***Poet’s Corner- Langston Hughes 

From The Pen Of Frank Jackman

February is Black History Month

 

Bound No'th Blues

Goin’ down the road, Lawd,
Goin’ down the road.
Down the road, Lawd,
Way,way down the road.
Got to find somebody
To help me carry this load.

Road’s in front o’ me,
Nothin’ to do but walk.
Road’s in front of me,
Walk…an’ walk…an’ walk.
I’d like to meet a good friend
To come along an’ talk.

Hates to be lonely,
Lawd, I hates to be sad.
Says I hates to be lonely,
Hates to be lonely an’ sad,
But ever friend you finds seems
Like they try to do you bad.

Road, road, road, O!
Road, road…road…road, road!
Road, road, road, O!
On the no’thern road.
These Mississippi towns ain’t
Fit fer a hoppin’ toad.

Langston Hughes

… he, Bradley Brim (juke joint, roadside house, rent party stage moniker, Clarksville Slim, but let’s just stick with Bradley until he needs to use that moniker again up north), was sick and tired of, hell, being sick and tired. First off, after last Saturday night, Bradley was sick and tired of every no account jive- ass jackass field hand, cotton field hand, in the great state of Mississippi feeling like he could, like he could as a natural right, all rum brave on Spider Jones’ homemade, feel that he could throw his whiskey jar at the stage when he didn’t like a particular number Bradley was doing. Damn, go elsewhere. Next off he was sick and tired unto death of every Louella, Bee, Sarah, Selma, and Victoria (those his last four, ah, five girlfriends, for those not in the know, not in the juke joint circuit know), taking what little money he had (and it wasn’t much after expenses, a little reefer, a couple of bucks for some trifle for his girl of the moment) and spending it on her walking daddy, her husband or her pimp. And then at the end of the night saying, sweet purr saying, he was her one and only walking daddy, after he had picked up her tab and they headed to his place, his cabin for what no walking daddy, husband or pimp was giving her. And lastly off he was just about ready to shake the dust of old Spider Jones’ juke joints (road houses and cafes too, he had a string of them around the southern part of the state), his cornball liquor, the dust of Clarksville, and the dusts of the great state of Mississippi and follow the northern star to the promised land, to Chi town, to legendary Maxwell Street where a man could make himself and still come out ahead.

And as he started thinking, thinking once again about shaking that damn dust off, he thought too about how he wouldn’t miss his day job at Mister Baxter’s Lumber Company that was hampering his musical development because he couldn’t practice during the day like he should, wouldn’t miss every Mister James Crow-craving white man, woman, and child in the state telling him, sit here, don’t sit there , walk here, don’t walk there, eat here, don’t eat there, drink the water here, don’t drink the water there, even Mister Baxter, wouldn’t miss every cornball white hick, white trash hick, really, eye-balling him anytime he went downtown for Mister Baxter, or on his own hook. Wouldn’t miss a lot of things, except those women who shook loose of their walking daddies and wanted him to be their coffee-grinder when the dawn came up.

He heard, and he thought he heard right, heard it from Mickey Mack’s woman who was waiting for Mickey to send for her to come to Chi town any day now that there were plenty of jobs up there, good paying jobs in steel mills and slaughter houses (he thought about, and laughed too, how in school Miss Parker had read the class a poem by some crusty old white guy who called Chi town “hog-butcher to the world”), the housing wasn’t too bad (some cold- water flats which sounded better than the raggedy ass old Mister Baxter cabin he lived in) and get this, nobody, nobody on this good green earth cared where you ate, drank, sat on the bus, as long as you didn’t bother them (and maybe didn’t live next door to them).But mainly all he cared about was making it, or breaking it, he held that possibility out too, on Maxwell Street (or starting out on one of the side streets and working his way up) singing his stuff, singing his covers of Robert Johnson that he thought would drive the women wild (especially his version of Dust My Broom) and of Muddy too. Yeah, all he cared about was following that northern star to sweet home Chicago.

 

Update 2/3/14: Chelsea Manning nominated for 2014 Nobel Peace Prize, and supporters get creative

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Several European Parliamentarians have decided to nominate both Chelsea Manning and Edward Snowden for the 2014 Nobel Peace Prize! The Pirate Party, to which the parliamentarians belong, is a multi-national political party which supports supports civil rights, direct democracy and participation in government, transpareny, freedom of information and network neutrality.  In their nomination letter they write: “The nominees are both whistleblowers who have inspired change and encouraged public debate and policy changes that contributed to a more stable and peaceful world.”  Read the full letter on MP Birgitta Jonsdottir’s blog.
Recently, at a Chelsea Manning solidarity benefit in Wales, a security guard began a Welsh singalong in her honor. Watch the short video on youtube:


Finally, volunteer artist Larry E. Goines Jr. has created a pop poster design that he’d like to share with Chelsea Manning’s supporters. Download the high-res version online.

FILM: "High Power"  Women's International League for Peace and Freedom and the Cambridge Peace Commission has invited nuclear engineer-turned-environmentalist Pradeep Indulkar to show his film High Power When: Thursday February 6 at 6:45PM   At: Cambridge Main Library , Community Room, 449 Broadway, Cambridge, MA. The film is free. The film is open to the public. Please circulate widely to interested people. High Power, a 27-minute documentary about the health issues faced by residents of Tarapur, a town in Maharashtra, and home to the 50- year-old Tarapur nuclear power plant, recently won the Yellow Oscar in the short film category in the Rio de Janeiro leg of the Uranium Film Festival.  “The government was showing a very rosy picture of Tarapur on TV, so a few of us thought of going there and interviewing the people...That material was very strong, people were talking from their heart, and instead of showing it on a news channel, I thought it could be made into a documentary,” says Indulkar. After the film, Indulkar will describe the passionate anti-nuclear movement in India and their request for support from the global anti-nuclear movement, particularly from those countries whose nuclear industries are building plants in India.  Indulkar’s film tour in the western MA occurs at a time that the US has agreed to a deal in which India buys 6 nuclear power plants from Westinghouse – a boon for the industry that is going bust in the United States.  India reprocesses nuclear power waste into nuclear weapons and, thus, more nuclear power translates into greater weapons capability.  The US-India agreement will require that India accept liability in case of a nuclear accident, a tragic undermining of the post-Bhopal Indian law that placed liability on the shoulders of the industry selling the equipment.   United for Justice with Peace is a coalition of peace and justice organizations and community peace groups in the Greater Boston region. The UJP Coalition, formed after September 11th, seeks global peace through social and economic justice. Help us continue to do this critical work! Make a donation to UJP today. info@justicewithpeace.org 617-383-4857 www.justicewithpeace.org Upcoming Events:

***The Roots Is The Toots-The Music That Got The Generation Of ’68 Through The 1950s Red Scare Cold War Night-Big Joe Turner’s Shake, Rattle And Roll

 

 

 …she had been through it all before, six or seven times now at least,  been through the part about what happened to her when she heard the new music on the radio, some called it rhythm and blues, some called it rockabilly, some, more recently, had begun to call it rock and roll after some DJ from New York City called it that and it was starting to catch on as the way to describe the beat, the dancing, and the feeling of freedom just being around the scene. Her parents, her know-nothing parents, called it the “devil’s music” but what did they know, what could they know about what she felt, what she felt in certain private places when the beat got strong. How could they know never having been young, never having those feelings. She was not exactly sure why she felt that way, why she felt warm in what all the girls in the before school “lav” called their “sweet spot” whenever she heard the local radio station or the kids at Doc Drugstore on the juke-box endlessly playing Big Joe Turner’s Shake, Rattle, and Roll or Warren Smith on Rock and Roll Ruby but she did. (Some of the rougher girls, the girls who smoked, drank and did “it,” so they said, called it other things which she did not find out until later, much later, guys called it too but she then still preferred the more modest “sweet spot.”) All she knew was that when the beat began to pick she would start swaying, maybe dancing by herself, maybe with a girlfriend and get that feeling like she was not in Olde Saco but New York City getting checked out by all the cute boys whose leers when she swayed told her they were interested in some of her.

