Whew!  What an action-packed week it’s been!  I’m sitting at my friend’s kitchen table in Madison, Wisconsin and I think it’s the first time I’ve sat still in days. Sounds of protest songs, phone ringing, and bike tread to the asphalt are replaced here by finches, the breeze dancing with tree branches, someone playing reggae.  Uploading photos and reviewing video footage from the US Social Forum (USSF) this past week, I realize just how much we did in Detroit in one short week (was it really only eight days ago that I arrived in the midwest?!).  From burying a hulking Hummer to learning, listening, and engaging in the US Social Forum workshops to taking part in actions, creating a pink lemonade stand, demolishing a building, cofacilitating People’s Movement Assemblies, getting Tighe Barry out of jail (and many of us almost going to jail) in Canada, dancing through the night and being busy throughout the day, we had a very full, hot pink week in Motor City!

Monday, we buried a Hummer on the wildly artistic street that is home to the Heidelberg Project, a symbol of hope and revitalization in a city devastated by economic downturn.

The Hummer was the symbol of a macho, gas-guzzling, war-glorifying era that is thankfully came to an end one month ago when the Hummer went out of business.  My generation has been asked to kill and die for oil in Iraq–soldiers dying in their Humvees so Americans can go joy-riding in their Hummers. By burying the Hummer, we were saying, “No more wars for oil, we want a green, peaceful future.” Read more about why – and how – we buried the Hummer in Medea’s excellent blog.

To bury a Hummer we harvested one burned out hummer body from a salvage yard, three cans of remnant pink house paint, a truck load of flowers, ferns, and a tree, fake flowers, a bicycle, a stack of tires to line the grave, a tractor with a backhoe, and a truck hood for the tombstone.  The burial project took all day to complete and was a sight to behold.  While I had worked for months to help make the vision a reality, seeing the artist, Tighe Barry, bring all the elements together and orchestrating the transformation of the Hummer from war machine carcass to flower pot was a breathtaking sight to behold (and believe me after shoveling dirt and painting in the hot sun we were out of breath!).

I can’t imagine a better space for the Hummer to be buried, and while we were finishing up the final details, dozens of people stopped by to say thanks for creating this vision and for the inspiration.  This will be a lasting art piece that will be seen by people from all over the world who come to visit the Heidelberg Project.  Janine Guyton, who co-directs the project with her husband and visionary artist Tyree Guyton, told us that she and Tyree love the piece and plan to keep it there indefinitely, perhaps even when they break ground on their recycled art building a year from now.  And the Hummer’s funeral made the news. Hear Medea speaking about the burial on Free Speech News here and here and see footage of the burial here.

The Hummer Burial absolutely would not have happened without the artistic vision, determination, of artivist Tighe Barry, or without Medea Benjamin’s original idea to bury the Hummer.  We are grateful to our partnerships and new friendships with Tyree and Janine at the Heidelberg Project and with John George and the team at Motor City Blight Busters, who brought butterflies to decorate the art installation space.

On Tuesday morning we worked with the Motor City Blight Busters to help demolish an abandoned home and saw the incredible work Blight Busters is doing to rebuild a neighborhood ravaged by drugs, violence and unemployment.  It now has a community garden, new homes, a jazz and poetry club called the Artists Village, a community center, and more.  Young folks are actively engaged in all the projects.  We returned to this neighborhood on Saturday night to celebrate the birthday of Blight Bustsers founder John George and had the opportunity to award John a pink badge of courage for he and his partners’ work in the community.

Tuesday afternoon we marched in the opening day USSF march and created a lemonade stand on the corner of Grand Circus Park to hand out hundreds of cups of pink lemonade to marchers who were thirsty for justice… and a cold beverage (’cause Detroit is HOT!).  The march was beautiful with many big puppets, giant sunflowers, awesome chants and cheers, and upeat energy in the heat of the Detroit streets.  By nightfall we had a house packed with CODEPINKers from all over the country.

Wednesday was the first full day of workshops and our CODEPINK workshop was during the first slot this morning.  It was called “Beyond Petroleum” and focused on transforming the war economy into a greener and more peaceful society step by step.  We gave presentations on burying the Hummer, keeping Northrop Grumman out of DC, responding to the BP oil gusher, protesting robotic warfare and drones.  Nancy Mancias, Susan Harman, and Terrie Hempel (W. MI CP Coordinator) facilitated a teach-in on accountabiliy complete with a how-to arrest a war criminal demo.  They awarded certificates to those in attendance, certifying that they were ready to make a citizens arrest when necessary in the name of justice and human rights.

The Pro-Occupation of Palestine group, Stand with Us, tried to have a workshop at the US Social Forum but it was canceled when discovered.  It was an attempt to pinkwash the forum – focused on LGBTQ rights in the Middle East.

Thursday was packed with anti-war and Palestine track workshops. Medea Benjamin spoke at the anti-war People’s Movement Assembly and at a workshop on lifting the siege of Gaza. I spoke on a morning panel about Jewish stories toward justice in Palestine and Israel with Jewish Voice for Peace (listen to parts one, two, and three), and in the afternoon cofacilitated a workshop with Adalah-NY on consumer boycotts to pressure Israel to end the occupation.

CODEPINK’s Nancy Mancias was on a panel on robotic warfare and spoke on accountability as well. Throughout each day of the forum, CODEPINKers joined in workshops and discussions on topics from immigration reform to environmental justice to demilitarizing our communities to grounding drones. I asked each person I met how the Social Forum was going for them and most everyone replied that they were overwhelmed by all the programming choices, and felt that the multiple locations for events and lack of easy transportation made it difficult to participate in programming that was not central to the forum. A great deal of funds (I imagine) were invested in large tents for outdoor tabling that were not easily accessible from the central Cobo Hall and were thus never used. I concluded that less programming in a more central place with more encouragement to get to know each other (greeters, mixers/ice breakers, etc.) would be more logistically manageable and would foster more movement cross-pollination. Nevertheless orchestrating this epic gathering of social movements was no small feat and the organizers did an incredible job!

On Thursday evening many in our delegation visited the Al-Nakba photo exhibit at a local church and witnessed black and white photos documenting the destruction of Palestinian villages and lives, and also highlighting Palestinian and international nonviolent resistance to the occupation.

Friday morning PINKs joined in a mass action to protest big banks and home foreclosures.
We took part in the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions People’s Movement Assembly, and I spoke about CODEPINK’s Ahava boycott with a group who presented on consumer boycotts. This People’s Movement Assembly drew a couple hundred people over four hours to engage in next steps on building a movement to apply economic pressure on Israel. Our Ahava boycott was applauded for the many successes over such a short time (while in Detroit, we celebrated the one year anniversary since we launched the campaign by shutting down the Ahava store in Tel Aviv).

Friday evening we gathered for a delicious Ethiopian buffet and then danced the night away at the Leftist Lounge, the largest USSF people’s party, complete with hip hop, djs, and powerful live performances from our friends Climbing Poetree and Seasunz.

Saturday morning we joined in a mass direct action to protest the Detroit incinerator, a hulking polluter, and to call for clean air, good jobs and justice for all. We rode bikes, carried giant sunflowers, wore our Boycott BP sandwich boards, and danced to the awesome beats of the Rude Mechanical Orchestra marching band.

And then, after a full week of participating in the US Social Forum, focusing on creating new solutions for green energy, healthy and just economy and jobs for all—we celebrated our revived vision for a new world by dancing on the Hummer’s grave at our art installation on Heidelberg Street. We held a ceremony in which we honored our ancestors who have inspired us to take action for a brighter world, and said farewell for good to the Hummer. We joined hands as part of the national Hands Across the Sand Day of Action and did a spiral dance around the Hummer, calling for an end to offshore oil drilling and gas-guzzlers. One little boy sung an alternate version of “Twinkle, twinkle little star” to the tune of “Twinkle, twinkle monster car”. Musician Dave Lippman wrote up a parody to Mungo Jerry’s “In the Summertime” and Anne Feeney performed anti-war tunes including “Have You Been to Jail for Justice”. I led a short meditation to visualize the power of people joining hands across the globe to put an end to war and oil consumption. Tighe put the final touches onto the hummer and the tree was firmly planted. And then, as sometimes does when CODEPINK converges to do something transformative, magically the other core artists behind the Hummer project, Tyree and Kevin, arrived to join Tighe in the moment of completion. Starhawk came along and also blessed the space with her presence.

By working together, our CODEPINK team in Detroit brought smiles, creativity, and solidarity to the USSF, from carrying banners to speaking at workshops to circulating petitions and flyers and tabling to shuttling folks to jail solidarity to pitching in for whatever was needed at the moment.  And there was a magical element working with us too, which was especially present when the skies were clear on the day it was supposed to rain during our Hummer Burial, and when the full moon arose over the river as we did a spiral dance with Starhawk, and when we were offered an indoor table to share with National Assembly, and so many other little bright moments throughout.  We owe a HUGE thanks to the forum organizers who managed so many details and logistics to create the container for bridges to be built and for transformation.

During the past week, McChrystal got the boot, protests converged to oppose the G-20 in Toronto, and over 20,000 activists gathered in the US to build movements for a new world not based on corporate domination and militarism. We gathered in the heart of the nation to create the lifeboat, the people’s movement for a just, peaceful, healthy, vibrant world.  Another world IS possible.  And I can see her breathing, dancing, turning out a hip hop beat, and marching boldly into the sunrise of a dawn just ahead.

Rae Abileah is the roseroots coordinator for CODEPINK Women for Peace.

“…the first memorial day was observed by formerly enslaved black people … in Charleston, South Carolina. The race course had been used as a temporary Confederate prison camp for captured Union soldiers in 1865, as well as a mass grave for Union soldiers who died there. Immediately after the cessation of hostilities, formerly enslaved people exhumed the bodies from the mass grave and reinterred them properly with individual graves. … On May 1, 1865, the Charleston newspaper reported that a crowd of up to ten thousand, mainly black residents, including 2800 children, proceeded to the location … thereby creating the first Decoration Day [commonly called Memorial Day after World War II.]”

American troops killed in Iraq since January 2009: 179; in Afghanistan since January 2009: 456.

Memories of wars and environmental devastation intertwine for me this Memorial Day, like the orange-brown and black strands sliding over the waters of the Gulf of Mexico. On this Memorial Day, here is what I do, and do NOT, remember.

President Obama: I do not remember Obama expressing his condolences to the bereaved families of the 11 men killed on the Deepwater Horizon rig, nor stating his concern for the many oil drilling “roughnecks” still working on platforms in the Gulf of Mexico, nor using this tragedy as an opportunity to seize BP’s assets to fund a transition to a non-fossil fuel economy [Editor's note: The president has expressed his condolences since the tragedy]. Nor do I remember the president talking about those killed so far this year from fossil fuel extraction — 29 in the Massey Coal “accident” in West Virginia and 11 in the BP/Transocean/Halliburton “accident” off the coast of Louisiana – using the words “my countrymen,” “victims of criminal corporate negligence,” or “our brothers” though all of those terms apply. They also apply to the American dead, both troops and military contractors, from the overseas wars – with the addition of “my countrywomen” and “my sisters.”

Congress: Many times I have heard members of Congress or their staff members talk about how the Congressperson or Senator was “against” the war (usually meaning Iraq); how s/he “honored” the service of active duty military and veterans; or, occasionally, that the funds poured out for “defense” could be better spent for needs at home. Except for Congresswoman Barbara Lee, I have yet to hear a member of Congress talk about the urgent need to repeal the 2001 Authorization for Use of Military Force, the tool Bush used to wage a “war on terror” (really a war OF terror), which Obama continues to use, and which will be used, as I remember vividly the congresswoman saying in November 2009 in Oakland, by every succeeding president until this congressional abdication of their constitutional requirement to debate and declare war IS repealed.

Mainstream (and even some “alternative” media): As a military family member as well as a CODEPINKer, I remember giving numerous interviews to the media over the years starting with the question WHY. “Why are you protesting the US bombing of Afghanistan?” (I was one of 5 women who started the San Francisco Federal Building vigil in October 2001); “Why don’t you think that the US should remove Saddam Hussein?” or “Why are you protesting drones?” for example. I do not recall a single instance when I was asked some version of the following: why is the United States spying on, bombing, putting sanctions on, invading, occupying and/or controlling (or trying to control) the elections in: Afghanistan, Iraq, Iran, Pakistan and/or Yemen? Could it have anything to do with the fact that these countries either produce immense quantities of oil, natural gas or valuable minerals, or are on the transit routes for these crucial commodities?

Environmental Organizations: I have been getting one after another urgent alert from environmental organizations in the 41 terrible days since the Deepwater Horizon oil rig exploded on April 20. I remember reading about pelicans and other birds, sea turtles, formerly white sand beaches, seafood, people losing their livelihoods, and a great deal about stopping new oil exploration in Alaska. But I do not remember one word about why environmental organizations did not work to END oil drilling in the Gulf of Mexico when they knew, or should have known, that it was a crucially productive, biologically diverse oceanic treasure that was/is already polluted and stressed. Zero words about the astronomically high use of fossil fuels by the US military all over the world as documented in Green Zone: The Environmental Costs of Militarism — that’s what I remember over the past decade, and this silence increasingly baffles and angers me.

My local peace and justice center: I’m on their listserv, contribute a yearly membership fee, and have gone to some presentations at their lovely suburban location. Yet for almost two years I remember scarcely a word from this center about the horrific fact that the US is engaged in two “hot” wars, with more on the horizon, and has hundreds of military bases all over the world, and drones and spy satellites all over the skies. I never remember this peace and justice center inviting speakers who are working class, under 30, Muslim, oil industry critics, or war resisters (as distinct from war analysts or journalists) to any of their events – and I remember very few people of color being so honored. Why am I still on their list? I don’t remember.

Friends and acquaintances: Over the past several years, especially since 2006, I remember many people thanking me for my antiwar and environmental activism. I don’t remember them asking me, “How can I get involved?” or “What resources do you need?” Instead of their gratitude, I would have preferred – I would still prefer –their desire and determination to join in the work.

On Memorial Day 2010, I remember Abeer Hamza, the 14-year-old stalked, raped and murdered by predatory US soldiers who also murdered her family. I remember Nadja Al-Ali, Iraqi-German author of What Kind of Liberation?, talking about Iraqi women dying from cancer after exposure to Depleted Uranium. I remember being spell-bound by charismatic Afghan parliamentarian in exile, Malalai Joya, as she told a crowd in Berkeley about “democracy-loving leaders” in her country: “We have a LOT!” she declared with eyes blazing.

I also remember, with deep regret, the many times when I should have spoken out, or spoken out more forcefully; when I should have risked arrest; when I should have gotten away from the computer or the TV and made personal connections; when I should have shown more compassion and listened more closely.

“Remember”comes from the Latin “memor”, or “mindful.” On this Memorial Day I intend to be mindful, to remember what and who has been lost forever, what is at risk, and what goes unspoken, unacknowledged, unconnected. I want to be a citizen worthy of the Americans, former enslaved men, women and children of South Carolina, who created – in a graveyard! — community, beauty and song to begin a post-war world.

In 2005 my husband was severely wounded in Iraq and the Army labeled him “undeployable.” But, in 2007, they deployed him again. That is when I began to realize that I could no longer support the war and and started looking for the comfort and support of others who felt as I did. One day I was looking at Rosie O’Donnell’s website and I saw a picture of a woman confronting Condeleeza Rice with bloody hands. My first thought was “that is so ballsy!” I wanted to know who this was so I read Rosie’s blog and learned that she was with CODEPINK I googled and found the national website and immediately joined. Then, I began to look for a local chapter. Of course, there wasn’t one in Killeen, Texas, but, I did find the website for CODEPINK Austin. I showed up at their next meeting with my two daughters all in pink and found not only the comfort I had been seeking, but, also the opportunity to take action.

