Teach-Ins at Pelosi's
We are organizing weekly teach-ins at Cong. Nancy Pelosi's office at the Federal Building in San Francisco. Our first teach-in focused on legislation to cut funding and bring our troops home, namely HR 508. Here's an action report back:
About 15 peace activists entered Speaker Nancy Pelosi's office at about 12:30 in the afternoon. We were met by a staffer who invited us into Nancy’s office (we didn’t have an appointment but they “knew we were coming”) where we met with Deputy District Director Melanie Nutter for about 45 minutes. Broken heart valentines, shoes tagged with the name of an Iraqi child, and large heart posters from our previous actions were in the office on display. We offered Melanie some excellent reasons for defunding the war and reframing the debate about funding. Melanie listened attentively, took notes, and reaffirmed that Nancy Pelosi has no intention to defund the war. After Dan Bernal told us to leave the office as they had another meeting scheduled, and we very slowly exited, we continued our teach-in in the hallway outside the office. We read the text of HR 508 and role played how to respond to criticisms of defunding and troop withdrawal. We had a debrief meeting in the cafeteria afterwards.
The evening of our action, the SF Democratic Committee (DCCC) held a meeting and voted to de-fund the war!! Melanie Nutter (Pelosi's Aide who we met with us) voted for the resolution to de-fund the war, and she is an elected member of the DCCC. Dan Bernal (Pelosi's representative to the SF DCCC) voted against it. We are writing Melanie emails and calling her to recognize her important vote and tell her we hope her boss will follow her leadership! Our teach-in was effective to educate ourselves, and Pelosi's staff!
Our next teach-in focused on how funding the war does NOT support the troops. We read articles about the lack of healthcare funding for veterans and had an over two hour discussion with Dan Bernal, who had arranged for us to meet with him in a larger conference room. At the end of the meeting we asked for clarification (a written statement) regarding the ongoing assertion that funding the war is supporting the troops, and a meeting with Pelosi herself during the Congressional recess. We closed with singing "Can't Buy Me War" together, led by Steven on vocals and guitar.
On the following weekend, Bay Area activists started an encampment outside Pelosi's house! Read about it in the New York Times article at:
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/03/13/washington/13pelosi.html?_r=2&oref=slogin&oref=slogin
About 15 peace activists entered Speaker Nancy Pelosi's office at about 12:30 in the afternoon. We were met by a staffer who invited us into Nancy’s office (we didn’t have an appointment but they “knew we were coming”) where we met with Deputy District Director Melanie Nutter for about 45 minutes. Broken heart valentines, shoes tagged with the name of an Iraqi child, and large heart posters from our previous actions were in the office on display. We offered Melanie some excellent reasons for defunding the war and reframing the debate about funding. Melanie listened attentively, took notes, and reaffirmed that Nancy Pelosi has no intention to defund the war. After Dan Bernal told us to leave the office as they had another meeting scheduled, and we very slowly exited, we continued our teach-in in the hallway outside the office. We read the text of HR 508 and role played how to respond to criticisms of defunding and troop withdrawal. We had a debrief meeting in the cafeteria afterwards.
The evening of our action, the SF Democratic Committee (DCCC) held a meeting and voted to de-fund the war!! Melanie Nutter (Pelosi's Aide who we met with us) voted for the resolution to de-fund the war, and she is an elected member of the DCCC. Dan Bernal (Pelosi's representative to the SF DCCC) voted against it. We are writing Melanie emails and calling her to recognize her important vote and tell her we hope her boss will follow her leadership! Our teach-in was effective to educate ourselves, and Pelosi's staff!
Our next teach-in focused on how funding the war does NOT support the troops. We read articles about the lack of healthcare funding for veterans and had an over two hour discussion with Dan Bernal, who had arranged for us to meet with him in a larger conference room. At the end of the meeting we asked for clarification (a written statement) regarding the ongoing assertion that funding the war is supporting the troops, and a meeting with Pelosi herself during the Congressional recess. We closed with singing "Can't Buy Me War" together, led by Steven on vocals and guitar.
On the following weekend, Bay Area activists started an encampment outside Pelosi's house! Read about it in the New York Times article at:
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/03/13/washington/13pelosi.html?_r=2&oref=slogin&oref=slogin
posted by rae @ 10:42 PM
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