Someone, Betty, she thought, a girl that she had grown up and gone to school with,  said it was just her coming into “her time,” although she did not know what to make of that idea since she had that same feeling before and after she came into her time. Got her “friend.”   Betty, or whoever it was who had said it said she did not mean that, that thing every girl had, but the time when everything was confused and when a teenager did, or did not, know which way to jump. Somebody on the news programs called it alienation but she was not sure what that meant. All she knew was that the old songs on the jukebox or radio, the ones that she loved to listen to the previous  year, Frank, Bing, Patti, Rosemary, did not make her feel that way anymore. Didn’t make her feel that she wanted to jump out of her skin.

Tommy from school might have had a better handle on it, have had a better sense of what turbulence was going on inside her when he told the whole class in Current Events that there were some new songs coming out of the radio, some stuff from down south, some negro sound from down in Memphis somewhere, some white hillbilly sound from around that same town, that he would listen to late at night on WJKA from Chicago when the air was just right. Sounds that made him want to jump right out of his skin. (She never dared to ask whether it made him feel warm in his “sweet spot” since she didn’t know much then about whether boys had sweet spots, or got warm).

When Tommy had said that, said it was about the music, she knew that she was not alone, not alone in feeling that a fresh breeze was coming over the land, although she, confused as she was would not have articulated it that way (that would come later). And so she asked Tommy about it after class, asked him about what it felt like for him to jump out of his skin when he heard the beat beginning. He explained to her his feelings, feelings that she said she shared with him and he smiled. She agreed to let him walk her home after school and they had talked for a couple of hours on her front porch before he left. This went on for a while since neither one was assertive enough to ask for a date for a long time. Then both of them saw the announcement in the newspaper for the next dance around town and one night called each other to see if, ah, they might go together. And so they had their first date, first date to go to the Surf Ballroom down in Olde Saco and listen to some guys, a band, the Ready Rollers, play the new music. She wondered to herself (she could not speak of such things to Tommy) as she prepared for that night whether she would feel warm again in her sweet spot when they danced, she hoped so…         

 
… things were different now, different from a few months ago when he was all balled up and thought he was the only kid, guy or female, aged fifteen, who was confused, uncomprehending, misbegotten about how he felt, about his place in the universe and about how he felt so very sorry himself because he didn’t understand what was happening to him, and what spoke to him now that he was no longer a kid. He, Tommy Murphy, could hardly wait until the weekend, wait to hear the new sounds coming out of the south, rhythm and blues stuff, rockabilly stuff, that he kept hearing on his transistor radio up in his room on clear nights out of WJKA in Chicago, stuff called that because some hip DJ in New York City called it that was starting to catch on under the name rock and roll. (Funny he could get Chicago on good nights but not New York City to hear that DJ call out to all the cats to swing to the beat of rock and roll.)

He couldn’t get WJKA clear every week, damn, but when it did come in Tommy would start snapping his fingers to the beat, the swinging beat that “spoke” to him somehow. He could not explain it but it made him feel good when he was down, was all confused about life, okay, okay, about girls, school, and that getting ahead in the world that his parents, his mother especially kept harping on. Made him think that maybe he would be a musician and play that stuff, play and make all the girls wet. Yeah, he knew all about that part about girls, about how this rock and roll music was making them get warm, warm in all the right places according to George his older brother who knew all about girls. Had them hanging off of him even though he wasn’t a musician but just a hep cat. Make that new girl of his, Susie, warm too. He hoped.

Funny how he had met Susie, how they had met, or not really met but started out, started out in school of all places, in class. Jesus. He had noticed her before but before she was just part of that all balled up stuff he was feeling, although he had taken a few peeks at her and he thought she might have peeked back once but he was not sure. Then in Current Events one week it was his turn to make a presentation and he chose to talk about that radio station out in Chicago and about the sounds he heard that made him want to jump out of his skin. He couldn’t exactly explain why and blushed a bright red when the teacher, a cool guy, Mr. Merritt asked him point blank about why he felt that way except to say that it made him feel good, made him less angry, less confused. A couple of people in the class nodded and he thought Susie had too (although she later said no she hadn’t she just was thinking how brave he was to talk like that about his reactions to the music and while looking at him found out something she had not noticed before, he was cute).  

