Acquittal in Maine: Standing in front of the Penobscot County Courthouse while the jury deliberated their fate are, from left to right: Doug Rawlings, Henry Braun, Jimmy Freeman, Dud Hendrick, Rob Shetterly and Jonathan Kreps. (Photo: Kelly Bellis)> “I think that the public in Maine is so disgusted with the war in Iraq that they demonstrated their disgust with this verdict,” said (District Attorney R. Christopher) Almy, a Democrat. “And, that they are upset with [Sen. Olympia] Snowe and Collins for getting us involved in this debacle.”
“At this point,” Almy said, “we’re going to have to consider the precedent that this verdict sets and we may very well have to consider giving these cases to the U.S. attorney to prosecute because this state court case may preclude successful future prosecutions.
“Also, I would like to say that Snowe and Collins got us involved in this mismanaged war and it may be up to them to persuade the U.S. attorney to take on these cases,” he concluded.
MEMPHIS—On Wednesday March 19, 2008 seven members of the Mid-South Peace and Justice Center were arrested in the Memphis offices of Senator Bob Corker. Protestors had come to the office for a scheduled meeting in order to present Corker’s staff with 1,000 petition signatures and to ask that the Sentor hold a town hall meeting in Memphis on the Iraq war, which the Senator has not done since taking office. Protestors vowed not to leave the office until a signed letter from the Senator committing to a town hall meeting was recieved.
Chicago - at 8:30am members of Christian Peacemaker Teams and Wellington Avenue UCC Gerald Paoli, John Volkening, Rev. Dan Dale and Sarah Shirk chained themselves to the entrance of U.S. Congressman Rahm Emanuel’s office at 3742 W. Irving Park Road in Chicago demanding that he “unchain us from this unjust and immoral war.” CPD arrived shortly after with no less than 10 squad cars and a wagon obstructing the busy street traffic for more than a half hour until a bolt cutter could be delivered to remove the 4 demonstrators.
We Will Not Be Silent (photo: Suzanne Sheridan): Chris Spicer, a Jesuit, and Abby Strozinski, student at Loyola University Chicago, in Representative Emanuel’s office.65 years ago, on February 22, 1943, the Nazi regime executed three German students because of their active resistance to the regime’s murderous global and domestic agenda. Known as the White Rose, nearly all participants were students. 29 members were indicted for promoting opposition to the holocaust and to World War II.
Here in Chicago, several dozen people gathered in early February to watch “Sophie Scholl: The Final Days,” a film about the White Rose movement which focuses upon the experience of Sophie, and to think about our responsibilities, today, to confront Congressional Representatives and Senators in the U.S. who fund and prolong the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. Seventeen people agreed to commemorate the 29 indicted White Rose activists by delivering white roses to people working in Representative Rahm Emanuel’s office. Rahm Emanuel is Chair of the House Democratic Caucus and consistently votes to fund the war in Iraq. We hoped that staffers would receive the roses and also engage with us in a conversation about Representative Emanuel’s position regarding the war in Iraq.Commemorating the White Rose (photo: Laurie Hasbrook): We remember the 29 individuals indicted by the German government for participation in the White Rose resistance effort during World War II. Five were executed and most of the rest sentenced to lengthen prison terms.
They had, in the end, absolutely no chance for acquittal. You don’t need a fancy law degree hanging on the wall to see that.
Indeed, a Denver County Court jury of four women and two men on Thursday convicted all three after less than an hour of deliberation on charges of trespassing. They were quite obviously guilty.
What was even easier to figure after two days of trial was that trespassing, alone, was never once the sole point for Rafael Eggers, Sue Gomez or Merrill Carter.
Their trial before Judge Claudia J. Jordan, besides being great theater, was a sometimes-riveting lesson in the responsibility of the governed to hold accountable those elected to govern, and on the price that is paid when the effort falls on deaf ears.
CHIGAGO - In a combined action by members of 8th Day Center for Justice, Voices for Creative Nonviolence, and St. Francis of Assisi Catholic Worker, 15 people were arrested while protesting Senator Richard Durbin’s continued support for the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.
On September 21st twelve courageous Iowa young people occupied the office of Senator Charles Grassley demanding that he take a strong stand to end the U.S. war in Iraq and to bring the troops home as soon as possible. To stop funding this illegal and immoral war being wages in our name. They called for all young people to stand for Peace!
IN A DRAMATIC ending to a three-day trial, a jury unanimously found five Iowa peace activists “not guilty” of charges of trespassing at the Des Moines office of Iowa Republican Sen. Charles Grassley in February. Acquitted in the July 11 verdict were Des Moines peace activist Elton Davis, Iowa Methodist Federation for Social Action member Chester Guinn, American Friends Service Committee (AFSC) Iowa Program Coordinator Kathleen McQuillen, Catholic Peace Ministry executive director Brian Terrell, and Catholic Just Faith member Dixie Webb.
TRENTON, NJ — Mary Ellen Marino has had enough of the Iraq war.
She is fed up that too many lawmakers from both political parties are acting too slowly or not at all in heeding the message from anti-war activists like herself that it’s past time that U.S. troops leave Iraq.
It’s a message that Marino, a peace activist from Princeton Borough, and other demonstrators are trying to deliver not just through anti-war marches but also by directly pressuring individual members of Congress through smaller-scale rallies, sit-ins and lobbying of their offices.
Even civil disobedience — generally in the form of purposely occupying a legislator’s office even beyond business hours — has become a tactic meant to draw attention and provoke change.
Acquittal in Maine: Standing in front of the Penobscot County Courthouse while the jury deliberated their fate are, from left to right: Doug Rawlings, Henry Braun, Jimmy Freeman, Dud Hendrick, Rob Shetterly and Jonathan Kreps. (Photo: Kelly Bellis)> “I think that the public in Maine is so disgusted with the war in Iraq that they demonstrated their disgust with this verdict,” said (District Attorney R. Christopher) Almy, a Democrat. “And, that they are upset with [Sen. Olympia] Snowe and Collins for getting us involved in this debacle.”
