February 22, 2007
by Joy First
Madison Wisconsin Occupation Project
We had a successful and empowering occupation at Senator Kohl’s Madison office on Feb. 21. Our group continues to grow each week and on Feb. 21 we had at least 17 people participating. About half of the group stayed outside and talked to people passing by. Because Senator Kohl’s office is right on the Capitol Square, there is a lot of foot traffic and this gives us a great opportunity to speak to a lot of people about what we are doing and why.
The other half of the group went into Senator Kohl’s office. We met with Senator Kohl’s staff person and were able to voice our concerns. Strong and powerful statements were made. We said that a meeting with the Senator was an urgent necessity. Innocent people continue to die in Iraq everyday, and Senator Kohl bears responsibility for these deaths. Senator Kohl says the war is wrong. If the war is wrong, then it is wrong to vote to fund the war. We said that Senator Kohl does NOT support the troops when he continues to vote for money to send them to Iraq to kill and to die. We asked the staff person to find out what his reasons are for not committing to vote against funding in a war that he believes is wrong. She will try to have answers for us at our next vigil on Feb. 28.
—Joy First