After class Susie had come up to him and practically begged him to tell her more about his feelings, about how the music made him feel,  because she said when she heard Big Joe Turner coming all snapping fingers on the radio on Shake, Rattle and Roll, she felt funny inside. (Of course nobody, not even Tommy, who was keen on such knowledge knew that Big Joe was a Negro then, Christ their parents would have fits if they knew that.)  Tommy knew what kind of funny Susie was talking about, her “sweet spot” funny but he knew, knew because George had told him, not to say that to girls. Not modest girls like Susie and maybe not to any girl if you wanted to get past first base with them. That conversation had started their thing and she had asked him to walk home with her so they could talk which they did until they got to her house and just stood there talking for a couple of hours before he left.

He had walked her home a few times and he found that she was easy to talk to but they both seemed to back off on talking about a first date. Then both of them saw an announcement in the newspaper for the next dance around town and one night called each other to see if, ah, they might go together. And so they had their first date, first date to go to the Surf Ballroom down in Olde Saco and listen to some guys, a band, the Ready Rollers, play the new music. Tommy  didn’t know what would happen as he prepared that night to pick her up at her house but he hoped the music would calm him down and that he would get that funny feeling inside when they danced, he sure hoped so…      

 

 

Free Margaretta D’Arcy Free Shannon Join the Irish Embassy picket in London Thurs 6 Feb 11.30am-1pm 17 Grosvenor Pl, London SW1X 7HR https://www.facebook.com/events/655038224534808/ We plan to give in the latest signatories to the GWS statement below. (Remember there is a tube strike that day) Dear friends, Please join us at the second picket in London of the Irish Embassy to demand that our dear friend and colleague Margaretta D’Arcy be released from prison.  Almost 50 people attended the picket on 22 Jan – see photos and a report.  Margaretta D’Arcy The statement demanding that Margaretta is freed has gathered another  72 signatures in addition to the 58 who were given to the Embassy at the first picket (see below).  They include two of Margaretta’s sons, Finn and Jake, and the Reverend Pinkney on behalf of the Black Autonomy Network Community Organization of Benton Harbor, Michegan, USA, who was himself imprisoned for speaking out against racism, environmental degradation and corruption.  Other countries represented are Cambodia, China, England, Guyana, Iceland, Ireland and Wales. Margaretta’s principled and determined opposition is drawing public attention around the world to the Irish government’s collaboration with the US war machine.   Her imprisonment  continues to be very high profile in the media in Ireland with feature articles in newspapers - see Irish Times  - and many people expressing shock and outrage about it.  The Ministry of Justice maintains that there are no plans to release her early on compassionate grounds or change the bond she was asked to sign. Please join the demand for Margaretta’s release by any of the following: ·        Add your signature and/or organisation, endorsing the GWS statement below. Please send back to this email address and we will add to the list to be handed in to the Irish embassy in London at the demonstration in support of Margaretta on Thursday. ·        And/or write your own statement in support, sending us a copy. ·        Circulate the statement/s to your networks and put on your blogs, website, Facebooks, tweets, etc... ·        Write to Irish Minister for Defence Alan Shatter demanding the government release Margaretta - alan.shatter@oir.ie  ·        Send support cards to Margaretta: c/o Limerick Jail, Limerick City, Ireland.  ·        There will be a regular picket outside Limerick prison on Fridays at 5-6 pm.  See below for LINKS to coverage of protest in Ireland. Invest in caring not killing! Kay and Sian (Orange Gate 1983-84) Statement to the Press and the PublicWe are outraged to learn that our dear sister and colleague Margaretta D’Arcy has been jailed – and for three months! – for protesting the use of the civilian airport at Shannon for US wars.  And we are deeply worried about her health and well-being as a cancer patient.  One of the many public services Ms D’Arcy has performed is to protest the Irish government’s many years of complicity in US war crimes and its destruction of Irish neutrality.  She has been dedicated to highlighting that the most devastating impact of war is on women and our children, both directly from the bombs that rain down on us, and by paying with our poverty for the horrendous weapons of massive destruction that surround us all.    Ms D’Arcy is a veteran of Greenham Common Women’s Peace Camp, which opposed the US military placing cruise missiles on common land in England, and won – the camp is no longer a military base.  To dissent from a perspective of permanent war and austerity, and demand the protection of life and the planet, is increasingly labelled subversive and even criminal behaviour.  While war criminals are allowed to pass through Irish airports and financial criminals go unpunished, the Irish State in thrall to the US, UK, EU and IMF Masters of War has imprisoned a pensioner who has dedicated herself to highlighting and preventing war crimes. An attack on courageous and principled Margaretta D’Arcy is an attack on us all. We demand the immediate release of Margaretta D’Arcy. Invest in caring not killing Selma James                            on behalf of Global Women’s Strike Maggie Ronayne on behalf of Global Women’s Strike, Ireland FREE SHANNON AIRPORT FROM THE US MILITARY! NOT MARGARETTA D’ARCY!  Write to Government TDs and to Minister Shatter: alan.shatter@oir.ie webcal://www.facebook.com/ical/u.php?uid=100000384772555&key=AQD3NAHxvJRL59no https://www.facebook.com/galway.antiwar https://www.facebook.com/FreeShannon?fref=ts http://www.shannonwatch.org http://www.irishantiwar.org Email campaign contact.ie/node/271 Youtube clips re protests two weeks ago: http://youtu.be/Y8Gsw-uKw3I http://youtu.be/k0GDbIc3yTg http://youtu.be/916TFoITexY

