The Declaration of Peace

Senior D.C. Woman Arrested While Demanding End to Iraq War

For Immediate Release: May 14, 2007

Contact: Pete Perry, 571-271-1313

Linda Schade, 202-422-5780

WASHINGTON – A 75-year-old retired schoolteacher was arrested Monday along with Cindy Sheehan and 31 others while protesting the war and occupation of Iraq.

Eve Tetaz of 17th Street, NW was part of Monday’s march from Lafayette Park to Capitol Hill launching the “Swarm on Congress” planned to last until Congress’ summer break. The protestors were arrested in the middle of the intersection of Independence and New Jersey Avenues, SE when a group of the marchers stopped walking, raised an American flag to half-mast. The flag was upside down, a military sign of a ship in distress.

“I cannot allow my government to continue funding these actions in my name,” Tetaz said. “No human being is ‘collateral damage’ – all life is sacred.”

Although affiliated with the National Campaign of Nonviolent Resistance and Code Pink. Tetaz said her decision to remain in Independence Avenue following police warnings was because of her Christian faith.

Within the last year, Tetaz has been arrested several times for nonviolent protest. Monday she violated her probation resulting from an arrest in Sen. John McCain’s office, and may face a month in the D.C. Jail.

“I will not stand idly by when so much innocent life is destroyed,” she said. A retired D.C. public schoolteacher for 30 years, Tetaz is the founder of Life Pathways, a non-profit organization helping single parents become financially independent and trained in the field of health care. A member of the Church of the Savior, Tetaz has been an advocate for the poor on issues of economics and social justice. Also arrested was Marine mom Tina Richards, one of the primary organizers of the “Swarm on Congress,” and whose son, Cloy Richards, has done two tours of duty in Iraq.

“We cannot allow Congress to continue funding this illegal and endless war,” said Richards. According to the Veteran Administration, her son is 80 percent disabled and suffers from post-traumatic stress disorder.

“I am proud to know (Eve),” said Richards. “The ‘swarm’ is being built on the tremendous efforts of activists, such as Eve, in DC, and we hope to get many more into the halls of Congress during the next couple months.”

—

Pete Perry 571-271-1313

http://beltwaybeast.blogspot.com/

“Holding on to anger is like grasping a hot coal with the intent of throwing it at someone else; you are the one who gets burned.” ~Buddha

By Alexander Bolton
March 21, 2007
The Hill

Peace activists armed with poetry occupied the Capitol Hill office of Rep. Chris Van Hollen (Md.), chairman of the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee, Tuesday to protest Democrats’ support for a bill funding the Iraq war. They camped out in his office for nearly eight hours, reading verse and reciting the names and biographies of soldiers killed in Iraq, punctuating each by banging on a gong they had brought with them.

The protesters also taped pictures of soldiers onto the walls of Van Hollen’s office. They were finally led out of the office at 11:35 p.m. by Capitol Police, said Kevin Zeese, the director of Democracy Rising and one of the organizers of the protest.

Zeese and his fellow activists live in Van Hollen’s Southern Maryland district and are angry with him because they say his anti-war rhetoric does not match his support for legislation funding the U.S. military mission in Iraq.

“We want his actions to line up behind his words,” said Stuart Morris, an activist from Mt. Rainier, Md., who added that Van Hollen’s staff tried to ignore the protesters but made no attempt to evict them during the height of the protest.

The activists said 16 to 20 protesters occupied Van Hollen’s office. The group included Tina Richards, whose son is a Marine reservist required to report for duty on March 24. Richards said she would attempt to occupy more congressional offices on Wednesday.

“Obviously, when you have a group of people in your office gonging a gong and reading off names it’s somewhat distracting, but it did not disrupt the workflow,” said Marilyn Campbell, Van Hollen’s spokeswoman.

Earlier this week anti-war protesters in Michigan vandalized the district office of Rep. Mike Rogers (R) by splashing red paint on a “Support our Troops” sign and hanging a banner accusing Rogers of having blood on his hands.

Campbell said she was not aware of any vandalism in Van Hollen’s office. She said that fewer people showed up than the activists claimed.

