A hardy coalition of peace and justice activists took on Blackwater USA Saturday, Oct 20, 2007 at their world headquarters, outraged by a long history of bloody incidents in Iraq and Afghanistan and culminating in the Nisour Square massacre in Baghdad on Sept 16.

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Photographer Joe Filipowski sent me a CD full of photos of the Blackwater Protest in Moyock last Saturday, Oct 20, with the request that I get them out to the public. I can do that. I took some 80 plus of his best photos and loaded them on my Kodak Gallery space for everyone's perusal, but I thought I would show you a few of them here at OpEdNews so you can get an idea of the day's events. The link to the rest of the photos is at the bottom.

There were protests outside of the Blackwater entrance, along the roadway and elsewhere. There was a guerrilla theater partial reenactment of the Nisour Square massacre, and there were seven arrests of activists who quietly chose to practice civil disobedience. The police were pretty cool about this and the whole event went off very successfully.

There was local and Virginia coverage of the protest, with some independent media types joining in, or protesters simply being their own media journalists and photographers. The message got out that there is very vocal resistance on both coasts now to Blackwater's martial ambitions and violence.

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You can see the rest of Joe's photos by clicking here . You don't have to sign in, just go to "view slideshow".

It is hoped that this protest will serve as an inspiration to others who are challenging the government/corporate war machine that is devastating humanity and the planet.

Authors Bio:
I am a student of history, religion, exoteric and esoteric, the Humanities in general and a tempered advocate for the ultimate manifestation of peace, justice and the unity of humankind through self-realization and mutual respect, although I am not a pacifist, nor do I believe in peace at any price, which is no peace at all but only delays inevitable conflict. There are times when the world must act. Planetary consciousness is evolving, but there are many retrograde forces that would drag us back down.

I have also written one book, a combination of poetry, photography and essays entitled "Post Katrina Blues", my reflections on the Gulf Coast and New Orleans two years after Katrina struck. Go to the store at http://sanfranciscobaypress.com/ to purchase. And I also have a blog called Plutonian Mac.