The Struggle Continues...

 

(please forward widely) Please see the call for Spring Days of Action to End Drone Killing, Surveillance and Global Militarization.  As you can see, the call is initiated by leading anti-war activists and groups including UNAC.  Please start your plans today for actions during the months of April and May.  Add your name and your organization to the growing list of supporters by clicking on the link below.  There will be a page set up to let people know of activity in their area.  For now, please send any information on planned actions to UNACpeace@gmail.com and they will appear on the national list.  We want to make this campaign international.  For any groups outside of the US who are interested in endorsing this campaign and/or building actions in your own country, please let us know.                       CALL FOR SPRING DAYS OF ACTION – 2014 Today we issue an international call for Spring Days of Action – 2014, a coordinated campaign in April and May to:             End Drone Killing, Drone Surveillance and Global Militarization   The campaign will focus on drone bases, drone research facilities and test sites and drone manufacturers.   The campaign will provide information on:   1. The suffering of tens of thousands of people in Afghanistan, Pakistan, Yemen, Somalia and Gaza who are under drone attack, documenting the killing, the wounding and the devastating impact of constant drone surveillance on community life.   2. How attack and surveillance drones have become a key element in a massive wave of surveillance, clandestine military attacks and militarization generated by the United States to protect a global system of manufacture and oil and mineral exploitation that is creating unemployment and poverty, accelerating the waste of nonrenewable resources and contributing to environmental destruction and global warming.   In addition to cases in the Middle East, Africa and Central Asia, we will examine President Obama's "pivot" into the Asia-Pacific, where the United States has already sold and deployed drones in the vanguard of a shift of 60% of its military forces to try to control China and to enforce the planned Trans-Pacific Partnership.  We will show, among other things, how this surge of "pivot" forces, greatly enabled by drones, and supported by the US military-industrial complex, will hit every American community with even deeper cuts in the already fragile social programs on which people rely for survival.  In short, we will connect drones and militarization with "austerity" in America.   3. How drone attacks have effectively destroyed international and domestic legal protection of the rights to life, privacy, freedom of assembly and free speech and have opened the way for new levels of surveillance and repression around the world, and how, in the United States, increasing drone surveillance, added to surveillance by the National Security Agency and police, provides a new weapon to repress black, Hispanic, immigrant and low-income communities and to intimidate Americans who are increasingly unsettled by lack of jobs, economic inequality, corporate control of politics and the prospect of endless war.   We will discuss how the United States government and corporations conspire secretly to monitor US citizens and particularly how the Administration is accelerating drone surveillance operations and surveillance inside the United States with the same disregard for transparency and law that it applies to other countries, all with the cooperation of the Congress.   The campaign will encourage activists around the world to win passage of local laws that prohibit weaponized drones and drone surveillance from being used in their communities as well as seeking national laws to bar the use of weaponized drones and drone surveillance.   The campaign will draw attention to the call for a ban on weaponized drones by RootsAction.org that has generated a petition with over 80,000 signers http://act.rootsaction.org/p/dia/action/public/?action_KEY=6180 and to efforts by the Granny Peace Brigade (New York City), KnowDrones.org and others to achieve an international ban on both weaponized drones and drone surveillance.   The campaign will also urge participation in the World Beyond War movement.   The following individuals and organizations endorse this Call:   Lyn Adamson – Co-chair, Canadian Voice of Women for Peace Dennis Apel – Guadalupe Catholic Worker, California Judy Bello – Upstate NY Coalition to Ground the Drones & End the Wars Medea Benjamin – Code Pink Leah Bolger – Former National President, Veterans for Peace Canadian Voice of Women for Peace Sung-Hee Choi – Gangjeong Village International Team, Jeju, Korea Chelsea C. Faria – Graduate student, Yale  Divinity School; Promoting Enduring Peace Sandy Fessler – Rochester (NY) Against War Joy First Bruce K. Gagnon - Global Network Against Weapons & Nuclear Power in Space Holly Gwinn Graham – Singer/songwriter, Olympia, WA. Regina Hagen - Darmstaedter Friedensforum, Germany Kathy Kelly – Voices for Creative Nonviolence Malachy Kilbride Marilyn Levin and Joe Lombardo – Co-Coordinators, United National Antiwar Coalition Tamara Lorincz – Halifax Peace Coalition, Canada Nick Mottern – KnowDrones.org Agneta Norberg – Swedish Peace Council Pepperwolf – Director, Women Against Military Madness Lindis Percy, Coordinator, Campaign for the Accountability of American   Bases  CAAB UK Mathias Quackenbush – San Francisco, CA Lisa Savage – Code Pink, State of Maine Janice Sevre-Duszynska Wolfgang Schlupp-Hauck- Friedenswerkstatt Mutlangen, Germany Cindy Sheehan Lucia Wilkes Smith – Convener, Women Against Military Madness (WAMM) – Ground    Military Drones Committee David Soumis – Veterans for Peace; No Drones Wisconsin Debra Sweet – World Can’t Wait David Swanson - WarisACrime.org Brian Terrell – Voices for Creative Nonviolence United National Antiwar Coalition Veterans for Peace  Dave Webb – Chair, Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament (UK) Curt Wechsler – Fire John Yoo! (a project of World Can’t Wait) – San Francisco, CA Paki Wieland, Northampton (MA) Committee to Stop War(s) Loring Wirbel – Citizens for Peace in Space (Colorado Springs, CO) Women Against Military Madness Ann Wright – Retired US Army colonel and former diplomat Leila Zand - Fellowship of Reconciliation click here to donate to UNAC Click here for the Facebook UNAC group. To add yourself to the UNAC listserv, please send an email to: UNAC-subscribe@lists.riseup.net