A group of about 100 “Vigilers for Peace” stood in silent witness for peace on the West Lawn of the US Capitol on Saturday, March 17, from noon until one. This vigil has been held weekly since October, 2002. Usually, there are less than 20 of us there, but on the Saturday closest to the anniversary of this tragic war on Iraq, we usually have quite a few more. Given the weather and the other activities that day, it was wonderful to have 100 there on Saturday.

by Gordon Clark

Even for these now veteran activist eyes, it was a glorious and inspiring sight to see.

On Tuesday, September 26, more than 100 nonviolent activists took over the central lobby and atrium of the Hart Senate Office Building, and staged a protest of the war in Iraq while dozens and dozens of Senate staffers looked on. For one hour, at least, American opposition to the war in Iraq became the central focus for these offices of the U.S. Senate, and 71 individuals were arrested for making this happen.

The action was organized by the National Campaign for Nonviolent Resistance (formerly the Iraq Pledge of Resistance), as part of the week of anti-war actions around the country organized by the Declaration of Peace campaign.

The action started that morning with a rally and interfaith service at Upper Senate Park. Another remarkable aspect of the day was the presence of national religious leaders, such as Jackie Lynn, head of the Episcopal Peace Fellowship, and Rick Ufford-Chase, Director of the Presbyterian Peace Fellowship and for the past two years the moderator of the 216th Presbyterian General Assembly - the highest office in the denomination. They were not only participating themselves in our nonviolent direct action, but were now urging their faith communities to being begin following suit.

At the end of the rally and service we formed a procession to go by the Capitol building and then on to the Senate office buildings. Police stopped us after three blocks, telling us that the large procession constituted an unpermitted demonstration and that we would not be allowed to continue. It was at this point that one affinity group broke away, and crossed police lines and Constitution Ave., carrying a coffin to the steps of the Capitol. Sixteen were arrested for that act of nonviolent witness.

The remaining 200 or so of us, however, were suddenly left without any police presence at all, since literally every one of their offices had followed the coffin. As our goal was to get to the officers of the U.S. Senate, we decided to simply turn around and head back up Constitution Ave. to the Senate office buildings - which we did without incident until some of the police realized their mistake, came roaring back and set up a line to stop us in front of the Russell Senate Office Building, one block short of our ultimate goal.

A small group of us conducted negotiations with an officer of the Capitol Police for 15-20 minutes. Although they continued to assert that our procession was illegal and could not continue - if we wanted to visit our Senators, they said, we had to return to Upper Senate Park (where we did have a permit), leave all our signs and banners behind and break up into small groups - the officer in charge was a model of courtesy, and in fact, an extremely friendly fellow. When their “final” decision was made, our decision was to stay put. We intended to proceed as a group, no matter what, and if they felt compelled to arrest us they would have to do it right there.

The police gave a five minute warning, but that five minutes passed and nothing happened. Ten of our number managed to cross the police line and get to the Russell building entrance, where they were promptly detained and arrested. Others called their senators’ offices to demand to know why weren’t being allowed in to see them. A giant Gandhi puppet, carrying a sign that said “Be the change you want to see in the world,” came rolling down Constitution Ave. and evoked a huge cheer from our crowd, all the more so because the same puppet had earlier been stopped by police who refused to allow it near the Capitol complex. Interestingly, Gandhi was now being given an entire lane of traffic on Constitution Ave.

While all this was happening, Rick Ufford-Chase continued to negotiate with the police. Rick is a pretty darn friendly guy himself, and apparently a heck of a negotiator, since after another 15-20 minutes it was announced that if we left our large banners behind, we would be allowed to proceed as a group, enter the Hart Senate Office Building, and reassemble after passing through security. Rick had re-emphasized our commitment to nonviolence, and had patiently explained that our planned action in the Hart atrium would be a respectful, interfaith-led protest of the war in Iraq. The police explained that if we did that, we would likely be arrested inside the Hart building.

When this agreement was announced, it was immediately apparent how remarkable and unprecedented it was. The Capitol police would allow us to continue what they considered an unpermitted demonstration, and then enter a Senate office building – for the express purpose of carrying out another illegal demonstration. (The charge given those arrested inside was “unlawful assembly.”)

While a number of us continued a protest outside, more than 100 of us entered the Hart building. For those not familiar with it, the Hart Senate Office Building is really quite beautiful and unlike any other Congressional office, in that is designed around a giant, open, building-high lobby and atrium, with senate offices lining the seven stories facing on to the atrium. If you control the atrium, you essentially control the entire building.

