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July 21, 2006

Day 14: Exploding banners

BY DIANE WILSON

Had a visit this morning from a little green forest ranger - the forest in this case being Lafette Park. She cautioned us. Again, again she said, that we had to sit within 3 feet of our cloth banners because otherwise its like luggage left unattended in an airport and is liable to blow sky high. So if we're within 3 feet of the explosive banner we will blow up too. Only right that the responsible party gets blown up. This is about the third time she's told us this and it's being listed on their terrorist list.

Normally, the cops are ok if you overlook the times they want to run us outa the park over the radiation/Bush's black sedan scare. It's a far cry from the 2002 vigil in Lafette Park when we were hassled at least 8 times a day on a regular basis. My participation in that 4 month vigil lasted exactly 18 days when I was arrested and thrown out of Washington DC. The judge cautioned me if I showed my face in the city I'd be arrested on the spot.

I wasn't that concerned about resurfacing knowing the turf battle that existed between the park police and the secret service and the city police. None of them liked to share their information, so if you got arrested by the secret service the first time, the second time you get arrested by the city police. Which I did. After 2 weeks of being banned from Washington DC, I showed up for a Codepink rally and got arrested by the city cops. Nice as pie. Handcuffs lightly
applied. They had no idea I was banned.

On another track,this is day 14 into the hunger strike. I've ended two of the seven hunger strikes I started in Texas at 14 days because I got exactly what I wanted. A recent hunger strike supporting the demands of the Bhopal survivors in India ended after 5 days. Again, they got almost all of their 7 demands. One old Bhopali woman who had survived the 1984 pesticide leak by Union Carbide in India and who had walked, along with hundreds of others, 500 miles to the Prime Minister
of India, said that they could carry her corpse home to Bhopal. She wasn't eating until the Prime Minister of India agreed to their demands. And in 5 days he did.

Visit the Codepink "Troops Home Fast" site

Posted by bhola at 09:21 AM | Comments (0)

Day 12: Buffalo Wings

BY DIANE WILSON

Let's talk about *buffalo wings. Conversation came up the other day from Geoff Millard, an Iraqi War veteran who had been
speaking out against the war. He was from Buffalo, New York and wanted to know why everybody called buffalo wings 'buffalo wings' while the folks from Buffalo call them 'chicken wings'? Well, I didn't know the wings were named after a city in
New York. I thought it was named after, well...buffaloes. Maybe an old native American delicacy.

A hunger strike is just like in the movies about starving POW's sitting in a circle and reminiscing. Conversation goes straight to food and what they're going to eat when they get out—or in our case, get off this strike. Yesterday I had a hankering for barbque potatoe chips. Usually it's pizza or Mexican food. One fella that fasted for a week said he ate so much after getting off the fast that he made himself sick. Ate four meals in one day.

I have been cautioned about my lack of caution on how I end a hunger strike. Most authorities ( even Doc Gregory) say
start sloooooow on diluted juices for one week, then broth for a week, then... Well, you get the picture. My first hunger strike I ended with a pizza, the second ended with Mexican food, the third with Pizza, fourth with Mexican food, etc etc. My only rule of thumb is alternate Mexican food with pizza. I have no idea why my stomach doesn't totally rebel but I believe it has to do with my philosophy about sickness. Just ask my kids. We were shrimpers, scraping a living, and health insurance was not in our vocabulary. So every time one of the kids got sick , I said, You're not sick. "You're ok." And usually they were. Then too, there was all that poison ivy that wove a mat across the pasture and ditches and trees. Every time I got one little bubble of ivy trouble, I'd look at it and say, "Go away." And usually it did.

I recently saw a documentary on Link TV about a tribe in Africa that never experienced sickness and when they were asked how
that was possible, the natives said they just said "No!" to sickness. That's kinda my attitude about the pizzas and the Mexican food, I just tell my stomach, "No!"

*Buffalo's chicken wings*
Deep fry a batch of chicken wings. Nothing added.
Just fry. Mix melted butter with Frank's red hot sauce and add to fried chicken wings. Eat 'till you're full.

