The War Comes Home

by CW Wed Sep 14, 2005 01:15

Arrests, court dates and fines do not deter Brian Terrell from protesting the conflicts in Afghanistan and Iraq, whether in Johnston, West Des Moines or other parts of the country.

Terrell, 49, of Des Moines has been an active protester for about 30 years, and he said he has always protested war and nuclear proliferation in Iowa and elsewhere. Since the conflict began in Iraq, Terrell and others have protested in front of Camp Dodge in Johnston and most recently at the Military Entrance Processing Station in West Des Moines.

Terrell and others were arrested last November at a protest in Johnston and charged with criminal trespass. He was held for 24 hours in the Polk County Jail and later pleaded guilty to a misdemeanor trespass charge. He was given a 30-day suspended sentence and one year of probation, and was ordered to complete 25 hours of community service.

Terrell said he returned to court on Aug. 1 because he had not paid costs associated with his conviction, namely a $250 fee related to his probation and $30 to file his community service hours. Terrell said he was unsure what the fees paid for.

"The issue there is not the community service hours, but the money that piles up," he said.

Terrell said he doesn't make a lot of money in his job as director of Catholic Peace Ministries in Des Moines, but knows his supporters would have helped him with the costs.

The issue, he says, is paying for one's freedom.

"There are separate tiers of justice,'' he said. "People who have money don't have to go to jail, and people that don't have money do."

Terrell said he believes 60 percent of the people in the Polk County Jail are serving time there because they don't have the money to post bond, not because they are a danger to the public.

"It's a matter of principle," he said.

Terrell was joined by Fran Fuller, 57, of Des Moines at the court hearing last month. She, too, refused to pay fines.

Fuller was sentenced to two days in jail. She was given credit for time served and did not have to go to jail. Terrell was sentenced to three days in jail, given credit for time served and sent to the Polk County Jail, where he stayed 12 hours.

Fuller is a board member at Catholic Peace Ministries. She and Terrell live at the Catholic Worker House in Des Moines. Fuller moved to Des Moines five years ago and later left her job with a local insurance company and moved to the Catholic Worker House. There she helps "feed the hungry and pass out clothes," she said. Fuller said she believes her work helps people in society who are wounded and need help.

"After a while, it just made sense to prevent people from being wounded," she said, adding that she believes military spending has put less federal money in social programs needed by the poor.

"The natural next step for me was to speak out against the war," she said.

Terrell and Fuller do not consider jail time a deterrent to their protests.

"Jail is not a disincentive," Terrell said, noting that Martin Luther King Jr. spent time in jail for his beliefs. "Nobody in this country has made significant social change without taking risks like this."

Terrell said he and others opposed to U.S. involvement in Afghanistan and Iraq moved what he calls a "vigil" from Camp Dodge, where the Iowa National Guard is stationed, to the processing station in West Des Moines. The group protests outside the center each Wednesday. The move to the enlistment center was intentional, Terrell said.

"It's a broader issue than just focusing on the National Guard," he said. "The National Guard had never been used as the front line. People from the National Guard in Iowa have been taking the brunt of casualties."

The center processes individuals joining any of the military branches for the entire state, said Marine Corps Maj. Jon Dallman, commander of the processing center. He said the protests have not caused problems for the center, though the West Des Moines police were notified when the protests started outside the center. A police spokesman confirmed the department is aware of the protests but there have not been any calls or problems.

"There hasn't been any anger or disrespect at us or anyone who works here," Dallman said.

by Update Tue Sep 13, 2005 12:12

Activist pressured to leave quietly: lawyer
By Jesse Hogan
September 13, 2005 - 2:21PM

Scott Parkin had been travelling in Australia on a 6 months visitors
visa but was detained 10 September.

US peace activist Scott Parkin wants to leave Australia but remains in
solitary confinement because the immigration department refuses to
deport him, his lawyer said today.

Julian Burnside, QC, told theage.com.au that Mr Parkin had been told by
immigration officers that his deportation would be brought forward if
he dropped his appeal to the Migration Review Tribunal to find out why
his visa was revoked.

Mr Burnside described this as "factually false and legally improper".

"What they're doing, in effect, is saying 'Alright, we'll hold you here
in solitary confinement until you dump your action', and that's
outrageous," he said.

