The Occupation Project and the Movement to Defund the War

Congress: If you fund the war, then you own it

The eager, uplifting hope that voters felt after the November election—when we resoundingly renounced the Bush agenda in Iraq—must now be turned into a resolve to ensure that members of the 110th Congress put their money where their campaigning mouths were and vote to stop funding the US occupation of Iraq. And if our representatives aren’t willing to make a public commitment to vote against the war funding, then it is our responsibility to put our bodies where our convictions are, and make frequent visits to their district and DC offices, occupying their staffers’ time and workplace with creative actions to emphasize the need to stop war funding. A new national campaign, the “Occupation Project,” is doing just that, and has become an activist phenomena in Congressional offices in over 25 districts around the country, from Huntington, Alabama, to Fairbanks, Alaska, with new occupations sprouting up daily.

The occupation project was initiated by Voices for Creative Nonviolence, CODEPINK Women for Peace, and Veterans for Peace, and is growing as many groups, including United for Peace and Justice, join. “The premise is simple,” writes campaign co-coordinator Jeff Leys. “Representatives and Senators: Publicly pledge to vote against the $100 billion supplemental war spending package which President Bush submitted in early February, or we will occupy your offices.”

Occupations go one step further than typical lobbying visits: from a simple reading of the names of soldiers from the Congressperson’s state, and Iraqi civilians, who have been killed during the almost 4 year long occupation of Iraq, to risking arrest by sitting in. Constituents bring shoes tagged with the names of Iraqi civilians who have been killed, and ask legislators to “walk in their shoes” and see why it’s imperative that they stop the funding to bring peace in Iraq. Some groups bring big money bags or giant cancelled checks, or take their purses and cut the strings off. Activists in San Francisco brought “broken heart” valentines to Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s office on Valentine’s Day. Senator Hillary Clinton’s New York City office is barred to the public, so activists are taking the project to Hillary’s fundraisers and town hall meetings, and encouraging “birddogging” around the country at her events (see www.listenhillary.org). In Sacramento constituents have been sitting in at Cong. Doris Matsui’s office daily for almost a month. While the Occupation Project is a national campaign, it is based on the reality that local organizers will understand what forms of nonviolent civil disobedience will work best in their locality, the best targets and the frequency with which actions will occur. Some will occupy offices on a weekly basis, others every other week, and others at key times during the hearing and vote process.

Bush’s proposed supplemental spending bill gives $100 billion to the war, but appropriates very little funds to veteran’s benefits or Iraqi reconstruction. Supporting the troops must not be confused with funding the war, despite what the GOP would like us all to think. Democrats must not allow war-profiteers to define “supporting our troops” as funding war; real support for our troops is bringing them home promptly and safely, and taking care of them when they get here. And there’s enough money in the pipelines for the troops to come home. By voting for continued funding for the war, Congresspeople are giving a blank check to Bush for future aggression in the Middle East, ostensibly in Iran. Stopping the funding is the one action that Congress can take which Bush cannot veto.

Democrats will readily criticize the Bush administration, the invasion of Iraq, and some presidential hopefuls—Hillary Clinton, for one—are now making promises to end the war if elected president in ’08. But these words fall flat if not backed up with action, namely the commitment to defund the war. It’s ridiculous for Congress to be outraged about the troop surge, even passing a non-binding resolution against the escalation, but then to turn around and refuse to stop funding the very war they carped on in their speeches on the floor of the House.

The Occupation Project is an effective tactic to stop the Iraq War funding. Since the start of the campaign, there has been a flood of national and local media attention around occupations and legislators’ positions; a dozen legislators have signed onto HR 508, the best resolution to bring the troops home; and upping the ante of anti-war activism is engaging and inspiring a new audience to get involved in the peace movement. The heart of our country—our hospitals, schools, parks, libraries, and young people—is being squeezed by budget cuts, and affected citizens are ready to let our representatives know that they must give money to healthcare, not warfare; books, not bombs. It’s time to take our teach-ins, vigils, and rallies inside, to congressional offices, where our voices count against billions that may go to furthering the war. It’s time to tell our Representatives and Senators to do their Constitutional duty, force the withdrawal of U.S. troops to the safety of their homes, and support the troops by voting against any additional war funding.

For more info about the Occupation Project, please visit: http://www.codepink4peace.org/article.php?list=type&type=192

Broken Hearts on VDay

Today we delivered broken heart messages to Senators in Congress, asking them to stop breaking our hearts and start standing up for peace by voting to defund the war in Iraq. People around the country gave broken hearts to their Congresspeople's staff in local offices, especially in Chicago and in San Francisco.

Occupation Project Launch: McCain's Office Action

Today we began the Occupation Project by occupying Senator McCain's DC and Arizona offices. Inside the offices activists sang the names of the soldiers from AZ, and of Iraqi civilians, who have been killed in the war. After each name, the group sang, "We remember you." 10 activists were arrested. At left is a photo of the CODEPINK group in Tucson, AZ, organized by Lee.