Visit the Codepink "Troops Home Fast" site

Posted by bhola at 09:20 AM | Comments (0)

Day 11: Skunk News

BY DIANE WILSON

Fast wise, this day isn't much different than yesterday. But im not fooled. Eleven days into a fast is the equivalent of 200 feet in a mile run. Best policy is to take it one day at a time. And interesting enough, one sure thing that a fast will automically deliver to your door is a very calm spot where only the 'now' is present. Yesterday doesn't bother you, tomorrow doesn't bother you. Heck, even Fox News doesn't bother you.

I had the real unfortunate task of being on Fox News. Hannity and Combes. What can I say. I had only seen them in passing by
a tv set, but their reputation for rabid skunkness was everywhere. I sure didn't want to do it, disliking talking as I do. But news stations always get these real nice guys to do the coaxing. They just wanted my comment on the Ragiing Grannies version of the star spangled banner and about the hunger strike. There was a choice of Medea Benjamin or myself, and I
was pulling for Medea. After a long conversation in a car, everybody figured Fox goes for the emotional so I should go on.

Lucky for me, I was eight days into the hunger strike and hadn't had coffee in as long so I was calm to the point of falling off my Fox chair. The skunkness didn't come right off, it waited on the dark haired one who interrogated me on Cindy Sheehan and everytime I started to say something, Original Skunk yelled, "Answer the question! Answer the question! Yes or no! Yes or no!" After about 4 attempts to say something and being interrupted every time, I finally told Original Skunk to "shut up and let me talk." So im very appreciative of my newfound calmness. It helps when you go on Skunk News.

Visit the Codepink "Troops Home Fast" site

Posted by bhola at 09:17 AM | Comments (0)

Day 9: Doc Gregory

BY DIANE WILSON

Holding this water bottle pretty close. I try not to use a different plastic bottle every day and end up polluting the earth with more trash. We've got enough landfills. The car that has the water jugs is out at the capitol so ive got an empty water bottle. Oh well, so much for drinking water. Dick Gregory, the legendary faster and our official 'doctor' said drink at least a gallon of water a day and I certainly don't do that. Probably more like 2 pints. Maybe that's the reason my voice gets lower and lower; its gotta be a water issue there.

Dick said don't go to the doctors if you get sick because they don't know nothing about fasters. They're only interested in those that have been eating. Have no advice other than, "start eating!"

I find that pretty amazing especially as research with rats (or maybe its mice) have shown that starving them a little bit lengthens their life. So if this hunger strike doesn't kill me then im sure I'll live to a ripe old age. Another little amazing fact is that when you start fasting, the body burns the fat cells for energy and the fat cells is where chemicals you have been exposed to are stored. So fasting releases those contaminates from your body and hopefully with all that water you're drinking, you get rid of a lot of bad stuff. Probably why you live so long.

'Doc' Gregory comes down to the park every day. Very well dressed man. I wont even guess at his age but he does discuss Babe Ruth and folks like that. Yesterday he was in sharp looking white suit and he looked like he just stepped off a model ramp. Fasting has certainly not harmed that man. He's on a juice fast and the last time he did a juice fast he was on it for 270 days. Gregory also said he use to weigh 300 pounds. Now he's about 125 pounds dripping wet.

I've done 7 hunger fasts so ive got a good idea of how it works. The first 4 days is usually the worst and then it starts getting better. You're not hungry anymore, although a woman yesterday in our evening circle said she was "hungry!!!". I know ive been on strikes before and at 20 days I feel that maybe im mistaken; maybe im not on a hunger strike at all. The 'Doc' says this is because the body's own morphin is cruising through your body. Its an automatic reaction to the fasting. 'Doc' says when you see all those starving kids in Africa with bloated bellies and tiny arms and legs and you wonder why they don't swat off all those flies, its because they're high as a kite. That's what the 'Doc' says.

