(July 12 – August 31, 2008)
Witness Against War 2008 is a walk from Chicago to St. Paul to challenge and to nonviolently resist our country’s continuing war in and occupation of Iraq.
July 12 is the approximate start date. Our journey will begin 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.
Witness Against War 2008 is bipartisan in nature. As with the Vietnam War in 1968, responsibility for the Iraq War falls upon the shoulders of both the Democratic and Republican parties. The Republican party promises us decades of war in Iraq. The Democratic party offers up promises of a partial troop withdrawal, while setting forth a plan that would leave potentially 40,000 to 60,000 troops in Iraq to protect the U.S. Embassy and U.S. personnel; to train the Iraqi military and police; and to engage in so-called counter terrorist military action.
As the U.S. military issues plans for war in Iraq that will extend well into the future,“Witness Against War” seeks to build opposition. The 32nd Brigade Combat Team, located in Wisconsin, was alerted in December 2007 that it may be called to active duty in Iraq sometime in the summer of 2009. This will be the largest call-up of Wisconsin National Guard troops to active duty since the 1960’s. We want this war to be ended before this call-up happens; before more Iraqi and U.S. soldiers’ lives are lost; and before Wisconsin residents find their lives disrupted by war.
Witness Against War will include acts of nonviolent civil disobedience / nonviolent civil resistance aiming to bring about an end to the Iraq war. Potential locations may include the offices of Congressional Representatives who continue to vote to fund the Iraq War and Fort McCoy, at which some units train before being deployed to Iraq.
Witness Against War calls for:
- An end to all economic and military warfare against Iraq.
- The complete and immediate withdrawal of all U.S. military forces from Iraq.
- The complete end to all U.S. military action against Iraq, whether that action be from the air, ground or sea.
- An end to any further funding for U.S. military action in or against Iraq.
- Full funding for the highest quality health care, housing and education for U.S. veterans and their families; the end of stop-loss orders in the military; and the end of stop-move orders.
- Provision of full funding by the U.S. for the reconstruction of Iraq following the damage caused by these past 18 years of economic and military warfare waged by the U.S. upon Iraq.
- The unconditional cancellation of the remaining odious debt incurred by Saddam Hussein’s regime and of the reparations imposed by the U.N. against Iraq following the Hussein regime’s 1990-91 invasion and occupation of Kuwait.
- Redirection of U.S. financial resources away from waging war and towards providing for the Common Good in the U.S.—universal health care; free public education at all levels; affordable housing; etc.
Route of Witness Against War 2008
The walk route will roughly parallel I-94 from Chicago to Tomah, Wisconsin and I-90 from Tomah to LaCrosse, Wisconsin. We’ll travel to Winona and then head to St. Paul, most likely via Rochester and then north (though the walk route in Minnesota is more fluid at this time).
To help illustrate the walk route, we anticipate our journey taking us through: Evanston and Waukegan in Illinois. In Wisconsin, we anticipate journeying through such communities as Racine, Milwaukee, Jefferson, Madison, Baraboo, Tomah and LaCrosse. In Minnesota, we anticipate journeying through Winona, Red Wing, Hastings, and ending in St. Paul.
Participation in Witness Against War 2008
Please consider participating in one of the following ways:
- Walker – join us for a day, a week, a month or the entire Witness Against War.
- Housing – assist us with providing and finding housing for walkers; if Witness Against War passes through or near your home community, we’ll welcome suggestions for housing with individuals in homes or in tents outside of houses. Housing might also be arranged in the basement or spare room of a place of worship or other community organization.
- Food – those who live along the route could consider making a food donation or organizing with others in your community to provide lunch or dinner to walkers.
- Speaking events – we are most eager to speak in communities along or near the walk route. We will have walkers with us with first hand experience in Iraq, Jordan and Syria as well as in-depth knowledge of such issues as the refugee crisis, humanitarian crisis, war spending and legislative action. Workshops on building local organizing campaigns could be set up.
- Vehicle support – we will need people who can drive a support vehicle during the day to check in with walkers; provide water and food to walkers; and provide transport for people who might be able to walk a portion of the route but not the entire portion on a given day.
- Advance leafleters – we’d like to be able to spread the word of the walk a couple days or more in advance of arriving in a community and assistance with advance leafleting would be most helpful.
If you and a group of friends—or an organization to which you belong—would like to join the walk as an affinity group for a few days or longer, we would encourage you to consider making arrangements to ensure you have a support vehicle, food and water to bring with you. This will help with the overall logistics of the walk. We’ll also appreciate knowing, ahead of time, whether or not an affinity group has already provided for its own logistical needs, (e.g., supply of water, food and support vehicle).
Commitment to Nonviolence
Witness Against War 2008 is a campaign committed to nonviolence and to nonviolent action. We are developing a “Statement of Nonviolence” for this effort to which we will expect all participants to agree for this action. This effort is being organized by Voices for Creative Nonviolence and our allies in the movement for social justice.
For More Information:
Voices for Creative Nonviolence 1249 W Argyle St Chicago, IL 60640 Phone: 773-878-3815 Email:
