The Declaration of Peace - Erie

Mar. 22 - 1,000 march in Erie, PA

Thu, 22 Mar 2007 15:51:46 -0500

Body:

Hundreds march for peace
BY DANA MASSING
March 19, 2007

For an hour Sunday, a 25-foot stretch of chain-link fence in Erie served as a memorial to the more than 3,200 U.S. soldiers killed in Iraq.

Four metal posts held the fence in the snow-covered grass along East Sixth Street in front of the Pennsylvania National Guard Armory at Parade Street. The fence was put up Sunday morning for the event.

More than a thousand people walked past during Sunday’s March for Peace, organized by the Erie Peace Initiative to mark the fourth anniversary of the Iraq war. Dozens stopped to hang paper peace cranes or weave the stems of roses and carnations through the fence links.

Veteran Chris Gerhart was the first to turn the metal barrier into something more, placing a flower arrangement on an easel there.

The crowd behind him filled a line a block long and chanted, “What do we want? Peace. When do we want it? Now.”

Gerhart, of Erie, spent 14 months in Iraq with the 1st Cavalry and was one of the speakers at the rally in Perry Square before the march. He said the war was more about oil than weapons of mass destruction.

“Save the life of a soldier,” Gerhart told the crowd. “Fight to bring them home now.”

Erie resident Jennifer Bennett said it’s important to remember the U.S. troops in Iraq, who have sacrificed so much.

“I came to protest the war and let my voice be heard,” she said at the memorial. “It’s time to bring them home.”

Bennett was the last to add something to the fence: a red carnation. She said it initially bothered her that the memorial was only temporary. But then she decided that “it’s OK as long as it’s up here even briefly.”

In 12 minutes, the marchers were gone, the peace cranes beginning to fly away in the crisp March wind.

Erie Peace Initiative member Jim Wise and his wife, Sandy, captured the escaping paper birds and placed them in boxes.

“I can’t throw this away,” Jim Wise said as he gazed at the flags and the ribbons and handwritten notes with messages like “Bring them home.”

The couple waited 25 minutes, then began carefully slipping out flowers and placing them in a bucket, some destined for the Pennsylvania Soldiers’ & Sailors’ Home.

As the Wises dismantled the memorial, drums could be heard from four blocks away in Perry Square. The marchers had returned to the gazebo where they started.

Organizers had hoped to draw one marcher for each U.S. soldier killed in Iraq. Estimates from initiative members put the turnout at not quite one marcher for every three soldiers. Still, the group was pleased.

“Without a doubt, this is the largest peace demonstration in the history of Erie,” said Matthew Ochalek, an initiative member and one of the speakers.

“It takes a broad-based movement to stop war,” he said. “Our march … is only part of it.”

As the drumming died down and the crowd in the park thinned, the Wises and other volunteers took down the fence at the armory. Ochalek said the Army didn’t want the memorial left there.

But he said that photos had been taken and would be sent in a card to the armory to recognize the suffering of National Guard members and all the military.

And the mementos left at the fence would be saved, he said, although the Erie Peace Initiative hadn’t decided what to do with them yet.

“The tokens people left behind are very meaningful,” Ochalek said. “We would never throw them away.”

Your Name: Anne McCarthy, osb

Your Email Address: annemccosb@yahoo.com

Link to Published Item:

Notes: Note that the news headline says hundreds but the body of the story says over 1,000.

Mar. 22 - Editorial, Erie, PA: Protesters offer democratic lesson

Thu, 22 Mar 2007 15:47:54 -0500

Body:

Editorial — Erie Times News
Published: March 21. 2007 6:00AM

You could call what happened in the lobby of the U.S. District Courthouse political theater. You could call it an anti-war protest. Or a peace protest. Or even a simple nuisance.

But what best describes what occurred Monday is pure democracy in action.

Nine members of the Erie Peace Initiative blocked the doors at the courthouse in a symbolic effort to close the building and protest the Iraq war.

It was a small protest against bigger forces and bigger events. It was, if you wish, a quiet exercise.

The protesters let lawyers walk past them into the courthouse. There was no shouting or screaming as supporters outside the courthouse sang and carried signs to protest America’s conflict in Iraq. Then it ended as security officials and the FBI arrived.

These Americans’ patriotism or motives should not be questioned. They engaged in a tidy piece of civil disobedience, which fit the spirit of America’s democratic traditions.

It was quiet but not insignificant.

Everyone involved — law enforcement officials, lawyers, people doing business at the courthouse — carried on without much fuss and simply allowed events to take their proper course. People did their jobs and went about their business. What glorious routine.

Whether the men and women from the Erie Peace Initiative changed any minds is perhaps less important than their open lesson of taking a stand and the reactions that it drew. That they were allowed to protest in dignity and face the legal consequences without incident said good things about all of us.

Democracy is often messy, defined by dissent. No matter the size or volume.

Your Name: Anne McCarthy, osb

Your Email Address: annemccosb@yahoo.com

Link to Published Item:

Notes:

Mar. 22 - Erie, PA: Courthouse protesters: Give peace a chance

Thu, 22 Mar 2007 15:42:58 -0500

Body:

BY ROBB FREDERICK
Erie Times News
March 20, 2007

An odd bit of political theater played out in the lobby of the U.S. District Courthouse on Monday when nine members of the Erie Peace Initiative blocked the doors to protest the Iraq war.

The group locked arms at the elbows. They asked that the building be closed. Then they let a lawyer through.

“We’re not against you,” Molly Brechtel said to him.

