FUSsa-talk Mailing List: [TCPCMinn] Occupation Project - Stop Funding the War

[MADELINE SIMON (madeline-mpls]

>From Dick to MAP Delegates.

Peace,
Madeline

----Original Message-----
From: TCPCMinn [at] yahoogroups.com [mailto:TCPCMinn [at] yahoogroups.com] On 
Behalf 
Of braun044
Sent: Monday, January 29, 2007 10:53 PM

Dear Peacemakers,

We hope you will join us in the following Call to Action.

OCCUPATION PROJECT

A Local Campaign of Sustained Nonviolent Action to End the Iraq War
Beginning the week of February 4, 2007

The Twin Cities Peace Campaign-Focus on Iraq is organizing a
local campaign of sustained nonviolent action to end the war on Iraq
in solidarity with Occupation Project, an action initiated by Voices
for Creative Nonviolence (www. vcnv.org).

The campaign will begin the week of February 4, 2007, and
will run for eight weeks. The campaign will challenge our United
States Congresspersons and Senators to publicly declare that they
will vote against any further funding for the war in and occupation
of Iraq.

We have talked to peace activists around the state and we are
suggesting the following plan of action:

Every Tuesday, beginning February 6, constituents will enter
the offices of their Congresspersons and Senators at 9:00 am and
begin a vigil that will last until 5:00 pm or whenever the offices
close. We do not plan to be disruptive, but rather to be a presence
for one full day each week to remind our elected officials that the
people of Minnesota want an end to the war on Iraq and that we want
them to vote to stop funding the war and to bring the troops home now.

We have team leaders for each office, who will ensure that
there is a continual presence for the entire day.

We are recommending that the team leaders and those who
accompany them set up a visual in the office (visuals can be very
powerful), which could include such things as a wreath, a peace flag,
a poster indicating the number of dead and injured American soldiers
and Iraqis, a poster listing the multiple costs of the war, pictures,
flowers . . . . We anticipate that people will be coming in at
different times of the day and they are encouraged to bring in poems
or other things that they might want to read and leave. People might
want to dress in black and/or wear black armbands.

We are encouraging groups not to be disruptive to the work of
the office, however, they might choose to quietly read the names of
American and Iraqi dead and ring a bell every few minutes. . . or
some other meaningful action.

We will continue to evaluate our action and possibly change
our strategy as the weeks progress.

The following individuals have been asked to be team leaders:

Senator Coleman's office -- Sarah Standefer, scsrn [at] yahoo.com 612-379-
4716
Senator Amy Klobuchar's office -- Marie and John Braun and Barbara
Palmer,
braun044 [at] umn.edu, 612- 522-1861; Joe and Elaine Mayer
(Rochester), eljomayer [at] hotmail.com.
507-289-4154
Congressman Jim Ramstad's office -- Roxanne Abbas,
rabbis [at] usinternet.com 763-476-7643
Congresswoman Betty McCollum's office -- Betty McKenzie,
macconis [at] usfamily.net 651-644-1337
Congressman John Kline's office --Sue and Greg Skog,
family4peace [at] msn.com, 651-454-3850
Congresswoman Michelle Bachmann -- Sr. Merle Nolde in St. Cloud area;
other team leaders to be
announced.
Congressman Tim Walz -- Joe and Elaine Mayer, eljomayer [at] hotmail.com,
507-289-4154
Congressman Colin Peterson -- Jim Hubley (Marshall),
jhubley [at] chartermi.net, 507-532-6846 and
Lucy Tokheim (Willmar), lucytokheim [at] frontiernet.net, 320-769-
2142
Congressman James Oberstar --Michelle Obed Naar,
obedsinduluth [at] yahoo.com, 218-728-0629
Congressman Keith Ellison -- Congressman Ellison has said he
will vote against funding.

Team leaders will be asking others to help in this role. If you are
available to do so, please contact the Twin Cities Peace Campaign-
Focus on Iraq at braun044 [at] umn.edu or 612-522-1861 or contact one of
the other team leaders.

We will obviously not go into the office of Senators and
Congressperson who commit to vote against further funding for the war
on Iraq, and will leave the offices of any Senator or Congressman who
gives us a statement indicating that he or she will vote against such
funding.

Peace in the struggle,

Marie Braun
Twin Cities Peace Campaign-Focus on Iraq
612-522-1861