RW ONLINE: Ashes to Ashes\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\nAshes to Ashes\r\n<\/p>
Revolutionary Worker #1191, March 16, 2003, <\/i>posted at rwor.org<\/p>\r\n<\/b>
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The day of resistance was kicked off in the early morning in downtown L.A. as \r\n300 people answered a call from the Interfaith Communities United for Justice \r\nand Peace (ICUJP) for: \"Ashes to Ashes: nonviolent witness against war on \r\nIraq.\"<\/p>\r\n
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The action included a rally, march, interfaith ceremony and civil \r\ndisobedience. People from many faith traditions participated: Native American \r\n(Aztec), Zen Buddhist, Sufi, Muslim, Christian and Jewish. Leland Stewart from \r\nthe Unity and Diversity Center read from their \"Declaration of \r\nInterdependence.\"<\/p>\r\n
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Following a 7 a.m. rally at La Placita, the oldest plaza in L.A., protesters \r\nmarched to the downtown Federal Building. Rev. Dr. George Regas, Director of the \r\nRegas Institute, one of the national leaders of the Moratorium, said, \"People do \r\nit in different ways, and this is our way.\" In addition to George Regas and \r\nLeland Stewart, the protest included many of the most well-respected religious \r\nleaders in the peace and justice movement, who have stood with the people for \r\ndecades.<\/p>\r\n
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In the Christian tradition, March 5 was Ash Wednesday. But there was deep \r\nsymbolism in the large boxes of ashes, which were mixed with ashes brought from \r\nIraq, the product of U.S. bombings. During the interfaith ceremony, Rabbi Steven \r\nJacobs noted, \"During the holocaust, 11 million people, and not `just' six \r\nmillion Jews, were killed because they were different: cremated, ashes to ashes. \r\nThey tried to bury their memory but they could not. So ashes are sacred in our \r\ntradition. And I think we all share this: George Bush's policies are turning to \r\nashes on our tongues.\"<\/p>\r\n
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\"Ashes are the result of destruction,\" a Protestant minister said. \"When a \r\nwar is made, when a system of industrial consumption and greed is unleashed, the \r\nbeautiful growing green things of our world become ashes. The buildings and \r\nneighborhoods and parks and living spaces of our common human communities become \r\nashes.\" Other speakers said the ashes symbolized what the Bush administration \r\nhas done to the Bill of Rights.<\/p>\r\n
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Fr. Chris Ponnet of St. Camillus Catholic Church, announced that he and \r\nothers were beginning a liquid-only fast for 40 days. Steve Rohde, a \r\nconstitutional rights lawyer, spoke about the rise of repression in the U.S.<\/p>\r\n
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At the end of the ceremony, some marked themselves with ashes. A group of 19 \r\nmembers of the ICUJP who had decided to carry out civil disobedience carried \r\nurns with names of U.S. atrocities --Iraq, Hiroshima, Afghanistan--and dumped \r\nthem at the steps of the Federal Building. Then they stepped into the street and \r\nsat down, blocking two lanes. Then they blocked the whole the street. After 10 \r\nminutes, they stood up and marched down the center of the street. The crowd \r\nsurged into the street after them. Someone shouted, \"Our streets!\" and a reply \r\ncame: \"Our world!\"<\/p>\r\n
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Protesters blocked the intersection between the Federal Building and LAPD \r\nheadquarters, tying up traffic and business for over an hour. They included \r\npeople from the Catholic, Jewish, Episcopalian and Methodist faiths. There were \r\nseveral members of the Catholic Worker, <\/i>four nuns and five ordained \r\nclergy.<\/p>\r\n
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Finally, the LAPD came out and issued an order to disperse. As they said the \r\nwords, \"In the name of the people of the state of California,\" people chanted, \r\n\"Not in OUR name!\"<\/p>\r\n
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Nineteen people were charged with \"failure to disperse\" and released. And \r\nthat evening the local TV news carried pictures of priests and ministers in \r\ntheir flowing white robes, their hands plastic- cuffed behind their backs, \r\nwalking proudly and defiantly.<\/p>\r\n
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This article is posted in English and Spanish on Revolutionary Worker \r\nOnline
rwor.org
Write: Box 3486, \r\nMerchandise Mart, Chicago, IL 60654
Phone: 773-227-4066 Fax: \r\n773-227-4497
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