[OPIRG-EVENTS] 11 Jan prep and planning workshop for SPAT action

["Mary Foster" <mfoster@web.ca>]

Stop war on Iraq!

Preparation and planning workshop for the nonviolent SPAT action (see below)
nonviolence skill-share workshop

Saturday, 11 January, 1:00 to 4:00 (please note, NOT 2:00 pm as previously
announced)
room 406, Southam Hall, Carleton University

Workshop will cover theory and practice of nonviolent direct action and
civil disobedience, practical tips and legal Q & A, and a walk-through of
the scenario.

If you are planning to participate in or support the nonviolent SPAT action,
you should attend this workshop. All others are welcome, particularly people
who are thinking of participating in the 14 February Valentine's Day Mass
Civil Resistance demonstration.

more info:
Strategic Peace Action Team
email SPATTeam@hotmail.com
tel 237 0730 x 1
-----
Calling for Strategic Peace Action Team (SPAT!) members and supporters to
join in the symbolic, nonviolent "pre-emptive arrest" of senior DND
officials for suspected involvement in planning acts of terror against the
people of Iraq

---> an inclusive, nonviolent creative action on 18 January, international
day of action against the war on Iraq
--->workshop to prepare/plan for the SPAT action will take place on 11
January, 1:00 to 4:00 pm, Carleton University (room TBC)

Prime Minister Jean Chretien has announced that Canada will support an
American-lead invasion of Iraq if sanctioned by the UN. This leads us to
believe that some senior officials in the Department of National Defence are
now preparing for the eventuality of Canadian participation in the war.

We believe that an invasion of Iraq, with or without the sanction of the UN,
would be illegal, immoral, and tremendously dangerous for the whole world.
In fact, we consider an invasion and the threat of an invasion to be
terrorism - defined in official US sources as "the calculated use of
violence against civilians to intimidate, induce fear, often to kill, for
some political, religious or other end" - directed at the people of Iraq.

The people of Iraq have been subject to international terrorism, in the form
of sanctions and ongoing bombing by the US and the UK, since 1990. Canada
has been directly and indirectly supporting this hidden war. If we follow
George Bush's expanded definition of terrorism - "My message is, is that if
you harbor a terrorist, you're a terrorist. If you feed a terrorist, you're
a terrorist." - that makes some in our government vulnerable to charges of
terrorism.

Of late, the United States and Canada have been pre-emptively arresting
people they suspect to be engaged in terrorist activities, an activity which
has involved outrageous racial profiling and the targetting of Muslim and
Arab communities. The US is justifying its proposed invasion of Iraq as
"pre-emptive". But the logic of pre-emptive strikes can easily be turned
back on its originators. Regime change, after all, starts at home!

18 January is a cross-Canada and international day of action against the war
on Iraq. We are calling all who oppose this war and consider the invasion to
be an act of terror to join us on 18 January in an entirely nonviolent,
symbolic action of identifying and "pre-emptively arresting" senior
officials at DND suspected of planning acts of terror against the people of
Iraq.

This action will be entirely nonviolent. We wish to make it safe for even
the most vulnerable in our society to participate, and to signal our
rejection of all oppression and violence not only by confronting it but also
by demonstrating our own resolution to treat people fairly and with love.

Given our past experience with Ottawa police, those who present the arrest
warrants may or may
not be arrested. Police discretion will very much depend on the size of the
support crowd and the amount of media. We will not force ourselves through a
police line or in any way pose a physical threat to those 'guarding' the DND
building. But if we are asked to leave the site upon our arrival, some of us
may refuse, and face arrest if necessary.

There will also be plenty of roles for people who cannot risk being arrested
but want to support the pre-emptive arrests.

A workshop to prepare and plan for the nonviolent pre-emptive arrest action
will take place on Saturday, 11 January, 1:00 to 4:00 pm, Carleton
University (room TBA). All participating in the nonviolent, creative action,
in support or active roles, are asked to participate in this workshop.

more info:
Strategic Peace Action Team
email SPATTeam@hotmail.com
tel 237 0730 x 1



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