Report by Brian Terrell, Catholic Peace Ministry, 9 February 2007
More than 20 Iowans attended a rally in freezing weather at noon on Thursday, February 8 outside the Federal Building in Des Moines. Joining with people around the nation demanding that elected officials vote against President Bush’s request of $93,000,000,000 to fund the war in Iraq, the protesters announced the inauguration of the Occupation Project, a campaign of sustained civil disobedience, in Iowa. Over the next eight weeks members of the project will nonviolently occupy the offices of officials who refuse to pledge vote against paying for the continuing occupation and war in Iraq.
The Occupation Project, organized by Voices for Creative Nonviolence in Chicago and endorsed by many national and local peace groups, began on Monday with occupations of congressional offices that resulted in eight arrests in the offices of Senators Durbin and Obama in Chicago, ten in Senator McCain’s office in Washington, DC, and one in the office of Senator Lisa Murkowski in Fairbanks, Alaska. Across the country local groups are planning similar occupations.
“We are insisting that if the US people, who themselves have given mandates to elected leaders that they don’t want to see this war continue, that they can see through the ruse of continuing to sustain corporate military growth at the expense of so many people’s lives, including lives in the United States,” said Kathy Kelly of Voices for Creative Nonviolence shortly after being released from jail in Washington. “If we continue to express this directly and clearly through nonviolent civil disobedience, we believe that elected leaders with conscience will pay attention.”
In announcing the Occupation Project in Iowa, Brian Terrell of the Catholic Peace Ministry noted that former Iowa governor and Democratic presidential candidate Tom Vilsack recently dismissed calls by other Democrats to cap the number of troops in Iraq as a plan to “stay the course” rather than making a real change. “Congress has the constitutional responsibility and a moral obligation to do it now,” Terrell quoted Vilsack, “those who voted for the war, those who voted to continue to support the war, those who voted to continue funding the war, can surely vote to stop the war!”
At the close of the rally which was attended by several from the media, seven constituents entered to Federal Building to meet with representatives of Senator Charles Grassley in his office. Security guards and Federal Protection Agency police were quite disturbed at citizens exercising their right “peacefully to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances” guaranteed by the US Constitution and demanded assurances that their visit would be brief before allowing them to enter the building. Bob Renaud, the senator’s State Director, listened to the group for about half and hour and was told that members of the group would return soon and then would remain in the office until Senator Grassley pledges to stop voting to fund the war.
Later that evening, peace activists from several Iowa communities met and possibilities of occupations of congressional offices in Des Moines, Creston, Cedar Rapids, Waterloo and Dubuque over the next few weeks were explored. The group will continue to gather with signs and leaflets each Thursday from 11:30 am until 1:00 pm at Nollen Plaza in downtown Des Moines. For more information or to join the Occupation Project come to Nollen Plaza on Thursdays or contact:
Brian Terrell, Catholic Peace Ministry
E-mail Terrellcpm@yahoo.com
Phone (515) 255 8114
or
Frank Cordaro, Phil Berrigan CW House
E-mail Frank.Cordaro@Gmail.com
Phone (515) 282 4781