The following are Minutes from The Declaration of Peace National Conference Call that took place on February 18 2008.
This page is divided into two sections: Key Points, Suggestions, Resources from the Call and Minutes. Key Points has relevant websites, event plans, and suggestions taken from the minutes. Minutes has the full minutes of the call.
Key Points, Suggestions, Resources from the Call
United for Peace and Justice’s “5 Years Too Many” site including the DC Action and Training Schedule. Click here for the most important details about the DC actions.
American Friends Service Committee’s “Cost of War” mobile exhibit and literature is available nationwide: visit the Cost of War site or email to get the Cost of War for your event.
Monday, March 7: Olive Branch Interfaith Peace Partnership Interfaith Peace Witness in Washington, DC. Event listing on The Declaration of Peace Events Calendar.
Racine, WI: Planning to build representations of UFPJ’s “Pillars of War and Empire”
Bellingham, WA: March 22: Activities being planned at Fort Lewis near Seattle, a lot of education and outreach to active-duty military through on-base IVAW chapters
Charlotte, NC: Postcards saying “Iraq Solution – Prison Time for Cheney and Bush” being brought to DC
Chicago, IL: permitted rally on the 19th, day of resistance and evening convergence on the 20th. Check out the Chicago Mass Action website.
Providence, RI: “Experiencing the War in Iraq” exhibit from March 7-29 with march in Providence and related activities on the 19th and other days. Also providing public access to IVAW’s Winter Soldier hearings. March 21: Iraq Moratorium vigil in front of Senator Jack Reed’s office
Baltimore, MD: handing out leaflets at Senator Barbara Mikulski’s office on the 19th
Bloomington, IN: March 19th plans: March down main thoroughfares of Bloomington to courthouse square, rally with speakers featuring recent veterans and family members, followed by a march to Rep. Baron Hill’s office with open invitation to candidates running for his House seat. Possible action near National Guard recruiting office.
Syracuse, NY: Building actual pillars to dramatize the Pillars of War and Empire (see above) Suggestion: Use Sonotubes for easy and portable pillar construction. Discussing pros and cons of disrupting traffic, given widespread support for ending the war
Impeachment: www.wexlerwantshearings.com
Minutes of Conference Call
The Declaration of Peace provides the minutes of this call as a public resource. We find that seeing the conversation unfold helps to put the points above in context. These are not verbatim notes and no recording was made of the call. These minutes are not direct quotes of anyone but rather an attempt to paraphrase what they said.
The Declaration of Peace is committed to protecting the privacy of people who participate on conference calls and other aspects of the campaign. We have removed the names of the participants and refer to them only by their location, to allow you to understand the flow of conversation. Certain volunteers with The Declaration of Peace have decided to allow their names to be published, so they will appear as themselves in the minutes.
Conference Call Information
The Declaration of Peace - National Conference Call
Monday, February 18, 2008 – 8 pm to 9 pm EST
1-712-432-2500 Access Code: 12 13 14 15 #
Participants:
Timothy Baer - Bloomington, IN (facilitator and campaign coordinator, convener of Local Organizing Committee)
Andrew Sawtelle - Providence, RI (notetaker, convener of Communications Committee)
Charlotte, NC
Baltimore, MD
Chicago, IL
Samantha Miller - Washington, DC (United for Peace and Justice)
Bellingham, WA
Racine, WI (2 participants)
Paul Frazier - Syracuse, NY (convener of Nonviolence Training committee)
Agenda:
Overview of this evening’s call – Agenda
Introductions
Facilitated Call, Stack, Mute by pressing 6
UFPJ Call at 9 p.m. Eastern Call-in number: 712-775-7000, access code 998100#
Overview of March 19th D.C. Actions so far by Samantha Miller
Questions about D.C. for Samantha
Who is planning to go to D.C. for March 19th actions? Are groups mobilizing to get people there?
The Declaration of Peace has Nonviolence Training Resources and Directory of trainers.
March 19th Local Actions. What are people planning?
Resource or organizing suggestions.
