[Peace-discuss] arrested at West Point

[Karen Medina]

[ There were arrests at West Point as people protested the troop
surge. Matthis Chiroux, one who refused to go back, was one of those
protesting and was arrested. Below is a note from him. -karen medina ]

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Subject: Account of my arrest in response to Afghan War escalation: WE
WILL BE YOUR INSURGENCY

Hi folks. Just want to send out an account of my arrest last night at
West Point in protest of Obama's escalation of the war in Afghanistan
that he was announcing inside. Very successful action with many people
participating and what's sure to be a few fun court dates to come! I
feel fine and really appreciate being able to put down my thoughts
about experiences like this and send them out to share with people to
be shared with others. Hope ya'll find the time to read and pass
around.

Peace and Solidarity,

Matthis

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We will be your insurgency

So it’s come to this. Obama’s gotta wage his war, and I gotta sit in the street.

It’s not that I like blocking traffic or getting arrested or dealing
with the fall-out when I could be reading a book. It’s that I can’t
live with endless war and I must end it or surely die.

I’m not leaving this country. This is my mess, so help me, and I’ll
scrub it till my fingers bleed. I will not compromise with genocide. I
will not run from those behind it.

Endless war is the promise of our time, signed in blood and sealed
with death’s own kiss. Its stench hangs around us heavy smog. While I
dare not breath for fear of intoxication, I cannot hold much longer.

This is the American nightmare, and it’s shattering my heart like glass.

As I stepped to the microphone outside West Point Military Academy
Tuesday, all I wanted was to go home, honestly. Good lord, don’t let
me cry in front of these people, I thought. Why must I play out this
misery for all to see?

Obama’s only doing exactly what he said he’d do, but still, I’m
heartbroken. I can’t go on like this.

I’ve been a mess. When I try to imagine the future of this country, I
see nothing. I have no faith that good always triumphs anymore. I
think where there’s a will to change there’s a way to subvert it. I
taste the world I am to inherit, and it makes me sick to my stomach.

But as I admitted to the crowd my feelings of hopelessness and
despondency, I realized once again, that I am not alone. People stared
into my eyes with equally heavy brows and clenching teeth. When they
came close, I saw tears in their eyes as well, and they seemed
thankful to see them in mine.

Our suffering is one. We are the disenfranchised. In our lives, our
jobs, our  politics; we have been denigrated to utter impotence.
People are not meant to live this way, and we cry out in one voice
through history for liberation. Again and again, we’ve had our voices
ignored and our mutual bonds dissolved by paranoia and fury.

But I couldn’t let him get away with it. They think his slick speeches
and skin color will keep the left at home. Someone had to go down for
this, even if it was me.

We marched to the installation gate where a line of cops and troops
were waiting. When we sat down in front of the barricades, they didn’t
seem all that concerned. Young and old alike joined us on the
pavement. I was left awestruck by the singular dedication of the
burgeoning crowd to ending our Global War of Lies and Terror.

For 30 minutes, the hundreds of us shouted down the full winter moon.
We chanted our opposition to escalation. We lamented the change we
were promised and denied. The message was loud and in no unmistakable
terms: Obama, this is the death of your presidency!

When we moved into the traffic lane after he started his speech, I
felt a great warmth from within for the first time in weeks. While
through my head streamed images of Satyagrahas past, my heart pounded
reassurance, for it knew I was there for a reason.

This government refuses to respond to the needs and demands of its
people. It’s come to this. I refuse to be ignored. I pledge to be
peacefully ungovernable.

The police carried my crutches while I limped to the car in
hand-cuffs. A sense of satisfaction settled in as I waited in the back
and counted those who’d be joining me ‘downtown.’ Six of us in total.
We’d done it. At least to us, Obama had not gotten away with it.

Not an hour later, we were released. The officers who I dealt with
were beyond respectful to us and our cause. While I didn’t make any
friends, I didn’t find any enemies. At some point during the evening,
I cut my finger on the pavement, but beyond that, we walked away with
little more than disorderly conduct charges and a notice to appear
Dec. 15 at 6:30 p.m. at the Town Court at 254 Main St. Highland Falls,
NY 10928. (Come join us!)

As we left the station, I was thrilled to see a sidewalk full of
activists waiting and to find a prominent lawyer in town already
representing us. While Obama had shattered our dreams of peace, we
felt we’d won the day. Even with the impending escalation, we found
the strength to joyously declare the birth of a new peace movement!

The government won this round. 30,000 more troops is a clear loss for
us and more importantly the people of Afghanistan. But from what I
saw, we are ready to rededicate ourselves to unwavering resistence
from within. In the words of our former dictator, “fool me once, shame
on you. Fool me twice...see, you can’t get fooled again.”

Obama is a war president and we are a peace movement. As long as we’re
moving, Obama, and you refuse to be governed, we’ll refuse to be
governed. Your racist wars will end and this world will know peace in
our lifetimes. Until that day, rest assured that WE WILL BE YOUR
INSURGENCY!
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-- 
karen medina
<~~~~~~~~~~~~~>
"In this universe, we are given two gifts: the ability to love, and
the ability to ask questions." (Mary Oliver, American poet)
A third gift is the ability to laugh. (Jenifer, a friend)