Visit the Codepink "Troops Home Fast" site

Posted by bhola at 09:16 AM | Comments (0)

Day 4: "Radiation"

BY DIANE WILSON

I started a letter on the first day but pooped out. Probably it was that 2 mile walk in the hot hot sun that did it. Dick
Gregory, who's famous for his hunger strikes on the Viet Nam war, made a speech under the trees and said if you're on a fast its real important to pace yourself, don't exercise, don't walk 50 blocks to a July 4 parade. But on the first day, even with seven hunger strikes under my belt, I walked all the way to the parade. Then the rest of the day I sat under
a tree, red-faced and exhausted. Not a good start.

But here I am, fourth day into the strike or fast or whatever you want to call it. Feeling much better. Energy aint bad. I'm a cafeein nut; drink coffee all day long and I'll tell you a little secret, I've always felt my high energy came from all that coffee.. But I haven't had coffee in 4 days and still my energy comes. It sneeks upon me like a small green snake wiggling across the yard.

Some of the women felling weak and are having little fainting spells. Not actually fainting, but getting dizzy and nauseous. They get pass that stage, though. Day four is a breaking point. I don't get faint at all. Don't know why, maybe it's from being from Texas. Reason enough.

Out of the 4 days of fasting, we've been rained out twice and run out by the cops twice. For no apparent reason, here come the fellas yelling at everybody to get clean outa the park. Nobody allowed. First time that happened, a big dignitary was arriving at the White House. The next time it happened, the prime minister of Canada was coming and going at the White house and here come the cops. I'd like to describe them more than just "cops" but frankly Im not sure who's at the bottom of this. The secret service, the swap team, and the K-9's were involved so I'm a little unsure of who was really incharge. The second time the cops came, we just got close to the road between the White House and Lafette Park with our banners to bring the troops home and refused to move. The cops came up and said we had to move. Get out. It was for our own security. We said, "Why?" and they said there's harmful emissions out there and the alarms are going off all over the place. We said what harmful emissions and they very dead faced and serious.

"Radiation."

Well why weren't the cops wearing masks? Why did they look so calm about the whole thing if radiation was running rampant? What about that poor president over there? Wouldn't the radiation affect the president? Did the EPA know about the radiation problem?

Well the cops didn't worry about the president because doctors would take care of George Bush, it was just our health they were worried about, so get outa the park. Eventually we stonewalled and asked enough questions that even the visitors that got ran out got tired and started coming back in. Then it was sure enough ruin for the evacuation. Now they just clear the road and leave the park to us. Victory comes in small doses.

Visit the Codepink "Troops Home Fast" site

Posted by bhola at 09:15 AM | Comments (0)

Day 2: Troops Home Fast

BY DIANE WILSON

The first hunger strike I did on a shrimp boat in Texas is kinda like that tree in the forest illustration. You know, does it make a sound if nobody hears it. I was hunger fasting on a shrimp boat and that was 1991 and I was still ignorant of the uses of cell phones, So there I was on a shrimp boat and a lot of folks were putting me thru the ringer on it. My mom and sisters and two brothers included. The only folks that knew about the hunger strike was the Formosa Plastics, a petrochemical plant, that I was fighting. So every day, here came the corporate officers in their black suits and they'd tell me how stupid I looked. Didn't I realize how stupid I looked. Well, no I didn't so I stayed there until the captain of the shrimp boat showed up and told me to get off his dang boat or he'd throw me overboard.

Amazingly, after 14 days I won everything I wanted on that hunger strike.

Now here I am on my 8th hunger strike in Washington DC and a hot day in Washington is whole lot like Texas minus the humidity. I had spent my first night in Washington dc on a porch swing, the wind on my face, and not a single mosquita around. Nobody rushed me to get up, I had an automatic alarm clock-- old shrimping habits. Not counting the hunger strike, we have a pretty generous schedule. All us fasters and supporters were suppose to met at 10am under the trees across from the white house It is a lot more generous than the first codepink vigil back in 2003, pre Iraqi war, when we sat on stone cold bences in lafette park at 7am on very cold morning. Its not bad under the trees. We've got a bunch of Codepink banners left over from a hundred protests that we sit on and after a prayer and some singing, our day begins.

