Inside the Belly of the Beltway Beast

By Joy First Written January 14 and 15, 2008 I’m in Washington, DC on a nine-day trip arriving on Wednesday January 9. It is a long time to be away from my family in Wisconsin. I will be participating in an action to shut down Guantanamo on January 11. On January 16, I will be on trial with 33 others for the Rivers of Blood action in the U.S. Capitol on September 20, 2007. There are always many opportunities to get involved in speaking out against our government’s illegal and immoral actions while I am in DC. On Thursday morning, I got up at 5 am and joined my friends Malachy, Eve, Pete and others at the entrance to the CIA in Virginia. We stood outside the gate holding a banner saying “Torture is Terrorism” during the morning commute. Later that day I went to DC Superior Court as the verdict was read for Mike Ferner. For more on that, see the story on “A True American Patriot”. It’s very difficult to describe my experiences between January 11 and 12. I am still feeling traumat...

Big thanks to Michelle for writing the following article. The action, organized by Witness Against Torture, was a powerful one. The Supreme Court Police were extremely rough with the protesters arrested on the inside. This might have been the first time such a sizable protest was conducted inside, about 15 yards from the court's main chamber. One activist in her 70s was injured when police threw her to the marble floor twice... Activists Pose as Guantanamo Prisoners By Michelle Boorstein Washington Post Staff Writer Sunday, January 13, 2008; C03 As the protesters were led, one after the other, before Judge Robert I. Richter to be charged, all stated their real names and added, "I am here on behalf of . . ." -- then named one of the 275 suspected terrorists held at the U.S. Navy base in southeast Cuba. Mixed among more routine cases such as simple assault and prostitution, the detainees' names were on the arraignment schedule tacked up in the court basement near the ca...

On the eve of the Iowa Presidential Caucus, 10 Washington, D.C., Northern Virginia and Baltimore area peace activists visited Sen. Hillary Clinton's national headquarters in Arlington, Virginia. The nonviolent protest, featuring a mock coffin and the reading of Iraqi and American names killed in the more than five years of war and military occupation in Iraq. While our protest was going on, we learned that several of our brothers and sisters with Season of Discontent: A Presidential Occupation Project, were arrested in the Des Moines, Iowa offices of Republican candidate Mitt Romney and Democratic candidate Barack Obama. This new round of the Occupation Project has been largely organized by Voices for Creative Nonviolence (VCNV). There were no arrests during our action. We hand-delivered two letters to Hillary, and asked politely to speak with a staff member. We were denied that meeting and the inner doors of the office building were barred to us. While we began reading names of A...