Indictment Day Action – Department of Justice – Washington, DC – November 10, 2008
Joy First – Madison, WI
I have been working with others in the National Campaign for Nonviolent Resistance (NCNR) (www.iraqpledge.org ) since March of 2003, organizing actions of nonviolent civil resistance, risking arrest, to bring an end to the war and occupation of Iraq. We organize actions in DC about twice a year – in March and again in the fall. This summer we decided that as part of our call for justice we must hold the Bush administration accountable for war crimes. We were inspired, in part, by the book by Vince Bugliosi calling for the prosecution of George Bush for murder. We decided to design an action for the fall of 2008 focusing on the indictment of Bush and Cheney for war crimes.
We began in September when NCNR sent a letter to Attorney General Michael Mukasey asking for a meeting to discuss the indictment of Bush and Cheney for war crimes. In the letter, we outlined some of the crimes we believe they are guilty of committing. Of course, as we expected, we did not receive a response from Mukasey. After several phone calls trying to confirm whether or not he had received the letter and still no response, we decided we needed to go in person to the Department of Justice, and we planned our action for November 10.
As part of getting ready for the action, we wanted to check out the Department of Justice building. So when I was in DC for a trial in October, several of us walked to the Department of Justice office building to get a lay of the land. There were two guards standing at the sidewalk with large concrete planters lining a 10x20 ft. plaza-like area leading to the door. Because of the concrete planters, the area was inaccessible to the public except for the small opening between the planters where the guards were standing. We tried to simply walk into the building but were immediately stopped by the guards. They said that we could not enter unless we had an appointment with someone inside. We asked how we got an appointment and they were not very helpful in telling us how that could be accomplished. This experience gave us valuable information. We knew it would be unlikely we would gain access to the building on November 10 and we planned our action for outside.
On Sunday November 9, I flew to DC, again leaving my family in Madison behind, but knowing this is what I had to do. We planned to meet at a restaurant in Union Station to discuss plans for the action the next day. As I walked towards the group, Max, one of my great teachers on nonviolence, greeted me saying, “Here’s Joy First all the way from Madison. We know that if we do an action, she will be here because she believes she can make a difference.” His words confirmed for me why I have to do this work. Sometimes people make comments to me about whether it is worth my time and effort to continually return to Washington, DC for these actions and trials. But Max said it so simply and so truthfully. I believe that I can do nothing less, and that ultimately what we are doing will make a difference in the world.
We talked for a couple of hours at the meeting on Sunday making plans for the action, and then about 25 people met again in the restaurant of the Hotel Harrington on Monday morning at 10:00 am to finalize our plans. This is a wonderful group of citizen activists that I am working with. They are all so committed and inspiring people and we have worked together for several years and have developed a good rapport and relationship so we came together easily as our plans developed.
At 11:30, we broke to take care of final details, such as bathroom breaks etc., before gathering to walk together to the Department of Justice which was about three blocks away from the hotel. We had a solemn procession to the DoJ carrying large banners calling for the indictment of Bush and Cheney. When we came around the corner, we immediately saw that there were about 10 extra police officers waiting for us, and two vans for transporting prisoners. We had posted information about this action on various websites and they knew we were coming. But even if we hadn’t posted the information publicly, we know from past experience that they spy on our private emails, so we were not surprised that they were ready and waiting for us.
We walked past the entrance and past all the officers, smiling and greeting them as we walked by. We gathered on the corner to strategize and discuss our final plans for a few minutes. Then we decided it was time. Max and I were chosen as the spokespeople to talk to the guards, so we approached them with a copy of the letter we had mailed to Mukasey in September. The group had decided previously that we would not accept just handing the letter to a low-level official and then walking away. That is exactly what the Department of Justice tried to do. Max and I talked to a Public Affairs officer from the DoJ who said he would take our letter and give it to the Attorney General’s office. We told him this was an urgent matter because over a million innocent Iraqis and over 4100 US soldiers had died and people were continuing to die everyday and that it was necessary that we talk to AG Mukasey about indicting Bush and Cheney for war crimes. We told him we were committed to having a meeting with AG Mukasey or one of his close aides. Again, we were refused. All the spokesperson could do was to say he would take our letter.
Max turned and told the group the results of our conversation and asked what we should do next. Pete Perry said, “We must make evident the crimes of the Bush Administration.” As planned, those of us risking arrest, numbering about 15, began to lay down on the ground representing the dead, representing what has happened as a result of the illegal and immoral war perpetrated by the Bush administration. A couple of people drew chalk outlines around the bodies and then lay down themselves. By this time, we had the 15 people lying on the sidewalk and about 30 supporters there in solidarity and witness. A couple of supporters began to string up crime scene tape which was immediately ripped down by the police. A couple others began to read names of the dead. I was feeling so overwhelmed with emotion as a laid down thinking about why we were there, thinking about the incredible human suffering that has brought us to this place.
The officers began telling us that we were going to be arrested if we didn’t leave the area immediately. They were standing there with their plastic cuffs ready to go. Some of them were aggressive. There were reports of police officers deliberately stepping on activists as we lay there and saying that they hoped others would step on us. People who had business in the Department of Justice building were only able to enter the DoJ building by stepping over bodies and so even though we were lying on a public sidewalk, we expected that we would be arrested.
However, time passed and we knew there was a lot of discussion going on among the authorities about what to do with us. In the meantime we continued to lie there, names of the dead were read, and other supporters stood by the street holding up large banners calling for the indictment of Bush and Cheney so we had a long time to be there and get our message out.
We always go into these actions knowing that we are risking arrest, but it is not our goal to get arrested. Our goal is to speak truth to power and get our message heard, We go into these actions never knowing if we will be arrested or not. From what I could hear, it sounded like the federal officers at the Department of Justice wanted us arrested and out of there. However, I am guessing the DC Metropolitan Police did not want to arrest us. They would be the ones who would have to take care of us and spend many hours processing all of us and I think they just didn’t want to do it. In our meeting at the hotel on Monday morning, we had decided that we would lie there for an hour and if we were not arrested in an hour, one of the supporters would don a black shroud and raise us from the dead.
It was very emotional lying on the ground for an hour and listening to the people bustling around, listening to the names of the dead being read. There are innocent people of all ages who have died in Iraq. It is especially difficult to hear the names of the children. It was comfortable to stay there on the ground for so long, but we were committed to being there and getting our message out. After lying on the ground for an hour, Ty came around to each person saying it was time to rise up because we had more work to do.
We all stood and then we came together to make a decision on what to do next. It was during this time, that Max announced a man from India had joined us. He was a practitioner of Gandhism, and he was in the United States for 10 days to talk about nonviolence. I am not sure if he just stumbled on our action and decided to join us or if he found out about the action somehow and purposely came to the action to be part of it. He said he was glad to see nonviolence being practiced in the U.S. He also said that it is not the number of the group that is important, but the spirit and that we had a great spirit.
Not being arrested gave us the opportunity to do something else and so we decided that we would go to the White House to see if we could share our message, asking for an indictment of Bush and Cheney, with Obama who was there to meet with Bush. We walked to the White House carrying our banners, chanting and singing. There was a large crowd of onlookers and media at the White House hoping to catch a glimpse of Obama.
For about 30 minutes or so, we stood holding our signs and chanting. Then we decided to try to give a copy of the letter to Mukasey and a book by Dennis Kucinich outlining the 35 articles of impeachment to the guards at the White House gate. About 10 of us approached the guards and asked them to deliver these items to Bush. They refused and said we would have to move back. They pushed their chests out and came towards us to push us back in a very aggressive manner. We backed up a few feet and then several of the activists kneeled on the ground so we could not be pushed back any further. We thought we might get arrested at that point. I remained standing next to those kneeling as we started singing. There were many onlookers lined up on each side of us. From somewhere inside of me I began to speak in a very loud voice. I don’t exactly know where this voice came from because I am a very shy, scared person. I don’t do this work because I want to be noticed. In fact, I have always felt invisible and in some ways would prefer to remain that way. But here was this voice coming out of me.
It seems that in this work, I continuously find my voice to speak out because I have to. I yelled out, talking to the onlookers and to the officers who were trying to hold us back, that we have to arrest George Bush. He is responsible for the deaths of a million Iraqis – many of them are innocent children. I said that I was a grandmother of five from Wisconsin and that I had to come here to try to make a better world for them. I said that we needed to indict Bush and Cheney for war crimes. While I was speaking the singing stopped and the onlookers became quite and listened. Then Manajeh said that we have the obligation to stand up to this. We must not be good Germans. We must demand justice. Both Manajeh and I are grandmothers calling out for the hope of a better world for future generations. As a grandmother, I feel like my time has come, and it doesn’t matter how scared I am, I MUST speak out now.
I was glad that we were not arrested at the Department of Justice so that we could go to the White House. Our action there that day was spontaneous, but it felt like we were just where we needed to be. Throughout our actions at both places, there was a feeling of spontaneity. We have a cohesive group and there is a lot of trust among members and so many of us were able to speak out at different times during the day as our hearts moved us to speak and that enriched the actions.
We cannot stop our work now. Many people have hope that Obama will be our savior. But social change starts with the people, at the grass roots. It does not come down from the top. I believe that we must cry out for peace and justice now more than ever before. We have someone in the White House who we may be able to move, but it is our responsibility to make our voices heard. We are the people, we have the power, and it is our time to be heard. Please join us as we continue our struggle for peace and justice. We will prevail.
Please see a video of the action at:
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