Nonviolent Resistance

By Art Laffin

Today, August 9, the 61st anninversay of the U.S. nuclear bombing of
Nagasaki, as well as the anniversary of the martyrdom of Frans Jagerstatter
(the Austrian Catholic and father of three who was beheaded for refusing to
serve in Hitler's army), about 20 members of the Atlantic Life Community
held a nonviolent witness at the Pentagon. Holding photos of burnt bodies
and the destruction caused by the U.S. plutonium bomb dropped on Nagasaki,

Be part of the Aug. 16 "National Day of Education" (& action)!

On August 17, U.S. Army First Lieutenant Ehren Watada will face a pre-trial hearing for refusing to deploy to Iraq. “It is my conclusion as an officer of the armed forces that the war in Iraq is not only morally wrong but a horrible breach of American law. The war and what we’re doing over there is illegal,” explained the first military officer to publicly take such a stand.

By Lucy Christie, Independent / UK

Seven anti-war protesters were arrested today after campaigners boarded a plane at a British airport to search for US weapons being transported to Israel.

Two men and a woman were in custody after getting on what's understood to be a military plane at Prestwick Airport, Ayrshire, in the early hours.

Police confirmed a further four people - two men and two women - were also arrested at the airport at around 3.30am.

Civilian Resistance: Call For Action & Solidarity For Lebanon
http://www.lebanonsolidarity.org

We, the people of Lebanon, call upon the local and international community to join a campaign of civil resistance to Israel’s war against our country and our people. We declare Lebanon an open country for civil resistance.

In the face of Israel’s systematic killing of our people, the indiscriminate bombing of our towns, the scorching of our villages, and the attempted destruction of our civil infrastructure, we say NO!

Pledge of Resistance-Baltimore, 325 E. 25th Street, Baltimore, MD 21218
Ph: 410-323-7200, ext. 31

On March 20, 2006, the National Campaign for Nonviolent Resistance [NCNR], affiliated with United For Peace & Justice, organized From Mourning to Resistance – March on the Pentagon. After a rally near the Lincoln Memorial, some two hundred antiwar activists marched across the Arlington Memorial Bridge to LBJ Grove across from the Pentagon. After another rally, participants walked across a footbridge hoping to deliver a commemorative coffin to Secretary of War Donald Rumsfeld.

By ASSOCIATED PRESS

OAK RIDGE, Tenn. - Eight protesters were arrested Saturday, a day before the 61st anniversary of the world's first atomic bomb attack, after refusing to leave the entrance of a nuclear weapons plant.

Much of the work that went into producing the bomb was conducted at the Y-12 plant in the once-secret city for the World War II-era Manhattan Project. The U.S. dropped the bomb on Hiroshima, Japan, on Aug. 6, 1945.

By Ana Radelat, Gannett News Service

Swept up by a wave of patriotism after the US invasion of Iraq, Chris Magaoay joined the Marine Corps in November 2004.

The newly married Magaoay thought a military career would allow him to continue his college education, help his country and set his life on the right path.

Less than two years later, Magaoay became one of thousands of military deserters who have chosen a lifetime of exile or possible court-martial rather than fight in Iraq or Afghanistan.

By Aaron Glantz, www.OneWorld.net

Israeli authorities have sentenced an army officer to 28 days in a military prison for refusing to serve in the ongoing Israeli campaign in Lebanon.

32-year-old Reserve Captain Amir Paster, an infantry officer and student at Tel Aviv University, is the first Israeli soldier to be punished for refusing to serve in the current conflict and has received harsh criticism from the Israeli military for setting what it termed a bad example for his troops.

By Mike Ferner

friends:

lucas county common pleas judge charles wittenberg sentenced me this morning for the two felonies i was convicted of last month for spraypainting "TROOPS OUT NOW!" on a highway overpass near toledo. here's the "box score," as they say in baseball:

2 months electronically monitored house arrest.
18 months probation
court costs, plus cost of prosecution
1/2 of cost of ohio dept. of transp.'s (total ripoff, in my humble opinion) estimate for repainting the overpass (my brother is paying the other half).

The Yesh Gvul movement reported in this regard that it is currently
in touch with more than 10 soldiers and officers who have been called
up to serve in Lebanon and decline taking part in the fighting.

IL RITA

3 AUGUST 2006

1/ First Sergeant Omri Zeid

SFC ZEID, An Artilleryman from Tzfat, refused to shell Mjadara a Lebanese village.
Zeid, serving in an artillery battery in the North Golan Heights, was ordered to shoot 150 shells at the village. Zeid took up his backpack and told his fellow soldiers:

By Bill Quigley, t r u t h o u t | www.truthout.org

On August 6, 1945, the United States dropped an atomic bomb on Hiroshima. Three days later, the US dropped another atomic bomb on Nagasaki. These nuclear weapons killed over 100,000 people, almost all civilians, and injured many tens of thousands more.