The immigration department has not yet returned calls from
theage.com.au about the appeal claim or when Mr Parkin will be
deported.

Mr Burnside said the Migration Act allows appeal applicants to seek
information even after they have been deported. It also requires
visitors without visas to be deported as soon as practicable.

Mr Parkin as been in solitary confinement at the Melbourne Custody
Centre since being detained last Saturday.
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Attorney-General Philip Ruddock today rejected suggestions that
political pressure from Washington may have been behind the decision to
deport Mr Parkin, whose six-month visa was cancelled because he was
deemed to be a potential risk to national security.

But Victorian Premier Steve Bracks called on the Federal Government to
explain why Mr Parkin's visa was revoked.

Mr Burnside said Mr Parkin's detention set a "disturbing precedent" for
the government's planned anti-terror laws, which have been criticised
by civil libertarians.

"Here we've got a person locked up, at his own expense, and then
removed from the country without ever knowing what he's supposed to
have done," he said.

"Quite frankly, I'm beginning to feel more alarmed by our Government's
conduct than about the risk of a terrorist attack."

Mr Burnside said he would consider taking the matter to court if the
immigration department continued to hold Mr Parkin in detention.

"You would hope that you wouldn't have to go to a court to tell a
government department to obey their own laws."

Mr Parkin is an activist with the Houston Global Awareness Collective,
which aims to end the US-led war in Iraq.

Since February 2003, the collective has targeted US-based multinational
company Halliburton, which is a prime recipient of US Government
contracts in Iraq and formerly had US Vice President Dick Cheney as its
chief executive officer.

Mr Parkin has described Halliburton as a "poster child of war
profiteering".

The American arrived in Australia in early June and on August 31, took
part in a non-violent protest outside US corporation Halliburton's
Sydney headquarters.

When he was detained on Saturday, he had been due to give a workshop in
Melbourne discussing emerging trends in grassroots direct actionActivist pressured to leave quietly: lawyer
By Jesse Hogan
September 13, 2005 - 2:21PM

Scott Parkin had been travelling in Australia on a 6 months visitors
visa but was detained 10 September.

US peace activist Scott Parkin wants to leave Australia but remains in
solitary confinement because the immigration department refuses to
deport him, his lawyer said today.

Julian Burnside, QC, told theage.com.au that Mr Parkin had been told by
immigration officers that his deportation would be brought forward if
he dropped his appeal to the Migration Review Tribunal to find out why
his visa was revoked.

Mr Burnside described this as "factually false and legally improper".

"What they're doing, in effect, is saying 'Alright, we'll hold you here
in solitary confinement until you dump your action', and that's
outrageous," he said.

The immigration department has not yet returned calls from
theage.com.au about the appeal claim or when Mr Parkin will be
deported.

Mr Burnside said the Migration Act allows appeal applicants to seek
information even after they have been deported. It also requires
visitors without visas to be deported as soon as practicable.

Mr Parkin as been in solitary confinement at the Melbourne Custody
Centre since being detained last Saturday.
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Attorney-General Philip Ruddock today rejected suggestions that
political pressure from Washington may have been behind the decision to
deport Mr Parkin, whose six-month visa was cancelled because he was
deemed to be a potential risk to national security.

But Victorian Premier Steve Bracks called on the Federal Government to
explain why Mr Parkin's visa was revoked.

Mr Burnside said Mr Parkin's detention set a "disturbing precedent" for
the government's planned anti-terror laws, which have been criticised
by civil libertarians.

"Here we've got a person locked up, at his own expense, and then
removed from the country without ever knowing what he's supposed to
have done," he said.

"Quite frankly, I'm beginning to feel more alarmed by our Government's
conduct than about the risk of a terrorist attack."

Mr Burnside said he would consider taking the matter to court if the
immigration department continued to hold Mr Parkin in detention.

"You would hope that you wouldn't have to go to a court to tell a
government department to obey their own laws."

Mr Parkin is an activist with the Houston Global Awareness Collective,
which aims to end the US-led war in Iraq.

Since February 2003, the collective has targeted US-based multinational
company Halliburton, which is a prime recipient of US Government
contracts in Iraq and formerly had US Vice President Dick Cheney as its
chief executive officer.

Mr Parkin has described Halliburton as a "poster child of war
profiteering".

