This was an action that was a gift to the peace movement. It was something to help it reenergize and reform the events the movement plans. (Some peace groups are still planning events as follow-ups to the recruitment center actions in Berkeley which occurred at the end of January and in the beginning of February. They were desperate for something new to happen that they could respond to.)
This action called into question Cardinal George (who still sees George W. Bush as a person worth holding meetings with even though he has shown no sign of being willing to repent for his sins involving the people of Iraq and the people of America) and the Catholic establishment of Chicago.
Cardinal George is cited as saying after the protesters were dragged out of the church by security:
"And so should we all, call for peace. Peace, is of course, the salutation that the risen Lord brings to those whom he has called to witness to Him. Peace, I give you, because they were afraid, and therefore they need to be gifted peace.""They were afraid, first of all, of Him, because they didn't recognize him at first. But, they were afraid also, as we all are, of our sinfulness and of the enormous difficulties that are incumbent upon working for peace in the world in different ways in which people see the need to work for peace."
"In that witness, I think we can be grateful to those who interrupted this holiday."
Watch the video at
http://chicago.indymedia.org/media/all/display/29168/index.php
And so, it would appear that the peace movement got Cardinal George to rhetorically show he supports these activists in some way. In fact, he has taken an odd stance against the Catholic activists saying something like he does not support them because they disrupted worship but had they not disrupted worship, he would be on their side 100%.
In the context of the fifth anniversary, this is a stunning and unexpected action that took place.
Chicago's peace activists were out in full force in March 19th's permitted march held at night through the city after a rally in downtown Chicago. The peace movement did not quit after the permitted march was over and police were led willy nilly around the city as primarily young activists marched down the sidewalk back towards downtown from the spot where the permitted march ended. The event ended at the ABC7 Chicago news station where activists disrupted business as usual for the ABC News team by making the point that they were partly responsible for the continuation of this Iraq war.
The following day, March 20th, a slew of creative actions occurred. From Chicago Indymedia, this gives you an idea of what the Chicago Police Department had to deal with before arresting the Holy Name 6:
The first action of the day came early in a typically briskly cold Chicago morning during rush hour, as five people hurled a banner that read, “We Heard You Malachi,” at the Millennium Flame near the Kennedy Expressway. The banner was referencing the peace martyr Malachi Ritscher, who killed himself in a public suicide meant to express opposition to U.S. war policies in Iraq. Traffic police reportedly intervened to put a stop to the action in which no arrests were made.
About ninety minutes later, four people locked themselves arm-to-arm in front of local Congressman Rahm Emanuel’s (D-IL) office on Irving Park Road in opposition to his stance on Iraq. The Chicago-based groups the Christian Peacemaker Teams and Voices for Creative Nonviolence were reported as being behind the action whose participants were apparently all arrested. Around the same time, the northbound lines Lake Shore Drive were blockaded by a group with an unknown affiliation of about a dozen people, which according to corporate news accounts, reportedly resulted in a traffic accident.
By around 1:30pm in the afternoon, eight people at Federal Plaza stepped into the lobby of Federal Plaza requesting the presence of State Senators. Seven people kneeled down until they were arrested, including the likes of Voices in the Wilderness activist Kathy Kelly, one of the speakers and organizers of the permitted march on Wednesday. Kelly is a veteran activist who previously traveled to Iraq as one of the “human shields” and has been arrested within the U.S. on many prior occasions for past anti-war activism; as a result, Kelly may face jail time because of this latest arrest.
Other non-violent actions and small demonstrations, including a protest against Raytheon at the University of Illinois at Chicago and another one waged by Columbia College students against a recruiting station, were also held throughout the day.
Thursday’s actions in Chicago were part of a larger week of civil disobedience waged all across the country. One of the first acts of civil disobedience was undertaken against Chevron and Iraq war policies by the U.S. last Saturday, where up to fifty protesters locked themselves together in front of an Chevron-owned oil refinery in Redmond, California. In downtown Washington D.C. on Wednesday, up to thirty people were arrested that blockaded an Internal Revenue Service building. Over two-dozen people were arrested in San Francisco on Wednesday as well, in the midst of a die-in that completely blocked Market street in the downtown area. Five protesters who staged a sit-in at a Federal building in Wooster, Massachusetts were also taken into custody by local police authorities and arrested on Wednesday.
The Chicago Police Department is getting tired. And the people of Chicago are taking notice of the growing effectiveness of anti-war actions. This effectiveness is contributing to citywide movements to pass legislation in the city that states the city will oppose a preemptive attack on Iran. It is fueling desires for more leaders to be outspoken on the war in Iraq.
With the 4,000th casualty, another church in the Chicago area held the second protest in two days (although this one was supported by the church leadership). On a wall at St. James Episcopal Church in Chicago, 4,000 black squares, each inscribed with the name of a fallen soldier, were hung as a reminder of those Americans who have been lost in this war.
Says Michael McConnell of the American Friends Service Committee:
"I think we're at the place where the war is becoming very frustrating to many in our society and that we're going to see escalating actions of non-violence because this war has gone on for too long."
The people are tired of waiting for the media and the politicians to take the necessary steps to preserve what's left of this democracy and begin repairing it so future generations of Americans can have a future. They see how we have let a recidivist war criminal run this nation and its principles into the ground and see how the media has been complicit by refusing to cover real news, which is news that is necessary for Americans to preserve their freedom and democracy.
Take Action Now --- Call Cardinal George and demand charges are dropped: 312-751-8230 and submit letters of support to the local newspaper, Chicago Tribune
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