The Declaration of Peace - Portland

9 arrested at peaceful protest against war at Senator Smith's office in Portland

Thu, 21 Sep 2006 21:39:35 +0000

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Contact: Kelly Campbell 503-720-1815 (cell) kcampbell@afsc.org

For Immediate Release
Thursday, September 21 2006

Declaration of Peace: Nine Peaceful Protestors Arrested at Senator Smith’s office in Portland as part of national week of action; insist Senator Smith work to end the war in Iraq

Citizens attempt to visit Senator to ask him to end the war in Iraq are arrested outside office building

PORTLAND—In conjunction with the national “Declaration of Peace” campaign, a group of nine citizen lobbyists attempted to visit Senator Gordon Smith’s Portland office today to insist that he co-sponsor legislation to end the US military occupation of Iraq and sign the Declaration of Peace. The delegation of nonviolent civil resisters was prevented from entering the Senator’s office and was arrested by the Portland police outside the office building as they tried to send a message to Senator Smith and all of Oregon’s elected officials that the time has come to bring the troops home from Iraq.

“The voices for war are loud and shrill. The voices for peace are soft and insistent. I wish to join them,” explained PSU professor Tom Hastings, one of the participants in the delegation attempting to visit Senator Smith. “I invite the Senator to examine his heart and join us by signing the Declaration of Peace and offer leadership out of this disaster. Others have shown such courage; I am willing to believe the Senator can muster it.”

Dozens of supporters rallied outside the World Trade Center declaring that the time has come for a change in Iraq. They gathered around a simulation of a destroyed Iraqi home dubbed, “rolling rubble.” The exhibit calls attention to the impact of the war on ordinary Iraqi families.

Another participant in the action, Clyde Chamberlain wrote: “By my peaceful, nonviolent actions today and henceforth I am putting Sen. Smith, other Oregon Congresspeople and the current administration on notice. I will no longer tolerate or be silent to the lies and deception; the killing, torture, abuse and violence; the inhumanity and injustice. I will be an example of how civilized, intelligent, compassionate, caring people behave.”

The nonviolent civil resisters arrested include:

Michele Darr, Corvallis resident and mother of six, age 36
Rachel Joy, Portland State University Student and catholic worker, age 29
Clyde Chameberlain, retired Portland resident, age 55
Adam Sanchez, Lewis and Clark student, Students for a Democratic Society (SDS) member, age 21
Sam Downs, Lewis and Clark student, SDS member, age 18
Mary Sackley, Lewis and Clark student, SDS member, age 20
Frazer Lanier, Lewis and Clark student, SDS member, age 23
Rob Ranta, lifelong Portland resident
Tom Hastings, PSU professor and catholic worker, age 55

The Declaration of Peace is a nationwide campaign to establish a rapid and concrete plan for peace in Iraq, including:

A prompt time table for withdrawal of troops and closure of bases
A peace process for security, reconstruction and reconciliation
And the shift of funding for war to meeting human needs

Activists across the country have been meeting with members of congress to ask them to sign the Declaration of Peace pledge. Portland’s Rep. Earl Blumenauer is the only member of the Oregon delegation to sign so far.

Others include: Rep. Sam Farr (D-CA): Rep. Chaka Fattah (D-PA); Rep. Barbara Lee (D-CA); Rep. John Lewis (D-GA); Rep. Jan Schakowsky (D-IL); Rep. Lynn Woolsey (D-CA).

The pledge asks members of Congress to support these bills:

In the U.S. House:

H.R. 4232: End the War in Iraq Act 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)
H.Con.Res.197: No Permanent Bases in Iraq Introduced by Rep. Barbara Lee (D-CA)

In the U.S. Senate:

S.Con.Res.93: Expressing the sense of Congress with respect to accomplishing the mission in Iraq Introduced by Sen. Tom Harkin (D-IA)

Portland’s action is one of more than 300 events during the week of September 21-28 around the US that are part of the Declaration of Peace campaign, primarily targeting pro-war members of Congress. For more information visit http://declarationofpeace.org.

Local Declaration of Peace organizing is supported by Civil Resist Portland, CodePink Portland, Portland Chapter of the Buddhist Peace Fellowship, the Portland Catholic Worker community, Oregon Peace Works, American Friends Service Committee, and Veterans for Peace Chapter 72.

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Your Name: Kelly Campbell

Your Email Address: kelly@peacefultomorrows.org

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10/24 - The Daily Vanguard - Faculty member arrested, and it's not the first time

Cynthia — Wed, 25 Oct 2006 15:09:03 +0000

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PSU adjunct faculty member spent time in jail for activist work, but says he has no regrets

By Stover E. Harger III

October 24, 2006

Link to story in The Daily Vanguard

Tom Hastings stood before a judge in community court last week after being arrested for refusing to leave Senator Gordon Smith’s office in late September.

The judge asked him if he admits to refusing to leave the office and Hastings said that he not only refused to leave, but wanted recognition for it.

An author of many books and fixed-term faculty in the PSU Conflict Resolution department, Hastings said he is married to the peace movement. He said that his efforts for promoting peace stretch beyond just regular activism and go into many other areas. Hastings’ goal is to combine activism and academic work.

“I’m not claiming to be a big deal activist,” Hastings said. “My time is seriously devoted to teaching.”

Along with teaching, Hastings is a published author many times over (with a book coming out this month), a traveling lecturer, and the founder of the Portland Catholic Worker House where he also lives. He said his spare time is essentially spent the same way his professional life is spent. Hastings said writing for him is a form of therapy, albeit a very laborious one.

Hastings, who started teaching at Portland State in the spring of 2001, was arrested Sept. 21 outside of Smith’s office along with eight others, including PSU student Rachel Joy. He said they were asking the senator to sign a pledge for peace as part of the “Declaration of Peace Week” that ran from Sept. 21 to 29. He said it was a minor incident.

Hastings came to Portland State from a job directing Peace and Conflict Studies at Northland College in Wisconsin. When he decided he would move, he looked in a directory of peace studies programs and found that Portland was ranked second after Boston for the number of peace programs the city had.

Hastings said the peace studies program is constantly viewed as an unwanted stepchild to the university, but he sees it as very important.

“We offer as much to humanity as cancer research,” Hastings said.

Hastings was charged with a felony for property destruction in 1996 after personally cutting down three command center poles at a U.S. thermonuclear navy site with a handsaw. He beat a sentence of sabotage, but was convicted for three years on the charge of property destruction. He spent one year in prison, one in house arrest, and one in probation, which he served coincidently while teaching in Wisconsin.

“This is legally a crime and I did my time,” Hastings said, “but society doesn’t hold that view in reality.”

Hastings was sentenced for two months of community service last Tuesday for the incident at Smith’s office. He said he is avoiding jail time because of his responsibilities to teaching, even though he sees jail as a possibility. He said arrest is always a likely possibility.

“We are happy to go to court,” Hastings said. “Let’s put the war on trial.”

“Civil Resist Portland” is the group that organized the Smith office protest and consists of about 80 members in the Portland area.

Hastings said they have strict criteria of acceptable actions. He said their ultimate goal is to gain attention for the peace movement, but they will not lie to gain access to a building or give any more trouble to law enforcement officers than is necessary. He said when they are arrested they will go with the police willingly.

“As soon as they say ‘You’re under arrest,’ we leave with them,” Hastings said. “We won’t make them throw their backs out over us.”

All members must go through nonviolence training, sign a pledge and carry it with them at all times. The pledge details several items of behavior, such as no yelling, no treating anyone with disrespect and no weapons.

Hastings said he also does not agree with hiding your agenda or concealing your face while protesting. He said it alienates the mainstream when protesters are so confrontational.

“Without the support of mainstream America the movement will not succeed,” Hastings said. “I’m alienating enough as I am.”

Hastings said he has been traveling to conventions and seminars far too much lately, but will stop until next year. This last week he was just outside Buffalo, New York speaking at the “Concerned Philosophers for Peace” conference.