Hillary, if you’re in to win, stop the war spin

The Peace Movement Ups the Ante on Demands to Congress to Cut War Funding
[The following piece was published in BeyondChron today. See: http://www.beyondchron.org/news/index.php?itemid=4165]

“Senator Clinton, we’re blocking your door, until you cut this web of war!” was the chant heard through the halls of Congress outside Hillary Clinton’s office last Tuesday, where activists with the women’s peace group, CODEPINK, asked Hillary to stop supporting funding for the war in Iraq. 50 activists entered Hillary's office and effectively wove themselves into a web of pink yarn and ribbons to symbolize the senator’s web of deception and the innocent people—Americans and Iraqis—caught in it. The group asked Hillary to pledge to fund college scholarships and healthcare, an issue the senator triumphs, not bombs and destruction. Activists held banners that bared slogans such as, “Hillary: Be a Woman for Peace” and “It takes an Invasion to Raze a Village,” and donned pink slips with the “Cut the Funding” message. After being forced out of Clinton’s office, six women were arrested while blocking Clinton’s door.

Those arrested included three Bay Area residents—Heather Box, Leslie Angeline, and myself. We were compelled to urge Senator Clinton to take leadership from our representatives, Lynn Woolsey and Barbara Lee, and stand up for peace. New York resident and arrested activist Sonia Silbert captured this sentiment when she said, “As young women we’ve been inspired by the powerful women who have paved the way and we’ve all been waiting to vote for a woman for president. But we want a woman who stands for values we can be proud of: the values of peace and justice, and healthcare not warfare.” Heather Box also stated, “I am here to represent my friends that are serving in Iraq because they cannot be here- and they want to be here. They want to come home and they want to be taken care of when they get here.”

Some progressives may still be asking why activists would go after Hillary. Why not keep on the Bush administration or the other neoconservative powers that be? Hillary has admitted to making the wrong choice on Iraq, yet remains unapologetic and unwavering in her dedication to continue funding this grossly mismanaged and misguided war. She is calling for a cap on troop levels, but has not addressed a timeline for an end to the occupation. She has never met an Iraq war supplemental she didn’t like, and its doubtful she will vote against the $100 billion supplemental this spring. Hillary, if you are in it to win, you better stop the spin.

Hillary prides herself on listening. We want her to listen to the majority of the people in the United States (specifically over 62% of our nation’s women) who are calling for an end to the war in Iraq. We want her to listen to the majority of our troops in Iraq and to the Iraqi people themselves, 71% of whom are calling for a troop withdrawal within a year or less. We want her to stop funding the war, and to start talking about a real exit strategy, not just a troop cap. Are you really listening Hillary? Can you hear the young women of this country begging for better education and healthcare, not bombs and war?

Back in 2003, CODEPINK gave Hillary a pink slip symbolizing our disappointment after she voted to support Bush and the invasion into Iraq. Last year, CODEPINK activists in New York City started a national Listen Hillary campaign (www.listenhillary.org),
tracking her statements and bird-dogging her as she makes appearances
throughout the country. Though she was not in her office on Tuesday, the statement
was made to her staff that women are ready for a woman president, just not one who supports war.

The action at Hillary’s office was part of a week of peace demonstrations at the Capitol. The week started on Friday, January 26, with the construction of an Iraq war memorial on the Mall. The reverent memorial, “Walk in Their Shoes,” was a large plexiglass box filled with over 6,000 pairs of shoes individually tagged with the names of Iraqi civilians who have been killed in the war. Saturday’s sunny anti-war rally was staged next to this memorial and featured speeches from a wide range of speakers, including Congressional representatives Maxine Waters, Lynn Woolsey, John Conyers, and actors Jane Fonda, Susan Sarandon and Sean Penn. An estimated 500,000 demonstrators encircled Congress in a march that lasted over three hours.

Understanding that weekend marches aren’t enough to make change, over 1000 visiting activists stayed in DC through Monday, January 28, and lobbied 400 Congressional offices from 48 states. Peace lobbyists asked their representatives to commit to defund the war, investigate the war crimes and fraud executed by the administration, and prevent any aggression with Iran. CODEPINK activists converged in the Senate Hart building and dropped a series of pink banners and a giant pink slip that read “Stop Funding War!” from the inner balconies while chanting and successfully garnering attention from Congressional staff and stopping business as usual. After the banner drop, California activists met with legislative aides from the offices of Senators Boxer and Feinstein. Both meetings were so large—greater than 40 people—that the groups had to remain in the atrium of the building. During the meeting with Feinstein’s aides two parents who lost their child in the war spoke, and the group presented the staffers with a pair of children’s shoes tagged with the name of an Iraqi toddler who was killed in the war. It’s up to us to keep bringing the heart into the debate, and to ensure that our elected officials don’t forget the mandate for peace under which many of them were elected in November.

This week also marked the death of beloved lifelong activist and author Molly Ivins, who commanded us in her final column to take action: “We are the people who run this country. We are the deciders. And every single day, every single one of us needs to step outside and take some action to help stop this war. Raise hell. Think of something to make the ridiculous look ridiculous.”

Today, Monday, February 5, President Bush is expected to release his request for more funding for the war in Iraq. Activists around the country will begin the Occupation Project—a sustained campaign of civil resistance to ensure that their representatives will not support further war funding. So in the name of Molly and all of the lost lives from the war on terror, let’s give ‘em hell.