Why Civil Disobedience?
The question has come up several times, why perform civil disobedience?
We are collecting essays and letters about this. If you want to share about your experience, please email: askaboutiraq@afsc.org.
THE WRONG MAN IS ON TRIAL
By: Joe Parko
I was charged with criminal trespass on Feb. 17th in the State Court of Fulton County in Atlanta , Ga. My crime? Trying to get an appointment to see my senator, Zell Miller. There is something deeply wrong with our democracy when our elected representatives would rather arrest us than meet with us.
All of this began back in the spring of 2002 when the idea of invading Iraq was surfacing. On April 22, 2002, I met with Senator Miller's legislative aide in his office on Capitol Hill and raised many questions about war on Iraq . I never received a response from the Senator. On August 28 a large delegation from the MoveOn citizens group delivered a petition against war on Iraq signed by several thousand Georgians to Senator Miller's Atlanta office. This group also left a series of questions about the war which they wanted Senator Miller to get answers to. But rather than pressing the Administration for answers, Senator Miller stated that “As a Marine, I was taught to say ‘Aye, aye, sir,' do an about-face and go do the job my commander-in-chief ordered me to do.”
We found this statement outrageous because Zell Miller is no longer a Marine. He is a U.S. Senator who is supposed to represent the people of Georgia . On Sept. 30, I led a delegation to Senator Miller's Atlanta office where we left a series of questions about war on Iraq with a junior staff member and requested that Senator Miller get answers to these questions from the President before he attacked Iraq . Among our questions were:
1. How reliable is the evidence for WMD?
2. How many casualties can we expect if urban warfare breaks out in Iraq ?
3. What is the plan for after the war?
4. How long will we be there? What will war on Iraq cost the American taxpayers?
5. Won't a war on Iraq distract us from dealing with the real sources of terrorism?
Once again, there was no response from Senator Miller. I am deeply troubled that Senator Miller knew that these and many other serious questions demanded answers before war was even considered, and that he chose to ignore them. Instead, he declared, even before the debate began, that he would support war on Iraq regardless of the very profound concerns of many thousands of Georgians.
Finally, after repeated failed attempts to get an appointment with our senator, a group of us went to his Colony Square office on Nov. 4, 2002, and told his staff that we would not leave until Senator Miller agreed to meet with us sometime during the next 30 days. Again, Miller refused and at 5:30PM the police were called in, and the five of us were arrested and taken off to jail. I am the first to be formally charged and my trial is scheduled next month.
If Zell Miller had demanded answers from President Bush before war was launched, we could have saved thousands of lives and hundreds of billions of dollars on a totally unnecessary war. If Zell Miller had listened to the people, we could have avoided the mess we are in today.
As a Quaker, my faith leads me to oppose war. But even if I was an atheist, I would have opposed this war because it simply makes no sense. The more we learn, the more we understand that this was a war that didn't need to happen.
*Joe Parko is a retired Georgia State University professor and a member of the Atlanta Friends Meeting
Testimony By Max Obuszewski
Friends,
As a member of the Pledge of Resistance, I signed an agreement I would join with others to try to prevent a war with Iraq. In a democratic process, we agreed to write letters, to lobby our elected officials, to join protest marches and to promote our antiwar position with the citizenry. As the war drums beat louder, we decided to go to the town square at the Towson Town Center to hand out leaflets stating the “Top Ten Reasons Why the US Should Not Invade Iraq.” We wore photographs of Iraqi civilians, recognizing they would be facing great peril in a U.S. invasion.
We did not interfere with commerce, but simply offered leaflets to those who were interested. Some 500 leaflets were distributed. Security officials and police officers told us we were not allowed to express our First Amendment rights in the Towson Town Center. This soon led to our arrests.
Recently we watched a 1985 German film at the American Friends Service Committee, where I work, called THE WHITE ROSE. It details the true story of seven courageous individuals who were executed by guillotine by the Nazis. Brother and sister Hans and Sophie Scholl and their colleagues felt the government betrayed them with its lust for war and its disregard of civil liberties. So members of the White Rose felt it necessary, despite the risks, to distribute leaflets surreptitiously around the city of Munich. Most people have never heard of the group. I have tried to emulate their courage and speak out against another warmongering government.
Misleading the people about weapons of mass destruction and then waging war against Iraq, the Bush administration is shameless. Thousands of lives are lost and thousands of people are suffering the wounds of war. One of the early casualties in Iraq was Donald Samuel Oaks, Jr. from Harborcreek, PA, who died April 3. I have family in Harborcreek, and my two nieces knew him as they all went to the same high school. We must resist this war to prevent further deaths here and in Iraq.
Friends from my neighborhood were drafted and sent to Vietnam. Two of them have their names on the Vietnam Veterans Wall in Washington, D.C. The Best and the Brightest, including Robert McNamara, contributed to the deaths of an estimated 3 million Vietnamese and 58,000 members of the U.S. military. It took the peace movement many, many years to stop that imperial war.
