Call for Resistance, A31 Agenda, Adopt-an-Activist

[phillyrnc] A31 call from Starhawk

From: Starhawk
Date: Thu Aug 12, 2004 3:46:32 PM Canada/Eastern

Hi friends, I'm here in New York City, already deep in the organizing for the Republica n National Convention protests. I'll soon be sending out updates—if not daily, at least periodically. But for these first days, we've bee focusing on putting out a call for nonviolent direct action issued by the Green Bloc, Pagan Cluster, and much of the Bay Area Cluster.

What we're trying to do is to create an action that is a strong, clearly nonviolent civil disobedience, that can reflect something of the vision of the world we want to create in the face of the Empire and police. We're working with a larger coalition, the A31 Coalition, that has called on groups to claim spaces and organize actions with different flavors and a common focus. So, on the 31st, the War Resister's League will be marching from ground zero, on one side of the convention, in a funeral march to face the Republicans with the deaths their policies have produced. And we'll be on the other side, creating a vision of life, of the possible world we could create together.

If you can possibly come, plan to join us. We really need you! Whether to join us in risking arrest, or in fulfilling some of the hundreds of needed support roles, as well as attending the United for Peace and Justice march on 8/29 and all of the other related marches and events. If you're in New York or coming, find out about meetings and trainings by emailing truesecurity@hotmail.com. We will soon have a website up, as well. The Overall webpage for the direct action day is A31.org. For the Pagan Cluster, it's pagancluster.org.

If you can't come and want to donate to help someone else, there's an appeal below that will give you a way to support other activists who have time but no money. Stay tuned, soon, for updates and an inside report on the organizing,

Starhawk

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A Call for Nonviolent Creative Action and Civil Disobedience at the RNC on August 31, 2004

Herald a World of True Security

Say No to Bush's Endless War and Homeland InSecurity!

Hope not Fear, Truth not Lies, Peace not War, Love not Hate, Democracy not Empire!

We've petitioned, vigiled, marched and cried out. If you are ready to take another step, now is the time; New York is the place. On August 31, we will come together en masse in Herald Square near Madison Square Garden to withdraw our consent from Bush's global reign of terror, and counterpose our vision of liberty and justice for all. We reject fear as a form of social control and embrace truth in its place. We will claim a space in which to create our vision of real security and true democracy, in direct contrast to the war-mongering and empire building of the Republican National Convention. We will occupy this space nonviolently with our bodies, our courage, our wild creativity, our untamed spirit and solidarity.

If the police attempt to move us, we will refuse to go. Those who choose to will sit down and claim our right to peacefully assemble in the name of democracy, justice, liberty, freedom, for the good green earth and for the future of our children. We will hold this space of alternative vision and transformation. We will not cooperate; we will not be violent, and we will not leave. We will act in the rich tradition of social movements before us that have used nonviolent resistance to challenge injustice.

Real security is found in the things that sustain life, not weapons that destroy life. Real security is food, water, land, health care, education, housing, meaningful work, a sustainable environment, liberty and dignity. In the name of keeping us safe from terrorism, Bush is destroying every aspect of real security.

We say NO to the culture of torture and fear. NO to empires, military madness, illegitimate governments and stolen elections. NO to Abu Ghraib, Guantanamo, and the occupations of Iraq, Afghanistan, Haiti and Palestine.

NO to environmental destruction and mindless consumerism. We say NO to the criminalization of dissent, the Patriot Act, the imprisonment of people of color and the racist system that divides us all. We say NO to the Republic an National Convention – its pomp, its glitz, its lies and its veneer of democracy.

We say YES to a world where all people can live with dignity, respect, and freedom. YES to all that feeds our soul and makes us feel alive. YES to re al democracy that goes beyond voting. YES to community spaces that embody our vision of security, love, peace, beauty, justice, abundance and freedom .

We invite you to join together with thousands of others who know that voting is not enough. The choice before us is not just about Kerry or Bush. The choice is about what kind of future we will have and what we will do to create it.

