Grannies Shut Down Atlanta Recruiting Station

[babylonsister]

Grannies Shut Down Atlanta Recruiting Station
Submitted by davidswanson on Sat, 2008-03-22 02:30.

* Nonviolent Resistance

On Monday, March 17, with the help of over 40 supporters, ten Atlanta Grandmothers for Peace carried out an act of non-violent civil disobedience in Atlanta, Georgia. Modeled on a similar earlier action by New York Grandmothers Against the War, our civil disobedience was part of nation-wide protests this week marking the 5th anniversary of the March 19, 2003, U.S. invasion of Iraq—actions by Grandmothers for Peace in 20 cities and by young and old in every state. We Atlanta Grandmothers entered the U.S. Army Recruiting Station on Ponce de Leon Avenue at 9:30 am, engaged the recruiters in conversation, and asked to enlist in order to take the place of young soldiers. When our offer was turned down, we refused to leave the property. We were arrested for criminal trespass at 10:30 am, taken to the Fulton County Jail for processing, and released 12 hours later on our own recognizance.

In the coming months, we will work to reach others through our local media, using our voices as Atlanta Grandmothers for Peace to focus attention on the unacceptable human and economic cost of this military occupation, both in the U.S. and Iraq. We believe U.S. soldiers are being sent to kill and be killed in an illegal and immoral war and occupation. As grandmothers, we have a unique opportunity and responsibility to act on behalf of children. While not all of us have biological grandchildren, we consider all young people, including Iraqis and U.S. soldiers, to be our grandchildren. We are a diverse group of women committed to on-going work toward a just foreign policy. Ranging in age from 57 to 80, with a total of 26 grandchildren, we come from across metro Atlanta—Kennesaw in Cobb County, Roswell and Atlanta in Fulton County, Decatur in DeKalb County, and Norcross and Snellville in Gwinnett County.

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http://www.afterdowningstreet.org/node/32030

[saltpoint]

1. Those women are the true Americans.

Good for them.

Great post.

[Hugabear]

2. No more fodder for the War Machine

The US treats young people like so much hamburger meat, being fed into the meat grinder.

Get all military recruiters out of our schools. No more high school ROTC programs. Heck, I'd love to see more colleges give ROTC the boot. Occupy military recruiting stations. Make it as difficult as possible for them to steal away our young men and women.

[malaise]

3. I love those Grannies

K&R

[Swamp Rat]

4. k&r

[bluerum]

5. After watching Michael Moore's "Sicko", and the conversation that he

had with the ex-pats in the French bistro, I think I understand why the government suppresses this kind of activity.

In Sicko, in that bistro, it was said the government (in France) is afraid of the people. The people take to the streets and demonstrate. All the time. They fill the streets and bring Paris to a halt. This is people power - one of the few collective political powers that they (and we) retain as the corpos buy more and more of our governments. We can stop the system by standing in the street. They can't put them all in jail. They can't kill them all. They can't make them all disappear.

But in this country, we are afraid of government, The police. The FBI, CIA, NSA and all the other corporate muscle that has been established to keep us under thumb. We are here to shut up, consume and feed the machine and if we step out of line we are incarcerated for some trumped up charge or another.

The government here has forgotten that they serve the citizens. The government here, now serves the corps. We are simply part of that service. We make it possible for the corps to exist. We do the work, build the machines, write the code, transport the goods, manage the work flow, staff the military and carry out the bidding the corpo machine. But in order to for the corps to have such a skilled and essential workforce at their disposal, they need the government to pass laws that facilitate their goal of keeping us endlessly commuting from our consumer homes to our jobs. Use gas, wear out vehicles, buy more stuff and pay for some executives yacht.

I am so very thankful for these grannies, that they are keeping some spark of resistance alive, that they are facing death and torture in order to speak out for those who cannot.

Thank you Grandmothers for Peace.

[rosesaylavee]

6. Good work!

K & R