Seeing demonstrations (of sometimes 100,000+ people) being totally

ignored by the corporate media and the Gov't., activists are taking

their message straight to the politician's door steps.

In Oregon over the weekend, ten thousand people gathered to show their

displeasure with the Iraq War and the Bush Administration. But a stronger

impact came from a group of activists that have changed tactics and decided

to take over the offices of our Congress people and also the industrial war

complex.....namely Halliburton and the Carlyle Group.

In Oregon, about 20 activists took over Senator Wyden's, Senator Smith's and

Congressman DeFazio's office building in an attempt to tell them to stop funding

the war in Iraq.

"So we sat down in the hallway outside of Wyden's office, read the names of

the American and Iraq dead, chanted and made a lot of noise until the building

manager called the cops to come arrest us. Which was the plan from the start.

I must say the cops were very civil and professional about it. They told us we

were under arrest, wrote citations for criminal trespass 2, a misdemeanor, and

turned us loose. We all have court dates and are expecting fines, which supporters

will pay for those of us who have no money. "

"First, we had a six hour training session the day before in nonviolent civil

disobedience for all of those who were going to participate in this action.

You need a tight group of people to do something like this. You need to

know that they're behind the idea, willing to follow the script, and won't

blow up on you."

"Second, I've never done this before and was slightly dreading it, but it really

wasn't bad at all, getting arrested. As long as it doesn't cost me money or

jail time I'm up for it. If you've been afraid of getting arrested, you might want

to try it. But be sure you have support lined up beforehand. Groups like this

also need support people who are not willing to get arrested. It takes organization.

If you can't stand organization you would be better off doing something else."

In a similar action, "Eight people blocked the doors to Senator Feinstein's

Office building today to protest the war in Iraq. A die in was staged and then

the doors were blocked." Eight arrests followed.

In Washington, DC activists "protested inside the lobbies of Halliburton and

Bechtel, reading out the names of the dead on the first day of war."

Also in DC, "Activists marched on the Pentagon, on March 20, 2006. In a

direct action, a symbolic coffin was hoisted over a fence by the protesters

at the facility, located in northern Virginia, just opposite Washington, D.C.

About 20 demonstrators were arrested."

In San Francisco today, "Act Against Torture (staged a) visual take-over of Diane

Feinstein's downtown office at Market and Montgomery. Art, props, people,

music, speakers and non-violent, creative, civil disobedience to protest

torture at U.S.-run prison camps and a way to publicize actions that we

all can do to help stop torture."

In Washington, DC there have been half a dozen or so protests at the homes

of officials. "On the evening of Feb 4, protestors continued the offensive of

home protests. With torture and exploitation as the common theme, we

first visited the home of a GSK exec (a SHAC action), then moved on to

the home of Paul Wolfowiz's girlfriend, where he is rumored to sleep."

This past weekend, Sen. Spector's house saw a demonstration by

Philadelphia activists.

When thousands of people are demonstrating against this war and being

ignored, it is time that activists take a different tack. Kudos to these brave

individuals that realize it is time to move on to a different strategy.

I manage a website that is devoted to protests and demonstrations

against the war worldwide, and this is a sea-change that makes allot

of sense, and is very welcome. Bless these people for taking it to another

level!



http://www.angelfire.com/nb2/www.dissentam.org/Mar6.html

"Hundreds of thousands"...what nonsense. You had less than 1000 in LA. SF had just over 1000. DC had less than 300. London had 15,000 where 100,000 had been "predetermined" by ANSWER. It never changes. ANSWER calls demos, you answer like sheep, and then ANSWER inflates the numbers by 1000%. Every "antiwar" protest turns into a Palestinian rally complete with rancid anti-semitism. These people are toxic. Read and learn.

You completely missed the point of this article. The street demonstrations are not working, not even when there are 500,000 in the street like at the Republican National Convention in NYC six months agp.

By the way, in London last weekend the march started out with 15,000 at one gathering point and grew to an estimated 100,000 after a few hours. It has been proven that the corporate media makes false claims about attendance at demonstrations, but that is not my real concern, ace. I don't know why I bother with someone with a low IQ that can't grasp a simple premise. Go ahead and try to smear the demonstrations.............that really does allot of good. It might just turn people around to want the war in Iraq.