And that is precisely what we did. With some reading the names of the dead or holding up peace signs on the balconies surrounding the lobby, a large group assembled in a circle on the first floor for our nonviolent witness against the war. As it went on, the balconies filled with onlookers, until finally all seven stories, on all four sides, were lined with senate staffers and visitors watching the protest and eventual arrests. Several applauded and gave thumbs up. The protest also garnered the front page and a full inside page spread of the following day’s Roll Call newspaper, meaning that every office on Capitol Hill knew about it within 24 hours.

I have often heard “this is what democracy looks like” chanted during street marches and protests. Standing in this august senate office building, with our protest being watched by a majority of the people working there, I had the profound feeling that this is exactly what democracy should look like. If our elected leaders refuse to heed the will of the people, then we the people will take over their offices until they do. It happens in other countries around the world, usually to our great approval, so why not here in the U.S. as well? Truly, this was democracy in its purest and finest form.

People will were peacefully arrested, and led away. They joined their colleagues from the previous arrests, and had by all accounts a time of great community and fellowship during the several hours it took the police to process and release them all. Those of us waiting outside the police station heard frequent outbursts of laughter and applause. The police officer in charge sought me out at the end to thank me several times over, and stated plainly that they were glad they were able to help us accomplish what we wanted to do that day.

Relationships with police are a complicated and challenging matter for our movement, a source of often heated debate. And this particular police force in question had a somewhat different interpretation of our goal, believing we were there “to be arrested.” (While the nonviolent activist is willing to risk arrest and make other sacrifices, our goal is not to be arrested. We usually end up reminding the police of this, and inviting them to not arrest us the next time, but rather to join us.)

The fact remains, though, that this is one of several examples - we’ve been doing nonviolent actions since before the Iraq war began - where different police forces in the nation’s capital not only treated us well, but actually helped us achieve our goal. A large part of that has to do with our own commitment to nonviolence, which leads us to treat all people, including our adversaries and even arresting officers, with openness and respect. Respect them, and often they will respect you in return.

Just as important, though, is the fact that many of these police, possibly even the large majority of them, actually agree with us and support what we’re doing. They have privately told our activists this on many, many occasions. They have brothers and sisters and buddies in the military, and lost some of them, and they are just as sick of this war as we are. It reminds one directly of the epilogue in the updated edition of Howard Zinn’s classic People’s History of the United States, where he argues that a “revolt of the palace guards” may be part of how a peaceful revolution happens in this country. Listening to and working with these police, one gets the feeling the revolution may be a little closer than we think.

Above all, though, we achieved our goal, and for a least one hour on a Tuesday in September, we brought the work of a Senate office building to a standstill, and made loud and clear our demand that the immoral, illegal and unjust occupation of Iraq must end. If we can continue to ramp up our actions in this way, including the extremely important electoral work for this fall, we can and will compel members of Congress to heed our demand.

See Photo Gallery

Gordon Clark is the convener of the National Campaign for Nonviolent Resistance, formerly the Iraq Pledge of Resistance. For news stories and images of these actions, as well as more information, go to www.iraqpledge.org, or www.declarationofpeace.org

Baltimore’s tradition of civil disobedience continues in capital

By Liz F. Kay
Sun reporter

Originally published September 27, 2006 in the Baltimore Sun

WASHINGTON — The Rev. Andrew Foster Connors remained calm yesterday as a police officer put his hands in white plastic handcuffs and searched his pockets after he crossed a police line outside the U.S. Capitol.

Less than an hour later, the Rev. Roger Scott Powers was also led away in handcuffs from the interfaith demonstration against the war in Iraq in the atrium of the Hart Senate Office Building.

The two Presbyterian ministers from Baltimore were among 71 people who were detained yesterday as they protested the war in Iraq - and continued Baltimore’s long tradition of civil disobedience against wars.

“I was just happy to be able to be a witness for peace,” said Connors, 33, who wore a multicolored stole, clerical collar and blue armband. “It’s one thing to talk about nonviolence, but to enact it … nonviolence is a powerful thing.”

Baltimore’s legacy of nonviolent protest against violence began with the Berrigan brothers’ burning of draft records during the Vietnam War and continued through the nuclear proliferation during the Cold War. It persists today as clergy in Baltimore and elsewhere answered a national call to pressure Congress to end the war in Iraq.

