AUDIO: Kathy Kelly interview with The Progressive

voices — Wed, 06 Aug 2008 22:29:11 -0500

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WITNESS AGAINST WAR 2008: From Chicago to St. Paul

Excerpt

Original broadcast: The Progressive Radio Show

My guest today is Kathy Kelly, who founded Voices in the Wilderness and now works with Voices for Creative Nonviolence.

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Original broadcast: The Progressive Radio Show

My guest today is Kathy Kelly, who founded Voices in the Wilderness and now works with Voices for Creative Nonviolence.

Audio

32.0 kHz 60 Kbps min kelly08.mp3 29:00 (13.14 MB)

Kathy Kelly Interview by Matthew Rothschild

Click to play 29:00 minutes (12.53 MB)

Walk Blog: Alice Gerard (Lake Mills to Cottage Grove)

voices — Sat, 02 Aug 2008 21:19:19 -0500

Project

WITNESS AGAINST WAR 2008: From Chicago to St. Paul

Short Information Teaser

"That is what this walk is about… talking, listening, and making connections."

Excerpt

By Alice Gerard
July 26, 2008

Mosquitoes that managed to sneak into the tent that I shared with Mary and Helene enjoyed a feast. In the middle of the night, I awakened to the drone of a mosquito that was ready to dive bomb me. In the dark and without my glasses, I swatted ineffectively in the air, covered my face with my arms, and drifted back to sleep.

Five o’clock in the morning seems to come awfully quickly.

It was time to go to the public showering facility near the bike path. Tim drove Mary, Helene, and me there. I enjoyed a hot shower and emerged, feeling human again.

Back at the campsite, we welcomed Huihwa, Mark, and Mike, who are going to be part of our group for the weekend.

After packing up the tents and deflating the mattresses and eating breakfast, we were ready to begin our day’s adventure, walking from Lake Mills to Cottage Grove.

Body

By Alice Gerard
July 26, 2008

Five o’clock in the morning seems to come awfully quickly.

It was time to go to the public showering facility near the bike path. Tim drove Mary, Helene, and me there. I enjoyed a hot shower and emerged, feeling human again.

Back at the campsite, we welcomed Huihwa, Mark, and Mike, who are going to be part of our group for the weekend.

After packing up the tents and deflating the mattresses and eating breakfast, we were ready to begin our day’s adventure, walking from Lake Mills to Cottage Grove.

We were driven in the bus back to the park, where we had ended yesterday’s walk. The park had been decorated by the nineteen teams participating in the Relay for Life. The Relay for Life theme in Lake Mills was a kind of groovy sixties theme. One of the teams had decorated its area with old vinyl record albums that had been painted with words and peace signs and all sorts of images associated with the 1960s. It was all very colorful and very cute.

The Relay for Life participants were still walking around the path at the park’s perimeter. The path was lined with luminaria in paper sacks, all with handwritten messages. Some honored cancer survivors, while others memorialized those who had passed away.

Yesterday, when I was watching the Relay for Life people set up for the big event, which raises funds for the American Cancer Society, I met a woman who was folding light purple t-shirts for cancer survivors participating in the event. She told me that she was a substitute teacher who, four years ago, had been diagnosed with breast cancer after a routine mammogram. She was immediately referred to a surgeon. She is now in remission. Two years ago, she served as the honorary chairman for the Relay for Life.

When I listened to this woman tell her story, I couldn’t help but think of a story that I had written for Alt Press (an alternative newspaper in Buffalo that isn’t printed anymore but can still be found on line). Doug Rokke had come to Buffalo to talk about the effects of depleted uranium on people. He said that he was a warrior and that he had been in the military for quite a long time. He was also a scientist, and one of the jobs that he and the team that he led was given to do was to figure out how to clean up depleted uranium from an area.

This was during the first Gulf War.

He said that it was impossible to clean up depleted uranium. He himself suffered terrible health problems from exposure to depleted uranium. He said that depleted uranium exposure resulted in increased risks of leukemia and other forms of cancer. Exposure to depleted uranium has resulted in the deaths of many Iraqi children.

Before long, however, we had walked away from the park and toward the road that would take us out of Lake Mills. We walked past lakes, where people were getting their boats ready for a day outside. We left the city and walked past fields of corn and beans. We walked past cows standing around. We walked past horses, running in pastures. I was especially delighted to see the horses. When they ran, they looked graceful, with their long legs and their manes flying.

