Veterans for Peace lead Civil Resistance at the White House - 132 Arrested including eight from Minnesota
On December 16th 2010, the day that Obama was to release an report on the Afghan war, seventeen people from Minnesota including the author of this article traveled to Washington D.C. to support an open act of civil resistance. While this event got a splattering of coverage from the media including a few local interviews with people in our group by AM950 and The Uptake, the action was organized nationally by the Veterans for Peace and endorsed by various groups wanting to stop the wars and occupations being fought and funded by the U.S. government.
At a press conference the day before, a small number of media showed up to hear Daniel Ellsberg, whistle-blower of the Pentagon Papers, Ray McGovern, ex-CIA analyst, Leah Bolger of Veterans for Peace and others talk about the urgent need to stand up for peace at the next day’s action. With the urgency and increase of troops and resources directed in Afghanistan, political prisoner Bradley Manning's deteriorating health due to being held in solitary confinement for months, Ellsberg and others felt that this is the time to end the war now and that we must be willing to clog the machine as much as we can.
Our group from Minnesota headed towards Lafayette Park for a rally and solemn silent march in honor of all those who have died in our empire’s wars. Minnesotan participants included Steve McKeon, Jack Neis, Gerald Ganann, Barry Riesch, Coleen Rowley, Melissa Hill, Janice Ward, Camille Lenling, Molly Culligan, Bruce Berry, Bob Heberle, Bob Palmer, Charlie Bloss
Anne Bellamy, Kevin Ray Smith, Toni Radmann, Wayne Wittman of whom 15 are pictured in our group photo.
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