Hastings also serves as the co-chair of the National Peace and Justice Studies association. He is currently planning a conference to be held at Portland State in 2008 and has begun fundraising activities.

Hastings said his 12 years of experience as a single dad has helped him learn how to balance his busy lifestyle.

“They say if you want something done, ask a single mother,” Hastings said. “I’ve also acquired that ability by being a single dad for so long.”

Your Name: Cynthia

Your Email Address: declarepeace@gmail.com

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Peace Protest Held In Bangor - WCSH-TV - Portland,ME

staffuser — Mon, 25 Sep 2006 16:12:00 +0000

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WCSH6 NBC Portland, Maine
Sept. 21, 2006

About 50 people gathered in front of the Federal Building in Bangor Thursday afternoon to protest the war in Iraq. The group held a vigil to support the national Declaration for Peace campaign, asking for the withdrawal of all troops from Iraq.

Following the vigil, protesters marched up to Senator Olympia Snowe’s office in Bangor to ask the senator to sign the declaration for peace.

“We’re fullfilling our civic responsibility. We’re here in part because of a huge movement that’s going on across the country for the declaration of peace which has been delivered to all of our senators across the country and we have delivered it to all of our senators and congressmen and they’ve refused to sign it thus far,” said Dud Hendrick from Veterans For Peace.

Some of the protestors chose to stay in Senator Snowe’s office, risking arrest in an act of civil disobedience.

Your Name: Lindsay Martin

Your Email Address: lindsay@paceebene.org

Link to Published Item: http://www.wcsh6.com/news/article.aspx?storyid=41966

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Anti-War Protesters Doing a Sit-In at Portland’s World Trade Center

Cynthia — Fri, 22 Sep 2006 19:42:16 +0000

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link to Portland Mercury Blogtown section

Posted by Amy Jenniges at 12:57 PM

Matt Davis just called in a report from the World Trade Center, on SW Salmon downtown.

Nine anti-war protesters (including one who’s holding a baby) are camped out at the base of the escalator that leads into the building (it’s a weird building—basically, they’re on the outside plaza, barred from entering the building). They’re demanding a meeting with Senator Gordon Smith—or one of his staffers—and they’re refusing to leave until that happens.

It’s likely they’ll be arrested soon, says Matt, because they’re on private property (at the public Federal Building, where another anti-war sit in happened last spring, the activists were arrested when the building closed at the end of the day). There are four cops standing around, in addition to the building’s security guards. The activists are with Civil Resist Portland—the group that organized a similar sit in last spring at Senator Wyden’s office—and four are freshmen from Lewis and Clark, affiliated with the group Students for a Democratic Society. “There are about 300 actions like this starting today around the country,” says Kelly Campbell with the American Friends Service Committee. She’s on the scene, lending support to the action. Their message? “It’s time to end the war in Iraq. Here in Portland there are nine people ages 18 to 55, who are trying to get a meeting with Senator Smith to get him to sign the declaration of peace,” and co-sponsor a bill that would end the war, Campbell says. “They’ve been prevented from going up to his office,” Campbell adds. “They were prevented by police and security from even getting onto the escalator.” Samantha Downs, one of the Lewis and Clark freshmen, says the activists gathered at 9 am—she doesn’t recall when they tried to enter the building.

“But we are now sitting in front of the world trade stairs leading up to Senator Smith’s office, and we are waiting for him to possibly send a representative down to speak with us. And until he does that we are going to continue sitting here,” Downs says. She’s not sure how long they’ll be allowed to block the escalator before the police move in to arrest them. “They really aren’t answering any of our questions right now. We’re pretty much just going to stay here until something does happen or until the place closes.”

Matt checked in with the cops to see when the cops might make a move: “Hopefully it won’t take that long because I’m hungry,” Police Officer Mark Friedman told Matt.

Stay tuned…

Link to photos of Portland sit-in

Your Name: Cynthia

Your Email Address: info@declarationofpeace.org

Link to Published Item: http://www.portlandmercury.com/blogtown/2006/09/portlands_face_of_peace.php#

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