CITIZEN ACTIVISTS TO DELIVER REAL STATE OF THE UNION TO PRESIDENT AND CONGRESS

CITIZEN ACTIVISTS TO DELIVER REAL STATE OF THE UNION TO PRESIDENT AND CONGRESS

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: January 11, 2016

Contacts: Joy First – 608 239-4327 – joyfirst5@gmail.com, Max Obuszewski – 727-543-3227 – mobuszewski at verizon.net, Malachy Kilbride – 301-283-7627 – malachykilbride@yahoo.com

WHO: Members of the National Campaign for Nonviolent Resistance (NCNR) have been speaking out and peacefully dissenting against the illegal actions of the United States government since 2003. They have organized numerous actions involving nonviolent civil resistance across the United States as they call attention to the crimes of the US government. For example, on September 22, 2015 they attempted to meet with Rep. Paul Ryan to discuss their concerns about the ongoing US wars, poverty, and the climate crisis only to find that the door to Ryan's office was locked and entry was denied by one of his staffers. Later that same day the NCNR activists went to the White House seeking a meeting, which was previously requested, with a representative of the Obama administration to discuss the same concerns, and to present evidence of US war crimes. Once again, access was denied and their First Amendment attempt to redress their grievances was criminalized as 15 people were arrested. NCNR has attempted to engage elected and appointed US government officials by writing letters and petitions, seeking meetings without any response from these officials for the last 13 years.

WHAT: NCNR activists and others plan to deliver a petition articulating the real state of the union.  Fourteen years after the first prisoners arrived in President Obama's still open Guantanamo Bay prison camp, and as US wars and occupations continue to be waged, including the extra-judicial drone strikes, NCNR activists will hold a peaceful public witness before attempting to deliver a petition to President Obama and Congress condemning the violence at home and abroad caused by the invidious nature of the US empire.  The petition notes that war, poverty, and the climate crisis are all related and part of the problem.

NCNR activists and others will gather in front of the US Supreme Court across from the US Capitol and speak out on a variety of interconnected issues noted in their petition from the military industrial complex to the prison industrial complex, the wars and occupations abroad and the police violence at home, our use of resources to plan and fight wars and the lack of resources to alleviate hunger and poverty. NCNR and many others have repeatedly made the connections between poverty and militarism, US reliance on fossil fuels and the fact that the Pentagon is the single largest consumer of these fossil fuels, the militarization of US foreign policy and its support for undemocratic regimes in the Middle East, such as Saudi Arabia, and the violent oppression, war crimes, and human rights violations inflicted on Palestinians by Israel. The US cannot have perpetual wars abroad exclusively directed against Muslim countries and not expect Islamophobia at home. The manner in which successive congresses and presidential administrations have decided to represent the wealthy and corporate interests impoverishes us all. NCNR and others are calling for an entirely new direction in policy away from the violence of empire to the sustainable, life-affirming, peaceful shared use of the planet's resources.

WHEN AND WHERE:  NCNR has called on people to peacefully assemble in front of the US Supreme Court across from the US Capitol at 1:30 PM on Tuesday January 12, 2016. After the rally, participants will attempt to deliver the petition.

WHY:  In a real democracy citizens have a right to access their elected officials. A representative government should produce a budget that would benefit all and not a tiny minority of wealthy individuals and powerful corporations, and that is hurtful to the poor. But, this is not the case.  Since our government is under the grip of the elite and unwilling to represent the 99 %, NCNR is calling for action on Capitol Hill on the day of the state of the union speech. NCNR members and friends want to express their vision of what they believe could be the real state of the union and what can be done for a new positive and peaceful direction for all.

Other groups across the country will be planning simultaneous actions on January 12, including at Creech Air Force Base in Nevada and Beale Air Force Base in California.  In addition, solidarity actions were planned at the CIA in Virginia on January 9 and will be held at Volk Field in Wisconsin on January 26.

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Donations can be sent to the Baltimore Nonviolence Center, 325 E. 25th St., Baltimore, MD 21218.  Ph: 410-323-1607; Email: mobuszewski [at] verizon.net. Go to http://baltimorenonviolencecenter.blogspot.com/

"The master class has always declared the wars; the subject class has always fought the battles. The master class has had all to gain and nothing to lose, while the subject class has had nothing to gain and everything to lose--especially their lives." Eugene Victor Debs