They spread the line. Outside, a dozen supporters sang and carried signs. “How Many Lives Per Gallon?” bumped up against “Bring Them Home Now!”

The protesters sat cross-legged. They sang “Give Peace a Chance.”

A tall lawyer stepped over them.

They stood. They bunched up in front of the metal detector, which beeped.

A federal marshal in a suit jacket shut it off.

Katie White offered a loud prayer. She’s a war mom, with a son in Afghanistan and another who served in Iraq.

“Our government has become a corporation without a conscience,” she said. “And that’s happened because the citizens have not done their job. They’ve become discouraged. They’ve become cynical. They just don’t care.”

Jim Wise held her arm.

“As citizens of a democracy, we are all responsible for what is happening in Iraq,” he said. “I bear some responsibility. And I’m here to do something about it.”

Security officers gathered behind the front desk. The FBI arrived.

“As our government officials escalate the war in Iraq, we escalate our nonviolent efforts to end it,” Matt Ochalek said. “We’ve written to them. We’ve called. And they have not yet heard our message.”

Four Erie police cruisers pulled to the curb.

Federal officer Todd Carlson cleared his throat. “You will be arrested if you do not move,” he said.

“You do what you have to do,” Wise answered.

The group knelt again.

Carlson returned a few minutes later. “You have three minutes to disperse,” he said. “We will give you those three minutes. And then we will arrest you.”

Anne McCarthy, a Benedictine sister, thanked him as he stepped over her.

It took more than 30 minutes — and some huffs from lawyers and courthouse employees who knotted in the lobby, not wanting to squeeze through the group — for security to finally move. They started by ushering out the news cameras.

The nine protesters were arrested without incident. They were put in three holding areas — the four women in one room, the five men in two others. They waited two hours for their turn before Chief U.S. Magistrate Judge Susan Paradise Baxter.

In that time, the Pentagon announced the deaths of two more U.S. servicemen. The war went on.

Your Name: Anne McCarthy, osb

Your Email Address: annemccosb@yahoo.com

Link to Published Item:

Notes:

Mar. 21 - Report of Civil Disobedience Action in Erie, PA

Wed, 21 Mar 2007 07:00:47 -0500

Body:

We arrived at the Federal Building in Erie around 8:15 am on Monday, March 19, 2007. We held short vigil during which we read our statement to the media and to our supporters and provided individual participants to share their thoughts on the days action. After singing “Peace, Salaam, Shalom,” nine of us departed from the vigil and approached the door of the Federal Building.

We had previously informed the US Marshals at the building that we were planning the action and they were prepared for us. They only let two of us in and then locked the doors. I read our statement in the foyer and they asked us to leave. We declined and instead asked that they close the building for the day to honor those killed by the war in Iraq. Our seven friends who were left outside attempted to block the doors while we on the inside blocked the metal detector.

The marshals knocked us around a bit as we blocked the metal detector. We were forcibly moved and then would calmly walk back to our place. This happened 3-4 times. After about twenty minutes, the marshals at the door received orders to unlock the doors. We motioned to the seven outside to come in. They were surprised to have the doors unlocked but entered and brought with them a reporter and photographer from the Erie Times-News.

We created a human barricade and stopped a couple of folks from entering. As we were explaining our action and inviting them to join us in the line the marshals shoved, kneed and pulled the three of us directly in front of the metal detector (Tuesday’s Erie Times-News printed a photo of us being knocked around by US Marshals).

After approximately 90 minutes, the marshals arrested us with assistance from the Erie City Police. We were split up and placed in holding cells for two and a half hours before being taken before Chief U.S. Magistrate Judge Susan Paradise Baxter and charged with “unnecessarily obstructing public areas such as entrances, foyers.” We were released shortly after 1:00pm on our own recognizance.

We will appear before Judge Baxter again Tuesday, March 27, 2007 at 10:00 am.

Your Name: Matthew Ochalek

Your Email Address: matthew_ochalek@riseup.net

Link to Published Item:

Notes: I am the author. You can publish my name if you want.

Mar. 20 - Erie, PA Civil Disobedience Group Statement

Tue, 20 Mar 2007 09:55:00 -0500

Body:

Today we mark the fourth anniversary of the unprovoked invasion of Iraq by the United States. Since March 19, 2003, well over 3,000 American soldiers have been lost and thousands more injured. Since March 19, 2003, uncounted thousands of Iraqis have been killed and millions displaced. Sadly, the numbers on all sides continue to rise.

We, members of the Erie Peace Initiative, stand here today, March 19, 2007, preventing others from passing through the entrance of this Federal Building as a symbolic and yet very concrete action, demanding an end to the tragedy that is the war in Iraq. We cannot sit silent and let business go on as usual while our people in uniform are placed at risk and the Iraqi people continue to suffer. In the past four years, we have written the president, our elected representatives, and newspapers. We have kept vigil; we have marched. Today calls us to take an even deeper stand.

We stand here today in mourning of those who have been lost and in hope that by our action even one life will be saved. We call for:

an immediate withdrawal of all U.S. military personnel from Iraq
no more troop deployments
no permanent bases in Iraq
an increase in funding for Iraq veterans.

We do not delude ourselves that our small action will bring an end to war in Iraq. However, we stand in solidarity with the many throughout this country who take similar actions in their commitment to the Declaration of Peace, and we believe deeply that together we can and we will bring an end to the tragedy in Iraq.

(Declaration of Peace Pledges attached)

Your Name: Matthew Ochalek

Your Email Address: matthew_ochalek@riseup.net

Link to Published Item:

Notes: