Nonviolent Resistance

Contact: Paul Kawika Martin of Peace Action Education Fund, 301-565-4050 ext. 316, 951-217-7285 (cell), pmartin@peace-action.org

WASHINGTON, April 23 /U.S. Newswire/ -- On April 19, four defendants, arrested at the White House while protesting the Iraq war by engaging in a die-in on Oct. 26, 2005, had their charges dismissed in federal court in Washington, D.C. Judge Deborah Robinson ruled in favor of the defense motion for a judgment of acquittal and stated that the prosecution had failed to prove the case against Gary Ashbeck and Lynn Robinson, from Baltimore, and Paul Kawika Martin and Eve Tetaz, from Washington, D.C.

By Paul Kawika Martin, Peace Action & Peace Action Education Fund
http://www.peace-action.org

You may remember that I participated in a die-in in front of the white house last year where I was arrested. This is the outcome of the trial:

On October 26, 2005 members of Peace Action were arrested with Cindy Sheehan during a nonviolent political protest in front of the White House commemorating the 2,000 U.S. soldier death. Paul Kawika Martin, our organizing and political director recently appeared in court to answer the charges but in a victory for free speech, the Federal judge ruled in favor of our motion of acquittal before we had a chance to give our full defense. Had we been given the opportunity to make our voice heard it would have sounded something like this:

By BBC

A group of women who call themselves the "Granny Peace Brigade" have gone on trial in New York for their protest against the Iraq war.

The women, aged between 50 and 91, were charged with disorderly conduct after demonstrating outside a military recruitment centre.

Their supporters outside the courthouse included leading anti-war activist Cindy Sheehan, whose son died in Iraq.

CONTACTS: Max Obuszewski 410-323-7200, ext. 31; Mark Goldstone 301-530-6612

Washington, DC. On Sept. 26, 2005, 371 peace activists who delivered the names of the dead from Iraq to the White House were arrested in the largest action of the sort in U.S. Park Police history. On Oct. 26, 2005, 26 activists protesting the war in Iraq were arrested after engaging in a die-in on the White House sidewalk. Activists from both groups were charged with demonstrating without a permit, which carries a maximum sentence of six months in jail and a $500 fine.

By Pete Perry

After my action today here are some of the questions and statements I encountered from the Capitol Hill Police...

"What group are you with? Are you with ANSWER?"

"Have you tried to communicate your message to the elected officials by other means?"

"You know you can get a permit for the park over there, or you don't even need a permit to stand on the sidewalk ont he other side of the street (C Street) and hold a sign if you wish. However, you were disrupting a committee hearing."

By Missy Comley Beattie, http://www.opednews.com

"We invited her to discuss her concerns with a US Mission employee. She chose not to come in but to lay down in front of the building and block the entrance. It was clearly designed to be a media stunt, not aimed at rational discussion."

This is the statement of Richard Grenell, spokesperson for the United States Mission to the UN. And it's a lie. I know because I was arrested with Cindy Sheehan, Medea Benjamin, and Rev. Patti Ackerman as an attempt was made to deliver a petition signed by more than 100,000 women who are calling for peace. (www.womensaynotowar.org ) If you haven't signed, please do this immediately.

By Voices for Creative Nonviolence

Washington, D.C. - March 8 - Two activists were arrested today after
disrupting the hearing of the House Appropriations Committee. The
Committee is considering approving nearly $65 billion in supplemental
spending to fund the war in Iraq. The two activists were arrested
after they read the names of Iraqi citizens and U.S. soldiers who have
died in this war. The action was part of the "Winter of Our

By Pete Perry

Today more than a dozen peace activists lined up outside the hearing room for the House Appropriations Committee in the Rayburn Building. Four of us were with the D.C. Anti-War Network (DAWN), and we were near the front of the line, but we were soon joined by those who are fasting as part of Voices for Creative Nonviolence's Winter of Our Discontent Campaign, Code Pink and Dorothy Day Catholic Workers.

By Dede Miller

Yesterday my sister Cindy Sheehan was arrested outside of the U.S. mission to the United Nations. A contingent of Women which included Cindy, Code Pink co-founder Medea Benjamin, Missy Beattie a GSFP member whose Nephew Chase Comley was killed in Iraq and eight Iraqi women were attempting to deliver the Women Say no to War petition to the U.S. mission. This visit was pre approved by the mission. As the women arrived one of New York’s finest cited a change of plans from “higher up

National Campaign for Nonviolent Resistance

We've decided to hold a month of Monday gatherings at our local federal building focused on the costs of the war - we started today and had an excellent turnout - about 30 people from noon-1 in bitter cold temperatures, media coverage from 2 radio stations, newspaper, and a TV station and a couple of student reporters. We also got good pre-event coverage in the paper and one radio station. Today's event focused on teh "human cost of war" - civilian and military deaths and we gave out armbands for people to wear (black w/death toll in red). Next week is the "local cost of the war" - impact of budget cuts, etc., following week is "moral costs of the war" - torture and prisoner abuse. We have props and signs each week and plan to culminate with a large demonstration and direct action on monday, March 20. We hope to use the armbands and regular gathering time to build up participation for the 20th.

"Mourning to Resistance": Sundown Candlelight Vigil & Peace Ceremony marking the 3rd Anniversary of the War of Occupation in Iraq
Sunday, March 19th 2006 6:15PM
Philadelphia, PA USA

The reading of names of the war dead - Iraqi and U.S. - and the intonement of bells and drums will accompany the candlelight vigil. The ceremony for peace will include music, readings, and a circle of peace.

By Mohandas Gandhi

I have found that life persists in the midst of destruction and, therefore, there must be a higher law than that of destruction. Only under that law would a well ordered society be intelligible and life worth living. And if that is the law of life, we have to work it out in daily life. Wherever there are jars, wherever you are confronted with an opponent, conquer him with love. In a crude manner I have worked it out in my life. That does not mean that all my difficulties are solved. I have found, however, that this law of love has answered as the law of destruction has never done. In India we have had an ocular demonstration of the operation of this law on the widest scale possible. I do not claim therefore that nonviolence has necessarily penetrated the 300 million, but I do claim that it has penetrated deeper than any other message, and in an incredibly short time. We have not been all uniformly nonviolent; and with the vast majority, nonviolence has been a matter of policy. Even so, I want you to find out if the country has not made phenomenal progress under the protecting power of nonviolence.

A movie:
http://www.sirnosir.com/

CONTACT: New Hampshire Peace Action
Anne Miller, 603.520.0839
Jessica Ellis, 603.228.0559

CONCORD, New Hampshire - February 8 - On Tuesday, February 7, six New Hampshire citizens were found guilty of criminal trespass for a sit-in at Senator Judd Gregg’s Concord office on June 2, 2005. The six defendants were given a one-year suspended sentence of $200 and were called “people of conscience

By Shay Totten | Vermont Guardian

MONTPELIER — Hundreds of Vermonters are expected at a demonstration Saturday in front of the Statehouse to demand that Vermont’s elected representatives call on Pres. Bush to immediately remove all troops from Iraq.

TERRY WEBER, Globe and Mail, Toronto, Feb 8, 2006

Anti-war demonstrators gathered outside a Toronto court Wednesday where
it was decision day for a U.S. military deserter who fled his post
rather than serve in Iraq is asking to be allowed to remain in this

The next National Campaign for Nonviolent Resistance conference call to organize for the March on the Pentagon will take place on Wednesday, February 8 at 9 PM EST. Dial 1-641-297-5500 to join the call, and then add the access code 18676, followed by the pound sign. An agenda for the February 8 call and the minutes from the previous call are below.

By Lee Zaslofsky

STEPHEN HARPER AND THE WAR RESISTERS

To our knowledge, neither Stephen Harper, the new Canadian Prime
Minister, nor any other prominent Conservatives have commented directly

State of The Union is a State of Emergency
Karen Bradley and Casey Morris
Democracy Cell Project

The Democracy Cell Project is reporting live from the Capitol, and will be doing so all evening.

Teresa Grady was taken into custody today to begin her sentence of 4 months.

This is Teresa's sentencing statement.

Judge Mc Avoy,
I would like to acknowledge and thank you for your leniency with respect to Peter's special concern.

By Dahr Jamail, http://dahrjamailiraq.com

The date is March 17, 2003. St. Patrick’s Day and just two days before
U.S. bombs began raining down on Baghdad, 40 year-old Teresa Grady, her
older sister Clare, Daniel Burns and Vietnam veteran Peter De Mott

t r u t h o u t | www.truthout.org

Trials Begin in Columbus, Georgia on Monday, January 30; grandmother, priests, retirees, nun, students among those prosecuted.

Washington - On Monday, January 30 thirty-two people ranging in age from 19 to 81 will begin federal trials for peacefully walking onto a military base in protest of a controversial Army training school. Each person faces up to six months in prison and a $5,000 fine for this act of nonviolent civil disobedience.

By Max Obuszewski

On July 2, 2005 Ellen Barfield and I were arrested and charged with “disturbance on protected property,

http://www.stpatricksfour.org

Remaining Sentencing:
Teresa Grady: Friday, Jan. 27th, '06 11:30 am
Below
1-Article: Mother and Activist, Clare Grady, Sentenced in Federal Court, by Katie Quinn-Jacobs

By Nancy Dooling, Binghamton Press & Sun Bulletin (New York)
Burns: 'My Conduct was Honorable'

BINGHAMTON — At least 30 peace activists sang a hymn as protester Daniel Burns was handcuffed Monday before beginning the six-month prison sentence he received in federal court for throwing his own blood in a military recruiting office.

Remember to Save the Date

March 20, 2006 marks the day, three years ago, when the United States invaded Iraq. More than 2,200 American soldiers have been killed. Thousands more have been wounded and will bear emotional scars for a lifetime. Tens of thousands of Iraqis have perished. And, under the Bush administration, there appears to be no end in sight. We have written letters and asked for meetings with Mr. Bush, we have demonstrated in large numbers, we have met with our representatives in Congress. Now, we confront the war machine—the Pentagon.

By Robert M Smith

About 75 people gathered in Valley Forge, PA at Lockheed Martin on January 16 for a Martin Luther King Day of Nonviolent Resistance to the War & Lockheed Martin

Sixteen people - Matt Becker, Tom Mullian, Laurie Pollack, Tom Ennis, ofm, Patrick (James) Sieber, ofm, Alan Dawley, John Landreau, Peter Larson, June Eisley, Michael Berg, Mary Jo McArthur, Annie Geers, Vint Deming, Teresa Camerota, Bernadette Cronin-Geller, and Bob Smith - were arrested at the conclusion of the time of King Day memory, applying Dr. King's message today, and resistance to the war and the Iraq War #1 Profiteer, world's largest weapons corporation, the U.S. chief nuclear weapons and "Star War" contractor.

By Max Obuszewski

“…we must see the need for nonviolent gadflies to create the kind of tension in society that will help men [and women] rise from the dark depths of prejudice and racism to the majestic heights of understanding and brotherhood [and sisterhood]

By Max Obuszewski

Some twenty antiwar activists held a demonstration on a rainy Wednesday morning outside U.S. District Court in the District of Columbia at 3rd & Constitution Ave. The demonstration preceded the third trial resulting from more than 370 arrests at the White House on September 26, 2005, when activists gathered to seek a meeting to discuss an end to the war in Iraq.