Friends,
The peace movement is a shell of what it once was.
Remember when 100,000 of us marched in Washington, D.C. to protest our
government’s war mongering?
While our numbers have regressed, the government’s
propensity for war has only increased. The military budget is sky
rocketing, and who knows the number of wars where U.S. troops are
fighting? Nevertheless, there are some of us who remain in the peace and
justices trenches taking action and recognizing that tax dollars which go into
the Pentagon’s trough are a theft from the poor, the misbegotten and social
services budgets which provide us with real security.
Representative Steny Hoyer, the Minority Whip, is one
of the most powerful legislators in Congress. A group of us has been protesting
his role in supporting weapons sales to Saudi Arabia and his refusal to whip up
other legislators to invoke the War Powers Act in order to end U.S. military
involvement in the Saudi-led attack on the people of Yemen. It is
criminal that Yemeni civilians are now suffering from air strikes causing
thousands of deaths and the destruction of a country where cholera is rampant
and famine is a reality.
It was decided we must try to meet with Hoyer or his
national security advisor and express our outrage. However, it was
impossible to arrange any such meeting, so a sit-in took place in January in
his office in the Longworth House Office Building. Because of the sit-in,
we were able to arrange a meeting with Daniel Silverberg, his national security
advisor. And then we had a second meeting with Silverberg where we
continued to pound the drum that U.S. support for the war in Yemen was immoral
and illegal and that we expect our legislators to end U.S. military involvement
in the poorest country in the Middle East.
Our first inkling that some progress was being made was on
September 26 when the government informed the Yemen Five, who were arrested in
Hoyer’s office in January, that their charges were dismissed before their
October 2 trial. Then on this same day the government indicated it would not
prosecute, Representative Ro Khanna announced he was introducing House War
Powers Resolution, H. Con. Res. 138, a privileged resolution which would end
U.S. military involvement in the Saudi-led war in Yemen. It was a
surprise to discover that Steny Hoyer is a co-sponsor. We believe that our
engagement with Hoyer’s office played a role in obtaining his co-sponsorship.
If there is doubt that citizen activists can have some
influence, consider what Maria Gallagher and Ana Maria Archila accomplished
when they admonished Senator Jeff Flake for supporting Judge Kavanaugh.
It is standard operating procedure in Washington, D.C. for legislators to
refuse to meet with constituents, as saying no in such situations is very
difficult. So these survivors of sexual abuse took advantage of an unexpected
meeting with a powerful senator and may have changed the course of history.
Now we are asking people to keep up the pressure on Rep. Hoyer so
that this resolution first garners more co-sponsorships and that it eventually
passes. The people of Yemen need us to act.
Consider signing on to the letter we will send to Daniel
Silverberg. If you are moved to do so, please provide your city and if
you are representing a group. Then commit to lobbying your representative to
co-sponsor a resolution aimed at ending U.S. complicity in the Saudi-led war in
Yemen.
Kagiso, Max
Baltimore
Nonviolence Center, 325 East 25th Street, Baltimore, MD 21218
Daniel
Silverberg
National
Security Advisor to the House Minority Whip
1705
Longworth House Office Building
Washington,
D.C. 20515
Dear
Mr. Silverberg:
We appreciate that you have met with us on two occasions, and each time we
welcomed your candor in the conversations. We will be seeking another
meeting after the mid-term elections.
As you know, we have been urging you to convey to Congressperson Hoyer our
outrage regarding U.S. involvement in supporting Saudi Arabia’s assault on the
people of Yemen. We believe that you did convey our concerns. We
were ecstatic that the House Minority Whip has taken action to end U.S.
complicity in the Saudi-led war in Yemen by co-sponsoring and supporting the
House War Powers Resolution, H. Con. Res. 138, introduced by Rep. Ro Khanna.
The privileged resolution would end U.S. military involvement in the Saudi-led
war in Yemen.
While
we are thanking you and Rep. Hoyer, we are also urging you to convey our
request to the Minority Whip that he should gather many more
co-sponsors. We will do our part to convince members of the Maryland
delegation to sign on as well. After November, with a Democratic majority in
the House, H. Con. Res. 138 could pass in January, 2019. We would
then be able to concentrate on getting our government to provide
food, medicine and humanitarian care to the people of Yemen,
especially families with children.
Thank
you again for your leadership on this matter. We want to continue a
relationship so that we can work together on other issues as well.
In
peace,
Dr.
Gwen DuBois & Max Obuszewski
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