All of us who value life must take the serious risks of peace to end the current warmongering. Otherwise the dying and the suffering will be unrelenting. We need everyone in this courthouse to speak out.
One of my mentors died December 6, 2002. It was a tragic loss when cancer killed Phil Berrigan, but he still remains an inspiration. Phil never cared much for effectiveness, but instead felt it necessary to act against injustice regardless of the consequences. In his spirit and that of the White Rose, I expect to continue to act nonviolently against the war and the occupation. Failure to act will embolden the warmakers to continue their imperialist adventures. This is our time to say no to war and yes to peace with justice. Join us. Max Obuszewski
Court Statement by Maria Allwine
We respectfully ask and thank the court for allowing this brief statement to be read aloud and made a part of the record.
We went to the Towson Town Center on March 1, 2003 to try to prevent the illegal invasion of Iraq. This invasion was illegal because Article VI of the United States Constitution says “This Constitution, and the Laws of the United States which shall be made in Pursuance thereof; and all Treaties made, or which shall be made, under the Authority of the United States, shall be the supreme Law of the Land.” The United States is a signatory to the U.N. charter, which is a treaty, and which enjoins all signers from invading another country unless an attack from that country is imminent or that country has actually attacked.
Because this invasion was clearly illegal, the eight of us went to the Towson Town Center to pass out leaflets outlining the illegality as well as the immorality of war on a country which had not harmed us, had not threatened to harm us and had, as we knew at the time and the rest of the country knows now, had no means to harm us.
The Towson Town Center is, like other shopping areas, today’s town square. These areas are the few remaining areas where we can reach the most numbers and the most diverse groups of people. We desperately wanted to prevent this invasion and the death and destruction that would be rained down upon innocent civilians and which would result in the needless deaths of our own sons and daughters in military service. We knew then, as our country knows now, that Iraq would become a quagmire and that the deaths would continue. We continue to grieve each and every day, not only for the Iraqi people who have seen their country destroyed by years of sanctions and wars, but for our military men and women, who not only face grim years in Iraq, but who will come home wounded in spirit as well as body. Their suffering will go on for the rest of their lives. They have been cavalierly ill-used by an administration and a president whose motives for this invasion had nothing to do with an imminent threat from Saddam Hussein, but rather had everything to do with the politics of power.
We passed out a leaflet to those who wanted to take them outlining the reasons we should not invade Iraq. We were peaceful, quiet and careful to affect no one’s ability to conduct business. We believe that by educating our fellow citizens, we could affect some of them so profoundly that they would be moved to oppose this war – they would be moved to make known to their elected officials their opposition in whatever ways were appropriate for them. Most of us engaged in conversations with patrons who wanted to know more from us and who vowed to learn more on their own. Our mission that day was partially accomplished. We did not stop the invasion, but people heard our message.
We remain committed to our beliefs to the ideals upon which this country was founded: the right and duty of all citizens to express their opposition to the actions of our government when necessary – the very means by which this country came into existence, the idea that true patriotism means being educated about what our government is doing in our name and acting upon that knowledge, the right of each citizen to speak aloud to his or her fellow citizens and the right to assemble to express those beliefs.
In closing, we urge everyone in this room to join with us in opposing this illegal war and in protecting the most basic of our precious freedoms - our First Amendment Rights, especially in a time of war – which amendment I will now read:
“Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof, or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press, or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances.” Maria Allwine
Conscience, not press, is primary protest motive
Mark Walden (March 26, 2003)
I write as one who plans to engage in civil disobedience, violating U.S. law in protest of the war on Iraq. I want to provide a different angle on my purpose than a protester who explained the marches by saying, "We want to tie things up . . . because that's what gets attention."
Civil disobedience is not merely a bid for attention. It comes not from a crisis of coverage, but a crisis of conscience. My violation of the law of the land is a last resort. I come to this point only after voting against pro-war politicians; donating to the campaigns of their less hawkish opponents; writing, faxing, and calling government officials; participating in legal protests; and prayer.
Civil disobedience is an indictment of the government whose law I will violate. First, it is a statement that our government violates higher laws. In this case, there are numerous violations of both morality and diplomacy: of the sanctity of life, of the sovereignty of another nation, of the just war ethic of my Christian faith (this war has been condemned as a violation of that ethic by nearly every major denomination), of the will of the international community, of the responsibility to use tax monies to help the poor rather than waging war, of the role we claim as defender of the free world rather than renegade aggressor state. My act of civil disobedience is an assertion that our government has compromised its legal and moral legitimacy.