From The Frontlines Of The Anti-War Struggle 

 

Hello Everyone!

I was arrested for trespassing this past Friday at the DeVos Place in Grand Rapids, Michigan.  I interrupted David Petraeus as he was speaking for a luncheon sponsored by the West Michigan World Affairs Council.  Please read the story below. The short version comes first, under "The Essential Facts". If you have time, read "The Details". The last section contains information about Petraeus' war crimes.  Thanks for your support! 

The Essential Facts: 

.  . . As I sat in that ballroom luncheon, I designed to send a fissure through David Petraeus’ edifice of lies with the intent to reach someone with the truth who desperately needed to hear it like I once did.  While Petraeus was talking about Iraq, I stood up and yelled, “David Petraeus, you are a war criminal!  You are responsible for the deaths of thousands of innocent men, women and children!”  At some point during those sentences my arm was grabbed as I was told to stop speaking and leave the room.  I stood in place and kept talking. I don’t remember exactly what I said next; I had intended to talk about the escalation of the drone wars under Petraeus and the hundreds of innocent men, women and children that were killed. After I was escorted out of the room the two men with me asked to see my ID and then told me I was under arrest for trespassing at a private event. They said I was charged with trespassing for two reasons: one, I did not have a ticket to the event and two, I continued speaking after they asked me to stop.  They put handcuffs on me while in the lobby and then escorted me to the police car outside.  

The Details: 

This past Wednesday, on January 29 I found out  that David Petraeus, the former commander of coalition forces in Iraq and Afghanistan, and former CIA Director under the Obama Administration, was scheduled to speak at a West Michigan World Affairs Council luncheon in Grand Rapids, Michigan just two days later. Since I am now living in Grand Rapids (GR), I began imagining the opportunities I might to confront Petraeus’ for his history of horrible war crimes. (To learn more about Petraeus, please refer to the information at the end of this piece.)  