The American arrived in Australia in early June and on August 31, took
part in a non-violent protest outside US corporation Halliburton's
Sydney headquarters.

When he was detained on Saturday, he had been due to give a workshop in
Melbourne discussing emerging trends in grassroots direct action
campaigns.

Greens leader Bob Brown has said Mr Parkin may have been arrested for
political reasons on orders from Washington, because of the American's
history of activism against Halliburton.

- theage.com.au, with AAP

http://theage.com.au/news/national/activist-pressured-to-leave-quietly-lawyer/2005/09/13/1126377300426.html?oneclick=true


_______________________________________________________

by Anthony Mon Sep 12, 2005 11:21 Melbourne, Australia

A US peace activist has been detained in Melbourne by Australian Federal
Police on his way to present at a public forum and workshop about the
progress and success of the peace movement in the US and companies profiting
from the Iraq war. Approximately thirty people who had been intending to
hear Scott speak at the forum gathered outside the Carlton West police
station in support and a large presence was again outside the Melbourne
Custody Centre this morning (Sunday).

Scott Parkin, from Houston, Texas is an experienced global justice activist
and nonviolence trainer, working with Houston Global Awareness
(www.houstonglobalawareness.org ) which is campaigning against Haliburtan -
the main US corporation profiteering from the US occupation in Iraq. Scott
is also a community college instructor who teaches history in Houston.

He has been detained by Federal Police and DIMA and was held by Federal
Police at Carlton West police station before being moved to Melbourne
Custody Centre on Londsdale st. The reason given for his detention is that
he poses "a threat to national security." It is understood that he has had
his visa revoked at the Minister's discretion. Scott was wrongly reported
in several media articles as an 'organisor' of the recent Forbes 500
protests in Sydney. It is likely that ASIO simply read this as fact.

Scott Parkin is high profile peace and global justice activist. He has
spoken at numerous large public forums and events whilst in Australia
including the Brisbane Social Forum and the Sydney Social Forum in August.
He was contacted by ASIO (Australian Security Intelligence Organisation)
earlier this week and had been asked to 'come in for an interview' which
Scott rightfully declined. Scott participated in a nonviolent street
theatre action outside US corporation Halliburton's headquarters in Sydney
during protests against the Forbes meeting on August 31st. He has written
widely for numerous magazines and spoken publicly about corporate
globalisation and Haliburtons role in Iraq over many years. See:
www.counterpunch.org/parkin05102005.html

Liz Thompson from the National Anti-Deportation Alliance (NADA) said "This
is a major attack on dissent, free speech and the anti-war movement. Scott's
detention prevented him from sharing his experiences of working for peace in
the US with other local activists. This appears to be an attempt not just to
intimidate Scott, but all those working for social justice and progressive
social change more broadly. "

Ms Thompson said "These actions seem to contradict Philip Ruddock's denial
that Australia is turning into a police state. The Federal Government
already has extraordinary powers to silence dissent. This should be a
warning to everyone about the greater powers that ASIO may soon be granted."

On Thursday John Howard announced control orders and preventative detention
measures giving the AFP and ASIO powers to control people who have not been
convicted of any crime.

Scott Parkin has not been charged with any offense nor has he committed any
crimes whilst in Australia.

It is understood Scott will be forcibly deported on Monday.

ACTION: It is important that this does not happen without strong protest.
People are requested to contact the Federal Attorney-General Phillip Ruddock
on:

Phone 02 6277 7300
Fax: 02 6273 4102 or
Email; [email protected]

and ask why a peace activist has been detained because of his political
activities, prevented from speaking publicly and deported from Australia.

Please also contact you local member of Parliment and Federal Senator to
express your concerns about this action as soon as possible. Any
organisational, union and high-level protests is particulary important.

MEDIA: For media questions or comment, contact Dan Cass on 0408 468 488 or
Liz Thompson (National Anti-Deportation Alliance (NADA)) on 0421 979 694 or
Rory Gutterson on 0409 561 837


It is extremely concerning that a visiting peace activist has been treated
in this manner. Such a blatant and highly politcial act of suppression is in
direct contravention of Australia's obligations under article 9 of the
International Declaration of Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR). In this
heightened climate of state fear-mongering it is frightening that state
security forces would target a peaceful global justice activist.