Second, it is an effort to expose the remaining primary source of government's power: physical force. I am not convinced that President Bush takes us into this war, as he says, "reluctantly." He and his Cabinet have been trying to sell the nation and the world on it for months. I am not convinced the war serves our national interests, as world opinion of the U.S. plummets, as the costs of war drain the resources of our economy and the blood of our citizens, and as our diplomats tell us in their resignation letters that the war is undermining the international goodwill it has taken decades to create. As I believe our federal government has abdicated some of its legitimate claim to power, civil disobedience reveals the power on which that government now draws in securing its foreign policy objectives or my cooperation with them: the physical force of those who wear its uniforms and carry its weapons, who bomb Iraq and who haul me away from the doors of the Federal Building.
Civil disobedience is a statement--naturally, in part to the media and thus, the public and policymakers. But it is more a statement to God, to those who suffer from our government's actions and to my own sense of integrity. It says that I dissent--as vigorously as I know how--from what my government is doing. It is even a statement to and for a U.S. Marine from the South Side with whom I prayed two weeks ago, before he was shipped out to fight a war he does not believe in, in exercising my civilian liberty to take a stand that he as a member of the military cannot.
I believe that the nation in which I work, go to church, volunteer, pay taxes and have a family is betraying our own values, values of respect for international law and institutions, national self-determination, non-aggression and respect for life and property. I will be blocking or entering the Federal Building because my conscience dictates that in any way I can, I must say: "This war is wrong!"
(This was sent as a letter to the Chicago Tribune.)
Statement of Michael Yarrow at Trial
March 17, 2003
My first arrest was in Mississippi in 1964 for handing out freedom song sheets. I was there because I was appalled that the United States Government did not defend the rights of people of color to vote. The summer included three murders by the Ku Klux Klan, hundreds of arrests, 34 church burnings and considerable numbers of beatings but the campaign finally provoked the FBI to enforce the law and the Congress to pass the Voting Rights Act. The violations of the voting rights of people of color in Florida and other states during the 2000 election suggests the need for another Mississippi Summer Project. Although it was frightening to get arrested in Mississippi at that time, it was a campaign I was proud to help. Fast forward to 2002 almost 40 years later and I was arrested again in a desperate effort to make our democracy work.
For several years I have been part of a number of delegations to raise concerns with our two senators. We have always met with aides but never the two senators and these were delegations of representatives from organizations of thousands of voters! I have called and written and petitioned the senators and received ambiguous responses designed so as not to offend anyone. Why haven't our elected officials had time to meet with us? I believe it is because they are too busy meeting with large contributors. So our democracy is not only distorted by racial discrimination but also by the heavy hand of big money. In a last ditch effort to be heard before the Congressional vote on the war resolution I presented myself to Senator Murray's office with a statement and declared that I would not leave voluntarily until I got a response. This was my attempt to elicit an authentic response from my representative on an issue of vital importance. As far as I know there was no effort by the staff to get a response from the senator. Why did I take this action on this issue? I felt there were compelling moral and legal issues at stake.
My representatives were about to enable the president to embark on a murderous war declared unjust by almost every major religious denomination. A war that would violate several principles of international law. A war which is planned to unleash 3,000 bombs in the first two days with 800 targeted for Baghdad, a city of 5 million. people, the majority kids. The Administration has presented no persuasive evidence of an immediate threat to our country from Iraq, Either the assertion that Iraq has weapons of mass destruction is a ruse to justify a first-strike war, or the president is gambling the with lives of our troops and thousands of Israelis for if the US starts an all out war for regime change, Saddam Hussein might unleash whatever he has. There is evidence of a plan to invade Iraq hatched by members of this Administration long before they arrived at the White House. The Secretary of Homeland Security warns that a war will heighten the risk to Americans. So this planned war and the ones anticipated to succeed it will kill thousands of civilians, young Americans soldiers, decrease international cooperation and increase the danger to all of us.
According to my religious belief we are all — my mother, wife, children, you judge, the people in this courtroom, the people of Iraq and Israel, Colombia — everyone is equally precious. It takes imagination and courage to act according to this tenet when our president is mobilizing our hatred of a nation. This photograph of these three young, vibrant girls in Basra, Iraq taken last May by my cardiologist reminds me of what the stakes are here. Look at them! Wouldn't you be proud to have them as your daughters? They are your daughters and my daughters. We, I, you judge, all of us in this courtroom must do everything in our power to prevent their murder and the murder of thousands of others. As I understand it, this is our duty under the Nuremberg principles, international law and shared moral standards. Starting wars, certainly wars when one's country is not under attack, is a war crime. We must prevent this crime if we can. My citizen initiative may have lacked creativity and I am sorry if it inconvenienced the officers who booked us, but it was my desperate attempt to stop a crime from occurring. I did it for my children my former students, the beautiful children of the world who need a peaceful and just future. What else would you have me do?
Michael Yarrow is on staff at the Fellowship of Reconciliation and a board member of AFSC.
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