In the 48-hour period I had to plan an action, my first move was to find out if any other activists were planning anything around Petraeus’ visit.  With no information forthcoming about any other actions, I decided on the Friday morning of the luncheon that I had to at least check out the scene which was just over one mile from my house.  As I walked downtown, I fantasized about actually being heard by Petraeus and the assembly, but I did not think I would be admitted into the Steelcase Ballroom for the luncheon.  However, when I arrived at the DeVos Place, I was surprised to be allowed entry into the ballroom after saying that the reason there was no printed nametag for me was because I registered late for the luncheon.  I was asked to manually fill out a name tag and then find a seat inside.  While I waited for the mediated discussion with Petreaus to begin, I contemplated how to capitalize on this opportunity; after all, capitalism was in the air.  (Here is the  description of the luncheon with Petraeus:  http://www.worldmichigan.org/~worldmic/?page_id=4541)

As Petreaus was asked various questions by the moderator, he responded to each of them with simplistic statements.  For example, he said there is no debate in his mind about Snowden:  the damage he did was “colossal”.  He mentioned “cyber theft” and “Islamic extremism” as major concerns for the US government.  He also said the United States is best positioned to be the world leader in fracking because US mining companies have superior “technical expertise”.  As he discussed Israel, Iran and Syria with imperialistic overtones, I resisted the intense cloud of brainwashing in preference to focus on my next steps.  His talk about fracking had triggered an idea:  I decided my action would be a humble effort to frack the thick fog of doublespeak overwhelming the room. 

You see, I was raised in a similar bubble of ignorant righteousness.  Attending the luncheon, as often happens when I return to GR, I was transferred back to my days as a member of College Republicans at Calvin College.  While a student at that private liberal arts school (where Bush junior gave the commencement address a few years back), I attended a Ronald Reagan birthday party and a Bush senior campaign rally.  Two of my best friends were big fans of Ollie North (who I understood nothing about) and I thought all environmentalists were “wackos”.  Oh, those were the days! 

Back to the frack thang.  As I sat in that room, I decided my action would be designed to send a fissure through David Petraeus’ edifice of lies.  I intended to reach someone with the truth who desperately needed to hear it like I once did.

While Petraeus was talking about Iraq, I stood up and yelled, “David Petraeus, you are a war criminal!  You are responsible for the deaths of thousands of innocent men, women and children!”  At some point during those sentences my arm was grabbed and I was told to stop speaking and leave the room.  I stood in place and kept talking. I don’t remember exactly what I said, but I had intended to talk about the escalation of the drone wars under Petraeus and the hundreds of children that were killed. 

After they escorted me out of the room they asked to see my ID, and then told me I was under arrest for trespassing at a private event. They said I was charged with trespassing for two reasons:  one, I did not have a ticket to the event and two, I continued speaking after they asked me to leave.  They put handcuffs on me while in the lobby and then escorted me to the police car waiting out front.  As I was processed at the Kent County Jail, I learned that if someone did not post the $100 bail for me immediately, I would spend the weekend in jail, until Monday morning when the judge would appear to give me a court date.  My wonderful brother (whose wonderful family is the primary reason I am currently living in Grand Rapids) paid the bond and picked me up.  After a total of five hours since the ordeal began, I was back home with a story to tell and a court date of Friday, February 7 at 8:30am. 

As to the effects of my actions on David Petraeus or others in that fancy ballroom, I may never know. I do know that I had a number of fabulous conversations about Petraeus, my actions of civil disobedience, and the US military with various police officers throughout my processing.  In addition, I sat in a holding cell for about 1.5 hours with a woman who recently lived at Ft. Meade, Maryland.  (I spent most of this past summer at Ft. Meade, making court room sketches of the Chelsea Manning trial.)  Her husband and her brother-in-law are both employed in the US drone program.  Having been raised in a military family and now separated from her husband, she is questioning the system more seriously than ever before.  I gave her my version of food for thought and sent her a facebook friend request upon my return home.