Fr. Carl Kabat, 72, Greg Boertje-Obed, 51, and Michael Walli, 57, sit in jail in North Dakota awaiting a federal criminal trial because of weapons of mass destruction and because of Hiroshima and Nagasaki. I visited them last week.

Bethlehem - Ma'an - In an unprecedented incident, an Israeli artillery officer has refused to bomb Lebanese villages.

Israeli press sources have stated that Corporal 'Umri Zaid, from the Israeli city of Safad, who serves as an artillery soldier in the occupied Golan Heights, had refused orders to launch more than 150 shells onto the Lebanese village of Al-Jdairah.

The sources have reported that the soldier told his comrades that he wasn't ready to serve in an army that is professional in shelling civilians in their villages and cities. He packed his belongings and headed to his home.

CONTACT: Troops Home Fast
Medea Benjamin (202)422-8624
Gael Murphy (202) 412-6700

US Fasters on 30th Day of Hunger Strike travel to Jordan on Wednesday to meet with MPs about Peace Plan and Break Fast, then on to Lebanon Delegation leaving August 2, Available for Interviews in DC, NY, LA and San Francisco

WASHINGTON - August 1 - After 28 days of fasting, anti-war hunger strikers received a breakthrough victory for their sacrifice: Leading members of the Iraqi Parliament invited fasters to join them to discuss their plans for peace in Iraq. On Wednesday, August 2, hunger strikers will travel to Amman, Jordan to meet with these Iraqi MPs and break their fast. The group includes:

By Brian Westly, Associated Press

Washington - About 150 yards from the White House, away from a swarm of tourists, Diane Wilson sat under an expansive oak tree today, keeping a quiet vigil.

For 24 days, the 58-year-old shrimper from Seadrift, Texas, said she has been coming to Lafayette Park and going without food to protest the war in Iraq and to pressure President Bush to bring home the troops.

Abuse of women GIs: Good men must check bad ones
Claims of sexual abuse in the military by a US Army specialist show a need for progress.
By Erin Solaro, Christian Science Monitor

SHELTON, WASH.
In January 2006, US Army Specialist Suzanne Swift went absent without leave (AWOL) from her unit, the 54th MP Company, rather than return to Iraq.

She claimed to have suffered repeated sexual harassment and abuse, and blamed a chain of command whose members variously refused to stop it, participated in it, and accused her of bringing it on herself. She was arrested on June 11.

www.ThankYouLt.org

On August 17, U.S. Army First Lieutenant Ehren Watada will face a pre-trial hearing for refusing to deploy to Iraq. “It is my conclusion as an officer of the armed forces that the war in Iraq is not only morally wrong but a horrible breach of American law. The war and what we’re doing over there is illegal,” explained the first military officer to publicly take such a stand.

www.ThankYouLt.org

On July 28th, 12 Colorado activists referred to as the “No Blood for Oil 12” were found guilty of trespassing for blocking the entrance to a Lakewood, CO recruiting center on November 18th, 2005.

The demonstration was held as part of “National Stand Down Day,” a day of demonstrations and non-violent resistance at recruiting stations across the country, demanding an end to the Iraq war.

www.ThankYouLt.org

On July 15th, PFC Suzanne Swift’s birthday, support actions around the country were held for Suzanne, who is confined to Ft. Lewis in Washington, as she seeks a discharge from the military.

Suzanne has completed one tour of duty in Iraq, where she was sexually harassed and assaulted by her commanding officers.

Over 100 supporters rallied at the gates of Fort Lewis, demanding an immediate honorable discharge for Suzanne and solidarity with all women and men who have suffered similar abuse.

www.ThankYouLt.org

Activists in New Haven, CT were confronted with a bat-wielding Marine as they expressed their support for war resisters in conjunction with nationwide actions in support of Lt. Ehren Watada in late June.

The story began on June 27th when members of the New Haven community rallied in front of the downtown recruiting station in support of Lt. Watada, the first officer to publicly refuse deployment to Iraq.

CPTnet

On Monday 24 July, Chicago police arrested six CPT members as they appealed
for an end to U.S. military aid to Israel in the office of U.S. Senator Dick
Durbin.

More than forty-five CPTers, CPT training participants and supporters
gathered for prayer outside the Israeli Consulate, then walked a mile
through downtown Chicago to the Federal Building, making the connection
between Israel's military actions and U.S. military aid to Israel.

"Don't be a poodle anymore!"

