Shortly before being detained, the protester, Milan Rai, said: “Today is a day of fear for the people of Fallujah. They need our active solidarity.”

PRESS RELEASE Wednesday 3 November 2004

An anti-war protester has been arrested outside the Foreign Office in Whitehall in a dramatic visual protest against the imminent attacks on Fallujah.

After climbing onto the side of the Foreign Office building next to the gates of Downing Street, the protestor stencilled “Don’t Attack Fallujah, Black Watch Out” onto the wall and splashed it with fake blood.

He was arrested on suspicion of criminal damage.

Shortly before being detained, the protester, Milan Rai, said:

“Today is a day of fear for the people of Fallujah. They need our active solidarity.”

By Mary Foster
Iraq Solidarity Project
Montreal
18 April, 2004

As US bombers continued to terrorise people in Fallujah, and as their troops surround the holy city of Najaf, a small group of people in Montreal succeeded in closing down the US consulate for four hours on Friday.

Five organisations - Block the Empire Montreal, Canadian Muslim Forum, Iraq Solidarity Project, Parole Arabe, and Voices of Conscience - came together for the first time to plan the interruption of business as usual at the imperial outpost. The Canadian government having failed to condemn the war crimes and the illegal occupation of Iraq, it is left to us to respond. So we lay seige to the consulate and break the guilty silence with anti-war music and the protest of our pots and pans orchestra, slogans and drums. A security agent who works at the building tells us that only a few consulate staff have showed up because of the shut-down.

On the first anniversary of the continuing war in Iraq…
Sunday, March 14 - Monday, March 15, 2004
join Iraq Pledge of Resistance and others for a
Dover to D.C. Memorial Procession [walking and bus/van/car caravan].

The Dover to D.C. Memorial Procession is a Trail of Mourning & Truth to honor all those killed and wounded in Iraq, with legal processions to be followed by Nonviolent Civil Disobedience at The White House.

The Bush Administration refuses to acknowledge all those being killed and wounded as a result of war in Iraq. We will not!

by Frank Cordaro
Des Moines Catholic Worker

On February 3rd, Elton Davis, of the DMCW community, Brian Terrell, the Director of the Catholic Peace Ministry and member of Strangers and guests CW community in Maloy IA, Patti McKee, Director of the Iowa Peace Network and former DMCW and Wendy Bobbit Vasquez, former Community for Creative Nonviolence and former DMCW were summoned to appear before a Federal Grand Jury in Des Moines on Tuesday, February 10th. Drake University and the National Lawyer’s Guild, Drake Chapter, were also summoned. All were summoned to answer questions regarding their roles in a Peace Making Conference and Demonstration which took place November 15 & 16th, 2003.

For seven intense days, the world was focused on Des Moines, or so it seemed. No sooner did the four get their summons than e-mails began to crisscross the country, going to various peace groups and progressive media outlets. The story got national mainline media attention within days after an Associated Press story hit the wires.

By Elton Davis,
Des Moines Catholic Worker

Elton was one of the four members of the Des Moines peace movement subpoenaed by the federal government regarding their participation in a rally and nonviolent direct action the weekend of Nov. 15, 2003. The federal government dropped the subpoenas under pressure from friends of the Iowa peace movement, elected representatives and national media. Elton offers us his reflections on the experience.

It’s been almost two weeks now since this disruption entered our lives, four individuals, as well as Drake University, being subpoenaed to appear before a federal grand jury here in Des Moines. I’ve read the accounts of activists who have been targeted by the US government over the years, just never figured I was a big enough fish to warrant any attention at all to be perfectly honest;

I know the accounts of those who were active against the Nazis, those who were sent to the gulags in the Soviet Union, those who were murdered in Central America in the 1980’s, those who were targeted in the 1950’s by McCarthy, those who were targeted during the Vietnam war, and under the tenure of FBI director J. Edgar Hoover.