Anthony Kelly
Pt'chang Nonviolent Community Safety Group
www.nonviolence.org.au
+61 03 9415 6642


ABC Media Article: Sunday, September 11, 2005. 1:02pm (AEST)

US activist arrested after visa revoked

An American peace activist may be deported because he is allegedly a threat
to national security.

Liz Thompson from the Anti-Deportation Alliance says Scott Parkin, who is a
teacher by profession, was arrested in Melbourne yesterday.

Ms Thompson says Mr Parkin was told his visa was being revoked on the
grounds of character, after he allegedly received an adverse security
assessment.

Federal police have confirmed an American man was arrested on the orders of
the Immigration Department (DIMIA) and is in custody.

DIMIA has declined to comment on the case, but says anyone without a lawful
right to remain in Australia must be removed as soon as possible.

Ms Thompson says she is baffled by his arrest.

"He's here you know, speaking about the US peace movement," she said.

"The idea that someone who talks about non-violent methods of resistance to
state violence can be considered a threat to national security is pretty
concerning, particularly in the light of the new laws that are being
proposed."

She says Mr Parkin has done nothing wrong.

"He's a hippy giving workshops on peace, non-violent direct action," she
said.

"We'd love to know what the secret stash of information on this guy is that
makes him a threat to national security because everything that he's been
working with to put these workshops together is pretty baffled by it."

Challenge possible

Federal Attorney-General Phillip Ruddock says he is aware of the case.

"I understand it's a decision that's been taken by the Minister for
Immigration and that there may be legal proceedings surrounding it," he
said.

"I understand the decision was based upon a security assessment, and
security assessments are not something about which I can comment in any
detail."

Mr Ruddock says visas can be revoked for a number of reasons.

"I'm not going to comment on matters about which assessments are made by
competent agencies," he said.

"The only point I'd make is that in relation to those matters, there are
provisions by which the decisions can be challenged if people are inclined
to do that."



--

by Daniel Sat Sep 10, 2005 12:48 Vermont USA

BRATTLEBORO — A Bennington grandmother pleaded her cause of peaceful resistance to war to the Vermont Supreme Court Thursday as she appeals a 2004 conviction for blocking traffic during an anti-war protest on the first day of war in Iraq.

Rosemarie Jackowski, 68, admits that she blocked traffic in March 2003, but said she did so to protest the killing of innocent Iraqis during the U.S.-led invasion of the country. She is appealing her resulting disorderly conduct conviction.

"My goal is to end this illegal war and have this country begin following international law again," she said following the hearing at Brattleboro District Court Thursday. "The United States should begin paying reparations to the people in Iraq for what it has done."

The basis of the appeal asks if Jackowski's act met the definition of disorderly conduct, which requires proof of an intent to annoy or inconvience people. Her attorney, Stephen Saltonstall of Bennington, said her only intent was to protest her government's actions.

Saltonstall compared her intent to that of the U.S. military in its initial bombing of Baghad just before the 2003 invasion began. The U.S. government knew civilians would be killed in the bombing, he said, but that was not its intent.

"If they did intend to do that, they would be guilty of war crimes," Saltonstall said. "My client knew that being in the street would block traffic, but her focus was on the death of Iraqi children."

But Bennington County Deputy State's Attorney Daniel McManus said Jackowski's case is not about the war in Iraq. She intended to block traffic to draw attention to her antiwar sign that day, he said.

He added she would have been charged with the same crime no matter what ideology or agenda she was pushing.

"This case is not about the war," McManus said. "This is about what she did on that day in Bennington County."

Jackowski was one of 12 protesters arrested on March 20, 2003, for blocking a road near the Four Corners in Bennington during an antiwar demonstration.

Her case was the only one to go to trial and in September 2004 a Bennington District Court jury found her guilty of disorderly conduct.

The Bennington grandmother and Air Force veteran said she has appealed to the state Supreme Court not only because she feels her original trial was flawed, but because she wants to keep the public's focus on the war in Iraq.

She told reporters Thursday she is willing to go to jail rather than pay a fine or perform community service.

"I stood there in the street that day because Iraqi babies were being slaughtered and everyone wants to forget that," she said. "I won't forget that."

At the protest, Jackowski held a small sign that showed a black-and-white photograph taken from a local newspaper in 2001 showing a young Iraqi crying out in pain in a hospital bed after an alleged U.S.-led air strike that killed 23 people.

