For Immediate Release:
September 26, 2006
Contact: Timi Gerson,
(202) 822-5200 (office); (202) 360-7801 (cell)
Seventy-one peace activists arrested for nonviolent action at Senate
Peace movement momentum grows as Declaration of Peace members engage in more than 375 anti-war actions coast-to-coast
Washington, D.C. Religious figures, veterans and peace movement leaders escalated activities designed to pressure the Congress to end the war and occupation in Iraq with an interfaith service, procession and civil disobedience on Capitol Hill today.
Religious leaders and peace activists were arrested for nonviolent action at the Hart Senate Office Building, The Russell Senate Office Building and on the grounds of the U.S. Capitol as members of the national Declaration of Peace campaign called on the Senate to pass legislation that includes prompt troop withdrawal and support for a comprehensive plan for peace in Iraq. Arrestees included Rick Ufford-Chase, president of Presbyterian Peace Fellowship and former Moderator of the Presbyterian Church USA, Rev. Jackie Lynn, President, Episcopal Peace Fellowship, Rev. Gwin Pratt and Rev. Timothy Simpson, co-founders of the Christian Alliance for Progress.
Ufford-Chase, the former top official of the Presbyterian Church USA, is the latest in a series of national religious leaders committed to nonviolent civil disobedience against the Iraq occupation. In a letter to Presbyterian congregations nationwide, he affirmed that he would “risk arrest to make it clear that I believe the war in Iraq is a violation of my most fundamental beliefs as a Christian.”
The Senate action is part of a series of events taking place nationwide urging Congress to pursue a new course on Iraq. Current legislation addressing the goals of the Declaration of Peace campaign include H.R. 4232, the End the War in Iraq Act of 2005 introduced by Rep. Jim McGovern (D-MA); H.Con.Res. 348, expressing the sense of Congress with respect to accomplishing the mission in Iraq, introduced by Rep. Mike Thompson (D-CA); and its Senate companion resolution, S.Con.Res. 93, introduced by Sen. Tom Harkin (D-IA). Members of Congress who have signed the Declaration of Peace Congressional Pledge include Reps. Tammy Baldwin (D-WI), Earl Blumenauer (D-OR), Danny Davis (D-IL), Sam Farr (D-CA), Chaka Fattah (D-PA), Barbara Lee (D-CA), John Lewis (D-GA), Jim McGovern (D-MA), Jan Schakowsky (D-IL) and Lynn Woolsey (D-CA).
The Declaration of Peace initiative was created through discussions last January between religious leaders and secular peace groups and draws half of its membership from faith-based organizations. It is backed by more than 500 groups, including the Roman Catholic Leadership Conference of Women Religious, the Methodist Federation for Social Action, the United Church of Christ (Justice and Witness Ministries), American Friends Service Committee, the Unitarian Universalist Association, Pax Christi USA, Presbyterian Peace Fellowship, Baptist Peace Fellowship of North America, National Campaign for Nonviolent Resistance, U.S. Labor Against the War, United for Peace and Justice and Iraq Veterans Against the War.
The campaign’s goal is for Congress to legislate and implement a comprehensive, concrete and rapid plan to end the war and occupation in Iraq, including a prompt timetable for withdrawal of troops, a peace process for security, reconstruction and reconciliation and the shifting of war funding to meet education, healthcare and employment needs. The September 21-28 Week of Action is only days before Congressional recess, when members of Congress return to their home districts for mid-term elections.
More than 375 individual actions have occurred across the nation during the past week, including in unlikely places such as Lincoln, NE, Fayetteville, NC, Houston, Des Moines, Little Rock and Cincinnati. The activities range from vigils and fasts to sit-ins and marches with nonviolent civil disobedience in Seattle, Los Angeles, Philadelphia, Washington, DC, Des Moines, Portland, Indian Island, WA, Bangor, ME and elsewhere resulting in hundreds of arrests as of today. Actions will continue throughout the week, including another event in Washington, DC on Wednesday where approximately 60 people plan to risk arrest on Capitol Hill to bring their message of peace to the United States Congress.
“Nonviolent action has a noble history in our country. It was the bedrock of the Civil Rights movement and instrumental in ending the Vietnam War,” said U.S. Army veteran Ellen Barfield, spokesperson for the National Campaign for Nonviolent Resistance and board member of Veterans for Peace. “We believe that our moral witness will give Congress the courage to change the failed policy that has led to an endless escalation of violence in Iraq.”
“Precisely because we are standing on the barest edge of the precipice of utterly disastrous religious war, we must face the truth that each of our religious traditions has been twisted to justify violence, terrorism, torture and repression,” said Rabbi Arthur Waskow, founder of the Shalom Center and noted Jewish author. “We must give birth to a new truth by praying together and acting together to protect human rights, heal the earth, and achieve peace in the region where Abraham, Hagar and Sarah sojourned.”
For a full list of DOP endorsers, go to
http://declarationofpeace.org/endorsements
For a full list of events by date and state, go to
http://declarationofpeace.org/files/DOP-events-list.pdf
For images and video from events, go to
http://imageportal.afsc.org
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