| NEW YORK
- January 22 - Fifty-five people were arrested today on the steps of the U.S. Mission to
the United Nations this morning as they called for a change in US foreign
policy that would continue the legacy of peacemaking begun by Dr. Martin
Luther King, Jr. In the spirit of King's anti-war stance, the men and women
occupied the steps of the mission demanding an end to the war in
Afghanistan and renouncing any expansion of the war.
Tuesday's act of nonviolent civil disobedience was the culmination of a
four-day series of presentations and training reflecting on the life of Dr.
King.
"Dr. King's dream of a just society has yet to be realized. As King said,
'The greatest purveyor of violence is my own country,' said Ceylon Mooney
of Memphis, TN, one of those arrested today. "As I and many others have
seen, this is still true, and our collective conscience calls us to
confront not only the violence committed on behalf of Americans, but also
the institutions committing those acts."
Joining the group on Tuesday morning were Amber and Ryan Amundson, widow
and brother of Craig Scott Amundson, who was killed on September 11 in the
attack on the Pentagon.
"Bush has said that the 'war on terrorism' requires sacrifice from the
American people. The nonviolent protest in front of the US Mission to the
UN is really a frontline battle of the war on terrorism, and the people who were arrested are showing the sacrifices needed to lead to a true victory against all forms of terror," said Amundson.
The protest was sponsored by War Resisters League (www.warresisters.org), Voices in the Wilderness (www.nonviolence.org/vitw/) and Kairos Community/ALC.
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