On Thursday, Saltonstall questioned why the lower court allowed the sign to be entered as evidence, but denied the jury access to it during deliberations. The sign shows that Jackowski's intent was actually to draw attention to the suffering of innocent Iraqi civilians, he said.

McManus said he did not want the sign shown during the trial at all because its intent was only to "inflame the passions of the jury."

He described it as a "shock value" photo that was accompanied by "leftist and liberal" articles and letters to the editors, including one calling for members of the Bush administration to be charged with war crimes.

The five Supreme Court justices asked several questions Thursday concerning Jackowski's intent during the protest that day, and the legal requirements to find a person guilty of disorderly conduct, a misdemeanor charge that typically carries a fine of several hundred dollars or community service.

Saltonstall said it was not clear when they would issue a decision in the case.

More than a dozen of Jackowski's friends and family members attended Thursday's hearing at Brattleboro District Court.

They were met by several members of the so-called Peace Guard, a group of Brattleboro-area residents who were found guilty last year of trespassing for refusing to leave a military recruitment station during the onset of the Iraq invasion.

Nearly 50 people crammed into the courtroom, many of them standing in the aisles for lack of seating, to see the state's top court in action. The judges, who normally hear cases in Montpelier, occasionally travel to other courts in the state to hear certain cases.

Several prominent area attorneys and a number of local state representatives attended the hearings Thursday.

by Robbie Sinnott Sat Sep 10, 2005 04:49

Practically, mass demos (for whatever reason) have not worked on the war issue. Foreign policy hasn’t toppled any ‘Western’ government since 1957 (Britain), 1958 (France), or 1980 (US) [apartheid Israel not included]. “The War Comes Home” makes that essential link with the domestic sphere. It was such a link that toppled Azanar’s populist regime in March 2004 – even if the PP’s related dishonesty played a large part too.

Unfortunately, “the war comes home” may appeal more to people’s fear/insecurity and selfish interests than their sense of empathy. If that’s what it takes to stop the out-of-sight carnage done in their name, then, it must be. It is a sad indictment of our narrow, individualistic, pliable worldviews, but only hope for us all can come from the ending of those barbarities unleashed in our name (in deed, but not in word by Ireland).

Thinking of Talafa tonight.

It is unlikely that anyone believes that 9/11 or bomb attacks throughout the world since the 1970s have not been related to foreign policy. Till now, politicians have tended to use it as a galvanising force; a need for a country to “pull together” in its hour of need. This nationalism has worked up till now, and strengthens the vicious circle of war and injustice; of profiteering wealthy and dead poor.

To end that circle in Ireland, a campaign strategy is not enough. People here are distant from body bags coming home from Iraq (apart from one or two grieveous losses), and the 7/7 attacks, I suspect, struck most Irish people with a sense of morbid fascination, rather than a feeling of terror or war-impact close to home.

The hard fact is, direct action works…[self-censorship here to protect indymedia and others from sub judice laws and spurious but troublesome charges of incitement].

The war is illegal, and as such, the very apogee of criminality.

Not everyone is in a position to take direct action at tremeandous personal sacrifice (because of infirmity, child-rearing etc.), but such actions work; and those of us who can’t take part can do something just as vital; i.e., give solidarity and practical support where possible, to those who can and do risk everything to save others.

For the rest, I’m hoping the tipping effect will happen [more self-censorship for legal reasons] and that direct actions will bring about Irish neutrality.

Rose Gentle’s action for an independent inquiry into the War along with sixteen other mothers of dead sons, is also a direct action that not everyone is in a position to take, but solidarity gives them strength.

Other non-violent, (currently legal) direct actions will come in all shapes in sizes. ‘The war comes home’ may complement and even stimulate such humane activity, but in Ireland at least, it cannot replace it, if we hope to end the deathport facilities in Shannon.

Vanquishing the root causes of war (i.e., corporatistm) may seem to be some way off yet, and the coming energy crisis could make things worse for most people, not better – no millennial illusions; but there are some of us plugging away at this big project too. Practical support and solidarity also welcome.

