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Report on March for Peace, Justice, and Democracy April 29 - May 1, 2006 New York City From April 29 to May 1, thousands of concerned citizens gathered in New York City for a weekend of events to call for peace in Iraq and around the globe, and to draw attention to the human rights violations at Guantanamo. The Buddhist Peace Fellowship endorsed these actions and helped to send Bhante Suhita Dharma to New York to offer a Buddhist voice for peace and compassion as part of the Clergy and Laity Concerned About Iraq. The BPF-NYC chapter organized a peaceful presence at the April 29th march. The following report was sent to us by Rev. Osagyefo Sekou, Clergy and Laity Concerned About Iraq (CALC-I). The photos are from Judy Seicho Fleischman of the NY BPF chapter and from Bhante.
Members of the BPF NYC and Connecticut chapters after the march
Bhante Suhita Dharma (center), joins with other members of the Clergy and Laity Concerned About Iraq
With humble hearts, we repent for Report by Rev. Osagyefo Sekou April 29th, 2006 Our theme for the weekend of activities centered around the March for Peace, Justice and Democracy was Repent, Resist, and Renew. On the morning of April 29th, CALC-I held an interfaith Sabbath service and contingency gathering at 19th Street and 5th Avenue. The service was led by Rabbi Dr. Arthur Waskow, Executive Director, the Shalom Center. Unitarian Universalist, United Church of Christ, Muslim, and Jewish clergy participated in the service. We were scheduled to begin at 10:00am. However, the New York City Department Police Department refused to allow us to close the street at 10:00am and would not let use the stage and sound system and allowed traffic to flow through the gathering area until 11:00am. A United Church of Christ minister led the group of about 200 in singing freedom songs until 11:00am on the sidewalk. Once the street was closed and the service began, the crowd grew to close to 1,000 folks including, the Global Peace and Justice Ministry of Riverside Church, the New York Yearly Meeting of Friends (Quakers), the Buddhist Peace Fellowship, and other communities of faith. The interfaith contingent marched together to Foley Square. At the CALC-I tent in Foley Square, we encountered the same challenges with the police. They would not let us use amplified sound, which included a bullhorn. Around 150 people attended the shortened program in the tent, which included an abbreviated workshop by Interfaith Voices on interfaith organizing. Later Saturday evening at Middle Collegiate Church, an interfaith revival was convened. The service attendance was very small, only about 40 people, but was quite moving. One person remarked that it was “soothing” after a long march. Rabbi Or Rose, Director, Jewish Seminarians for Justice; Rev. Dr. Rita Brock, co-director, Faith Voices for the Common Good; Rev. Claudia De La Cruz, Associate Pastor, Church of Oscar Romero; El Hajj Salim Alraey, Imam, Islamic Cultural Center; El Hajj Talib Abdur-Rashid, Imam, Mosque of Islamic Brotherhood; Ve. Suhita Bhante Dharma, Priest, Chua Dieu Phap Buddhist Temple (and member of BPF's International Advisory Council); Rev. Dr. Dennis Jacobsen, Executive Director, Gamaliel National Clergy Caucus; Kathy Engel, Poet; and Drew Dellinger, Poet, were among the speakers. Vicki Boatwright of Columbus, Ohio, read the Statement on Beyond Iraq that was coordinated online by Faith Voices for the Common Ground. (I jokingly noted that history and heaven would record the gathering as a large steering committee meeting and worship service.) April 30th, 2006 Rev. Dr. Brock, who is a steering committee member of CALC-I delivered the morning sermon at Park Avenue Christian Church. Frida Berrigan and the Catholic Worker led a workshop on nonviolent civil disobedience at the Riverside Church. About 20 or so folks attended. Rev. Straut, Interim Minister of Social Justice attended the training. May 1st, 2006 CALC-I and the Catholic Worker led a series of events at the UN calling for closing the Guantanamo Bay base. At 10:00am an interfaith service was held at the UN Church Center. The church center was standing room only. The liturgy focused on those imprisoned and tortured at home and aboard. Rev. Dr. Earl Kooperkamp, Pastor, St. Mary’s Episcopal Church-Manhattanville orchestrated the service. Rev. Kooperkamp covered the cost of printing the programs. Immediately, following the service, there was a press conference. A representative from Rabbis for Human Rights, family members of those held in Guantanamo, and an immigrant rights activist were among the speakers. Reporters from Reuters and Associated Press International Television and the New York Sun attended the press conference. After the press conference, we gathered two by two at the Plowshares statue in front of the Isaiah Wall. Over 200 hundred people with over 40 clergy representing 15 faith traditions engaged in a silent march with individuals dressed in orange jumpsuits. Clergy escorted people with their faces hooded with a caged prisoner behind them and other clergy and lay leaders following. We traveled up 43rd Street and turned up Third Avenue as people were shocked, moved, and few angered by our presence. It was powerful witness -- the eloquence of prophetic silence. Once we arrived at the U.S. Mission to the UN, those willing to risk arrest and those who were supportive witness separated. The supportive witness went into a “safe zone” behind barricades across the street from the U.S. mission and those risking arrest settled in the front of the entrance of building where the U.S. mission is located. Rabbi Michael Feinberg, Executive Director, Greater New York Labor-Religion Coalition; Rev. Jamie Washam, Pastor, Underwood Memorial Church-Milwaukee, WI; Rev. Winnie Varghese, Episcopal Chaplin, Columbia University; Rev. Dr. G. Simon Harak, SJ, Anti-Militarism Coordinator, War Resisters League; Ethan Vessely-Flad, Editor, Fellowship Magazine; Rev. John Rodgers, Pastor, Interfaith Church, Portland, OR; Carol Nixon, Director, Mission and Social Justice at Riverside, and Judith LeBlanc, National Co-Chair, United for Peace and Justice, were among those 60 or so folks willing to risk arrest. A litany of remembrance began as those in the safe zone began to read the accounts of the prisoners held in Guantanamo and hooded individuals stood up among the potential arrestees with clergy holding up the names of those in Guantanamo whose accounts were being read across the street. We soon learned that the potential arrestees were standing in a zone deemed neutral and would not lead to arrests. We then moved closer to the front door of the building and with many folks kneeling a praying. And continued to read the miserable and heart wrenching testimonies of those who are in bondage. We were then told that we would not be arrested. The building owner saw that we were peaceful and noted that our witness had been heard. We were told that we could enter the building without arrest and that at least 100 individuals could be escorted up to the U.S. mission offices on the 4th Floor and engage in civil disobedience. However, the charges would be federal versus a misdemeanor. Conferring with Matt Dialasio, of the Catholic Worker who had served as the lead negotiator with the police, and others, we concluded that we had at least 10 first-time arrestees (among them jazz musician Bill Apollo Brown, a member of Riverside) with us and that we had not prepared them for such an ordeal, (i.e. folks were informed that they would receive a “ticket” and be released in a few hours). The stiffer penalty would guarantee a night in the “Tombs” with an arraignment the following day. A pastoral decision was made not to put our folks in that predicament. Frida Berrigan, Rev. Washam, and I gave statements to the press, including CNN and they quickly left. We called those gathered across the street to join us in front of the building. We claimed the place that housed the U.S. mission to the U.N. as sacred space; we sang freedom songs and went through the interfaith service. We left after about 45 minutes of singing and interfaith celebration. For more information about BPF-NYC chapter, see http://bpfny.org/ For more info about CALC-I, see http://www.unitedforpeace.org/article.php?list=type&type=90
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