Visit the Codepink "Troops Home Fast" site

Posted by bhola at 09:14 AM | Comments (0)

July 18, 2006

Why I am doing a hunger strike

DIANE WILSON, OUTSIDE THE WHITE HOUSE, WASHINGTON DC

When I did my first hunger strike on a shrimp boat in Texas in l991, an environmentalist friend said it was the stupidest thing he had ever heard of. "Nobody does hunger strikes in Texas!" Still, I sat, not eating, until a local shrimper threatened to throw me overboard if I didn't get off his dang boat. I had never done a hunger strike before. I was a woman shrimper. What the heck did I know about civil disobedience? I grew up in the '60s all right, but I wasn't a flower
child. I was a solitary teen who loved hot Texas bays and spent half my time sitting in the tide.

But there comes a time when the orthodox route takes you to a place you're unwilling to go. In l991 it was toward a gigantic
petrochemical expansion by Formosa Plastics, a notorious polluter that was coming to Texas. The hunger strike was my last ditch attempt to save my home bay.

A hunger strike comes from the heart. It isn't a coincidence that Gandhi's hunger strikes were decided suddenly. The planning might take some time, but the decision doesn't. Gandhi called it "soul power". I didn't call it nothing back in 1991, but I knew, intuitively, to NOT think long and hard about that hunger strike. So, while I had no resources - things like money and people to support me - I did have myself and a living, breathing bay and so I started a hunger strike nobody believed in. That first hunger strike succeeded beyond my wildest hopes, well, good enough that folks figgered a bold man
must be behind me somewhere.

Now, fifteen years and seven hunger strikes later, I'm fixing to start another hunger strike to save lives. Last May I
joined a CodePink Mother's Day vigil at the White House and walked in a silent march to a big green field where thousands of boots representing dead soldiers and dead Iraqi civilians lay. The most common sign was 'Out of Iraq, NOW. Peace, NOW.' Every speech boiled down to one message: 'Peace. Not tomorrow. Not in a year. NOW. Its pretty much what Martin Luther King said when he called for freedom from fear and oppression in the '70s. WE WANT IT NOW.'

Those words echo polls that show a majority of Americans don't want this war and want the troops to come home. Not because war is too tough or that some folks are lily livered and want to cut and run, but because this war is based on lies and a lot of tangled agendas clearly having to do with oil. The question that remains is: are those who want the killing to stop as committed to peace as those who are committed to war. The war machine will certainly commit the lives of our children and Iraqi children. But will we commit our own lives? Would we exchange our lives for those of the soldiers being shipped out or barricaded in the "Green Zone" in Baghdad? Would we risk our lives so Iraqi children could live?

I grew up with a Pentecostal church nearly in my back yard, and I've retained one thing besides the gospel singing: we are our brothers' and our sisters' keepers. I find it baffling that with all the jostling over who's side God is on or who's the better 'born again' fella, nobody takes that peaceful phrase beyond the paper it is written on.

I was ten when John F Kennedy was inuagurated, and I remember something he said that puzzled me at the time. He said,
"Ask not what your country can do for you, but what you can do for your country." Was he asking me to join the Peace Corps? I volunteered as an Army medic during the Viet Nam War, but I don't think he was talking about that. Forty-five years later, I know what Kennedy meant. He believed that the potential greatness of this country starts and ends with WE, THE PEOPLE. Not "We, the President." Not "We, the Congress." Not "We, the corporations." That is why I am beginning this hunger strike: to stop an insane war and bring the troops home, and also to keep this country from going where we seem to be heading.

I believe it is better that we put our lives on the line than that our children put their lives on the line. It is better that we put our lives on the line than that innocent Iraqi children give up their lives. If we can do this, maybe, maybe, we can create a safe space where peace can grow. I am not certain that this will happen, but I know that when we lose ourselves, we find ourselves.

And I'm willing to stake my life on it.

Visit the Codepink "Troops Home Fast" site

Posted by bhola at 08:15 PM | Comments (0)

July 12, 2006

The latest from the Code Pink hunger strike to bring "troops home fast"

Updates from the fast site are carried daily on http://www.codepinkalert.org.

