellowship of Reconciliation, Jonah House, National War Tax Resistance Coordinating Committee (NWTRCC), Nukewatch, Peace Action, SOA Watch, Soulforce, United National Anti-war Committee, Veterans for Peace, Voices for Creative Nonviolence, War Is A Crime.org, War Resisters League, Washington Peace Center, Witness Against Torture, and Women's International League for Peace and Freedom.

For more information, contact the National Campaign for Nonviolent Resistance
www.irqpledge.org

by nem nem soha Mon Apr 11, 2011 10:58

Outside GPO with Iranian woman and Dublin schoolkid

*Steve Jacobs, musician, grew up some at Guantanamo Bay, CO'd out of U.S.Navy, served 18 months jail for anti-war resitance, 30 years at Colimbia Catholic Worker, Missouri
*Frank Cordaro founder of Des Moines Catholic Worker , Iowa, served 18 years as a Catholic priest and 4 years in prison for anti-war resistance at SAC, STRATCOM/ Omaha and B52 Plowshares at Andrews Air Force Base during Open Day!

Outside GPO with Iranian woman and Dublin schoolkid

by Frank 30 days Wed Feb 01, 2012 06:52

Frank Cordaro holding the banner above on the right sentenced to 30 days ffor Occupy Des Moines

https://www.indymedia.org.uk/en/2012/01/491729.html