“Ours is a world of nuclear giants and ethical infants. We know more about war than we know about peace, more about killing than we know about living.” Gen. Omar Bradley
For this Memorial Day, we share two articles with you. “Memorial Day: Pick Your Perversion” was written by Leah Bolger, current President of Veterans for Peace. The other is a speech given by Jay Wenk, a WWII Veteran and active member of Veterans for Peace. Both Leah and Jay were active in organizing and participating in the occupation of Freedom Plaza.
Here is some music that you might appreciate as you read this report from Chicago – Tom Morello and other musicians playing at the Chicago NATOprotest standing with the crowd after the sound system stopped working.
On Saturday, May 19, members of Veterans for Peace attempted to deliver a letter to the NATO leaders in Chicago but were denied access. They had to leave their powerful letter, folded in an American flag, in the street outside McCormick Place. The veterans from wars dating back to WWII were ignored by both the NATO leaders and the press.
The protest against NATO in Chicago on Sunday was a strong one. At least15,000 people marched in a peaceful protest that culminated in a powerful ceremony by Afghan and Iraq War veterans. Nearly 50 veterans spoke about their war experience and then returned their medals by throwing them toward the NATO Summit. The vets were supported by veterans fromVeterans for Peace and VVAW who served as their security. (Photos of the day here.)
The police presence was deep at the march and throughout the city. It would be fair to say that downtown Chicago was militarized in response to the protest. There were not a lot of arrests, but there was harassment of activists. Journalists were a particular focus of police attention reminding us how important the citizen media is to getting out our message – and how the authorities know that preventing the message from getting out is important to protecting the status quo. Indeed, the media situation is likely to worsen because the current National Defense Authorization Act contains provisions to legalize state department propaganda developed for use around the world to now be used within the US (repealing the Smith-Mundt Act of 1948).
The first use of the NDAA’s provisions for support of terrorism were used in Chicago. The three arrested have been held in solitary confinement in all white “observation” cells where they are denied contact with each other or other prisoners and denied any reading or writing material. This case deserves special attention of the democratized citizen media because its implications are important to all of us. The three youths are being prosecuted under support for terrorism and other charges. The prosecution comes just after a New York federal judge stopped the use of the indefinite military detention provisions of the NDAA.
A police clash occurred after the medal ceremony when the protest organized by a coalition of groups was officially over. There was a group of protesters who wanted to remain behind to try to get closer to the NATO meetings, which were about three blocks away. The police had made it difficult for protesters to leave the area, funneling them through a narrow exit. As a result some people who did not want conflict with the police were stuck in the melee. From video tape of the event it seems that police were responsible for the escalation of the conflict, but there are mixed reports. The conflict has led to continued criticism of Black Bloc tactics undermining the message of the day, making the day more about conflict with the police than about the unjust and immoral wars as expressed by the peaceful protest and the veterans who returned their medals.
We have submitted Freedom of Information Act requests with various federal agencies about the terrorism arrests in Cleveland and Chicago and whether this is part of a national strategy by the federal government.
Prior to the Chicago protest, we organized an Occupy G8 People’s Summit. At the summit we talked about issues like the Financial Transactions Tax on speculation by banks and investors. This was part of a week of activities around the world in support of the tax. The Summit also examined the illegitimacy of the G8 trying to make economic decisions for more than 190 nations and excluding the voice of civil society in the process. Speakers at the summit spoke about how to build the international economy from the ground up so that it was a sustainable, clean-energy based economy where people worked together to meet human needs within the limits of the ecology of the Earth.
Click here to listen to an interview with Jacob George, a veteran of the occupation of Afghanistan who participated in the NATO Summit Medal Ceremony, and Medea Benjamin who has a new and very thorough book out, “Drone Warfare: Killing by Remote Control.” We will send out a report and videos from the Occupy G8 Peoples’ Summit soon.
In peace and solidarity,
October2011.org/