www.911courage.org
ESCALATE NOW
Translate Courage into Power with Nonviolent Civil Disobedience.
Calling all 911Truth activists who want to make a real and lasting difference.
We can set a new record for the most states involved in a coordinated civil disobedience action on the same day.
THE MEDIA WILL HAVE TO COVER ITS SCALE AND CONTENT.
If we successfully invite calm, orderly, nonviolent civil disobedience arrests in 24 states on the same day, we will set an all-time record for such coordinated protests that will be hard for the media to ignore. The action we propose is simple, safe and civilized, just flyer a suburban mall theater where it is prohibited when Oliver Stone's movie opens in August. Stone's personal plot perspective is not important. The crucial point is that the audiences will be large and care about the issue, and the opening day hype will draw lots of media cameras to record our gesture and perhaps our comments, too.
When checking which malls would arrest us for leafleting, we will also find some that allow these activities, opening up new venues for 9/11 education and outreach. Other grassroots political activists can also use these venues to expand their own activities, and gradually turn these consumerist complexes into democratic information centers as well.
Many local groups can be started or enlarged around regular leafleting at
such theaters.
In our action day leaflet we would call for the Editor in Chief of some large local daily paper to promise readers he/she will either investigate the hard questions about 9/11 or else resign.
Penalties will vary, but most people can get arrested without serving time. If that's the only way you can risk arrest, a local lawyer can confirm your chances of getting off with a fine or having the case dropped after 3 or 6 months if you don't get arrested again.
We consulted a movement attorney and he feels the law is moving away from arrests in such situations. This means stiff penalties are even MORE unlikely. Many theaters would decline to arrest or remove leafleters, and issue a ban and bar letter instead. Those who receive these letters could choose to get arrested simply by going back.
Those who wish to maximize the impact of their effort can try to convince a jury to find them not guilty (often referred to as jury nullification). Others can try to use their trials to win the right to leaflet in malls and expand First Amendment freedoms for everyone. Still others can plead guilty and serve time in an attempt to touch people's hearts and show the government they are not afraid to stand up for truth. This last option is the Gandhian model.
I am open to repeating Gandhi's plea to the judge, "If you believe in what you're doing, give me the stiffest sentence you can. If you don't believe in what you're doing, resign."
Everyone can follow their conscience on which plea they will make. The only common requirement is that you do not deny that you were there or what you did.
Our leaflet can have the same well-crafted nationally uniform statement on the front side, and a personal statement on the back.
It is crucial to make sure that the theater, its employees, and police all understand that they have nothing to fear physically from your action or intent. We are issuing a moral challenge, not a physical one. We will need prior written agreement from each arrestee to follow our nonviolent guidelines. This is an attempt to protect the action and the group from those acting in bad faith.
We will need the participation of many other 9/11-truth activists to support those who will invite arrest.
Volunteers will be needed to help with legal leafleting at theaters which allow it. Also, coordinated efforts will be needed in media work, legal assistance, and personal support for arrestees.
We are now seeking people willing to help make this important and overdue statement. If you are at all interested in exploring this option, please send us contact information including the geographical area where you would like to risk arrest. No commitment is needed yet. Since a primary goal is to set a new record for such arrests (the current record being 23 states, including DC, during the 2003 actions against the Iraq invasion, you would not have to commit until we have volunteers from at least 24 states on board.
Personally I have engaged in nonviolent civil disobedience more than twenty times, including a 1982 anti-nuclear power leafleting/trespass arrest in New Hampshire for which I served four months in jail.
We will organize using conference calls and/or a listserv. Please contact me if you have any interest.
Seize the Time! David Slesinger dslesinger@alum.mit.edu
