The sun had yet to rise above the eastern horizon when eight demonstrators erected a 20-foot tall metal “Exxon oil rig” in the intersection of Pennsylvania Avenue and Third Street on Oct. 22. One man, dressed in business attire and acting as the oil executive, was being guarded by another four wearing shirts reading, “Blackwater.” While traffic backed up, two members of Iraq Veterans Against the War, clad in their desert fatigues, showed up to provide “security support,” holding their arms out as if armed with assault rifles.
Police officers showed up to the location of the action just as the participants were beginning to chain themselves to the oil rig and promptly ended the action.
“We are part of ‘No War No Warming’ actions, to bring home the message that the U.S. military and Blackwater are protecting U.S. oil interests,” said Eda Uca-Dorn, a Baltimore resident, while sitting on the sidewalk after being escorted out of the intersection by police officers. “It is not about freedom, peace making or liberation. The resource wars have just begun. We will be in war after war after war until peak oil hits.”
The group issued a statement on a flyer, demanding that, “The government fund a sustainable, renewable energy economy and society that meets the needs of people in the U.S. and stops destroying the planet … and to demand that Blackwater and other private security companies be held accountable for their illegal activities and their murders of Iraqi civilians.”
“We are driven to take disruptive action against the war because our attempts to affect changes based on popular opinion fall upon not deaf, but careless ears. We intend to continue escalating our protests until we see real material changes in our foreign and energy policies,” stated the flyer.
No arrests were made for the action and a group of police officers eventually knocked the oil rig to the ground and carried it into the median nearby.
More than 60 individuals were arrested by 10am for participating in the “No War No Warming” event in a series of direct actions around the Cannon House Office Building, one of the U.S. House of Representatives buildings south of the U.S. Capitol.
www.nowarnowarming.org
Police officers showed up to the location of the action just as the participants were beginning to chain themselves to the oil rig and promptly ended the action.
“We are part of ‘No War No Warming’ actions, to bring home the message that the U.S. military and Blackwater are protecting U.S. oil interests,” said Eda Uca-Dorn, a Baltimore resident, while sitting on the sidewalk after being escorted out of the intersection by police officers. “It is not about freedom, peace making or liberation. The resource wars have just begun. We will be in war after war after war until peak oil hits.”
The group issued a statement on a flyer, demanding that, “The government fund a sustainable, renewable energy economy and society that meets the needs of people in the U.S. and stops destroying the planet … and to demand that Blackwater and other private security companies be held accountable for their illegal activities and their murders of Iraqi civilians.”
“We are driven to take disruptive action against the war because our attempts to affect changes based on popular opinion fall upon not deaf, but careless ears. We intend to continue escalating our protests until we see real material changes in our foreign and energy policies,” stated the flyer.
No arrests were made for the action and a group of police officers eventually knocked the oil rig to the ground and carried it into the median nearby.
More than 60 individuals were arrested by 10am for participating in the “No War No Warming” event in a series of direct actions around the Cannon House Office Building, one of the U.S. House of Representatives buildings south of the U.S. Capitol.
www.nowarnowarming.org
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