On Friday, July 8th, nineteen peace activists were cited for criminal trespass in downtown Cedar Rapids offices of U.S. Senators Harkin and Grassley just hours after 11 people were sentenced on the same charge for a similar event on Feb. 26.
I agree with the main aim of the Re-Occupation Project (getting out Iraq) but I stongly disagree with the means. Twenty people going to jail is not enough. We need millions of people to bear down on the Bush Administration. Write letters, march in mass numbers large enough to disrupt traffic, commerce and get in people's comfort zone. Flood Congress with physical proof, send them flowers for the dead and get their attention. Breaking the law won't work, you have got to get the law to try to break you, attack you, deny you your freedom of speech, assembly and human rights. Let America see it is own hypocrisy. We aren't fighting for freedom in Iraq. We can't because we are denying it here at home! Our army is dying in Iraq and people stage pointless sit-ins!
We need a clear majority of people to say "Enough!" Someday I believe this Administration will force the hand of some poor soul who is fed up with the incompetence and/or corruption and many people will rally to the cause. 20 is not near enough! It is just revenue. 200,000 people demanding justice on Main Street U.S.A. Masses of people need to speak up against Bush/Cheney Iraq War treason is more like it. That's not revenue, it is revolution.
The laws broken have no bearing on the illegality they were protesting. The group stayed after office hours. Nobody should be force to keep an office open on into the night. This is why I hate sit-ins. The act infringes on good people trying to serve others. It denies me and others like our right to petition my government in legitimate way. If my government refuses to hear my petition I have the right petition my community, my country and planet for change. I don't have that right then civilization is doomed. If I can't persuade one person then I am not saying the right thing.
According to Cedar Rapids Gazette: A 20th member, David Goodner was arrested for criminal trespass and interference with official acts for walking in a posted restricted area behind the federal courthouse.
The 11 who were cited at the federal courthouse are: Kathy Hall, 63, of Cedar Rapids; Brian Terrell, 50, of Maloy; Louis Helwig, 72, of Cedar Falls; Eva ``Lee'' Mickey, 71, of North Liberty; Renee Espeland, 46, of Des Moines; and Mona Shaw, 56, Robert ``Ajax'' Ehl, 37, Megan Felt, 20, Nyssa Koons, 20, Brian Shearer, 22, and Gloria Williams, 57, all of Iowa City.
Eight protesters were cited for trespassing Friday at Harkin's office: Christine Gaunt, 50, of Grinnell; Kerry Hofferber, 21, of Des Moines; and Daisy Espino, 26, Rosemary Persaud, 47, Michael Rack, 35, Jamie Fredericksen, 37, John Paul Hornbeck, 25, and Lara Elborno, 20, all of Iowa City.
Rosemary Presaud addressed the court that morning. It was a useless gesture because nobody really heard her passion. She was wrong in the eyes of law. She will pay the $65 fine. Justice? Irrevelant! I too have a right to say how my nation fights it's wars but if and when I take a stand - I WILL BE HEARD or I will stand until I am heard!!! No legitimate democratic government can deny me that right because if does then it is no democracy. I don't need to break the law. The need the law to try and break me. An unjust law will in time break itself against. You have to people's attention. I am posting Rosemary Persaud's statement so the public can best decide on what to do next. She is not Socrates but she is just as brave. No sit-ins. They cost you money and the government nothing.
Rosemary Persaud's statement: read in Linn County District Associate court Friday 7/6/07 at her sentencing, and the sentencing of 10 others, on simple misdemeanor criminal trespass charges:
Why did we do this act of civil disobedience? Because we want peace. If the state's prosecutor had asked every single one of the Cedar Rapids 11 at trial this question: Why did you do this civil disobedience? I think she would have heard 11 times, the answer: Because I want peace. Because I want peace. Because I want peace. And she would hear a chorus of the same from all of you sitting here today.
But is anyone else listening? I know I have the right and I believe I have a duty as a citizen of this country, to speak up when I see my government go so badly off course. But because the current president is not listening and has never listened to the American people, I'm more determined than ever to be heard and faithfully represented at least by my elected Congress people.
Congress has the power to end this unjust war and illegal occupation of Iraq. They can stop funding it. We're asking Mr. Grassley as a ranking member of the Senate Finance Committee to do everything in his powere to cease the funding of this war.
I want to ask Senator Grassley, as someone who has spent years of service investigating fraud and waste in government spending, why he sees no waste in human life as this war goes on and on, year after year. Is not a life worth more than a dollar? It seems our Congress has lost its ability and courage to measure what matters, and has lost its moral compass to find us home. The American people want our troops HOME, to live, and we want the Iraqi people to live. It was a crime for the United States to invade Iraq and it's a crime to continue waging a brutal war for oil. Congress must stop it. They must end it now.
Sen. Grassley has, I think, made a good effort to listen to and know the people of Iowa, so we hope that he will take seriously what we offer as our best qualitites to help him do what is right. This is why we are all here today, why some of us were at his office on Monday, February 26, asking him to listen and to act. We refused to budge because we refuse to give up hope for a chance at peace. To Sen. Grassley we offer all our best qualitites because we want and demand a participatory democracy. So to start, I suggest Mr. Grassley take some of Megan's compassion and Tim's energy and Ryan's commitment. Let him have David's determination and Joshua's understanding. Let him know John Paul's heritage. Let him hear some of Justin's ideas, and ask Andrew's questions, and use Connor's words. Also, he can take frank's freedom if necessary. Because we want peace.
As a mother I have to speak out against this war and all wars. As a mother, I have the responsibility to teach my children to be understanding of other people and to find ways to solve problems and settle differences non-violently. It's hard to teach your kids these lessons when their government is provoking and waging war as a means to an end.
Our children grip our hearts. They girp our hearts so tightly and so unexpectedly at times that it transforms us somehow from citizens of our state into people of the world. It's been said that when you bring a child into the world you agree to let your heart walk around outside your body. Mothers and fathers -- everywhere -- want the world to know their children, to know their dreams and their potential and their inherent goodness. Mothers want peace for everyone, not just their own children, and mothers believe peace is possible because we've learned that it's through our hearts that we're all connected in the world. Our children teach us this. So I refuse to offer my children or anyone else's children as fodder for the war machine. Instead I offer my children's hope, and I offer some of my own time spent away from tending them to help tend our world as well. Because we want peace.
There will be no peace when our leaders play with people's fear.