As a part of Outreach efforts … Need others for The Declaration of Peace National Coordinating Body and working committees. Can anybody participate? There are weekly calls and other work helping reach out to other activists and organizers.
Minutes
5. Overview of March 19th D.C. Actions so far by Samantha Miller
Timothy: I’d like to introduce Samantha Miller from United for Peace and Justice, who will give an update on the actions being planned for Washington DC on March 19th.
Samantha: UFPJ is calling for a day of nonviolent civil disobedience and direct action aimed at the Pillars of War and Empire. Actions will be happening at multiple sites around the city. Actions are being planned already, and there is space for anyone else to plan their own actions. I have a write up of these actions, and they’ll be posted on our website as of tomorrow. Click here for the link.
Timothy: Great, I plan to be there.
6. Questions about D.C. for Samantha
Bellingham, WA: This is not a question but a comment. I don’t ever remember anything like this as far back as I can remember. It sounds appropriately new and unique, so congratulations.
7. Who is planning to go to D.C. for March 19th actions? Are groups mobilizing to get people there?
Timothy: Great. Is anyone on this call planning to go to DC?
Charlotte, NC: How many people will be going to DC overall? Sometimes I’ve been to marches in Washington and there haven’t been a lot of people. People need to know we’re here and we mean something and that means a lot of people.
Samantha: Lots of different national organizations, as well as ones in the mid-Atlantic, DC and New York are doing a lot of recruitment. We have 160 signups at our website so far. This isn’t a march so we’re not hoping for a huge number of people. If 500 people got arrested, it would be the biggest civil disobedience action against the war since it started. I’m pretty confident that we will have those kinds of numbers.
Timothy: It’s really up to us to make sure that people go, that’s why The Declaration of Peace is right behind UFPJ in its efforts to get as many people as possible. Regardless of what you’re doing on March 19th, we want people engaged. Hundreds of actions will be going on around the country, but the national media will be clearly looking at DC as the exclamation point. The actions in DC and all across the country will speak to how broadly spread the anti-war movement is in this country, with the number and variety of actions going on.
Racine, WI #1: I’m not sure if anyone locally is planning on going but I know The Declaration of Peace group in [location removed] is planning to go. [Name removed] is part of that group, she may be there.
Baltimore, MD: A question for Samantha. AFSC here wants people to come on the 7th (probably referring to Olive Branch Interfaith Peace Partnership). If people ask which to go to, what do I say?
Samantha: There will be many actions in March. The 19th is probably going to be the biggest, but people should choose what their focus is and what they’re drawn to.
Bellingham, WA: We’re on the West Coast. I think a very small number of people will be going to DC, but who knows? Here in Bellingham we do want to back up IVAW. IVAW has been successful in starting several on-base chapters. The Saturday after, the 23rd, there will be activities at the gates of Fort Lewis near Seattle. We’re doing a lot of education and outreach to active-duty. We’re getting a couple of buses and getting people to support that instead of a smaller march and rally in Bellingham. These are just plans at this point though.
Timothy: Anyone else planning to come to DC or have questions for Samantha?
Samantha: I’m getting off the call to prepare for the UFPJ DC action call at 9. Please email me at with questions or information.
8. The Declaration of Peace has Nonviolence Training Resources and Directory of trainers.
Timothy: Maybe this will be more useful for people planning local actions. You can find nonviolence training resources at our website. We have links directly from the emails we send out. Go to the right-hand column, the box that says “Nonviolence Training”, and find our directory of trainers. We also have a number of resources. Send any suggestions for things we should have up there to .
Andrew: Declaration of Peace also has a nationwide database that we use for sending out emails and other organizing. If you’re planning something, in addition to posting your events on the Declaration of Peace website, we can send out a targeted email announcement to our contacts in your area. We can also give you specific contact information of people who have agreed to let us share that information with local organizers. This is part of the way we work as a grassroots, all-volunteer campaign.
Timothy: To follow up on that, you can post your events directly to the Declaration of Peace website. You can also post events to the 5 Years Too Many site. You can email us reports of past events and we’ll post them to our Submitted Articles section. You can also submit your content directly to our website.