The sad part of the walk was seeing all of the road kill. We were startled to see a deer almost suffer the same fate when it ran across the road, directly in front of an automobile. Fortunately, the driver slowed down and the deer was able to make it across the road, still alive. The driver and passenger of that car had terrified looks on their faces, as did the walkers who witnessed that incident. Shortly after the car left, another deer bounded across the street. Mercifully, there was no traffic at the time.

As we walked, we experienced a variety of reactions from passing motorists. Some smiled and waved. Others flashed peace signs and cheered. One man gave us a negative review and offered us the thumbs down criticism. Another man stopped his pickup truck and questioned what we were doing. He had the impression that, if we opposed the war, we were opposing the troops. He said that he had been in the military for several years and that we were negating all of the sacrifices that he had made in the service of his country.

Huihwa, Dan, and Joshua told him that we did indeed support the troops. They told him that we could oppose the war and support the troops at the same time. We want the troops to come home and the veterans to get all of the benefits that they need.

Huihwa, Dan, and Joshua said that they would like to continue to talk to the man.

“I don’t know what more we could say,” said the man.

“We want to listen to you,” they said.

The rest of us continued on our walk, while Huihwa, Dan, and Joshua talked to the man, who really just needed someone to listen to him. Later, I found out that the four of them had a good conversation and that they had made a good connection with this man. After about half an hour, Joshua left on the support bicycle, and the man drove Huihwa and Dan back to the rest of the group to continue the walk. By this time, the man was smiling at all of us.

That is what this walk is about… talking, listening, and making connections.

We had a bathroom break at a house near a church. At the church, we had lunch.

Then, we continued walking, on and on, for mile after mile. It was a very long walk, without much shade. As we entered Cottage Grove, my foot decided that was a good time to have a cramp and go on strike. Huihwa and I were able to get Tim to pick us up in the support vehicle and take us the remaining two miles to Dennis’ house, where we were to enjoy a dinner.

We spent a relaxing evening at Dennis’ house. It is located in a subdivision in Cottage Grove. The person who built the subdivision was a teacher who was a big horse racing fan. There were streets named for race horses, such as Alydar, Citation, and Secretariat.

We then scattered to host families and tents outdoors to spend the night.

Tomorrow, we will walk with a large group into Madison.

See my blogs at www.alicesgrandadventures.blogspot.com or at www.closethesoa.blogspot.com/

Letter from Cathy Breen

voices — Sat, 02 Aug 2008 21:01:39 -0500

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"Despite the Iraqi government’s current campaign to get Iraqis to return to their country, no Iraqi here that I’ve spoken with is willing to return."

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Amman, Jordan
July 30, 2008

Dear Friends,

Yesterday I received the following message from friends in Baghdad.

“Our Prime Minister visited the pope a few days ago and invited him to visit Iraq and persuade Christian Iraqis to return back to Iraq…. though Iraq is still a hotbed of crime and conspiracy. Many Iraqis in Syria and Jordan have returned either because their savings were depleted or they were not lucky enough to be picked by the UNHCR. Until now I cannot understand the criteria they are using to select the refugees. The conditions here are still bad, with no services at all. We even boil the drinking water to make sure it is safe while we heard that in the Green zone they import distilled water from Kuwait to use for washing and showers.”

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Amman, Jordan
July 30, 2008

Dear Friends,

Yesterday I received the following message from friends in Baghdad.

Stating that the security situation has improved inside of Iraq, there is a push on the part of the Iraqi government for the return of Iraqi refugees. Monthly financial incentives are being offered to returning Iraqis as well as to people inside of Iraq who have taken up residence, for instance, in other peoples’ homes. On a recent trip to Europe, Prime Minister Nouri Malaki asked Germany to review its position on refugees as Berlin has led a campaign to allow several thousand Iraqi refugees to resettle in the European Union. German Chancellor Angela Merkel told the press “I think we should back plans to see the greatest number return home, with necessary encouragements.” (The Jordan Times 7.24.08) The pope himself, distressed at the mass exodus of Iraqi Christians from the region, is encouraging them to return. But is he, or anyone else for that matter, asking Iraqis what they want?

Despite the Iraqi government’s current campaign to get Iraqis to return to their country, no Iraqi here that I’ve spoken with is willing to return. Moreover, the UNHCR is not promoting or encouraging Iraqis to return until they can do so safely and with dignity. As part of an internal study the UNHCR asked Iraqis in Jordan if they would return to Iraq: 90% said not at all, 5% said at some point, and 5% were undecided. The results were similar in Syria.

Beginning in mid-February of this year the Jordan government announced its own three-month campaign to encourage Iraqis to return home. This was in the form of a “waiver of fines” for Iraqi nationalists who had overstayed their visas, while those who wished to stay would have their fines cut in half and then receive a three-month visa. Jordan’s Minister of Interior described the number of Iraqis who benefited from the exemption as disappointing, compared with the total number of Iraqis in the country which stands at half a million. “Only 3,000 Iraqis have left the country while 12,000 stayed and benefited from the exemption decision.” (The Jordan Times, July 20,2008)

The other night I made myself look at the gruesome pictures on the TV news, pictures of bodies ripped apart by explosions in Turkey. Two consecutive suicide bombings were carried out in a crowded shopping area, the second as rescue attempts were going on. Seventeen innocent people dead. In Baghdad and Kirkuk at least 58 people died in suicide bombings the same day.

About 5 months ago an Iraqi couple and their two year old son were allowed to enter Jordan for medical reasons. Their little boy was near death and in need of an emergency operation. The operation was successful, thank God, and the parents will be returning to Iraq soon. This precious child has captured my heart, as well as his mother who is expecting their fourth child. The father shared with me how he saw a mother, beside herself with grief, frantically racing with part of her son to a hospital after such an explosion. Holding only his legs in her arms, she was screaming “Sew him together, sew my son back together! While no one disputes that the number of deaths and attacks have declined since the “surge,” the ongoing violence and carnage continue in alarming proportions compared to other parts of the region. It seems somehow obscene to even think in terms of numbers, doesn’t it? But I fear we have simply become immune to the numbers….and the images are tragically withheld from us.

Cathy Breen

VCNV Author

Cathy Breen

Walk Blog: Josh Brollier, from Baraboo to Reedsburg

voices — Sat, 02 Aug 2008 20:57:53 -0500

Project

WITNESS AGAINST WAR 2008: From Chicago to St. Paul

Short Information Teaser

"Maybe we do not need to wait on iconic figures or saints. Maybe it is time that ordinary people everywhere stood up and resisted this current incarnation of oppression."

Excerpt

By Josh Brollier
August 2, 2008

Today we traversed a 16 mile trek from Baraboo to Reedsburg. Much of the time I was thinking of Hiroshi, the organizer for last night’s event at the Garden Party Cafe, and his description of just how difficult it can be to get large crowds of people to come out for peace events in Baraboo. The event was not a failure by any means. There were probably twenty to thirty folks there, and I was very excited by the enthusiasm and the response of the crowd. However, many activists and concerned citizens share Hiroshi’s concerns, questions, and confusion as to why there is not a more organized and visible peace movement at present in the United States.

Body

By Josh Brollier
August 2, 2008

I do not think the answer lies in lack of ideological support for peaceful and non-violent solutions in Iraq, Afghanistan, or elsewhere. The response to our “witness” has been overwhelmingly positive in both the cities and the towns of Illinois and Wisconsin. This also rings consistent with a recent referendum that found that 72% of the citizens Milwaukee are in favor of ending the Iraq war.

There is a combination of spiritual, moral, and/or political depression that comes along with feeling helpless to alleviate the suffering we inflicted on our brothers and sisters in Iraq and Afghanistan. There is a cynicism that easily creeps in when we do not see immediate changes. But my reflection is this: How should we respond to this depression?

Last night Dan Pearson and Helene Hedberg described to us just a glimpse of the very bleak situation that some 4 millions refugees are facing as a result of the conflict in Iraq. We have an enormous responsibility to these families to do more than to sink into depression.

One of the most important things that Voices has been advocating for during the walk is to build genuine relationships between Americans and the people of Iraq. The Direct Aid Initiative and The Iraqi Student Project are two avenues that we could take advantage of to become actively engaged in building justice in Iraq while bypassing the corporate looting and unaccountability that have become so prevalent.

And just what is our responsibility to pressure our elected officials to bring home our troops from these wars of aggression? It seems to me that it is time to take some risks. Neither presidential candidate is making concrete plans to shift the foreign policy in a more compassionate direction. Continuing to pursue our present course will be detrimental to world security and suicidal to our own economy and environment.

Presently, the risk levels in our country are relatively low for exercising our rights to free speech and even civil disobedience. We must take advantage of these opportunities now while there is still an open window to reach out to the people of Iraq and Afghanistan and to re-shape the dreadful direction in which our nation is heading. How will future generations remember us if we fail to effectively organize and tackle the challenges that face us today?

I do not make any claims to being an experienced organizer or a great leader. Maybe we do not need to wait on iconic figures or saints. Maybe it is time that ordinary people everywhere stood up and resisted this current incarnation of oppression. Previous generations resisted slavery and succeeded. Will we walk in their footsteps?

