Spring Rising: An Antiwar Intervention in DC

As we send this invitation to you the Congress is calling for more war. The President has just told us a new global “war on terror” may be unlimited in space and time.

• Are you, like us, stunned and enraged by more war on the world?
• Did you or your organization join in the protests against police violence and murder, because Black Lives Matter?
• Are you with the Dreamers working for rights for all people to live without fear?
• Are you one of the many who have dropped everything to protest the global destruction of the environment because of our dependence on fossil fuels which is also a reason for our wars?
• Are you agonized over the ongoing U.S. military support for Israel, the recent killing of 2,000 Arab men, women, and children last summer in Gaza?
• Are you furious about the killing and terrorizing of Muslims in the U.S?
• Then, join us! Your participation in Spring Rising is urgently needed now to organize protests, participate in teach-ins and to put your art and performance on mass display. Together we can create the vibrant resistance needed to show that terrorizing the world is not in our interest and “not in our name.”
• These days together will be vitally important for building the movement we need to oppose war and the violence and oppression of empire at home and abroad.

Here's the schedule:

Wednesday March 18

Meet & Greet 5-7:30 pm, Plymouth United Church of Christ 5301 N. Capital Street NE

Thursday March 19

It's Spring Cleaning time! Join CODEPINK DC as we "clean up" the messy offices of Democrats and Republicans who are trying to sabotage President Obama's nuclear negotiations with Iran. We'll dust away the cobwebs of war, wipe up the bloody fingerprints of lobbyists and scrub out the marks left by the grubby hands of defense contractors all over our elected officials!

Where: Meet in the Dirksen Senate Building Cafeteria and from there we'll visit offices!
When: Meet in the cafeteria at 9:30am, depart for first office at 10:00am! Can't find us? Call Alli at (860)-575-5692 or Medea at (415) 235-6517.
Bonus: At 11:00am we'll do an extreme makeover of Senator Tom Cotton's office (Russell Senate Building room B-33)! .
Bring: A cleaning utensil!

"People’s Uprising Tour: From Empire and War to Justice with Peace" – a bus tour organized by the Peoples' Soapbox Network & Cindy Sheehan to visit offices of those who plan, profit from and are complicit in war crimes of empire. Meet 1pm at U.S. Capitol. Get your seat on the Peace Bus: Details here!

Teach-In Part One: "U.S. Military Aggression – A Key Part of Global Ecological Destruction"; with presentations by members of the Veterans for Peace Advisory Board including Marjorie Cohn, Ray McGovern and Matthew Ho. 7:00-9:00pm at La Casa 3166 Mount Pleasant Street NW.

Friday March 20

11:00 am – 9:30 pm Teach-In Part Two Organized by World Can't Wait (*If you can help with set up please come at 9am)
UDC David A. Clarke School of Law, 4340 Connecticut Ave., NW # 454, Washington, DC 20008

11:00 – 12:30: From Ukraine to ISIS to Drones: Why We Must Demilitarize US Foreign Policy. Speakers: Marjorie Cohn, Matthew Hoh, Raymond McGovern.

1:00 – 2:30: Stopping Targeted Killing by the U.S. Around the World & Stopping Killing with Impunity by U.S. Police;  Connections & Challenges. Speakers:Marsha Coleman-Abedayo, Carl Dix, Nick Mottern.

3:00 – 4:30: End These Endless Wars: Perspectives from Veterans and Military Families. Speakers: Kevin Lucey, MFSO, Michael McPhearson, Executive Director of VFP, Maggie Martin, IVAW

5:00-6:30: World Beyond War: An Alternative Global Security System. Speakers: David Swanson, Matthew Hoh, Robert Fantina.

7:00 - 9:00  U.S. Wars of Aggression and Islamic Jihad: What is the Danger, and How Should the Anti-war Movement Respond?
Speakers: William Blum, Alan Goodman, Raed Jarrar, Cindy Sheehan.

Saturday March 21

Noon Rally at Lafayette Park in front of the White House. At 1:00pm we will be marching from Layfayette Park through China Town and end at the Capitol where there will be a brief rally. Along the march route we will be stopping at designated intersections and locations for mini rallies, actions and speakers.

Spring Rising will comprise a number of events including a large rally and march, a teach-in, and lobbying. Its goal is to increase opposition to wars and militarism, and in particular to U.S. military operations in Iraq, Afghanistan and Syria, as well as all U.S. drone attacks and surveillance worldwide. Spring Rising advocates the closure of U.S. military bases overseas, and the dismantling of the U.S. nuclear arsenal. We urge the demilitarization of police forces and a halt to their targeting of minority communities. We seek to increase understanding of and resistance to U.S. military operations' acceleration of climate chaos.

This nonviolent intervention was originally proposed by Cindy Sheehan's Soapbox and the Soapbox People's Network. It has been endorsed and will be supported byAmnesty International Charlottesville, the ANSWER Coalition, Antiwar.com, the Bill of Rights Defense Committee, the Baltimore Pledge of Resistance, Center on Conscience & War, Washington, DC,  Chelsea Neighbors United to End the War, Citizens for Peace,  CND CYMRU,  CODEPINK, Courage to Resist, FIST, Frack Free Nation, the Granny Peace Brigade of New York City, International Action Center, KnowDrones.com, Maryland United for Peace and Justice, Military Families Speak Out, Minnesota Peace Action, National Association Against Police Brutality, theNational Campaign for Nonviolent Resistance, the Network to Stop Drone Surveillance and Warfare, The No Fear Coalition, Nuclear Age Peace Foundation,  Pax Christi Metro DC-Baltimore,  Peace Action in Staten Island, Peace Academy at Liberty, Peace Action Montgomery, Peace Fresno, Popular Resistance, Revolutionary Organization of Labor USA,  SOA Watch, Syracuse Peace Council, United for Peace and Justice, United National Antiwar Coalition, Upstate Coalition to Ground the Drones and End the Wars,  US Foreign Policy Activist Cooperative, Vegans for Nonviolence, Veterans For Peace, Virginia Defenders for Freedom, Justice & Equality, Voices for Creative Non-Violence, WarIsACrime.org,  Washington Peace Center, Witness Against Torture, Women"s International League for Peace and Freedom,  World Beyond War, and World Can't Wait. Pax Christi Phoenix