I will be fasting at least one day a week in solidarity with these folks! You can sign up to participate for a single day or more at Troops Home FAST site. Here is more info on the fast:
Cindy Sheehan, Dick Gregory, Susan Sarandon, Sean Penn
and Hundreds More Launch Hunger Strike to End the Iraq War
Press Release
Tuesday 27 June 2006
On July 3, 2006, CODEPINK: Women for Peace, Global Exchange and Gold Star Families for Peace will announce a historic hunger strike against the war in Iraq. At 5pm, they will sit down in front of the White House to eat their last meal and hold a press conference before beginning the fast at the same location in the morning of July 4 at 10am.
We’ve marched, held vigils, lobbied Congress, camped out at Bush’s ranch. We’ve even gone to jail. Now it’s time to do more, says peace mom Cindy Sheehan. While others are celebrating July 4th with barbeques, we’ll be showing our patriotism by putting our bodies on the line to bring our troops home.
Hundreds of celebrities, veterans, mothers, and concerned citizens across the country will participate in a rolling fast. Strikers include musicians Willie Nelson and Michael Franti, actors Danny Glover, Sean Penn and Susan Sarandon, Gold Star parents Cindy Sheehan and Fernando Suarez, legendary faster and comedian Dick Gregory, environmental activist Diane Wilson, Iraq war veteran Geoffrey Millard and Gulf War vet Michael McPherson, labor leader Dolores Huerta and CODEPINK cofounders Medea Benjamin, Jodie Evans and Gael Murphy.
The organizers call on a long history of fasts for political purposes, claiming their place among the Suffragettes, Mahatmas Gandhi and Cesar Chavez. In honor of this rich history, the fasters will gather at the Gandhi memorial statue a Massachusetts and 21st NW on July 3 at 3pm, then march to Pennsylvania Avenue for the meal and press conference at 5pm. In other parts of the country, people will engage in rolling fasts, passing the fast from person to person every 24 hours.
Diane Wilson, who has engaged in several hunger strikes in her history as an environmental activist, says she will not set an end date to her fast. My goal is to bring the troops home. I don’t know how long I can fast, but I’m making this open-ended, she says. I plan to take this as far as I’ve ever taken anything in my 58 years. I fear our future is at stake, and I’m ready to make a major sacrifice.
The fast will last until September 21, International Peace Day, when activists around the country will initiate a week of nonviolent actions against the war as part of the Declaration of Peace.
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For more information, including a full list of fasters, please see www.troopshomefast.org.
Dear Build Peace,
I got the idea you might like to see this.
“The hunger strikes and suicides of Guantánamo bring Bobby Sands back to life.
This time around, he is not a vilified IRA “terrorist,” but the venerated patron
saint of political prisoners everywhere.” And now we have the “Troops Home
Fast.”
“What Would You Die For?” is here on http://www.earthblog.net
Some of the main ideas are:
Political prisoners are different.
Force-feeding is the moral equivalent of rape, and physically not only the
equivalent of torture, but torture itself.
Hunger strikers ought to be left alone, yes, even to die, if that’s what they
aspire to.
Best of all possible regards,
Pat Hartman
I am also fasting today with Troops Home Fast.
Best wishes to you!!
Here in south central Georgia , a soldier returned from Iraq. He was re-employed into a police chief position; a position he left to enter the war. Reportedly, the chief was not given counseloring on returning to the community. Marshallville citizens report that weeks after his return, he made changes on the force–to wear Black; to aggressively patrol the small town; to harrass the community members at night; to park in hazzardous places on dark roadways without lights at night.
Weeks later, a local man was killed by two police officers on his staff. It is reported that the chief, the two officers and the city officials all “behaved badly”. They violated civil rights of witnesses and took no responsibility for a senseless killing. The killing reportedly occured because of excessive force and lack of training.
The long delayed grand jury was reportedly a collusion in a major cover-up. What will happen to the police chief? Will he receive training for re-entry into a community after serving in a war zone? Will any of our soldiers receive training on re-entry? Are they and those they command be lost forever? Is there an alternative to war?
Thank you for what you do to create a dialogue for an alternative to war. May we want more in our lives than war, violence and loveless moments. May we seek both peace and justice and may we work to have love and caring in our daily living.