Group continues walk from Chicago to convention

voices — Wed, 30 Jul 2008 18:40:43 -0500

Project

WITNESS AGAINST WAR 2008: From Chicago to St. Paul

Excerpt

The Associated Press - Wednesday, July 30, 2008
ST. PAUL

A small group of people opposed to the war in Iraq are walking 450 miles from Chicago to St. Paul, with plans to arrive just days before the Republican National Convention.

Kathy Kelly, co-coordinator for Chicago-based Voices for Creative Nonviolence, is among the walkers. She spoke to The Associated Press by phone from Sauk City, Wisconsin, on Wednesday, saying things are going well - aside from mosquitoes and sore feet.

There are about a dozen walkers, averaging about 12 miles of walking each day. In Sauk City, the walkers attended a vigil against the war. A day earlier, they stopped at Governor Jim Doyle’s office in Madison and delivered a letter saying the state should resist sending the Wisconsin National Guard to Iraq.

The Republican National Convention runs from September 1-4.

Short Information Teaser

Short Associated Press article

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The Associated Press - Wednesday, July 30, 2008
ST. PAUL

A small group of people opposed to the war in Iraq are walking 450 miles from Chicago to St. Paul, with plans to arrive just days before the Republican National Convention.

The Republican National Convention runs from September 1-4.

Walk Blog: Visit to Governor Doyle's office (Madison, WI)

Kathy Kelly — Wed, 30 Jul 2008 13:17:33 -0500

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WITNESS AGAINST WAR 2008: From Chicago to St. Paul

Short Information Teaser

delivery of a letter to Governor Doyle

Excerpt

July 30, 2008

In Madison, WI, we delivered a letter to Governor Doyle, urging him to support State assemblyman Spenser Black in his efforts to prevent the National Guard from going to Iraq. Mr.Farland, an aide to the governor, met with about two dozen of us who crowded into the reception area of the governor’s office. The letter reads:

Governor Jim Doyle
Office of the Governor 115 East State Capitol Madison, Wisconsin 53702 Governor Doyle,

The Red Arrow 32nd Brigade Combat Team of the Wisconsin National Guard is currently scheduled to deploy to Iraq in 2009.

We urge you to take all necessary steps to prevent this deployment from happening. This includes, but is not limited to, taking legal action in the form of a lawsuit to prevent future deployments to Iraq.

Voices Author

Kathy Kelly

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July 30, 2008

Governor Jim Doyle
Office of the Governor 115 East State Capitol Madison, Wisconsin 53702 Governor Doyle,

The Red Arrow 32nd Brigade Combat Team of the Wisconsin National Guard is currently scheduled to deploy to Iraq in 2009.

We urge you to take all necessary steps to prevent this deployment from happening. This includes, but is not limited to, taking legal action in the form of a lawsuit to prevent future deployments to Iraq.

We believe that you have the legal authority to prevent the deployment of the Wisconsin National Guard to Iraq. Specifically, the Authorization to Use Military Force against Iraq, passed by Congress in October 2002, achieved its objectives. Congress authorized the use of military force against Iraq for two very specific reasons:

to force Iraq to comply with U.N. Security Council resolutions; and,

because Iraq was considered to be a threat to the national security of the United States.

Each of these two conditions have been achieved. Indeed the U.S. is negotiating a Status of Forces Agreement with the current government of Iraq, indicating that the U.S. considers Iraq to now be an allied nation.

With the achievement of these two conditions, the purpose for the authorization for the use of military force against Iraq has terminated. This authorization provided the basis for the federalization of the National Guard. With the expiration of this authorization, the legal basis for the federalization of the Guard has also lapsed.

We encourage you to challenge the deployment of the National Guard by refusing to permit the deployment of the 32nd Brigade next year. This no doubt will result in legal action involving your office. But it truly is essential that such a constitutional crisis be created in order to challenge continuing deployments of the National Guard to the Iraq war.

Precedent exists for Wisconsin to challenge the federal government’s military decisions. In 1983 Wisconsin filed a lawsuit against the U.S. government seeking to prevent the operation of the Navy’s Project ELF, a transmitter key to the U.S. nuclear first strike strategy.

We look forward to your action to keep the Guard home.

Jim Cusack, a labor organizer and organizer with Voces de la Frontera (an immigrants rights and workers rights organization based in Milwaukee), spoke of displacement and loss caused by the war, recalling the hundreds of thousands of families, in the US and in Iraq, aching for loved ones who will never return.

