Fr. Louis Vitale, Pace e Bene’s Action Advocate, was arrested on Sunday morning, November 22 at Ft. Benning, GA as part of the annual gathering of thousands of people calling for the closure of the School of the Americas organized by SOA Watch. He and three others — Nancy Gwin, of Syracuse, NY; Michael Walli, of Washington, DC; Kenneth Hayes, of Austin, Texas — crossed into the base. All but Walli have posted bail and been released. Fr. Vitale previously served a three month prison sentence for engaging in nonviolent civil disobedience at Ft. Benning.
Further reading on the SOAWatch demonstrations of 20-22 November.
Fr. Louie Vitale and Fr. Steve Kelly took a stand against torture.
Now it’s our turn.
Join the Pace e Bene Circle of Peace to support Fr. Louie and Fr. Steve as they serve five months in prison – and to lend your name
to their call for an end to torture and war.
My first try was soawatch with the most likely extension.
It turned out to be a recruiting site showing how great the army is.
Which just goes to show what kind of cowards the people organising "defense" are at heart.
The School of the Americas-watch site is called soaw.org. I bet "they" did not change the name of this Torture Academy because where I come from soa is an acronym for "sexually transmittable disease".
Anyway...
Thousands are gathered at the gates of Fort Benning, Georgia, standing up against oppressive U.S. foreign policy and speaking out in defense of real and direct democracy, for life, justice, liberty, dignity and peace. Photo by Linda Panetta
Sunday, November 22: 8:15 am, Gather at the gates of Ft. Benning for Solemn Funeral Procession remembering those killed by graduates of the SOA and nonviolent direct action to close the SOA/WHINSEC!
Sometimes I am forced to feel very Dutch. Like when I travel in the USA and next stop is announced: Van Buren - oh really - well, there is one difficult vowel in this, but if you learned to speak French or German the u should not be difficult.
That is how it works - having difficulty with the name of former prime minister Kok but not realising that the first name of former president Clinton in my language is Buttocks. Taking for granted that the whole world accepts the silly name Bill and giggling about Kok. (Both persons make me feel sad or angry, by the way).
I feel sorry for the people of the Southern Netherlands, since it will be difficult to find a new prime minister willing to preserve the state - which means the risk of having two new states or the even more abject idea of merging the Dutch speaking parts of the historic Netherlands. There is at least one state I want to keep for the time being, for the sake of civilised behaviour. It should not be necessary having to explain this, but I fear few people outside the Low Countries realise what I mean.
(The three bottles of what is considered by some the best beer in the world symbolise the three official languages spoken in Belgium).
The Conservatives have announced there latest policy 'revolution'. Yes, that it, the tories are now using the word revolution to describe their policies. Fair play to them - this is what clever propagandaists to: they take the language of the other and co-opt, subvert, and redeploy it's energy into their own agenda. If you don't believe it just look at the gospel of Mark or the First Pauline letters.
So the Conservatives are having a "Big Bang Revolution" And it doesn't involved their already highly publicised wife-swapping policy. It's about the deregulation of the media in order to help generate monopolies that can compete with the BBC. Because poor old ITV etc are struggling to make ends meet.
So it's a dergulation policy then? Yep! And it's about creating a liberalised market that favours the rich at the expense of the poor? Yes again! It's a revolution, apparently.
Those piss-takers at Tory spin-Q have also come up with: "Genuine Schools Revolution"; a "decentralised energy Revolution"; a "revolution to break the cycle of crime"; a "Green consumer revolution"; a "Tourism Revolution"; "London Cycling Revolution"; "Apprenticeship Revolution"; "Skills Revolution"; "NHS Information Revolution" and even - and you really couldn't make this bollocks up unless you were in big-p politics - a "supply-side revolution".
Any talk of revolution on the left or the right is suspicious because it tends to be violent or in never-never-land, or both. Perhaps that's why it's one of the safest words to borrow: it was just sitting there and nobody was doing anything with it...
The most radical people I've met have been people who aim for a constant revolution of the heart. They challenge themselves to be converted to the point of view of their neighbour, to find ways to love and understand their enemies. To make sure that those who want to get at the poor have to step over their bodies to get there.