Not everyone can take such extreme measures to oppose war, but Roman Catholic moral theologian Joseph J. Fahey said the Jonah House form of protest made the stance more acceptable and mainstream. Jonah House was the West Baltimore pacifist community founded by Philip F. Berrigan.

“I think the Jonah House people showed that it is patriotic and love of your country to perform civil disobedience,” said Fahey, who specializes in war and peace at Manhattan College in the Bronx and was a founding member of Pax Christi USA, a Catholic peace organization.

He described religion as a double-edged sword that has called people to war, sexism, racism and hatred. But “protest - that’s religion at its best,” Fahey said.

Yesterday’s peace action was one of a weeklong series of events through the Declaration of Peace campaign, an initiative organized by a collection of secular and faith-based groups.

The arrests included Presbyterian Peace Fellowship Director Rick Ufford-Chase, who served for two years in the denomination’s highest office, moderator of the 216th General Assembly. He sent a letter to Presbyterian congregations nationwide explaining his decision.

“If God opens the way for me to do so, I will risk arrest to make it clear that I believe the War in Iraq is a violation of my most fundamental beliefs as a Christian,” he wrote. “Whether or not such a witness is effective, it is clear to me that I must do everything in my power and in keeping with my values as a follower of Jesus Christ to stop this war.”

Elizabeth McAlister, a former nun who founded Jonah House with her husband, Philip F. Berrigan, held a banner and wore a chain of origami paper cranes around her neck yesterday.

“How can we listen to what’s going on in our world and not say it’s dead wrong?” she said. “‘Thou shalt not kill’ - they’re all one-syllable.”

“We need more,” she said. “You don’t do enough. I don’t do enough.”

Patrick G. Coy, director of the Center for Applied Conflict Management at Kent State University, said he was surprised that there has not been more nonviolent protest and civil disobedience linked to this war, given its length and the intensity of the opposition before it began.

Coy says the lack of a military draft, media management by the Bush administration, economic pressures on students and a broader cultural shift toward conservatism have all contributed to a smaller-than-expected outcry.

“They have dramatically increased from the second year forward, but it’s not as broad-based as I would expect,” he said.

Fahey agreed. “I’m disappointed that it’s always been a small minority of clergy,” he said. “I wish more academics were involved.”

Connors, pastor of Brown Memorial Park Avenue Presbyterian Church in Bolton Hill, said he was called to bear witness because he believes that imposing democracy through violent means is a contradiction.

“In a democratic society, we trade up killing each other with weapons for a vote,” he said. “Voting is a form of nonviolence. What’s called for now is a witness - people who are willing to put their bodies where their words are.”

Yesterday, about 250 people gathered in the Upper Senate Park for an interfaith service. A small group, including Connors, brought a coffin covered with pictures of wounded Iraqis to the U.S. Capitol, where the arrests took place.

Most of the group marched to the Russell Senate Office Building, where some protesters were arrested. Leaders, including Ufford-Chase, negotiated with U.S. Capitol Police, who later let them enter the atrium of the Hart Senate Office Building.

Most of the activists stood in a circle to listen to readings and sing as Senate staff members gathered on walkways overlooking the atrium.

“This is what democracy looks like,” said Gordon S. Clark, coordinator of the National Campaign for Nonviolent Resistance. “Hopefully, this message will get back to those Senate offices.”

Connors was released about 6 p.m. Each of the 71 people arrested was processed one at a time - handcuffs removed, searched, interviewed and given a wristband. He received a citation and a November court date.

The police were very courteous but did not allow them to make noise, he said. “We broke into song a few times and they quickly tamped down on that.”

Copyright © 2006, The Baltimore Sun

For Immediate Release:
September 27, 2006

Contact: Timi Gerson,
(202) 822-5200 (office); (202) 360-7801 (cell)

Declaration of Peace week of action ends in Washington, DC with 26 arrests at the House of Representatives; hundreds arrested for civil disobedience nationwide

375 anti-war actions coast-to-coast continue as campaign prepares next steps

Washington, D.C. Immigrant rights advocate Renée Saucedo joined today with peace movement leaders in the third action in Washington, DC during this past week designed to pressure the Congress to end the war and occupation in Iraq.

