MARCH 19, 2008 (Wednesday) Everywhere and in Washington, D.C.: Nonviolent Resistance

Nonviolent Civil Resistance and/or Disobedience in All 435 Congressional Districts and in the Nation's Capital on the Fifth Anniversary of the Occupation of Iraq

REPORTS ON ACTIONS:

Photos by Denise Lombard.

I went to the protest at the American Petrolium Institute at 8 a.m. It's now 9:15 and there are stil crowds on the four corners of the intersection of 13th and L Streets NW. People have blocked the streets several times, but the police have just dragged them to the sidewalk and let them go, after which the same people block the street again. The police really want to avoid making arrests. A group of bicylclists almost chained their bikes across one street, but the police stopped them before they could get both ends of the chain locked. The police have now started preventing people from crossing the south and east crosswalks, so people are crossing the other two very slowly, with the police hurrying them along but not yet arresting anybody - although that may be coming soon. A lot of college students are taking part. People have set up windmills, hung large banners, and are takign green hard hats and clipboards around to poll people on behalf of oil addicts anonymous. Apparently API has announced a move to clean energy and will be notifying Congress that it can stop funding the occupation of Iraq. I shot video that I will upload ASAP.

Photos by Hissyspit

I'm told that over at the IRS protesters blocking the doors were arrested by Homeland Security, which is a new twist. Usually it's rent-a-cops, DC Police, Capital Police, Park Service, or one of the other more familiar of the endless gun-toting agencies in our Empire's Capital.

There are sirens and police vehicles driving in every direction around the K Street area, and police radios keep picking up reports of protests in various intersections.

I'm told a group blocked the intersection of L and 17th Streets and locked themselves together. The police cut them apart, dragged them to the side, but did not arrest them.

It appears we have Stay-Out-Of-Jail cards today. We'll see if the Park Police behave the same way over at the White House when we wrap it with Crime Scene tape.

Thirty some arrests at the IRS.

Demo at Native American Museum and at Archives.

March of the Dead - Black robes and White masks taking over the streets downtown.

Students holding dance party in intersection of K and 14th. Nobody arrested.

Great images of earlier event with women in L and 17th - one legal observer arrested. Women cut apart and dragged aside and let go.

This strategy of not arresting people is backfiring on the police, because the same people are causing them new trouble throughout the day in various locations.

C-Span is showing actions, I'm told.

I'm in Franklin Park and hundreds of students are playing music and dancing and taking over K Street.

If police are getting frustrated and shifting attitude it's not showing. Mostly they seem to be enjoying the endless party while avoiding the hassle of arresting people. They themselves of course have no vested interest in killing Iraqis.

300 some people have shut down the military recruiting station on L Street.

IVAW has taken the top steps of the Archives with flags and then chained themselves to a flag pole to defend the Constitution from all enemies... domestic.

Grannies are starting to sit down and knit stump socks for amputees in front of the VA.

Ted Stein is jamming in McPherson Square and people are dancing!

1:15 pm I'm at White House now. Lots of people here. Getting ready for a waterboarding. Vets for Peace et al just marched through and headed to the VA where the Grannies are knitting. Some of these vets did everything to get arrested at the Archives but weren't arrested. So, now they're marching through streets carrying flags. I don't think the strategy of th epolice is reducing the media coverage and disruption. I think it's increasing it, and in quantity if not quality it will be good.

Light rain starting.

A hard rain's a gonna fall.

AP report.

AP and AFP videos.

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Click for flyer:

LOCAL EVENTS: Post Yours! Update it.

FIND LOCAL EVENTS AT http://5yearstoomany.org AND IN A SEPARATE LIST AT http://worldagainstwar.org

WASHINGTON DC EVENTS: Join us!

OTHER CITIES: San Francisco, Chicago, College Station, Texas, Denver, Clifton, NJ,

Resources for nonviolent activism: HERE.

Resources for promoting your event in the media: HERE.

Flyers and posters with room for local info: HERE.

Ideas for local actions: HERE.

DETAILS ON DC EVENTS:

*7:30am* - Opening Circle & Press Briefing at McPherson Square, 15th & K St NW

*8am* - Separate Oil from State action at the American Petroleum Institute, 13th & L St NW

8am - Blockade the IRS with War Resisters League and friends – Help expose the real cost of war by shutting down the IRS first thing in the morning and making a clear statement to stop FUNDING war! Click here for more details.
1111 Constitution Ave NW (between 10th & 12th Streets)

*9am* - Veterans March for Peace begins on the Mall at 7th St

*9:30am* - March of the Dead begins at the Women's Memorial at Arlington Cemetery: Activist Response Team (A.R.T.) and others who join us will imagine what would happen if the dead, civilian and military, return to enter Washington to seek justice for the crimes committed in Iraq and Afghanistan because of U.S. foreign policy. In death masks, all in black, some wearing the name of someone killed, others with statistics measuring the scale of the tragedy, we will proceed through the city in small groups riding the metro, walking the streets and haunting the periphery of the other actions. We will then converge at a given time all-together to make the long march for justice with stops at the State Department, Justice Department, and Supreme Court culminating with acts of civil resistance.

*10:15am* - Veterans ceremony with Buffy Saint-Marie in front of the American Indian Museum

*11am* - Public Gathering & Press Briefing at McPherson Square

*12 noon* - Funk the War: Student Power Dance Party Against Empire, meet at Franklin Park, 14th & K NW with Students for a Democratic Society

12:30pm - Die In at CAT, 1445 K St, with the Coalition for Justice and Accountability

*1:30pm* - Anti-Torture demonstration with World Can't Wait at Lafayette Park

*2pm* - Public Gathering & Press Briefing at McPherson Square

3pm - CODEPINK action at the NSA - 725 17th Street NW between Pennsylvania and New York

3:30 p.m. in Lafayette Square Park join Veterans for Peace and Iraq Veterans Against the War.

*5pm* - meet at the Reflecting Pool on the west side of the Capitol, march to the Democratic National Committee Headquarters - bring pots & pans, drums, noisemakers, signs, banners

Sundown in Lafayette Square Park: view the film exposing the ultimate crimes committed by this regime: The Bush Crimes Commission.

Something else that anyone anywhere can do on the 19th:

Something you can do while you're home:

IRAQ FAX-IN
March 19 marks the 5th Anniversary of Bush's disastrous invasion and occupation of Iraq - yet there is no end in sight. The costs so far are staggering: 4,000 young Americans killed, tens of thousands maimed... 1 million Iraqis killed, millions maimed... $562 billion in tax dollars stolen from our children... $3 trillion cost to our economy through veterans care, weapons replacement, higher oil prices, and the collapsing dollar. All that in just 5 years! We elected a Democratic Congress in 2006 to bring our troops home, but they keep giving Bush blank checks. Incredibly, Congress will soon vote on another $102 billion blank check. On this 5th Anniversary, it is time for everyone who hates this occupation to do something about it. And we're making it as simple and effective as we can. We're calling it a Fax-In. It's like a sit-in, only you can do it from home. Fax an image to Congress that visually expresses how you feel about the endless occupation of Iraq. Do it here:

http://iraqfaxin.com