Introduction
Before coming to Washington, D.C.
Sunday, September 25
Monday, September 26

Introduction

Mourn the Dead.
Resist Bush’s War.
Bring U.S. troops home, now!

Be part of a historic mass nonviolent action to end the war in Iraq.

United for Peace and Justice (UFPJ) is calling for a mass civil resistance action at the White House on Monday, September 26, 2005. The tone, theme and content of the action will create a wide gate through which many people who are opposed to this war can come and take that next step of open demonstration and civil resistance. It will be a solemn, disciplined action that remembers and mourns the precious lives lost on both sides of this war while forcefully resisting the Bush White House that is principally responsible for the carnage and suffering. This is President Bush’s war and the actions of that day will insist that Bush end the war and bring our troops home now. Lobbying activities on Capitol Hill will point out that the war is also the result of decisions made by members of Congress and insist that Congress do its part to bring all the troops home, but the mass action at the White House will focus on the President and his Administration that “fixed” the intelligence and deceived Congress itself in order to take the country to war.

The action will communicate most effectively to the general public if it can be read with a sense of history that feels familiar to the American people. History-making civil resistance includes moral witness and obedience to higher laws. Whether religious or not religious in how they identify themselves, morally motivated human beings making common cause with one another and undertaking civil resistance at risk to their own liberty, treasure and reputation communicate a seriousness of purpose that the public generally understands and respects. They reference deep traditions of peaceful change and forceful opposition to violence, war and injustice.

The civil resistance actions at the White House, although still open to the creative ideas of affinity groups from around the nation that commit to being there, will stay tightly focused on the White House. While UFPJ has expressed its solidarity with activists who may act elsewhere that day in a nonviolent manner that could disrupt the city’s traffic or commerce, the plan for the mass action at the White House is to focus on the White House gates and not on the surrounding streets. Those who may do such actions understand and respect that such actions should not occur in proximity to the White House on that Monday morning or afternoon.

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Before coming to Washington, D.C.

• Send money! An action like this cannot take place without resources. UFPJ must raise $150,000 to support all the actions it is sponsoring September 24-26, including supports such as tents and 2-way radios that will be part of doing this mass action. Take up a collection in your affinity group or pull out your wallet and send a donation to:
  
  United for Peace and Justice
  P.O. Box 607
  Times Square Station
  New York, NY 10108
  (or online www.unitedforpeace.org/donate)
  
  
• Nonviolence training within affinity groups: utilizing if needed the training resources that can be found in various places online, such as http://www.nonviolenceinternational.net/biblio.htm, or you may request a packet of nonviolence training materials when you sign up to come.
  
  
• Write the White House and request an appointment with the President on Monday, September 26th to get a commitment from him to bring the troops home. Contact information for the White House is at http://www.whitehouse.gov/contact/. If you are arrested for trying to deliver your message to Bush and decide to go to trial, you will be asked by almost any judge whether or not you tried to go through channels to get a meeting. It would be good to say “Yes.” In addition, nonviolence principles call for giving the oppressor a chance to do the right thing.
  
  
• Sign up with the action organizers at directaction@unitedforpeace.org

• 11 AM – 2:30 PM: Nonviolence training for unaffiliated persons and affinity groups who did not receive training locally.
  
  
• 1:00 PM – 2:30 PM: Clergy and Laity Concerned about Iraq will convene a panel of experienced practitioners of nonviolent social change who come from religious traditions; they will share experiences about the transformative power of nonviolent direct action.
  
  
• 3:00 PM – 4:30 PM: NVDA Workgroup members will host a continuing discussion of nonviolent methods and meanings within secular traditions, outline the plan for the day and present the likely scenarios and consequences of direct action the next day.
  
  
• 6:00 PM: Interfaith Service organized by Clergy and Laity Concerned about Iraq.

1. We will call on all participants - but certainly all that plan to risk arrest - to gather Monday morning by no later than 10 AM in a local church or other site to be determined. They will be inspired by a few words but mostly use this time to share last-minute information about the civil resistance, hear a report on how authorities have set up in the White House area, be briefed on the likely consequences of arrest and distribute informational materials as needed, and to form up for a brief march.
   
   
2. The ministers of CALC-I and perhaps Gold Star Families for Peace and others will lead a somber, permitted march from the morning gathering place to the Ellipse area that all are encouraged to join. Others who plan to participate may converge on the Ellipse by 11:45 AM
   
   
3. By 12:15 PM we will gather for a permitted gathering on the Ellipse south of the White House. There will be a very short 15-minute series of people who will speak only briefly to convey the basic messages of the day for media who are gathered there, but there will be no speeches. We are there to launch our action, not to do speeches.
   
   Action materials such as names of American and Iraqi dead will be available as needed, but affinity groups are strongly encouraged to bring their own names, signs and banners. Everyone participating will be asked to tie a small placard around their neck with the names of an American soldier and Iraqi civilian killed in Iraq. The name placards and banners should be made so that they can be hung or tied to the White House fence.
   
   
4. By about 12:30 PM two bells will begin tolling in a cadenced rhythm and we will form two lines behind each bell and proceed for a slow walk around both sides of the White House where we will meet up in Lafayette Park for a continuation of the permitted gathering. If there are 2,000-3,000 in our number, the march around the White House may become an encircling presence that may pause briefly for a few moments of silence to honor the dead.
   
   
5. The gathering in Lafayette Park should form up by about 1:15 PM. It will be brief, just long enough to know that everyone has arrived and is ready to act. It will allow for communicating some last-minute directions for the nonviolent direct actions about to take place. No speeches, just preparation to act.
   
   
6. By about 1:45 PM the bells will toll again as names of the dead are called out, and while that proceeds the CALC-I delegation and perhaps Gold Star Families for Peace will approach the White House to insist that they be received to meet with the President. They will attempt to deliver the names of American and Iraqi dead and get an agreement from him to end the occupation. No doubt a short dialogue will ensue, observed by the media. If Pennsylvania Avenue is open as it normally is (since cars no longer are allowed on this section), we will move into the street behind the initial delegation to support them.
   
   
7. If refused as expected, the CALC-I delegation will lead the civil resistance action they have planned. If they are arrested as expected, their actions will be followed by one wave after another of affinity groups stepping forward to deliver names of the dead, placing names on the fence, and otherwise taking actions that may cause police to arrest them. Most of these waves of nonviolent resistance will occur on the Pennsylvania Avenue sidewalks, but other actions may occur at other entryways and fencing of the White House as the afternoon unfolds, according to what affinity groups have planned. Such details will be discussed over the weeks before September 26. Every affinity group planning to risk arrest will be coordinated with UFPJ organizers so that the results of their actions are effectively communicated and the public gets accurate information about what takes place on that day.
   
   
8. After all those who have chosen to do civil resistance have done so, the mass action will end and affinity group support people and UFPJ organizers will follow up to help people with what they need.