9. March 19th Local Actions. What are people planning?
Timothy: So, what are people planning on March 19th?
Racine, WI #2: I was really impressed by those Five Pillars. We’re going to construct that and have some explanation of those to hand out. Our event for 5 Years Too Many will be at the corner of Highways 31 and 20, as we do every month, as well as some other things.
Charlotte, NC: On the 19th I’m going down to DC. Last year I made postcards about “Congress, Isn’t it Time for Cheney to Do Time?” I don’t know what my postcard this year will say, maybe something about “it occurred to me that this is the last year that we as a nation, do believe in the constitution” with a picture of another protest from last year. “Iraq Solution – Prison Time for Cheney and Bush” will be on the back. I’ll take 1000 with me and hand them out.
Chicago, IL: On the 19th, we’ll start with a short permitted rally up to the “Gold Coast”, where over the years we’ve had battles to march on major thoroughfares. We’ve pretty much won that right. The following day will be a day of resistance, with civil disobedience in the financial district, federal district, recruiting centers, with an evening permitted convergence at the Federal Plaza to celebrate the day, showing footage taken that day on a big screen, drummers and so on. Go to www.chicagomassaction.org.
Andrew: We’re calling our local month of actions “March to End the Madness.” From March 7th to the 29th will be an “Experiencing the War in Iraq” art exhibit with many related events. On the 19th there will be a march and vigil at 4 pm, music from 5 to 7 pm, followed by a candlelight procession to the Pawtucket Visitors Center plaza for actions, then spoken word at 7:30 in the Slater Mill Theater. There are other things in the works for that day as well. People have been talking about doing a version of the “Frozen Grand Central” improv performance, where lots of people will stand still for five minutes in a public place to highlight the five years of war. On the 21st we’ll continue to mark the monthly Iraq Moratorium with a vigil outside of Senator Jack Reed’s office in downtown Providence. As it gets warmer up here we’re looking at making it a weekly vigil once again. We’re also looking for ways to provide public access to IVAW’s Winter Soldier Hearings which are going on from March 13-16 in DC. Check out their website to find out how to do this in your community.
Baltimore, MD: We just got approval from Monthly Meeting to hand out a leaflet at Senator Barbara Mikulski’s office on the 19th or maybe some other days, we haven’t decided which days are best. She seems to vote for the money for war every time.
Timothy: I just came from a local planning meeting in Bloomington. The events here should be powerful. This is the most community input we’ve had so far in planning our actions. There will be a march down the main thoroughfares starting at Sample Gates on campus, down to the courthouse square where there will be a rally with speakers, especially people who have served or have had family serving. We’ll be having a reading of US service members and Iraqis who have been killed. We’ll be marching to Representative Baron Hill’s office to make a presentation there. Showers Plaza, it’s a public square. We’re inviting all candidates looking to run for Hill’s seat to speak, including two anti-war candidates. One of them is a libertarian who’s changed his position on the war due to our work. He said that he felt he’d been getting false information and now supports withdrawal. There’s also been talk of a street die-in or something near the National Guard recruiting office. Indiana is among the top 5 states with soldiers being sent from the National Guard to Iraq.
Paul: Our local affinity groups have been talking. One suggestion for the Pillars. You can use Sonotubes, which are about a foot wide and are used to pour concrete pilings for porches and things like that. We’ve been talking about going around to local pillars of support for the war with actual pillars that we make. Also, I’d like to encourage a discussion about issues regarding blocking streets and traffic. Maybe we don’t get into that on the call tonight, but I’d like to know how other people are dealing with it. On the 19th we’ll have a gathering downtown and go to different sites, looking hard at how to lean on those different pillars. We’re looking at the pros and cons of disrupting traffic for those 70% who are against the war but might react to us interfering with their getting around. My email address is .
