I'm home. Just back from Crawford. - Democratic Underground

proud2BlibKansan

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Sun Apr-16-06 08:39 PM
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I'm home. Just back from Crawford.

First of all, I have to give credit to the Peace House in Crawford. Awesome awesome place. And they always need donations (hint hint) http://crawfordpeace.nfshost.com/node

As far as Camp Casey, it's hard to know where to start. I am not religious but I imagine what we were part of was like a revival. I know I feel pumped up and ready to resume the fight against this war and the evil occupiers of the White House and Congress.

We were there for 4 days. First day we listened to Ann Wright and Cindy and several very good musicians. Plus lots of good conversations with like minded liberal progressives. We spent most of the afternoon at the Peace House, greeting folks as they began to trickle in.

Next day, there was a protest at the county courthouse. After August, the county made it illegal to stand, sit or park in the ditches. In November, 12 challenged the law and were arrested. But they have not been given trial dates. So the protest was to demand trials for the 'Prairie Dog 12'.

That night, Daniel Ellsberg arrived. For those of you who don't remember or are too young, he is the author of The Pentagon Papers, which blew the lid off of the lies about the Vietnam War in 1970. He was an employee in the Pentagon who realized we were being lied to, we were losing the war, so he began to gather documents and wrote a book. He released his book a couple chapters at a time in various newspapers around the country. He and his wife were in hiding during this process. Daniel was eventually arrested and went to prison. Since 1970, he has been arrested over 70 times and is the king of civil disobedience. He was inspirational and told us that these are treasonous times and to make them count. He thinks what we are dealing with now is much worse than the deception during the Vietnam War. So while he scared me, he also made me realize how important our dissent is.

The following morning, 14 went and occupied ditches and were arrested. Ellsberg was one of the group, as was Cindy's sister, DeDe. A large group went down to the jail and protested outside while they were being held. They were finally released late that night and returned to Camp Casey around 11:00 pm. All were bonded out at $10,000 apiece, with the exception of one, who was an Iraq vet. The judge let him out on a personal recog. bond.

The ACLU is defending them. The lawyer came to camp and talked to us. He laughed, saying he usually isn't asking judges for trial dates. Back to donations - $13,000 was needed to bail these patriots out of jail. (another hint hint)

That evening, Rev. Lowry arrived. He is the co-founder with Dr. Martin Luther King, of the SCLC. http://www.sclcmagazine.com/ He is also the brilliant man who gave Coretta Scott King's eulogy. Wow is all I can say after listening to him speak for 2 days. He is 84 years old and sharp as a tack. One important thing he said is that we need to merge the civil rights group and the Latino rights group and the gay rights group and the peace movement. He said if we all worked together, bush would be gone. We have similar if not identical agendas; we all are working for human rights.

Diane Wilson also spoke. She is the woman from south Texas who fought pollution that was ruining fishing in the gulf. She wrote a book An Unreasonable Woman. http://www.chelseagreen.com/authors/277 She is also the co-founder of Code Pink. http://www.codepink4peace.org/ She is recently out of 120 days in the Victoria County Texas jail. In November, Diane disrupted a Cheney fund raiser by sneaking a banner in and unfurling it at an 'appropriate' time. She was arrested and taken to jail for a prior offense (sorry, not sure what that was). Diane is one of my personal heroes and I am still high from not only hearing her speak but getting to talk to her too.

Yesterday (Saturday) was a flurry of speakers, musicians and performers. Ellsberg spoke, as did Diane Wilson and Rev. Lowry. And a preacher from Dallas - I am so sorry I can't recall his name as he was wonderful. There was a group of women drummers from Austin who were incredible.

We were also entertained for two nights in a row by Emma's Revolution http://www.pathumphries.com/. I am strongly encouraging all political folk fans to get their CD. They were just fabulous. I am also proud to report that my son, proud jr, sat in with them on drums and was terrific! He is still just walking on air from the experience.

We also heard Ann Wright and Cindy speak many many times and had lots of opportunities to just sit and chat with them. Ann Wright is so inspirational. She was a career military officer who was working for the state dept and quit when the US invaded Iraq. She has since joined up with Cindy and they are a dynamic duo.

Cindy looked and sounded great. She was funny and also told many touching stories. She is a woman on a mission and the best thing to happen to the peace movement in years. I can't even describe the amount of respect I have for her and her work.

Cindy's daughter Carly was there yesterday and she read her beautiful poem about her brother's death.
http://gsfp.org/article.php?id=44

One more thing I just remembered. There was a group of people who marched for 2 weeks from Dallas to Crawford in support of the Exxon boycott. http://www.consumersforpeace.org/texas_peace_march.html They spoke to us about their march. BUY CITGO GAS, folks!

Yes, I took lots and lots of pictures but my brain is too tired to upload them and post them tonight. But I will get them up in the next day or so. I also met lots of DUers but can't find the paper where I wrote all their names down. (oops - sorry - you are all just terrific people and I loved hanging out with you :) )

Cindy will be back at Camp Casey in August and maybe for the 4th of July. So clear your calendars and make your plane reservations. You will be richly rewarded if you go.

Too tired to check for typos so please excuse any. Thanks!