RIVERS OF BLOOD START HERE
One of the many efforts
to bring our grief to the streets....
by Liz McAlister

We are sick at heart. Our hearts give us no rest for thinking of the rivers of blood and the oceans of tears that are our reality. So on September 20, about 60 people - including an Atlantic Life Community affinity group - gathered at the U.S. Capitol for a nonviolent direct action to make visible the Rivers of Blood and the Oceans of tears that start at that center of power. The action was organized by the National Campaign for Nonviolent Resistance and the Declaration of Peace to demand an end to the immoral and illegal war and occupation of Iraq and to demand that our legislators respect the mandate of the people. The date was chosen for the week that various pieces of legislation about the Iraq War were on the House and Senate floors in consequence of General Petraeus' report. The message of the action was: “ The blood is on all of our hands .” On the 20th, participants gathered in the House Gallery - the balcony where the public watches the proceedings of Congress - between 10:00 and 11:00 am. At 11:00 about 50 participants, with supporters from Code Pink, went down the stairs towards the rotunda. When police prevented access there, they went into the crypt - a circular room right under the rotunda. It was full of people -tourists and school groups. They stood in a circle and removed their jackets revealing their blood-stained t-shirts. Someone said a few words about why the group was there. Two people - Susan Crane and Peter de Mott - held a sign that said “The Rivers of Blood Start Here” . Max Obuszewski read the name of an individual who died in the war and fell to the floor. Immediately others read names and said that they were dying because of the unjust war in Iraq. As more and more fell to the floor, someone started wailing. The sound grew and spread - a painful din of people in mourning. And it was real. Everyone was overcome with grief.

Police gave three warnings to disperse but that was not an option any of those risking arrest could, in conscience, take. Arrests began. The police offered a forfeit and release option, where those arrested could pay a fine that day and the case would be resolved. The fine started at $100, was reduced to $50 and finally to $35 and still - as far as we know - no one took that option. All will return for one of three court dates - beginning October 16.

As this action occurred inside, a group of Iraq Veterans Against the War and Veterans for Peace formed an honor guard while Peace Action Montgomery enacted a die-in on the west lawn of the Capitol. A group of Buddhists monks and nuns joined - chanting and drumming. No one was arrested in the outside action, but it was dramatic, visible and the focus of a lot of attention.