Mike Back in the U.S. & on Trial in Iowa
international |
anti-war / imperialism |
news report
Wednesday July 09, 2003 12:28
by Ciaron - Dublin Catholic Worker
U.S. Student Peace Activist Based in Dublin Last Year
Mike Schorscm, a U.S. student based in Dublin last year is on trial in the U.S. for nonviolent resistance to the recent war. Mike was an active participant in demonstrations in Dublin & Shannon against the build up to war. Send Mike a support email [email protected]
TRIAL FOR CAMP DODGE 13 SET FOR JULY 7 IN DES MOINES
On March 22 a group of about fifty citizens gathered at the Iowa National Guard Headquarters at Camp Dodge, near Des Moines, to protest the newly begun expansion of the ongoing war on Iraq and to implore members of the Guard to refuse to fight. "Through the National Guard thousands of our neighbors are being rounded up and sent off the fight a war that is criminal and immoral. We would be remiss if we did not take our responsibility to raise to these brothers and sisters a clear and strong voice of warning," read an invitation to the protest issued a few days previously.
"This is a terrible day," said Brian Terrell, one of the speakers at the rally, "we have brothers and sisters in Iraq dying by the hundreds, maybe the thousands, in what people around the world are not recognizing as a war, but as a crime." Several participants gave expression of their support for the Iowa Guard troops by calling for their immediate return home.
Sixteen of the protesters attempted to enter the base gates and were arrested by Polk County Sheriffs deputies and charged with criminal trespass. Thirteen of these plead not guilty and demanded a trial by jury, which is set to begin on Monday, July 7, and expected to last the week.
Iowa law defines trespass as "entering or remaining on property without justification." Those going on trial maintain that their action, taking place while Iraqi civilians and some American soldiers were being killed in an illegal war of aggression, was justified and necessary. Among those who were arrested for exercising their responsibilities as citizens are college students and retirees, several veterans, clergy, school teachers, Catholic Workers, parents and grandparents. At least one will be represented by attorney Sally Frank and the Drake Legal Clinic and others will represent themselves. This will be a "big trial," both in number of defendants and in the importance of the issues that will be raised.
JOIN THE DEFENDANTS
AT THE POLK COUNTY COURT HOUSE,
DES MOINES, IA
DURING THE TRIAL
Show your support in the courtroom and with signs, banners and leaflets on the sidewalk outside.
COME TO A RALLY OF SUPPORT,
WEDNESDAY,
JULY 9, AT 7:30 PM
AT TRINITY UNITED METHODIST CHURCH,
1548 Eighth Street,
Des Moines
Those on trial July 7:
Marion Solomon, Ames IA
Jane Majors, Des Moines IA
Jim Johnson, Des Moines IA
Jeanne Firth, KC MO
Carla Dawson, Des Moines Catholic Worker
Elton Davis, Des Moines Catholic Worker
Fr Frank Cordaro, Des Moines Catholic Worker
Carolyn Uhlenhake Walker, Des Moines IA
Bill Basinger, Des Moines IA
Gil Dawes, Des Moines IA
Fran Fuller, Des Moines Catholic Worker
Michael Schorsch, MN
Brian Terrell, Malloy IA Catholic Worker
For more information contact:
Brian Terrell
Catholic Peace Ministry,
Ph (515) 255-8114
E-mail
or
Fr Frank Cordaro
Des Moines Catholic Worker
P O Box 4551, Des Moines IA 50306
Ph (515) 243-0765
E-mail
Des Moines Catholic Worker Web Page:
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Jump To Comment: 1 2 3Don't imprison Mike, he's gorgeous! THAT would be a crime in and of itself!
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Charges Dismissed Against First Jailed War Protesters
Press Release, Circle of Life
9 July 2003
CHICAGO -- The State dismissed charges against sixteen
members of the faith-based Circle of Life Affinity
Group on trial Monday, July 7 for criminal trespass to
property in Judge Mark Ballard's Cook County Circuit
Courtroom.
Members of the Circle of Life were arrested at the
Kluczynski Federal Building on January 27 protesting
the first strike war in Iraq, becoming Chicago's first
arrested demonstrators prior to the recent invasion of
Iraq.
Melinda Power, the group's attorney, said, "This
dismissal is a victory for all of the tens of
thousands of Chicagoans who protested against the war
in Iraq."
Defendant Chris Inserra, a music teacher and mother of
three said, "The state dismissed our charges but they
cannot dismiss our acts of conscience against the
unjust war in Iraq." "The state dismissed our charges,
but the U.S. government cannot dismiss the illegality
of the war in Iraq. They cannot dismiss the fact that
every justification for the war has been found to be
false," she added.
The group faced penalties up to a year in jail. They
were prepared to utilize the Necessity Defense, a
legal procedure demonstrating that the defendants
reasonably believed such actions were necessary to
prevent a greater harm or illegality.
The group is representative of various faith and peace
organizations including Voices in the Wilderness, IL
School of the Americas Watch, Iraq Peace Pledge, Pax
Christi and the American Friends Service Committee.
The group is composed of grandfathers, mothers,
fathers and includes university chaplains, a UCC
minister, a seminary professor, an engineer, social
workers and people who have visited Iraq.
A Statement from the group follows:
Circle of Life* Statement Upon Dismissal of All
Charges
July 7, 2003
The dismissal of all charges against us today is a
victory for the tens of thousands of Chicagoans who
have opposed the illegal and unjustified war in Iraq.
By dropping the charges, the state admitted that they
did not want a jury hearing our case for nonviolent
witness at the Federal Building on January 27 against
an unjustified war.
The state dismissed our charges, but the U.S.
government cannot dismiss the illegality of the war in
Iraq. They cannot dismiss the fact that every
justification for the war has been found to be false.
No weapons of mass destruction have been found. No
ties between Iraq and al Queda have been discovered.
And no nuclear weapons capabilities existed.
The state can dismiss charges against us, but they
cannot dismiss the fact that these acts of conscience
are justified under international law as the right and
responsibility of citizens to stop their government
from undertaking aggressive first strike warfare.
The state dismissed our charges, but the U.S.
government cannot dismiss the fact of 205 U.S.
soldiers killed and hundreds seriously wounded, and
the anguish, even now, of the families whose sons and
daughters and spouses are in harm's way.
The U.S, government cannot dismiss the thousands of
Iraqi civilians and tens of thousands of Iraqi
soldiers killed by the war.
We are concerned by the City of Chicago's pattern of
arresting and jailing hundreds of protestors, only to
later drop the charges. This intimidation chills
dissent and stifles the constitutional rights of all
Americans to freedom of speech and assembly.
In the weeks to come we will not drop our charges
against the Bush Administration regarding the
illegality of the Iraq War. We will be calling for an
independent investigation of the actions of the Bush
Administration. What did President Bush know and when
did he know it?
We will be at the Federal Building, 230 S. Dearborn at
4PM on Wednesday, July 23 to erect a memorial wall for
all of the victims of the Iraq War and call upon our
elected representatives to establish an independent
commission of inquiry concerning the truth about the
Bush Administration's justifications for the war.
*The Circle of Life Group is composed people of faith
including grandfathers, fathers, mothers, ministers,
chaplains, social workers, students and people who
have recently visited Iraq.