March 5, 2012
Contact:
Rae Abileah, CODEPINK codirector & Occupy AIPAC organizer, 415-994-1723
Rick Colbath-Hess, 617-354-6471
Rae Abileah, CODEPINK codirector & Occupy AIPAC organizer, 415-994-1723
Rick Colbath-Hess, 617-354-6471
Citizens Occupy AIPAC Policy Conference and Mic Check Cong.
Ros-Lehtinen:
Use Diplomacy, Not War on Iran
Use Diplomacy, Not War on Iran
Washington, DC—An AIPAC Policy Conference panel titled “Stopping Iran” had some unexpected speakers: activists with Occupy AIPAC who stood up and “mic checked” Congresswoman Ileana Ros-Lehtinen and Israeli Ambassador Jeremy Issacharoff. At about 2pm on March 5, four activists called out AIPAC for pushing for American support for an Israeli attack on Iran. One activist was violently attacked by an AIPAC member who used his tie to strangle the peaceful protester. Later in the afternoon two activists unfurled a "Don't Bomb Iran" banner inside the AIPAC hall. Security promptly pushed them out of the hall, and also forcefully removed an AIPAC delegate who had nothing to do with the action, but was taken out for being a bystander.
The full People’s Microphone inside the panel said:
“Mic check!Shortly after the people's mic began, the crowd of AIPAC attendees reacted forcefully. Some of them climbed over chairs to reach the demonstrators, and one of the disruptors, Rick Colbath-Hess, was violently yanked down to the floor by his necktie. After the mic-check, Laura Kacere of Occupy DC and Ridgely Fuller of CODEPINK and Occupy Boston both stood on top of chairs and chanted “Don’t bomb Iran!” The AIPAC crowd responded by singing the Israeli national anthem, led by Representative Ros-Lehtinen, and the activists were eventually escorted out.
Ros-Lehtinen is pushing war
based on lies.
We are the 99%
Wars benefit the 1%
Don’t bomb Iran!
Diplomacy not bombs.
AIPAC supports endless war.
We support peace.
Occupy Wall Street not Iran.
Occupy Wall Street not Palestine.
No war on Iran.”
“As an active member of the Occupy movement, I believe it is important
for people to recognize that AIPAC doesn’t represent American or Jewish
interests, but the interests of the 1%,” said Laura Kacere, 25 years old from
Washington DC. “AIPAC demonstrates this through its powerful grip over
Congress, influencing our government to make choices that do not reflect the best
interest of the 99%. In this case, AIPAC is pushing for war on Iran which would
be disastrous not only for Iran, Israel, and the entire Middle East, but for
the US as well.”
According to the Washington Report on Middle
East Affairs, Cong. Ros-Lehtinen has received $243,240 in campaign contributions
from the Israel Lobby, including $34,500 in the last election alone. She
recently introduced a House companion to Senator Lieberman’s Senate Resolution
380, which seeks to lower the threshold for the US attacking Iran.
“The Obama administration needs to focus on diplomacy rather than be
dragged into another war we can’t afford,” said Rick Colbath-Hess, 52 from
Cambridge, MA. “In the past three years,
the Obama administration has had discussions with the Iranian government for
only 45 minutes –that is hardly what one would call ‘diplomacy.’”
Outside the convention center, Occupy AIPAC demonstrations continued today with a protest against war
on Iran staged in front of the White House, where President Obama met with Israeli
Prime Minister Netanyahu to discuss Iran.
The Occupy AIPAC coalition is gathering to urge Obama to reject the
Israeli administration’s push for war on Iran and insist on respect for
Palestinian rights. Timed to coincide with the annual AIPAC policy conference
from March 3-6, Occupy AIPAC aims to draw attention to the dangerous role of
AIPAC as a special interest lobby that maintains a stranglehold over US
policies. As the Occupy Movement has focused public ire on the role of large
corporations and powerful lobby groups, hundreds have gathered in DC to protest
AIPAC’s push for war.
Israel's strategy is to immobilize its enemies with helpless laughter.
ReplyDeleteNow that I've watched the video, the singing of the national anthem was sad. Suicide is sad. The self-confidence of despair is really awesome. The demonstrators did "get through" to the room, though. They created a "wait, what are we doing here?" moment. And singing the national anthem was not a reasonable answer, nor the Congresswoman's strategic briefing about mic-checks in groups of three. It reminds me of intelligence briefings from my mess sergeant in Iran. Always ridiculous.
ReplyDeleteIraq.
ReplyDeleteSo is the current "bomb, bomb, bomb Iran" episode ridiculous? I think some of the Israeli leadership think they can set off an 1848-like wave of Reaction. 1848 had a wave of liberal revolutions across Europe, all of which failed, ushering in the likes of Bismarck. Reaction with a capital R. The revolution of rising expectations might be deemed as unrealistic as liberalism in 1848, time to shut it down with force, the whole thing: unions, regulations, rights, and replace it with the treatment of the public as if it were a military force (like Prussia's public education system, designed to make better soldiers). I don't think this rollback is possible. In 1848 you could kill a person or twenty and have nobody notice. You could crush disturbances. Now, it only takes one guy with a big mouth--you notice, I notice, how careful the AIPAC people were to "kid-glove" the interruption (despite the one zealous citizen-cop's gung-ho-ness). But that new deal, where you can't just laugh at people's suffering any more, may not have reached the attention of some Israeli leaders.
ReplyDelete