A Local Campaign of Sustained Nonviolent Action to End the Iraq War Beginning the week of February 4, 2007
The Twin Cities Peace Campaign-Focus on Iraq is organizing a local campaign of sustained nonviolent action to end the war on Iraq in solidarity with Occupation Project, an action initiated by Voices for Creative Nonviolence (www. vcnv.org).
The campaign will begin the week of February 4, 2007, and will run for eight weeks. The campaign will challenge our United States Congresspersons and Senators to publicly declare that they will vote against any further funding for the war in and occupation of Iraq.
We have talked to peace activists around the state and we are suggesting the following plan of action:
Every Tuesday, beginning February 6, constituents will enter the offices of their Congresspersons and Senators at 9:00 am and begin a vigil that will last until 5:00 pm or whenever the offices close. We do not plan to be disruptive, but rather to be a presence for one full day each week to remind our elected officials that the people of Minnesota want an end to the war on Iraq and that we want them to vote to stop funding the war and to bring the troops home now.
We have team leaders for each office, who will ensure that there is a continual presence for the entire day.
We are recommending that the team leaders and those who accompany them set up a visual in the office (visuals can be very powerful), which could include such things as a wreath, a peace flag, a poster indicating the number of dead and injured American soldiers and Iraqis, a poster listing the multiple costs of the war, pictures, flowers … . We anticipate that people will be coming in at different times of the day and they are encouraged to bring in poems or other things that they might want to read and leave. People might want to dress in black and/or wear black armbands.
We are encouraging groups not to be disruptive to the work of the office, however, they might choose to quietly read the names of American and Iraqi dead and ring a bell every few minutes… or some other meaningful action.
We will continue to evaluate our action and possibly change our strategy as the weeks progress.
The following individuals have been asked to be team leaders:
Senator Coleman
Sarah Standefer, scsrn@yahoo.com 612-379-4716
Senator Amy Klobuchar
Marie and John Braun and Barbara Palmer, braun044@umn.edu 612-522-1861
Joe and Elaine Mayer (Rochester), eljomayer@hotmail.com 507-289-4154
Congressman Jim Ramstad
Roxanne Abbas, rabbas@usinternet.com 763-476-7643
Congresswoman Betty McCollum
Betty McKenzie, macconis@usfamily.net 651-644-1337
Congressman John Kline
Sue and Greg Skog, family4peace@msn.com, 651-454-3850
Congresswoman Michelle Bachmann
Sr. Merle Nolde (St. Cloud area), mnolde@cspsju.edu 320-363-7189
Bill Oldfather (Stillwater) bill_oldfather@yahoo.com 651-275-0247
Congressman Tim Walz
Joe and Elaine Mayer, eljomayer@hotmail.com, 507-289-4154
Congressman Colin Peterson
Jim Hubley (Marshall), jhubley@chartermi.net, 507-532-6846
Lucy Tokheim (Willmar), tokheim@frontiernet.net, 320-769-2142
Congressman James Oberstar
Michelle Obed Naar, , 218-728-0629
Congressman Keith Ellison
Congressman Ellison has said he will vote against funding.
Team leaders will be asking others to help in this role. If you are available to do so, please contact the Twin Cities Peace Campaign-Focus on Iraq at braun044@umn.edu or 612-522-1861 or contact one of the other team leaders.
We will obviously not go into the office of Senators and Congresspersons who commit to vote against further funding for the war on Iraq, and will leave the offices of any Senator or Congressperson who gives us a statement indicating that he or she will vote against such funding.
Participate with the Occupation Project
If you have not already done so, Please sign-up as a participant with the Occupation Project, then:
Participate with this local campaign!Let the organizer know you are interested in joining the campaign:
