Inside the Belly of the Beltway Beast

After the September peace march and subsequent mass nonviolent civil resistance action at the White House, I can’t help but feel the tide of dissent and public opposition to our nation’s current road to imperialism rise. It now seems as if Katrina has finally exposed our government’s unjust priorities. Within days America is expected to witness its two-thousandth death from combat operations in Iraq. Popularity for this war and occupation has slumped to an all-time low. A recent CBS poll reports 59 percent of Americans favor a withdrawal from Iraq as soon as possible. And yet the American government stubbornly continues to fund an illegal and immoral occupation of a nation that never posed a credible threat to us. Meanwhile military recruiters routinely lie and manipulate the youth of our nation to sign up for a war of empire, possibly leaving them mentally or physically – or both -- scarred for life. On November 17th and 18th, students, parents and peace activists will unite to tell o...

Sorry for the late posting on this historic event. Three weeks ago, I was detained on a Metro bus with my dear friends Malachy, David Barrows, Midge Potts and D.C.-based Catholic Worker Art Laffin. We had been arrested for protesting in front of the White House and refusing to leave. We were protesting against the illegal and immoral war and occupation of a soveriegn nation which never posed a credible threat to our nation. This action had been planned largely through conference calls hosted by United for Peace and Justice's (UFPJ) nonviolent direct action working group. The two groups who probably had the biggest hand in designing this momentous act of nonviolent resistance was The National Campaign of Nonviolent Resistance (formerly known as the Iraq Pledge of Resistance) and Clergy and Laity Concerned about Iraq (CALC-I). Participation in the event turned out to be larger than many of us imagined. The first one arrested was Cindy Sheehan, the anti-war movement's first true...