OCCUPATION PROJECT ROLLS

OCCUPATION PROJECT ROLLS
INTO McCAIN’S WORLD

By Bill Rau
for www.consumersforpeace.org

Washington, D.C.
February 5, 2007


The arrests started just five minutes after people entered Senator John McCain’s (R-AZ) office in the senate Office Building. The first of a planned three-month series of occupations of U.S. legislators’ offices was designed to demand specific action to quickly end the U.S. war in and occupation of Iraq.

About 50 people, representing nearly twenty participating organizations, took part in the
nonviolent civil disobedience. Both TV and print media covered the event. The nonviolent actions will re-occur over the next two to three months, both at the U.S. Congress offices and
the state offices of Senators and Representatives.

Also, on February 5th, events were held at McCain’s office in Phoenix and the state offices of the two senators from Illinois— Barack Obama and Richard Durbin, the Senate Majority Whip.
The occupation called upon Senator McCain—as it will in all subsequent actions—to:

· Publicly declare that he will vote against further funding for the war and occupation;

· Introduce legislation to provide full benefits and quality health care to returning service men and women;

· Introduce a companion Senate Resolution to forthcoming HR Resolution 508;

· Introduce legislation to provide funds for reconstruction in Iraq by neutral humanitarian
organizations. According to Zanne Joi, a member of Code Pink: Women for Peace, the occupation of Senator McCain’s office was designed to appeal to his conscience, as he had been subject to violence as a prisoner of war in Viet Nam.

Joi said that arrest was a risk necessary to demonstrate people’s commitment to ending the U.S.
military actions in Iraq. Speaking outside McCain’s office, Gael Murphy, also of Code Pink, said that arrest was less a risk than was taking no action against the war.

Following a briefing and making plans to deal with potential arrests, the demonstrators gathered in the hallway outside of Senator McCain’s office. Photos of Iraqis affected by the war and occupation were displayed. The names and ages of both Iraqis and U.S. military personnel killed during the occupation were read out. The naming continued as they entered McCain’s office. After each name, others chanted, “We remember you.” Another song included the line: “Cut
the funding for the war, or we’re going to block your door.”

Nine people were arrested by the U.S. Capitol Police who knew of the planned action beforehand. The policewoman who met the group when it first arrived was very accommodating, clear but flexible in her directions about noise and keeping a path clear in the hallway.

Another officer dismissed the complaints of a McCain staffer to stop the photography in the office. “She has a right to take photographs,” the officer was overhead to say to the staffer. At the same time, the ten or so police who broke up the occupation were very specific and official when they ordered people to leave the office or face arrest.

Those arrested were led away in hand constraints. Among them were Kathy Kelly and Jeff Leys of Voices for Creative Nonviolence which has organized the campaign.

During the occupation of McCain’s office, one member of the group kneeled on the floor with a
black hood over his head. His T-shirt read, “Shut down Guantanamo.” He, too, was arrested.
It was hard watching people being led away, hands cuffed behind their backs. But I admired their continued vocal statements against the war as they were taken down the hallway and eventually to jail for processing.

For me, observing the occupation (a word that neatly parallels, but in contra-distinction to the Iraq occupation) was a rare event. I tend to avoid much interaction with “law makers,” except for an occasional letter to my senators and representative.

On one level, I admire the determination and courage of people who regularly voice their opposition to so many harmful U.S. policies and actions. At the same time, I wonder: Does it change congressional direction? Aren’t most members of Congress so embedded with corporate views of well-being and U.S. “rights” in the world that they don’t see alternatives to narrow visions of “national security”? While I tend to dwell on those “big” issues, it is good to see and
hear small and large groups clearly express viable alternatives through nonviolent actions.

February 5th was chosen as the date to kick off the campaign as it was the fourth anniversary of Colin Powell’s speech at the U.N. during which he made false and distorted arguments to justify the invasion of Iraq in 2003. It also was the day that the U.S. administration asked Congress for another $100 billion to continue the war.

A number of local actions are being organized for February, March and April as a part of the campaign. More information is available at the website of the Center for Creative Nonviolence
(http://www.vcnv.org/), Occupation Project.

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occupation-project-rolls-into-mccains-world-2/