Bellingham, WA: I love the Sonotubes idea. I was part of a nonviolence training at an MLK conference recently. I was surprised that it was mostly young people, and they have asked for another one on campus. Also we’ve been contacted by high school students, who want to do a walk-out on the 19th. A lot of issues like Paul’s have come up. Paul, I’ll email you about those. One more thing, I heard that Baron Hill’s office was forewarned about a past action?
Timothy: Yeah, DC people were looking at the Declaration of Peace website and contacted officials in Bloomington. It’s clear that our website and many other websites that are part of the anti-war movement are being monitored. We always find out that there are way more events and actions than get posted. That’s why we encourage people to give reports, since the mainstream media doesn’t report on it to the extent it should, and we want to get the news out any way we can.
Andrew: I’d suggest using AFSC’s Cost of War exhibit. They have very nice-looking banners that can be raised 8, 10, 12 feet high, all saying “One Day of the Iraq War = 720 Million Dollars, 84 New Elementary Schools”, all sorts of statistics like that, based on research done by Nobel Prize winning economist Joseph Stiglitz and Linda Bilmes of the Kennedy School of Government at Harvard. They also have glossy brochures with those same numbers that you can hand out. Find out how to get the exhibit at your event.
Baltimore, MD: I want to second what was just said. Our meeting approved putting one of those banners up on our building where lots of cars go by.
Andrew: The best person to contact about Cost of War would be Mary Zerkel in AFSC’s Chicago office. Call her at 312-427-2533 x 15. Her email address is .
10. Resource or organizing suggestions.
These got folded into the earlier agenda items.
11. As a part of Outreach efforts … Need others for The Declaration of Peace National Coordinating Body and working committees. Can anybody participate? There are weekly calls and other work helping reach out to other activists and organizers.
Timothy: Right now we have a few National Coordinating Body members. We’re looking for other people to become engaged. We have weekly conference calls. If you can help in any way, we’d like to hear from you.
Charlotte, NC: I’m pretty sure I emailed you saying I could make calls. I think a big problem this year is the elections and Bush getting out of the White House. I called Pelosi’s office to ask about impeachment, about the aluminum tubes and how Bush made things up, and nothing came of that. I think a lot of people are discouraged. If Bush doesn’t get impeached, what are we going to do? We don’t have much time. People are thinking “Just let him get out of office”. Have you paid attention to Congressman Wexler? People need to be supporting him talking about impeachment. I think our basic problem of lack of participation is that people are just trying to forget about it and hope that maybe get Obama or Hillary elected and maybe they’ll end the war.
Baltimore, MD: I have an appointment about impeachment with someone from my Congressman’s office, and I think that’s where we should put our efforts. If we don’t, what’s to stop the next President from doing the same thing? According to the Progressive Democrats of America, if we don’t do it by May then elections will overcome it.
Timothy: The US occupation of Iraq is bigger than the Bush administration, and Congress has been complicit. Even if impeachment happened next week, that doesn’t end the war, and the bloodshed will continue until we compel Congress. More than 70% of people want us out of Iraq, so we need to work heavily on our members of Congress. That’s why a lot of the focus of these events in March is on members of Congress. I hope this will be the largest turnout since February 15 2003, the largest global turnout against the war ever. There is a lot of discouragement in the sixth year of the war, but Vietnam lasted a long time, and Congress finally ended it by cutting funding due to public pressure. Let’s not be discouraged and help each other workto that end.
Charlotte, NC: Several conference calls ago, you had people calling other members of groups to make sure they’re doing something.
Bellingham, WA: Thanks everyone for their contributions. I remember endless discussion on past conference calls about Congress and impeachment, and we came to the conclusion that we really have to do it all, that Bush and Cheney and everyone have to be made accountable. Go to www.wexlerwantshearings.com. Right now, though, we’re focusing on getting to DC and those local actions.
Charlotte, NC: Remember that all the troops were out of Vietnam when Congress ended funding. If we stick with trying to impeach Bush, The next president who comes into office won’t be thinking about leaving those troops in there or he’ll be impeached as well.
Timothy: Great. We’re thinking about planning another conference call in March and will send out information about that if it happens. Good night, everyone!