Dan Pearson explained Representative Spenser Black’s proposal to Mr. Farland and emphasized that funds allocated for military spending should be redircted to ease the humanitarian crisis caused by ongoing war in Iraq. Dan briefly noted that he had lived amongst Iraqi refugees in Damascus, Syria, for five months and then worked with Iraqis resettled in Chicago. He could verify, through personal experience, that many Iraqis he met were unable to provide basic needs for their families.

I wanted the governor’s aide to know that we’re planning to visit Ft. Mc Coy, which is training soldiers from other states to deploy for combat duty in Iraq. I told him that after living under aerial bombardment of Baghdad throughout the Shock and Awe bombing, I felt acutely responsible to help prevent the terror and horror that these attacks cause.

A teacher from Wisconsin told Mr. Farland that the state had abruptly cut funding for a program to teach English as a Second Language to refugee families that have just arrived in the state, many of them families displaced by the Viet Nam war who, for decades, awaited resettlement in the U.S. and who have now finally arrived here. She asked if the war in Iraq would likely create new waves of displaced people whose needs would be unmet while the military demands dominated state and national budgets.

Alice Gerard told Mr. Farland about a crossing guard, in Jefferson, WI, who told Alice that she supported our walk because she had a son who is in Iraq now and this is his fifth deployment. “Mr Farland, there is a hole left in these families,” said Alice, “a hole in their homes and their hearts when their loved ones go off to war.”

“Witness Against War” walkers and supporters presented earnest, well-informed and persuasive testimony to Mr. Farland. We encourage anyone reading our reports to echo the sentiments we presented by writing letters to Governor Doyle.

They're taking a stand against the war, one step at a time

voices — Mon, 28 Jul 2008 21:20:43 -0500

Project

WITNESS AGAINST WAR 2008: From Chicago to St. Paul

Excerpt

By Randy Furst, Star Tribune
July 28, 2008

Marching through small towns and big cities across Illinois and Wisconsin, a handful of war protesters are on the first leg of a 450-mile walk from Chicago to St. Paul to join demonstrators at the Republican National Convention.

“As we come through various communities, individuals and groups join us to walk for a day or two,” Dan Pearson, 27, said by cell phone from Madison, Wis., where the group stopped Monday to attend a peace vigil at the state Capitol.

Short Information Teaser

A small group of protesters is marching 450 miles from Chicago to St. Paul to join demonstrators at the Republican National Convention.

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By Randy Furst, Star Tribune
July 28, 2008

About 10 to 15 people are taking part in most of the trek, with six going the whole distance, said Pearson, co-coordinator for the Chicago-based Voices for Creative Nonviolence, which organized the “Witness Against War” walk.

The route will take them to Baraboo and LaCrosse, in Wisconsin, and on to Winona, Minn., before they reach St. Paul on Aug. 30, marching about 12 miles per day.

“We’ve been in touch with a number of peace groups in northern Illinois and Wisconsin,” he said. “[They] have put us in their homes.

Part of the symbolism of the Chicago-St. Paul march is to link the protests at the Sept. 1-4 GOP convention with the antiwar demonstrations that occurred at the 1968 Democratic convention in Chicago.

One of the marchers is Paul Melling, 27, a recent graduate of St. Cloud Technical College and a member of Iraq Veterans Against the War.

Melling said he was an Army specialist deployed to Iraq in 2003 and 2004 in the field artillery. “The war in Iraq is wrong,” he said. “It was wrong from the beginning. …What I did over there did not do anything to benefit the Untied States or the Iraqi people.”

Reaction along the route has been mostly positive, but sometimes people have been hostile, Melling said. He likes to carry a sign that says, “Support Our Troops, End the War in Iraq.”

Marchers include Kathy Kelly and Mike Miles, nationally known peace activists.

St. Paul development

In another development Monday, at a news conference in St. Paul, Meredith Aby, a leader of the Sept. 1 antiwar march in St. Paul, said her group has pledges from Los Angeles and New York protesters to come to the city with vans coming from Denver after the Democratic National Convention and buses or vans from Lincoln, Neb., Sioux Falls, S.D., and most Minnesota cities.

Jessica Sundin, another march leader, said protesters are not planning at this time to appeal a decision last week by U.S. District Judge Joan Ericksen, who sided with the police march route and time schedule for the Sept. 1 march. Sundin said her group instead will put pressure on St. Paul Mayor Chris Coleman to change the route and time.

The Chicago-St. Paul march has set up a website at vcnv.org.