Colin Ward wrote about the anarchist society being like "a seed beneath the snow" and Jesus talked about a mustard plant (a creeping weed of a plant) speading slowly but providing shelter. Neither of these are the posturing images of revolution that the Conservatives are about to pummel us with as they drew up to their billowing heights for the next general election.
So us ordinary folk will have to sit out another bloody (sic.) revolution: getting on with our ordinary lives of loving and living: building a new world in the shell of the old. Until this old-etonian revolutions finally realise how thoroughly redundant they really are.
A lovely story which reminds me of my first acquaintance with Christian anarchism in present day Europe, the Ploughshares Movement - a judge who showed respect for the motivation of the axe man. Rare, but not impossible.
- On Wednesday, November 4, 2009 the Omaha and Des Moines
Catholic Worker communities and friends held our fourth annual protest
and ‘Die In” at the Qwest Center in Omaha at SRATCom’s Space Weapons
Bazaar called the Strategic Space Symposium in Omaha NE, Nov 2-4.
The effort began with a group of over 30 people gathered across the
street from the main entrance of the Qwest Center at 11 a.m. We moved
in mass across the street to the main entrance, set up our “Space
Weapons = Death” banner. We gathered around the banner and read of our
statement. (See a copy of the statement below.)
After the statement was read a number of people, including the 8 who were arrested laid down on the ground in front of the banner, enacting a “Die-In”.
After 5 minutes people were called to their feet and directed to take the “Die-In” into the Qwest Center where the Space Weapons Bazaar was taking place. The protesters were stopped just inside the front doors by Qwest security people and Omaha police officers. The protesters proceeded to reenact their “Die-In” just inside the building at the feet of the security people and police. Our statement was reread.
Qwest security people informed all protesters to leave the building or face arrested. All but eight people left the building. Each of the eight was asked by an Omaha police officer to leave the building or face arrest. All eight were place under arrest, hand cuffed and walked out the of the building into a police van or police car.
Among the eight people arrested was 91-year-old Peg Gallagher, “Grand
Dame of the Omaha Peace Movement”. Peg was ticketed and released right
on site. The seven other people who were arrested were taken to the
Douglas Co Jail, processed by the police and charged with City of Omaha ordinance “20-155 Request to Leave” - a misdemeanor offense with a maximum penalty of six months in jail and/or a five hundred dollar fine. The seven were:
Fr. Jack McCaslin, 80, Omaha, NE
Mark Kenny, 52, Omaha, NE
Daniel McCarville, 22, Omaha, NE
Friar Louis Vitale, OFM, 77, Oakland, CA
Fr. Jim Murphy, 55
Steve Clemens, 59, Minneapolis, MN
Frank Cordaro, 58, Des Moines Catholic Worker, Des Moines, IA
The four Omaha residents were cited and release and given a Dec 9th
Amazing Day in Court!
By Frank Cordaro, Des Moines Catholic Worker
Nov 5, 2009
The four out of state “Space Weapons Bazaar” protesters who were arrested Wed. Nov 4th at the Qwest Center in Omaha spent the night at the Douglas County Jail. We were Fr. Louis Vitale of CA, Fr. Jim Murphy of WI, Steve Clemens of MN and me Frank Cordaro of IA. We were all charged with a City of Omaha ordinance “20-155 Request to Leave” a misdemeanor offense with a maximum penalty of six months in jail and/or a five hundred dollar fine.
On Wed Nov 5th we appeared before Judge Darryl Lowe in what is called ”jail court” with sixty other Douglas Co Jail inmates at 1:30 p.m. for what turned out to be the most entertaining and perplexing two hours I have ever spent in a court room.
Jail courts are the places where people who get arrested and booked into county jails, and do not bond out, get to see a judge for the first time. This is the time when most inmates can plead guilty or innocent, be assigned a court appointed attorney and have their bail reviewed. The vast majority of inmates who appear in these jail courts are poor and people of color. Ninety percent plead guilty, knowing ”you get the justice you can afford” in this country and if you’re poor, you’re better off pleading guilty and doing the time up front than pleading innocent and doing more time awaiting trial, a trial in all likelihood you would end up losing whether you are innocent or not. It’s not a pretty picture to watch. It’s often done with out feelings or human concerns for those being judge.
