Catholic Group Pours Human Blood in Front of
Military Recruitment Center
They call upon Catholic US soldiers to:
"Refuse to Fight! Refuse to Kill!"
March 17th
At 3:30pm, four people from the Ithaca Catholic
Worker Community poured blood in and outside the
military recruitment center in Cayuga Mall, in Ithaca,
NY (near TJ Max), declaring that the slaughter of the
innocent of Iraq is wrong.
Peter DeMott, Daniel Burns, Teresa and Clare Grady
all entered the office with jars filled with human
blood which they poured up on the walls, door and bay
window, on the flag, on the stand-up cut-outs of
smiling military recruits, and over a body bag which
they had brought representing the American soldiers
who may die in this next onslaught on Iraq.
Peter and Daniel stayed kneeling inside while Clare
and Teresa went outside with the body bag in front of
the door to kneel and pray. They stayed for a while
praying the rosary, read from their statement and
from a statement requesting our Brothers and Sisters
in the Military: "Refuse to Fight! Refuse to kill!".
Both statements are below.
At the same time another Catholic Worker group of 30
protesters in downtown Ithaca called on the local
daily newspaper to be more accountable with its
coverage of this war and the Bush policies which have
led up to the announcement of unilateral preemptive
strike on Iraq, despite millions who have taken to
the streets to oppose this war, including many from
Ithaca.
The group asked that connections of the cost of the
war and how the Ithaca community is paying for the
war be spelled out. Examples were the budget cuts and
loss of jobs within our own school district. The
C.W.'s demanded that the Journal make known the faces
of the victims of this war, just as we learned the
names and faces of the victims of Sept. 11th, stating
that neither group are collateral damage. The Journal
was asked that the 100,000 body bags sent to Kuwait
be put on the headlines of the paper. Kathy Kelly of
Voices in the Wilderness, who is in Iraq as one of
the Human Shields, was given as a resource to have
first hand information on the conditions inside Iraq.
Members of the group said that they'd like to see
some of these demands be made visible in the paper
this week.
As the group was speaking to the editor of the paper,
it was announced that an action had taken place at
the recruitment center. All decided to join those
outside at the military office , where supporters
read the statement aloud from the four, who were
taken quickly by the Tompkins County Sheriff's
Department to the jail on Warren Rd. At this time
they are being held overnight at the county jail and
bail is set for 0 each person.
Statement read by the four:
KILLING CANNOT BE WITH CHRIST!
"Our apologies, dear friends, for the fracture of
good order." As our nation prepares to escalate the
war on the people of Iraq by sending hundreds of
thousands of U.S. soldiers to invade, we pour our
blood on the walls of this military recruiting center.
We mark this recruiting office with our own blood to
remind ourselves and others of the cost in human life
of our government's war making.
Killing is wrong. Preparations for killing are wrong.
The work done by the Pentagon with the connivance of
this military recruiting station ends with the
shedding of blood, and God tells us to turn away from
it. Blood is the symbol of life. All life is holy.
All people are created in the image and likeness of
God. All people are family, and everyone is loved by
God.
"Dr. Martin Luther King reminds us that"...we are
called to speak for the weak, for the voiceless, for
the victims of our nation, for those it calls "enemy,"
for no document from human hands can make these
humans any less our brothers {and sisters}."
We come here today with pictures of Iraqi people --
mothers, children, those who have been the victims of
U.S. bombardment and sanctions for the past twelve
years. We also come here with love in our hearts for
the U.S. service people, also victims of war making.
We find hope in these dark times when sisters and
brothers around the world resist the spirit of hatred
and violence, lift up prayers for peace -- together
with works for peace.
Brothers and Sisters in the Military: "Refuse to
Fight! Refuse to Kill!"
You are being ordered to war by a President who was
never elected, who has never fought in a war, and who
is saying that it is acceptable to use nuclear
weapons. You are being ordered to war in the
footsteps of veterans, who, more than 10 years ago,
were sent to fight the first Gulf War. Many of those
vets returned with severe and unacknowledged
illnesses. Many gave birth to severely deformed
children. Many were abandoned by the Veterans
Administration. You are being ordered to war by the
most powerful nation on earth. You are being ordered
to war by a nation with the most destructive weapons
ever conceived, developed, deployed or used. You are
being ordered to war by a nation whose
self-acknowledged posture is that of world domination,
mastery, control. This nation can have no moral
justification for war.
We, the undersigned, are convinced that war is the
greatest evil on earth. We believe that humankind
must end war, or war will end humankind, and, in fact,
all of creation. Our convictions have driven us time
and again to the Pentagon, White House and Congress
in acts of civil resistance to war. Now, we bring our
plea to you, sisters and brothers, in the armed
forces. Refuse to kill. Refuse the order to go to war.
Leave the military before it is too late. We know
your resistance to war will be difficult and require
great courage. There are groups established for the
express purpose of counseling and supporting military
resisters. To find out about your right to
conscientiously object to war call: GI Rights Hotline,
1-800-394-9544 (or 1-800 fyi 95gi) As you consider
this plea, we ask that you reflect: Is
non-cooperation more difficult than fighting in war?
Is non-cooperation more difficult than being a pawn
of corporate greed? Is non-cooperation more difficult
than living with a violated conscience? Is
non-cooperation more difficult than living with the
poisons of war in your body and spirit? Wrong is easy.
Right is difficult and long. Do what your heart says
is right.
We knowingly and willingly make this plea to you in
violation of 18 USC Sec. 1381 and 2387. We
knowingly and willingly embrace some of your risk by
urging you to refuse duty in the U.S. military. We
plead with you, as Bishop Oscar Romero pleaded with
Salvadoran troops: "When you hear the words of a man
telling you to kill, remember instead the words of
God: 'Thou shalt not kill!' No soldier is obliged to
obey an order contrary to the law of God...In the
name of God, in the name of our tormented people who
have suffered so much and whose laments cry out to
heaven, I beseech you, I beg you, I order you in the
name of God, stop the repression!'" If you choose to
leave the military, please know that our hearts and
homes are open to you.
In Ithaca, NY contact the Ithaca Catholic Worker
(607)-387-8478 (voice mail) In Baltimore contact
Jonah House (410-233-6238) In Washington contact
Dorothy Day Catholic Worker (202-882-9649)
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Forwarded by
La Voz de Aztlan
http://www.aztlan.net