Twenty-six protesters were arrested after a “die-in” in front of the Rayburn House Office Building as members of the national Declaration of Peace campaign called on the House of Representatives to pass legislation that includes prompt troop withdrawal and support for a comprehensive plan for peace in Iraq. The nonviolent civil disobedience action followed a solemn procession where participants carried flag-draped coffins representing American and Iraqis who have died in Iraq. Today’s protest follows on the heels of the arrests of seventy-one religious leaders and activists at the Hart Senate Office Building yesterday for civil disobedience against the Iraq occupation.

“The Latino community is over-represented in the body bags that come back from Iraq and under-represented in the policymaking that has led to these disastrous results,” said Renée Saucedo, attorney and organizer of the La Raza Centro Legal in San Francisco and a national leader of the immigrant rights movement. “Our communities suffer with no funding for education, healthcare and jobs while the government spends billions of dollars on the Iraq occupation.”

The House of Representatives 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.

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
username: browse password: browse

Video of Action at the U.S. Capitol on YouTube

Washington Post
Associated Press
By NATASHA T. METZLER
Wednesday, September 27, 2006; 3:55 PM

WASHINGTON — About 100 demonstrators protesting the Iraq war marched past the Capitol carrying mock coffins Wednesday and lay down in front of doorways at a House office building, where 26 were arrested.

Many covered themselves with sheets designed to make them resemble dead bodies.

“I had to bring my body down here to say no,” Paki Wieland, 63, of Northampton, Mass., said as she waited in line to get on a police bus.

The protest was organized by Declaration of Peace, a coalition of about 500 groups that has organized war protests around the country during the past week. The events started Sept. 21, to coincide with the United Nations International Day of Peace.

Protesters started their demonstration in a park and marched along the street in front of the Capitol carrying 20 mock coffins draped in American flags or black cloth.

Dozens Arrested in Several Antiwar Demonstrations Held Near Capitol

By Michelle Boorstein
Washington Post Staff Writer

Wednesday, September 27, 2006; Page A14

link to Washington Post article

The quiet, sunny atrium of the Hart Senate Office Building was transformed into a chaotic scene yesterday when dozens of war protesters filed into the lobby, formed a prayer circle, shouted Scripture and eventually were arrested as Senate staffers hung over railings and crammed glass-walled offices to watch.

Employees in the building and longtime area activists said they had never seen police allow such a demonstration in a government office building, with activists one and two stories up reading the names of the Iraq war dead, civilian and military. The names rang loudly through improvised megaphones into the building’s open center. Dozens of police streamed into the atrium and arrested about 35 people, including Rick Ufford-Chase, who until recently was a top official of the Presbyterian Church (USA).

Police lead away war protesters arrested near the Capitol building in one of several related demonstrations organized on Capitol Hill by the umbrella group Declaration of Peace.

“I’ve been working here nine years, and I’ve never seen this much police activity — except during the anthrax scare,” said an employee who did not give his name because he said he had not been authorized to talk to the media.

Sgt. Kimberly Schneider, a spokeswoman for the U.S. Capitol Police, said: “We don’t encourage people to demonstrate in the buildings. …I’m not aware of anything unusual about how it was handled on our end.”

Thirty-five additional antiwar demonstrators were arrested yesterday around the U.S. Capitol in related protests. Hundreds of antiwar actions have taken place across the country this week as faith-based and other groups push for a timetable for the United States to leave Iraq.

Thirty-four people affiliated with the umbrella organization coordinating this week’s efforts, Declaration of Peace, were arrested Thursday after they refused to leave the White House without talking with President Bush.

Although leaders of major U.S. denominations have spoken against the Iraq war since it began, such proclamations are becoming louder and more prominent.

“Today was the first time national-level leaders were participating — not just themselves but calling on members of denominations to join them,” said Gordon Clark, coordinator of the D.C.-based National Campaign for Nonviolent Resistance. “And there’s a big difference between going to a protest and putting your body on the line and resisting arrest. And that’s what they haven’t been doing before.”

Participating yesterday was Rabbi Arthur Waskow, head of an interfaith dialogue center in Philadelphia and a leader of the Jewish Renewal movement. Arrested in addition to Ufford-Chase was the Rev. Jackie Lynn, president of the Chicago-based Episcopal Peace Fellowship.

Senate staffers watching the demonstration showed neither support nor opposition, simply gawking and taking photos with their cellphones as protesters below sang “We Shall Overcome,” read from the Book of Jeremiah and lay on the cold floor as police filed in with plastic handcuffs.