Ghosts of the Iraq War Action in the Senate Gallery
By Joy First, March 17, 2008

I went to Washington, DC on Monday March 10, 2008 to participate in the “Ghosts of War” action on March 12. This was a planned action of nonviolent civil resistance, following the nonviolent principles of Gandhi and Martin Luther King, organized by the National Campaign for Nonviolent Resistance. The plan was to do this action in the Senate gallery where we could directly address the Senators, demanding that they stop funding the war. All of us who would participate have spent hundreds of hours calling, writing, and visiting our Senators and Representatives asking them to end the funding for the war. We have participated in marches and rallies, written letters to the editor, I talked to families and friends, and taken many “legal” actions to try to end the war and occupation of Iraq. I knew that by participating in the “Ghosts of War” action, I would be risking arrest and could face jail time. I knew I would likely at least be held overnight because I had a pending case, a trial in May for an action on January 11 at the US Supreme Court with Witness Against Torture. I am on 6-month probation from a September 20, 2007 action in the crypt of the Capitol, with a 10-day suspended jail sentence for that action, so I knew could potentially be a longer stay in jail.

The night before I left for Washington, my husband Steve and I were lying in bed and talking about what I would be doing. We were both feeling very sad that I had to leave again. I said that I hoped he understood why I had to do this. He said he did. He also said that he hoped that others really understood that I didn’t do this because I want to get arrested. He said that he knew that what I was doing was right, and that I shouldn’t get arrested for it. I thought, wow, he almost gets it better than I do. I continue to carefully think about my work, and slowly, layer by layer, I am coming to a deeper understanding of what I do and why. What I am doing, speaking out against an illegal and immoral war is not breaking the law. What I am doing is right, and I should not be arrested for it. We must do everything we can, nonviolently working for peace. As my actions continue to become more difficult and the risks continue to become greater, I am feeling more committed than ever to continuing this work.

I arrived in DC late Monday afternoon and went to a nonviolence training for the Stop-Loss Congress group at St. Stephen’s Church that evening. Stop-Loss Congress is a group of mostly young adults in their early 20s, many who are doing nonviolent resistance for the first time. There were about 50 young people at the training and it was so good to see these young people with all their positive energy getting involved in activism. The government continues to deliver stop-loss orders to members of the military in Iraq, telling them they cannot go home even though their contract with the military has expired. These brave young people were going to deliver stop-loss orders to all members of Congress, telling them they could not take breaks or vacations until all the troops were safely home.

On Wednesday morning, March 12, those involved in the action met at 11:00 am at Union Station to finalize plans. After working through final details, we dispersed to take care of personal matters and then met up again at Upper Senate Park at about 12:30 or so. We walked across the street to the Capitol in groups of two or three with our Senate gallery passes in hand. We did not want to arrive in a large group and arouse suspicion as we went through security at the Capitol. ... (More)

In October we will deliver a petition to President Obama regarding Afghanistan... Join us!

Dear President Obama,

We, the undersigned, assert our Constitutional rights in demanding the United States Government cease its immoral and unlawful combat operations and military occupation of the nation of Afghanistan. The proud people of Afghanistan deserve the same right to self-determination we enjoy without foreign influence. U.S. troops need to be withdrawn from Afghan soil, no permanent military bases are to remain, and the bombing of Pakistan is to be immediately stopped... (More)

CIVIL RESISTANCE

In 2002, the Iraq Pledge of Resistance was formed to prevent a war with Iraq. While we failed, we continued to engage in nonviolent direct action to end the war and the occupation. Eventually, the group, in expanding its focus, became the National Campaign for Nonviolent Resistance [NCNR].

As a group with lots of direct action experience, NCNR has consistently encouraged organizations and individuals to recognize the difference between civil disobedience and civil resistance. We see the difference as being important in the struggle for nonviolent, positive social change.

The classic definition of civil disobedience, as practiced by the civil rights movement, is the breaking of an unjust law with the intent of changing it. In Montgomery, Alabama in 1955, Rosa Parks broke an immoral law when she refused to give up her seat on a city bus to a white person.

It is rare for today’s activists to do "civil disobedience,” as it removes the onus from the government to prove a defendant was engaged in criminal activity. Doing CD eliminates the argument that the government, or a corporate entity, is the lawbreaker. Doing CD can cause a majority of the people to plead guilty and pay a citation fee. An individual has to decide whether to pay out or not. However, if a large number of people are arrested, and the organizers urge participants to pay out, that can amount to the payment of a hefty “protest tax.”

Today, NCNR activists engage in civil resistance, which means taking action to uphold the law. For example, we repeatedly challenged the Bush/Cheney government which disavowed the rule of law.

Using the term civil resistance is important for several reasons. First, in every statement about an action we point out that a government, or a corporate entity, is breaking the law. Second, we stress our Nuremberg obligation to act against the government’s lawbreaking. Finally, there is the matter of speaking in court after the action. A defendant who states s/he was engaged in civil disobedience not only is pleading guilty, but is letting the government off the hook for its failure to prosecute the real criminals.

If we are arrested, we encourage participants to go to trial and then use the courtroom to state that the action was lawful since its intent was to expose actual violations of the law—starting an illegal war, torturing prisoners or destroying the environment.

In court, we point out citizens have a Nuremberg obligation. At the Nuremberg trials, the court determined that citizens must challenge the government when it breaks the law.