In the meantime, those who receive state harassement for their endeavours to protect others from death, pain or anguish, deserve the support of everyone with a conscience.

by Ciaron - Pit Stop Ploughshares Fri Sep 09, 2005 17:06 087 918 4552

The title "The War Come Home" is an interesting one. It echoes the debate within the anti-war movement of the '60's & early '70's. The moderates had reduced the demands of the movement to "Bring the Boys Home", when Nixon satisfied this by 1972 the peace movement largely collpased and the air war and the Vietnamisation of the war raged for another three years without much domestic resistance.

The radicals wanted to bring the war home in terms of addressing the roots of war & imperialism addressing the economic and poilitcal institutions that were to produce many more Vietnams around the globe right up to present day Iraq & Afghanistan. Some of the radicals went into the dead end of mimicing the violence of the war making state. Others, among them the "Catholic Left", embraced a militant nonviolence organising in resistance communities that lead them to raid draft boards and destroy draft cards (hunting licenses for humans!). From these experiments in and out of jail during the Vietnam period, folks began to reflect on continued nonviolent resistance to the U.S. war making state following the collapse of the broader anti-Vietnam War movement. The draft was passed over for the options low intensity conflict and the hi tech overkill of nuclear weapons technology.

25 years ago on Sept 9.th 1980, eight of these folks made their way to a General Electric in the Pennsylvania town of King of Prussia. Together they enfleshed a 3,000 year old prophecy (Isaiah 2) and began to "beat nuclear swords into ploughshares". Varied formative experiences had lead them to this witness..Phil Berrigan a WW2 combat veteran had been radicalised as a priest with the Afro-American community in New Orleans & the civil rights struggle this lead him to draft board raids at Baltimore & Catpnsville in 1968. He became a fugitive form the FBI and later a federal prisoner. His brother Daniel Berrigan a celebrated Jesuit priest poet had joined him at Catonsville, underground & in prison in resistance to the Vietnam War. Molly Rush had raised 11 children and worked with a peace centre in Pittsburgh. Sr. Anne Montgomery had taken a preferential option for solidarity with the poor teaching in Harlem. Fr. Carl Cabat had experienced the blunt end of U.S. foreign policy in the Philipines as a missionary priest. John Schurchardt was a lawer and Dean Hammer a seminarian. Elmer Maas a professor of music and an activist in the civil rights struggle of the 1960's completed the Plowshares 8.

http://www.plowsharesactions.org/webpages/plow8.htm

Since the Sept 9th 1980 disarmament action there have been close to 100 similar actions around the globe. Nonviolent attempts to resist the projection of first world violence on the third world. To bring the war home by nonviolently confronting its source in the corporate hell holes and in our lifestyles. The Pit Stop Ploughshares come out of this now 25 year old nonviolent tradition. We await trial in Dublin's Four Courts on October 24th. for the nonviolent disarmament of a U.S. Navy war plane at Shannon Airport in February 2003. Since our action, and as we wait, over 100,000 Iraqis (Lancet Report), over 1900 U.S. military and 90 British military have been killed in this illegal (Kofi Anan), immoral ((JP2) war. Shannon Airport has been increasingly militarised with on average 25,000 U.S. military now passing through monthly. Like the Plowshares 8, we five have a variety of formative experiences that have lead us to act...in Haiti, within the womens movement, at Faslane peace camp, with the homeless, with folks living and dying of Aids, refugees and prisoners. In all these experiences we have been awakened by those who suffer at the hands of the rich and powerful and have been lead back to community and solidarity for sustenance and as basis for nonviolent resistance.

In a kind of rewind of the anti-Vietnam War movement, this war on Iraq was preceeded by an unprecedented opposition on the streets (130,000 in Ireland) that has largely evaporated as the war expands and escalates. The war has come home in violent echo to London with the suicide attacks on the public transport system and the shoot-to-kill slayinging of Jean in July. The war has also come home in a hopeful and prophetic way to George Bush's very ranch with Cindy Sheean, the mother of a U.S. fatality, demanding to know from the man who sent her son to his death what did my son die for?. The anti-war movement is being revvived by the grief and courage of parents like Cindy Sheehan and Rose Gentle who joins us tonight.

All the powers-that-be want from us in Ireland is our silence and sedation as they get on with their conquering and killing...we have to continually refuse to grant that request.

by Elaine Fri Sep 09, 2005 02:43

.

Ciaron And Rose

I Got Your Number Mister Blair!

How's My Warmongering Number Ten 02079304433