An occasional column
by David McReynolds.

As a preface for this short EdgeLeft column, folks in the NYC area should know that PEN is having a tribute to Grace this Tuesday (I assume at 7 but not sure) at Cooper Union. I can't make it because of a conflict - it is the monthly meeting of the New York Bromeliad Society. I certainly hope there will be another and broader Memorial for Grace. If you are in New York, I hope you can make it.

EdgeLeft: Grace Notes

Sun, 4 Nov 2007

by David McReynolds

Grace Paley died this August 22, at the age of 84, in her beloved Vermont, survived by her husband, Bob Nichols. Most of the world knows Grace for her writing, but to many of us in the peace movement she was at least as well known for being on the front line of actions.

This is a remembrance of Grace on two occasions, 1967, and 1971, small "grace notes" for a great woman.

In New York City, in 1967, War Resisters League had taken on the first day of a week-long series of actions aimed at closing the Whitehall Street Induction center. I found it amusing that the coalition of anti-war groups, which was not united on the concept of nonviolence, agreed to let the WRL take that first day for what was described as "traditional civil disobedience". (In theory I was in charge of organizing that event, though Maris Cakars did the major part of pulling the event together).

Maris and I were excited when we found Ben Spock had signed our list of people who would be there at 5 a.m. on December 5th. Neither of us wanted to call Spock to ask if he planned to join the civil disobedience or would be part of the larger "legal witness". Our fear was that Ben, who was known as a moderate sort of person, would withdraw entirely if he found out that arrests were planned. How groundless our fears - Ben led the way that day, and was among 264 folks arrested. It was, I believe, his first arrest.

Grace Paley was that rare "public intellectual" who both enriched the world by her writing and put herself on the front line, not once, but many times.

As we gathered in the darkness of pre-dawn I suggested to Grace Paley, whom I knew only as a key figure in the Greenwich Village Peace Center, that she and I take two groups of "non-celebrities" around to the rear of the Induction Center, and leave the front of the building for the celebrities. (Ah, it show how little I was keeping up with the field of literature, where Grace was already a celebrity).

Grace Paley, 1979.

We took our groups to the back, out of sight of the press. My own group - which was just out of sight of Grace's group - was quickly picked up by the police, tossed a few feet through the air, and arrested. But Grace's group, I later found out, had been charged by cops on horses, and several were injured, including Dr. Conor Cruise O'Brien and his wife. Grace had at once marched up to the officer in charge, grabbed him by the collar, and, shaking him like a misbehaving puppy, demanded he call off his men. Which he did. read more »

An occasional column
by David McReynolds.

Los Angeles saw, this week, a police riot, being covered a bit slowly by the media, but being covered (hard not to cover it when among those slugged by the cops were TV journalists). Meanwhile on the East Coast, the May 5th edition of the New York Times had an excellent and funny column by Jim Dwyer, on the front page of the Metro Section, dealing with Mayor Bloomberg's secret police.

What happened in Los Angeles was not an accident - I saw very much the same thing in Portland, Oregon, several years ago when I took part in a gentle demonstration (it might have been in May - I've forgotten) and was stunned to see the Portland police charge the demonstrators with special motorized vehicles, and clubs, when there had been no provocation

(I was on the spot and there simply wasn't - someone in charge of the police seemed to think it would be a good occasion to try out the newly acquired "military tactics" which municipal police across the nation have been learning). read more »

An occasional column
by David McReynolds.

Before I sleep tonight I must put aside the bills to pay, the chaos of my small lower east side studio apartment, and take some brief time dealing with page 16 of the New York Sunday Times of March 18.

Most of that page is taken up with charts and graphs. They reveal a chilling truth, one which almost all of us have known, but which the Administration has been denying, as it, on the one hand, tells us the "surge" is showing signs of success, and on the other hand, asking for still more troops.

Bush and his supporters are right about one thing - many of us hope for the failure of the "surge" because we hope for the failure of the entire dreadful US project in Iraq. We opposed it before it began, and we have fought against it every step of the way. It was a project based on imperial ambition, rooted in the desire to control the oil of that region, with no regard for international law, for the people of Iraq, or for our own troops. We have paid a terrible price already, in the slow bleeding of our image around the world, in the draining of funds needed here for housing, medical care, and education. We have become a nation known for Abu Ghraib and Guantanamo, not for the Statue of Liberty or the Bill of Rights. The nation of Washington, Jefferson, Lincoln, has become a nation led by thugs.

So yes, we were not hoping for the success of the "surge", not hoping that the vast new Embassy being built would survive, not hoping that the Green Zone would remain secure. We hoped for the defeat of the US military, even as we did not agree with the hideous culture of violence of the Sunni and Shiite forces which have killed more Iraqi civilians than American troops. read more »

The Washington DC 'Day to
Shut Down Guantanamo'.

by David McReynolds

Last Wednesday about this time I was on the train to Washington DC to take part in the International Day to Shut Down Guantanamo. This project came, primarily, out of the Catholic Worker community. I had expected to be arrested, and after getting several emails or phone calls to ask me what happened, it occured to me that it is just as important to report on a demonstration when it is over as it is just before it happens. How did it go?

After getting to Washington, I took a taxi to St. Stephens, a church which I'd known very well from mass mobilizations over the years, a place to meet, and to house those with sleeping bags. (Sleeping bagless, I stayed the night at the Dorothy Day Catholic Worker House). There were about 200 people in the church - a number of others joined us the next day, the 11th.

The meeting went through the scenario we were to carry out. At 10:30 a.m. the Center for Constitutional Rights (which has done wonderful work on this project and on the Guantanamo issue) and Amnesty International would hold a joint press conference at the US Supreme Court. Following the press conference, the demonstrators would don orange jump suits, put on black hoods, and be marched, two by two, to the Federal Court House . When we got there the group would divide into three parts.

Some would stand at a distance from the doors of the Court House, protecting them from arrest. Some would enter the court "in civilian clothes" and then, once inside, take part in various acts of guerilla theater (unfurling banners, etc.). And some of us, in our orange jump suits and black hoods, would stand at the doors of the Court House, blocking the doors, and, led by a Catholic Worker dressed in military fatigues, request to be admitted to present petitions of Habeas Corpus on behalf of the prisoners in Guantanamo. Each of us had the name of a prisoner on whose behalf we demanded the right to be admitted. The name I was given was Fnu Nasraullah, 27 years old, from Oruzgan, Afghanistan. He was just 22 when picked up in Afghanistan. He has been held, along with hundreds of other prisoners, with no hearing, no charges. Despite denials from Bush, those held at Guantanamo have, without question, been subjected to torture. read more »

David McReynolds, being arrested, on Armed Forces Day, 1979.

by David McReynolds

This is written early Wednesday morning, before I take Amtrak down to Washington DC to join Thursday's protest on the International Day to Shut Down Guantanamo. Before going further, let me give the web site so that anyone wanting to join the general campaign can find ways to engage. Go to: www.witnesstorture. org. That site will not only give you information on how you can get involved, it will also provide updates on what happens Thursday, who has been arrested, when we will be released.

There is no doubt that torture has taken place at Guantanamo. The statements by Bush, Rumsfeld, and others that the US doesn't use torture is, sadly, a lie. Sadly both because torture is, in itself, wrong, and because it is always painful when our own government lies to us. There is also no doubt - this has been documented by a range of sources, including the New York Times - that not only have those being held at Guantanamo not had charges brought, not been allowed a day in court, but in many cases were very young, in some cases very old, were picked up by accident in the chaos after the US invaded Afghanistan. Some have been released, but only after long periods of time in captivity.

There is no doubt terrorism is a serious problem in our world today. We know this from our own 9.11, but from many other attacks which have targeted civilians - in Great Britain, in Spain, and elsewhere. But to pick up men and boys without charging them, to torture them, is not only wrong in itself, but becomes a contributing factor to further terror.

There are statements on Guantanamo which Americans need to heed. Archbishop Desmond Tutu has said Guantanamo is "A stain on the character of the United States". The United Nations Human Rights Commission said: "Immediately close the detention center at Guantanmo Bay, Cuba, and either release its inmates or bring them before an impartial tribunal". Kofi Annan urged that "America must close the camp as soon as is possible" and Lord Chancellor, Charles Falconer, the highest ranking official in the British legal system, said of Guantanamo "A shocking affront to the principles of democracy . . . intolerable and wrong".

On Thursday the 11th a number of us will march to the Supreme Court and Federal Court and attempt to deliver motions on the prisoners behalf to the Court. It is expected that over two hundred of us will face arrest. read more »

By David McReynolds

  After the remarkable beginning of the Iraq War, bitterly opposed by so many millions around the world, the gradual unraveling of the war became clearer. There were no weapons of mass destruction.  Bush changed the rational for the invasion to one of "building democracy". One is curious as to what Bush will say, when he finally has to address the present reality - the war is lost, there will be no democracy, the lives and the money down a black hole.  

For months the Republican line has consisted of three arguments (none of them addressing the issue of weapons of mass destruction). First, "while many can make critiques of past decisions, we must now 'stay the course'". (Ie., it is OK to talk about events in the past - but to challenge the current Bush policy was unpatriotic). Second, "whatever people thought about why we went in, we cannot now 'cut and run'", and the Democrats have not outlined what they propose as an alternative".Third, "if we don't fight the terrorists in Iraq, we will fight them here in our own country".   As it turns out, the Democrats, who, aside from John Murtha, never did have a coherent plan for getting out, didn't need one. Because the US now doesn't have any choice.read more »