Dissent is Not Terrorism! Repression is Not Security!

Tuesday, August 31 True Security Cluster Action Plan:

9:30–11:30 NVDA Action Prep Session, location to be announced

Noon Demonstrate at the New York State Office of Homeland Security, 633 3rd Ave. We will engage in a powerful street theater action wearing hoods to dramatize US polices from Abu Ghraib to Guantanamo to the US prison system to the streets of New York. There is no permit for this demonstration but we will engage in legal sidewalk protest.

6:00 pm Orientation for unaffiliated groups and individuals will begin on the steps of the New York Public Library, 42nd St and 5th Ave. One of the two orientation sites established by the A31 Action Coalition which is coordina ting direct action for the entire day.

7:00 pm Create a World of True Security, converge at Herald Square, 34th and 6th Ave at Broadway. We will gather and construct a model of a world of real security and true democracy. We ask affinity groups to bring things that show what true security means to you (seed ideas below). We want to create a world in the streets where everyone has the healthy food and good clean water they need. Where art and music heal our wounds. Where jobs are secure and children are cared for. A world where beauty, balance, abundance and delight fill our lives.

Your affinity group might choose to offer food or water or to paint the street . Maybe you will offer healing, the playing of music or the singing of songs. Maybe you can tell a story or engage in discussions about actions around the elections or organize a puppet pageant about what we do to move beyond voting.

If the police prevent us from creating this world or attempt to remove us, those who choose to will refuse to cooperate, sitting down and nonviolently holding our space, risking arrest if necessary.

The True Security Call is initiated by the Green Bloc, the Pagan Cluster and the Save Our Civil Liberties Campaign. It is being organized within the framework and in solidarity with the August 31 Action Coalition Call for the Shout Heard Round the World!

What Does Real Security Mean to You? How Might Your Affinity Group bring Security to life? How might you tell your story?

Our Zapatista sisters and brothers in the global South tell us SECURITY is:
Dignity, Justice, Liberty, Food, Housing, Water, Work, Land, Health Care, Education,
Respect for environment, Respect for Women

Real Security might mean:
Love not Hate
Hope not Fear
Peace not War
Beauty not Destruction
Justice not Tyranny
Freedom not Slavery
Trees not Towers
Community not Dominance
Abundance not Scarcity
Democracy not Empire
Plants not Pollution
Schools not Jails
Books not Bombs
Art not Bureaucracy
Courage not Fear
Parks not Pavement
Health not Disease
Delight not Nightmare
Organics not GMO's

Pick one of these ideas or create your own and prepare to visually and physically manifest it in the streets!

For information and a schedule of meetings and trainings, contact truesecurity@hotmail.com

Adopt–an-Activist Appeal

Your help is needed in showing the world exactly how deep and wide opposition is to the Bush/Neo-Conservative agenda. When the Republican National Convention meets in New York, there will be hundreds of thousands (100's of 1000's) of people in the streets and at rallies voicing their "No" to this latest abuse of power by the moneyed elites. On August 31st there is a call for people to escalate their dissent beyond marches and rallies to civil disobedience - and to move the scope of the dialogue beyond just Bush. The problems we face didn't start with him, and they won't end with Kerry. It' s vitally important for that message to get out.

Can't make it to New York? That's where Adopt-an-Activist comes in. The New York community is asking for experienced organizers to come assist with the work that goes into effective grassroots organizing around this conference: from media campaigning to nonviolence training. Adopt-an-Activist is collecting funds from the community that believes in the neces sity of such work and channeling it directly to experienced organizers.

You can make a donation right now at www.adoptanactivist.org to participate in this radical form of representative democracy.

To move the agenda of global peace and justice forward takes support from all of us - from the organizers that have committed to going to New York, to the volunteer activists that have already laid so much groundwork, to your contributions that add up to be able to pay for plane tickets, rent, food and supplies.

Adopt-an-Activist
PO Box 9363
Santa Rosa CA 95405
707-523-4304
www.adoptanactivist.org

Go if you must, stay if you will, hail & farewell.