By David Swanson
The peace movement is planning 10 days of resistance in March 2008. New additions to the plans include an effort to “stop-loss” Congress. Here’s a schedule from http://resistinmarch.org
MARCH 10 to 12, 2008 (Monday to Wednesday) in Washington, D.C.: Stop-Loss Congress
This March, while tens of thousands of Americans in Washington, D.C., and all over the United States will be participating in acts of nonviolent civil disobedience to protest the ongoing occupations of Iraq and Afghanistan, and involuntarily deployed U.S. soldiers and innocent civilian victims will begin another year of occupation, torture, and murder, U.S. congress members will be on vacation (from the 15th to 30th, technically a “district work period”), ignoring the killing and suffering they have enabled, supported, and financed.
To intensify the irony, Congress has condoned a widespread stop-loss policy in the military which requires soldiers to involuntarily extend their tours and prolong the killing. It is time to Stop-Loss Congress!
On Monday March 10, and Tuesday March 11, we will deliver “official” stop-loss notices to all members of Congress in their Capitol Hill offices. These will notify them that all of their LEAVES, VACATIONS and HOME VISITS HAVE BEEN CANCELLED until further notice. Just as they require that active-duty personnel endure involuntary extensions of their tours of duty, we, the people for whom they work, are notifying them that they, too, will have their tours of duty INVOLUNTARILY EXTENDED until every foreign soldier and mercenary is out of Iraq, and home. When all the troops and contractors get home, then Congress can go home, and no sooner.
On Wednesday March 12, we will take nonviolent action on Capitol Hill, to ensure that, while thousands of Iraqis, Afghanis, and foreign invaders die and are injured for life, the members of Congress and their staffs do not go home but remain to DO THEIR DUTY, and immediately end the funding of the occupations of Iraq and Afghanistan. No members of Congress goes home until THE TROOPS COME HOME.
To participate in planning these events, to learn meeting times and places, to help distribute flyers and organize travel, training, and other preparation, join this listserve.
Participating Organizations: Hip Hop Caucus, AfterDowningStreet.org, Backbone Campaign, Camp Casey Peace Institute, CODEPINK Women For Peace, Common Ground Collective New Orleans, Democrats.com, Global Network, Gold Star Families for Peace, Progressive Democrats of America, Our Spring Break, The Critical Voice, Artists Against The War, Cities for Peace, ConsumersForPeace.org, Grandmothers Against the War, Kennebunks Peace Department, New Orleans Voices for Peace, Daughters of Vietnam Veterans, Why Not News, DC Chapter of IVAW,
MARCH 13-16, 2008 (Thursday-Sunday) in Washington, D.C.: Winter Soldier
Iraq Veterans Against the War (IVAW)’s Winter Soldier Testimony
Everywhere:
Local Events Supporting Winter Soldier and other Anti-Occupation local events
Local events supporting Winter Soldier.
March 15 in Santa Barbara, CA
March 15 in London, England
MARCH 17 and 18, 2008 (Monday and Tuesday) in Washington, D.C.: Training, Lobbying, Restoring the Constitution
Training in Nonviolence in preparation for March 19, Training in lobbying, Lobbying and on the 18th: Take Back the Constitution Day lobbying 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. and evening event at 8 p.m.
Join us for a spirited day in the Halls of Power in Washington, D.C., from Congress to the Justice Department to the Parties’ Headquarters to the White House, and an evening event with Constitutional scholars and writers. This is a call for impeachment, an end to the occupation, an end to torture.
[COMING SOON: Link to trainings and lobbying info.]
[COMING SOON: Link to Code Pink page on Take Back the Constitution Day.]
Participating Organizations: AfterDowningStreet.org, Grassroots America, DC Chapter of IVAW, CODEPINK Women For Peace, Our Spring Break, Democrats.com, Backbone Campaign, Progressive Democrats of America, The Critical Voice, Artists Against The War, Cities for Peace, ConsumersForPeace.org, Replace Pelosi (petition to be delivered), Grandmothers Against the War, Kennebunks Peace Department, Delaware Valley Veterans for America, New Orleans Voices for Peace, Daughters of Vietnam Veterans, Why Not News,
MARCH 19, 2008 (Wednesday) Everywhere and in Washington, D.C.: Nonviolent Resistance
Nonviolent Civil Resistance and/or Disobedience in All 435 Congressional Districts and in the Nation’s Capital on the Fifth Anniversary of the Occupation of Iraq
Locations in each congressional district, to be determined locally, can include congressional offices (Congress Members and Senators will be in their districts on this day), federal buildings, military recruiters, weapons makers, war profiteers, or corporate media outlets. In Washington, with Congress out of town, the focus will be on war profiteers in the military industrial disaster-capitalism complex. Where possible, events will include a place for people not willing to risk arrest. Evening town hall forums can also include a larger audience.
Local Events.
Washington D.C. Events.
Participating Organizations: AfterDowningStreet.org, Backbone Campaign, Camp Casey Peace Institute, CODEPINK Women For Peace, Common Ground Collective New Orleans, Democracy Rising, Democrats.com, Global Network, Gold Star Families for Peace, Grassroots America, Hip Hop Caucus, Progressive Democrats of America, United for Peace and Justice, Voters for Peace, World Can’t Wait – Drive Out The Bush Regime!, DC Chapter of IVAW, Activist Responce Team (A.R.T), Washington Peace Center, Our Spring Break, The Critical Voice, Artists Against The War, Cities for Peace, ConsumersForPeace.org, Grandmothers Against the War, Kennebunks Peace Department, Delaware Valley Veterans for America, New Orleans Voices for Peace, Daughters of Vietnam Veterans, Why Not News,
