Voices in the Wilderness UK and US updates

by: Voices in the Wilderness UK and US and Julie-ann Davies

Worldwide: The occupation isn’t ending

Voices in the Wilderness (UK) have announced a week of protests, nonviolent direct action and occupations to expose the bogus 30 June, 2004 “power transfer” in Iraq.

On 30 June the United States will hand over “full sovereignty” to an Iraqi Interim Government (IIG). The propaganda says the occupation is “ending”. The reality is the occupation will continue, as will the corporate invasion of Iraq and the killings and human rights abuses by “coalition” forces.

The IIG will almost certainly be hand picked by the US and its proxies. The deadline for the first elections is not until 31 January 2005 — if they ever materialise. The IIG is prohibited from reversing any of the US laws passed since the occupation.

Since the occupation will continue, so will the pattern of abuses identified in a recent Amnesty International report: Iraqis shot dead during demonstrations; arbitrary arrests and indefinite detention without charge, house demolitions and collective punishment and ill treatment of detainees.

Voices (UK) encourage groups and individuals to take action between 26 June and 4 July to expose this fraud and demand an end to the military occupation. Nonviolent occupations of relevant spaces (for example your pro-war MPs office or the office of a corporate war- profiteer) are especially encouraged.

For further information visit Voices in the Wilderness (UK): http://www.voicesuk.org

Voices (US) co-founder Kathy Kelly’s sentence increased

On 29 March, 2004, a Madison, Wisconsin Magistrate added a further month to the sentences imposed in January on Kathy Kelly and Reverend Jerry Zawada (see http://www.peacenews.info/news/article/190). This means they are due to “self-report” to federal prisons on 6 April.

Ms Kelly and Rev Zawada were tried with six others who crossed a line onto two feet of government grass at Project ELF, in northern Wisconsin, on Mother’s Day, May 2003.

The ELF site houses an extremely low frequency tower used by the US military to command the launch of nuclear missiles from Trident submarines. Its primary use would be in the event of a first-strike US nuclear weapon attack. During the recent “shock and awe” warfare against Iraq the ELF site was used to “fast-track” launches of Tomahawk Cruise missiles.

Ms Kelly and Rev Zawada told the judge they were in Iraq during the bombing that began on March 20, 2003. They saw the civilian suffering caused by Tomahawk missiles and consequently felt a responsibility to help close Project ELF.

Ms Kelly will be imprisoned at Pekin, Illinois Federal Correctional Institute (FCI) and is due for release on 6 August 2004. Rev Zawada who faces a seven-month sentence, will be imprisoned at Oxford, Wisconsin FCI and released on 6 November, 2004.

Source: Voices in the Wilderness (US)