A Report by Geoffrey Millard and Scott Galindez
http://www.truthout.org/multimedia.htm

On the 25th day of the "Troops Home Fast," four fasters and one supporter, ranging in age from 58 to 74, were arrested attempting to block British prime minister Tony Blair from exiting the White House. Diane Wilson, one of the arrestees, said their goal was to "keep To

On Feb 3rd. 2003, the Pit Stop Ploughshares(Deirdre Clancy, Nuin Dunlop,
Karen fallon, Damien Moran & Ciaron O'Reilly) disarmed a U.S. Navy war
plane at Shannon Airport, County Clare, Ireland. The five were arrested &
charged with $US 2.5million "criminal damage without lawful excuse" & �100
criminal damage without lawful excuse" for the window of the hangar.

The first trial collpased on the 6th. day of trial-March '05. The second

By Catherine Komp
http://newstandardnews.net

As the military develops increasingly sophisticated approaches to roping in America’s youth, a renewed counter-recruitment movement is fighting back with its own fresh strategies.

July 28 – Raymond Cyrille thought about joining the military throughout junior high. The 18-year-old New Yorker said the Navy did well by two of his uncles, who lead lifestyles in retirement that Cyrille finds appealing.

CODE PINK

We have exciting news to share with you today! After being rebuffed in our numerous attempts to meet with Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki, including setting up "Camp Al-Maliki" across from the Iraqi Embassy and publishing an open letter to him in one of the largest Iraqi newspapers, we received an amazing invitation: Five members of the Iraqi Parliament who are working on a Reconciliation Plan to end the violence in their country contacted us. Moved by the commitment of the long-term fasters and dismayed by their prime minister’s refusal to meet with us, these parliamentarians asked us to join them in Amman, Jordan next week to discuss their Reconciliation Plan, on condition that we break our long-term fast with them!

By Sara Rich

Things continue to move forward for Suzanne. The Army has not yet
disclosed the results of the commander-directed investigations. The
investigator took statements from witnesses, including Suzanne, and
forwarded his report to the command. The command now has to decide
whether Suzanne's allegations require the Army to take action, and
whether they have any bearing on Suzanne's own case. We expect to learn

By Kathy Kelly, CommonDreams.org

This July in Dublin, five peace activists were put on trial for disarming a U.S. warplane parked on the tarmac of Ireland's Shannon airport.

In February, 2003, with the U.S. completing its build-up for "Shock and Awe," these five activists broke into an airport hangar which the U.S. was using as a "pit stop" for planes en route to the war zone. They had dubbed themselves the "Pitstop Ploughshares" and, following the biblical injunction to hammer their weapons into plowshares, they took a hammer to the nosecone of a C48 U.S. Navy supply plane and disabled it. You'll find full details at www.peaceontrial.com.

My name is Joseph (Jody) McCord. I arrived in Washington, D.C. on July 23rd to begin my participation in the Troops Home Fast, sponsored by Code Pink and the Gold Star Families for Peace. The Troops Home Fast is an effort to compel the Federal Government to remove U.S. troops from Iraq immediately. Over 5,000 people from the U.S. and around the world have signed up to fast for at least one day. They can fast at home, or come to Washington D.C., where the fast has been organized. We are also in need of non-fasting volunteers, and of equipment, transportation, office space and lodging; the Troops Home Fast is also accepting cash donations. Sooner or later, several of us will need wheelchairs.

"Is the U.S. war and occupation of Iraq illegal?"

On August 17, U.S. Army First Lieutenant Ehren Watada will face a pre-trial hearing for refusing to deploy to Iraq. “It is my conclusion as an officer of the armed forces that the war in Iraq is not only morally wrong but a horrible breach of American law. The war and what we’re doing over there is illegal,” explained the first military officer to publicly take such a stand.

Pledge of Resistance-Baltimore, 325 East 25 Street, Baltimore, MD 21218 Ph: 410-323-7200, ext. 31; Fax: 410-323-7292

On March 20, 2006, the National Campaign for Nonviolent Resistance [NCNR], affiliated with United For Peace & Justice, organized From Mourning to Resistance – March on the Pentagon. After a rally near the Lincoln Memorial, some two hundred antiwar activists marched across the Arlington Memorial Bridge to LBJ Grove across from the Pentagon.

By Todd Dvorak, Associated Press

Cedar Rapids, Iowa -- When school was canceled to accommodate a campaign visit by President Bush, the two 55-year-old teachers reckoned the time was ripe to voice their simmering discontent with the administration's policies.

Christine Nelson showed up at the Cedar Rapids rally with a Kerry-Edwards button pinned on her T-shirt; Alice McCabe clutched a small, paper sign stating "No More War." What could be more American, they thought, than mixing a little dissent with the bunting and buzz of a get-out-the-vote rally headlined by the president?