This time it was different. The officer who talked to the sixty of us before we were lead into court told us that Judge Lowe is a very different kind of judge. “He’s liable to ask you the strangest of questions.” The officer was not wrong. In the two hours we spent before Judge Lowe he made inappropriate comments, asked questions way beyond the scope of his professional obligation as a judge, and delved into people’s personal non-legal issues.
Yet Judge Lowe was also one of the most caring and humane judges I have ever seen work from the bench. Beyond his extremely large public, entertaining ego, he showed real concern for the people who stood before him. For those who plead guilty, he went to great efforts to find a sentence that really matched what the inmate needed in order to make right for the crime committed and help them get their lives back together. Judge Lowe meted out justice that day unlike I have ever witnessed in a court of law. It was justice with a heart.
Before the court session started Judge Lowe made some introductory remarks. Among them was his admonition that people take personal responsibility for their alleged activities. “If you are innocent, plead innocent and if you are guilty plead guilty. And if you plead ’no contest’ you better have a good reason cuz I don’t take lightly to people who are just trying to not take responsibility for their actions.”
As the two hour session was coming to a close it was clear the judge was speeding up his pace, wanting to be done by 3:30 p.m. The order of the cases was presented to him from the most serious to the least serious. We four protesters were the last four cases of the day. We were all in our orange jail-issued outfits. By the time Fr Louis Vitale was called to the bench we were the only ones left in the court room, with the judge, the prosecutor, the two court recorders and the four jail police officers.
As Fr Louis approached the bench the prosecutor told the judge that the last four of us were all here from the same charge and that the arrest took place at the Qwest Center the day before. Judge Lowe did not even look at any of the paper work. He talked about his being at the Qwest Center on many occasions for concerts and basketball games. That was all he needed to know. Judge Lowe asked Fr Louis “What do you plea?”
“No contest,” said Fr Louis.
And before Fr Louis could say anything else Judge Lowe said, “Five days!” and pounding his gavel saying, “If you had plead guilty it would have been three days. Next.”
Fr Louis was dumbfounded. He tried to explain to the judge that all he wanted to do was make his plea and ask that the sentencing be postponed until the four local Omaha people went to trial. Fr Louis needed to be on a plane Saturday morning for a speaking engagement and Mass obligations Sunday. A five day sentence would make it impossible for him to make his commitments. Judge Lowe would hear none of it. He pounded his gavel and told Fr Louis if he wanted to appeal the sentence he would have to come up with a $100,000 bond! “Next,” shouted the Judge Lowe as the guards led Fr Louis out of the court room.
Fr Jim Murphy approached the bench. And Judge Lowe asked him “What do you plead?”
“No contest” said Fr Jim, and then he immediately changed his plea to “Guilty!”
“Three days” said Judge Lowe pounding his gavel. “Next!” shouted Judge Lowe as Fr Jim was lead out of the court room.
Steve Clemens approached the bench. By this time everyone had a chance to catch their breath. Judge Lowe finally asked Steve, “What were you guys doing at the Qwest Center in the first place?” Judge Lowe just assumed the four of us were arrested for intoxication. He just thought we were four old drunks.
Steve said, “Your honor, we were there to protest the Strategic Space Symposium. We were there to protest the selling of space weapons technology to STRATCom!”
And from the inmate sitting area, I shouted out to the judge, “And you just sentenced two Catholic priests to jail!”
“Catholic priest! Protest!” exclaimed Judge Lowe as the blood went out of his face, “Bring those two priests back before me. Give me their files.” The judge asks me to join them all at the bench. We explained to him what our nonviolent protest was all about. He congratulated us for our witness. He said he believed in nonviolent civil disobedience. He said more of it needed to be done. He told us his father was active in the civil rights movement in the south. He added, “of course I was only four years old at the time.” He shook each one of our hands. Fr Louis knelt down with his hands raised in prayer and thank God for the Judge’s change of heart.
We were all sentenced to time served, given a pat on the back and in essence told ‘Job well done good and faithful servants! He ended the session by saying “I hope you all come back again next year!”
I have never ever been treated so well. Justice, not necessarily the Law was served that day in the Douglas County Jail.
Vigil for Haiti and Honduras, the two poorest countries of the Western hemisphere and - undoubtedly not by coincidence - two countries where the elected president was hijacked abroad by putschists supported by a Nobel Peace Prize winning regime.
Apologies for the late mention, but rather late than never. Source.