If any of you reading this would like to financially support my action of civil disobedience, please let me know via email and I will send you my address!  I wrote to an attorney in GR who works for the ACLU who might help me out but I have not heard back from him yet. An activist friend in GR has offered court solidarity and help with fundraising.  

The images attached to this email are both available as archival giclee' prints; I am happy to send you one of them for the donation of your choice (plus $10 for shipping!).  The flag image has the eyes of Chelsea Manning. The other image is from the Manning trial when the defense attorney played the Collateral Murder video at the beginning of his opening statement.

Thanks for your support of justice, peace, whistleblowers and me!

Loving hugs,

Deb

VERY IMPORTANT POST SCRIPT:  Information about David Petraeus' widespread military actions and the escalation of drone killings under his term as CIA director:

From World Can't Wait:  Under Obama, Petraeus became Commander, U.S. Central Command responsible for the U.S war of terror throughout the Middle East and Central Asia. He has been overall in charge of the U.S. military action in over 20 countries including the wars in Iraq, Afghanistan, and Pakistan.  (http://warcriminalswatch.org/index.php/the-culpable/36-the-culprits/161-petraeus-david-h)

From Wikipedia:  David Petraeus served as Director of the Central Intelligence Agency from September 6, 2011,^[3] until his resignation on November 9, 2012.^[4] Prior to his assuming the directorship of the CIA, Petraeus was a highly decorated four-star general, serving over 37 years in the United States Army. His last assignments in the Army were as commander of the International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) and Commander, U.S. Forces Afghanistan (USFOR-A) from July 4, 2010, to July 18, 2011. His other four-star assignments include serving as the 10th Commander, U.S. Central Command (USCENTCOM) from October 13, 2008, to June 30, 2010, and as Commanding General, Multi-National Force – Iraq (MNF-I) from February 10, 2007, to September 16, 2008.^[5] As commander of MNF-I, Petraeus oversaw all coalition forces in Iraq.^[6][7

From alternet.org:  Under Petraeus’ control, the CIA accelerated the use of drone strikes to target suspected anti-American fighters in Pakistan. But the CIA also bombed Pakistan using what is called “signature strikes”--which means the “launching [of] strikes against terrorism suspects even when it does not know the identities of those who could be killed,” as the Washington Post puts it. Those signature strikes are likely responsible for the deaths of scores of civilians, though the exact number is not known since the Obama administration categorizes dead “militants” as “all military-age males in a strike zone.”  Before Petraeus resigned, the CIA was requesting the authority to use “signature strikes” in Yemen as well. (http://www.alternet.org/news-amp-politics/cia-head-and-drone-booster-david-petraeus-resigns-over-extramarital-affair)

 From namingthedead.org:  Naming the Dead is a project run by the Bureau of Investigative Journalism, a not-for-profit research organisation based in London. The project aims to identify those killed in CIA drone strikes on Pakistan.  Over the past nine years, the tribal region of Pakistan’s northwest has been hit by hundreds of drone attacks as the CIA has sought to stamp out al Qaeda fighters and the militant groups that have given them shelter.

Missiles launched from these high-tech, unmanned aircraft have hit homes, cars, schools, shops and gatherings. At least 2,500 people have been killed, according to data already collected by the Bureau as part of our wider Covert Drone War research.

Senior US officials have described drones as highly precise weapons that target and kill enemies of the US. John Brennan, who oversaw the development of the drone campaign and is now director of the CIA, has called drone technology an ‘essential tool’ for its ‘surgical precision – the ability, with laser-like focus, to eliminate the cancerous tumour called an al Qaeda terrorist while limiting damage to the tissue around it.’

Those killed by drones include high-ranking militant leaders – figures such as Abu Yahya al Libi, al Qaeda’s feared second-in-command, or Baitullah Mehsud, commander of the Pakistan Taliban (TTP).

But according to credible media reports analysed by the Bureau, the dead also include at least 400 civilians. Some were unlucky enough to be nearby when militants were attacked. Others were killed alongside their husbands or fathers, who were believed to be militants. Still others were mistaken for terrorists by drone operators sitting thousands of miles away.

Here is one page from the Naming the Drone project website which lists some of the drone strikes conducted during Petraeus’ term as director of the CIA:

(http://www.thebureauinvestigates.com/namingthedead/drone-strikes/page/14/?lang=en)

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