Friends,
Some of you might remember Lisa Savage as she spoke in
Kagiso, Max
Why I Heckled Tony Blair, War Criminal, at Colby College Graduation
BY LISA SAVAGE
http://warisacrime.org/content/why-i-heckled-tony-blair-war-criminal-colby-college-graduation
If you woke on a beautiful spring Sunday in May on a pond in
Photo: Steve Demtriou
Who knew our protest would lead news coverage of the ceremony? (Washington Post, WGME, Houston Chronicle, and Daily Mail, to name a few.)
Source: War Crimes International, Tony Bliar
With the BLAIR IS A WAR CRIMINAL sign I scrawled hastily in pink lipstick, we approached the back row of the outdoor ceremony where the former British PM, who lied about WMDs in
Before we even made it off the street we were approached by a man from
As we stood holding our signs and quietly listening to graduates give a prayer and then a speech, we were approached by
Photo: Steve Demtriou
When the introduction for Blair began I waited for a pause and then called out "Tony Blair is a war criminal! He should be arrested. He lied us into war in
Just then I was grabbed by my arm and turned to find myself staring into the badge of
Ridgely Fuller stayed behind to call out "War Criminal!" once again as Blair approached the podium. She, too, was asked to leave. She carried a Draw-a-thon image by artist Brian Reeves:
Because both of us had CODEPINK on our sign and banner, the Associated Press report picked up this nugget, ostensibly a quote from
Protesters carried signs saying "Code Pink," a grassroots peace and
social justice movement working to end U.S.-funded wars and to
challenge global militarism, police said.
Lawrence Reichard stayed behind to call out "warmonger" and more, and when he refused to leave, was arrested. We know
Source: "Tony Blair heckled during graduation address at Maine college" The Guardian
As we walked back to our car our escort had dwindled to two Colby security guards. I asked one of them if he supported what had been done in
He said he didn't have any opinion about that. "I'm just doing my job," he told me.
I said that was the defense used by German soldiers during the trials of Nazis after the war, that they were just doing their job. I asked him if he ever studied history and he said no, so I suggested he might want to look up the
As he gave us our final warning that we'd be arrested if we tried to come back, it was just as Ridgely caught up to us. I told him, "We are civil disobedients. We've been arrested before, like at the White House."
His eyes lit up. "Really? You mean the one just the other day?"
Another thing that made me think he was kind of sympathetic to our side was when I had asked my husband, "Why do you think Colby chose such a creepy speaker for their commencement?" the young security guard commented, "Yeah, Bates [another Maine college] got Robert DeNiro."
Photo: Steve Demtriou
As we left the campus I saw an acquaintance who works at Colby, in a pretty dress, standing obediently off to one side.
I feel that the passivity and complicity of US citizens in the dirty dealings of NATO and its member nations, blindly paying federal taxes every year to fund the slaughter of innocents, afraid to protest, afraid to rock the boat for fear of job loss or being seen as impolite, is actually the biggest threat to global security.
And that's why, as my compatriots were protesting the disgusting spectacle of the NATO summit in Chicago this weekend, I disrupted
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