Witness Against War in the news

January 13, 2009

Witness Against War-Fort McCoy

Members of Voices for Creative Nonviolence were arrested in August by base police at the main gate of the 67,000-acre military installation during a walk from Chicago to the Republican National Convention in St. Paul, Minn. The activists said they wanted to “dialogue” with soldiers to tell them their Fort McCoy Training would leave them woefully unprepared for what they would face in Iraq.

August 31, 2008
By Jeff Severns Guntzel
Minnesota Independent

When Code Pink’s Medea Benjamin took the stage at the Veterans for Peace rally in front of the State Capitol building today, where hundreds of activists gathered before marching towards the Xcel Energy Center, she started with the string of weekend raids on her mind: “This is not the Midwestern welcome we expected!”

Her audience cheered — among them a vet hoisting a desert-camo anti-war flag:

A cadre of protesters were clad in orange jumpsuits meant to evoke those worn by prisoners at the controversial Guantanamo Bay prison. The held black hoods in their hands and stuck signs to their backs — on each sign was printed the name, age and story of a living, breathing Guantanamo detainee:

CONTINUE READING the Story with photos at Minnesota Independent

August 31, 2008

(Noted: Veterans for Peace and CODEPINK organized this march. Dan Pearson and Josh Brollier, both Witness Against War participants, and Steve Clemens, a who traveled to Iraq in 2002 with Voices in the Wilderness, were arrested in this act of nonviolent civil disobedience)

View Fox-9 News Coverage

Nine Protesters Entering Restricted Area Arrested Sunday for Trespassing

A group of anti-war protesters went underneath a security barrier near the Xcel Center as an act of civil disobedience. Nine were arrested for trespassing.

Police in riot gear arrested nine people protesting at the Xcel Center Sunday, after they entered a restricted area secured by a fence. The protesters marched from the capitol to the Xcel Center, protesting the war in Iraq and the treatment of veterans coming home.

August 29, 2008

August 29, 2008

Watch Video Report from KARE-11

The road to St. Paul and the Republican National Convention started more than a month ago for one anti-war group. Members have spent July and August walking here from Chicago.

After 49 days and more than 475 miles the Witness Against War marchers are still going strong.

August 28, 2008
Clarksville, TN Online

Witness Against War is a 450-mile walk from Chicago to Saint Paul to challenge and non-violently resist our nation’s wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. The campaign seeks to hold both major political parties, both Democrat and Republican, accountable and responsible for continuing and ending the Iraq war.

The journey began in the City of Chicago, site of the 1968 Democratic Party convention in the midst of the Vietnam War. The walk will conclude on August 31 in St. Paul — in time for the start of the 2008 Republican Party convention in the midst of the Iraq war.

Joshua Brollier joined the walk in Chicago on July 12th and has participated in awareness events and community forums along the route to St. Paul. The walkers will convene there on August 29th to march in step with the Veterans for Peace at the Republican National Convention protests.

CONTINUE READING AT CLARKSVILLE ON-LINE, INCLUDES PHOTOS

The Republican Eagle
By Mike Longaecker
August 25, 2008

Red Wing was a welcome sight Sunday for a group of peace activists.

Of course, their destination — St. Paul — may be even more so, once they’ve completed their mission. Members of the peace group Witness to War stopped here for a couple days in the midst of an approximately 500-mile walk from Chicago to St. Paul.

“It re-energized us,” Voices for Creative Nonviolence activist Joshua Brollier said Monday, recalling how local supporters joined up with the group as they passed into town.

August 25, 2008
By Gene Stoltzfus
Gene’s Blog

Route 21 from Tomah, Wisconsin west to Sparta goes through hilly corn fields and woods. After the tiny berg of Tunnel City the fields end and Fort McCoy begins. Eighty miles northwest of Madison this Fort is one of the few major army training bases in the Northern Midwest. The Gene Stoltzfusoops headed for Iraq and other combat zones. It also provides jobs for civilians.

On this Sunday in August with reporters and cameras looking on the base prepared for the visit of 50 peace walkers on Witness Against War pilgrimage from Chicago to St. Paul. Twelve walkers would seek to enter the base to talk with soldiers and officers about war and peace. I was one of the twelve. The 350 mile walk was organized by Chicago based Voices for Creative Nonviolence.

I joined the group at Tunnel City five miles east of the main entrance to Fort McCoy. State Route 21 was thick with security cars among army trucks, Hummers, SUVs and other vehicles, some out for a Sunday excursion and others basking in vacation days. Horn blowing and waves from people encouraged us. No harsh fists or crypto-patriotic shouts. By 11 am we reached the main entrance only to discover that it had been closed and, that persons seeking entrance must go on.

August 22, 2008
Gene StoltzfusGene Stoltzfus

Note: Until 2004, was the Director of the Christian Peacemaker Teams (CPT), a program of Brethren, Mennonite and Friends churches and other affiliated organizations that places teams in high conflict zones

Last week for eight days I joined a walk from Chicago to St. Paul, Minnesota, a seven week trek that will culminate at the Republican National Convention in the opening days of September. Our numbers varied from fifty participants to ten as we wound our way along highways, town boulevards and bicycle paths in south central Wisconsin towards and along the Mississippi River. A core group of ten nonviolent practitioners at Voices for Creative Nonviolence began in January to organize foot soldiers like me for this dialogue of the village For years I have wanted to learn how walks of this nature unfold. Travel by foot brought me closer to the feel of Gandhi’s freedom walks and Jesus journey with his handful of disciples through the towns of Palestine.

August 25, 2008

Mike Longaecker
The Red Wing Republican Eagle

Red Wing was a welcome sight Sunday for a group of peace activists.

Of course, their destination — St. Paul — may be even more so, once they’ve completed their mission. Members of the peace group Witness to War stopped here for a couple days in the midst of an approximately 500-mile walk from Chicago to St. Paul.

“It re-energized us,” Voices for Creative Nonviolence activist Joshua Brollier said Monday, recalling how local supporters joined up with the group as they passed into town.

August 26, 2008
The Leaf Chronicle

Witness Against War is a 500-mile walk from Chicago to Saint Paul to challenge and non-violently resist our nation’s wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. The campaign seeks to hold both major political parties - Democrat and Republican - accountable and responsible for continuing and ending the Iraq war.

Joshua Brollier joined the walk in Chicago on July 12 and has participated in awareness events and community forums along the route to St. Paul. The walkers will convene there on August 29 to march in step with the Veterans for Peace at the Republican National Convention protests.