Check http://www.troopshomefast.org/article.php?list=type&type=144

What we're doing today:

Wednesday 12 July

10 am - Attend a hearing on the rights of Guantanamo detainees. House Armed Services Committee, 2118 Rayburn building. (Meet at 9:30 am at the front entrance of the Rayburn building, on Independence Ave, between 1st and South Capitol, SW)

11 - 3 pm - Ben Cohen from Ben and Jerry's will be in DC to scoop up their new flavor: American Pie. This flavor also highlights this country's misplaced funding priorities. (Upper Senate Park, on Constitution Avenue between Delaware and New Jersey Avenues)

5 - 7 pm - Local activists working to call attention to the G8 Summit being held this month, will connect the G8 and struggle in Ecuador to the war in Iraq. (Lafayette Park)

What we did yesterday:

Tuesday 11 July

Fasters and CODEPINKers attended two hearings today, a Judiciary Committee hearing on the Guantanamo military tribunals, and the confirmation hearing of torture advocate, William Haynes.

Some were allowed to hold "Close Guantanamo" signs through the entire hearing. Former Army Colonel Ann Wright was arrested for standing up in a detainee's orange jumpsuit and condemning the confirmation of William Haynes! She was released this afternoon and is doing fine.

Art Laffin from Dorothy Day Catholic Worker House told us about the trip to Cuba where they held a solidarity hunger fast outside of the Guantanamo detention center. It was a moving presentation.

Upcoming actions:

Thursday 13 July

8:30 am - Breakfast meeting with Senators Durbin and Obama (902 Hart Senate bldg)

TBA - Congressional Press Conference

5 - 7 pm - Raed Jarrar will lead a seminar on the Iraq Peace Plan.

Friday 14 July

TBA - Press Conference at Mitch Snyder Homeless Shelter, to highlight the cost of war to the local community.

July 12 to August 15

We'll be fasting publicly from 10 am - 7 pm

During "peak hours," 12 - 2 pm and 5 - 7 pm, we'll have teach-ins, skills sharing and group activities at the White House. If you have something to offer, email dc@codepinkalert.org. We'll also be promoting on-going grassroots campaigns, including the Voters for Peace pledge, the Cities for Peace local anti-war resolutions, and the Declaration of Peace.

August 16 to September 2

The Fast will move to Camp Casey in Crawford, Texas

For more info: call 202 265 1671 x3; or email dc@codepinkalert.org

Posted by bhola at 09:13 AM | Comments (0)

July 08, 2006

"Troops Home Fast!" - support the Code Pink hunger strike!

THE WHITE HOUSE, WASHINGTON DC, JULY 4, 2006

Diane Wilson and other activists of Code Pink began an indefinite hunger strike today to end the war in Iraq. Calling the action "Troops Home Fast", a group of about 200 people staged a rally for peace in the morning, then settled into their protest camp in front of the White House where they will bring the message of the hunger strike to President Bush and the hordes of tourists who visit daily.

Two protesters, Geoffrey Mallard, a 25 year old disabled veteran from Iraq, and Chloe Jon-Paul, a 71 year old woman were arrested by more than a dozen police officers on motorcycles and horseback when they tried to join the Independence Day parade with their message of peace. Medea Benjamin, co-founder of Code Pink and one of the long term hunger strikers said it was "ironic that an Iraq veteran who had certainly earned the right to march was not allowed."

Later in the afternoon, the core group of about 60 hunger strikers gathered under some shade trees to share ideas and inspiration for the fast. Cindy Sheehan and two other mothers of young men killed in Iraq, as well as mothers of soldiers still on active duty were among the fasters.

So far more than 3,000 people have signed up on the website to fast and support the hunger strike. I brought a message of support and solidarity from the people of Bhopal to the group and told them how we had protested the Iraq war in Bhopal before it even started.

Visit the website www.troopshomefast.org to follow the news and sign up for the fast.

Posted by bhola at 12:00 AM | Comments (0)