Through CODEPINK Austin, I heard about Iraq Veterans Against the War and became connected to members in the Austin and Fort Hood areas. In the spring of 2008 the Fort Hood chapter of IVAW was contacted by a longtime activist who had been at the Oleo Strut during the Vietnam days, and who wanted to offer his fundraising abilities to help start a similar coffeehouse for Iraq veterans. Fort Hood IVAW members recognized the value and importance of having such a hangout for GIs, but, they did not feel that they could organize or operate it. So, they came to me for help. I contacted Alice Embree and Fran Hanlon, two CODEPINK women who are now board members, and in May of 2008 we sat down with IVAW members to discuss the creation of what is now Under the Hood Cafe and Outreach Center.

For the soldiers who visit regularly, Under the Hood has become a home and we have become family. They return to base and tell their buddies about us. They come and hang out because they can relax and talk openly with us. They tell us about their hardships, they ask for help, they seek information about their rights, and sometimes they find the strength to say NO to war.

Thank you, CODEPINK for your support. This is what keeps me going. Living in the military culture in Killeen is not easy. Hearing the stories and witnessing the pain these wars have caused these young people is very difficult. When I need to be re-inspired or re-motivated, I go to Austin and join my CODEPINK friends in action. It gives me the strength to come back to Fort Hood and continue the struggle.

Here is a personal story from SPC Victor Agosto, Afghanistan War Resister:

Mother Jones reported recently that in 2003 the military began building a database on Americans from age 15 up. The creation of Joint Advertising Market Research & Studies (JAMRS) was protested at its inception by peace advocates like AFSC and privacy groups like the ACLU, but nevertheless went on using your tax dollars to create 34 million names database run by Equifax, the friendly folks who provide data on your credit rating. JAMRS connected records from state motor vehicle departments and bureaus, from Selective Service, and from private data brokers who deal in records of consumer behavior.

The New York Civil Liberties Union brought a law suit against JAMRS in 2007, which resulted in a settlement and the Pentagon agreeing to stop collecting social security numbers and sharing them on anyone younger than age 17. According to Mother Jones author David Goodman, “Students may opt out of having their JAMRS database information sent to recruiters, but only 8,700 have invoked this obscure safeguard.”

I’ve written here in the past about the use of the ASVAB test given in high schools across the nation to collect data on students. Test takers can select Option 8 to opt out of that aspect of the test – but only if they know about it.

Preparing for the SAT might be a good way to get into college instead of into uniform, right? Not on the Army’s website March2Success.com. A stealth site run by the Army Recruiting Command at Fort Knox that collects data on about 17,000 new users each month, the web site offers “free” test taking advice that affluent kids get by paying Kaplan for it. A spokesperson for the Army described the site as  “a great service to schools that normally would cost them.”

A lack of education preparing you for critical thinking may be a prerequisite for failing to understand that $1.2 million spent on developing the March2Success website translates into budget cuts again this year for public schools across the nation.

What does this have to do with counter-recruiting? Everything. Is the real purpose of public schools in America education, or is it warehousing same-age potential recruits to deliver them as a conveniently assembled audience for recruiting messages?

Take the ASVAB — as 621,000 students did during the ’06-07 school year in 11,900 high schools. The Armed Services Vocation Aptitude Battery is given during school time, in buildings funded by local taxes, supervised by staff paid by citizens who thought they were hiring folks to educate their children, not recruit them.

Recruiters lie to high school students all the time when they claim that the ASVAB is a test to tell you which careers you would be suited for. In fact, the test as used by the Army focuses on these “careers”: Clerical, Combat Operations, Electronics, Field Artillery, General Maintenance, General Technical, Mechanical Maintenance, Operators and Food, Surveillance and Communications, Skilled Technical and Special Forces. And, unless you or your family know about selecting “Option 8″ when you take the ASVAB, it will deliver your contact data and your test scores to a recruiter near you.

Then there’s JROTC, the Junior Reserve Officer Training Corps, one of the best recruitment programs we could have. Educators and school boards around the U.S. have long opposed this militarization of high schools which allocates classroom space and other resources to teaching underage kids how to be recruits, not officers. Despite the acronym claiming it’s a junior version of ROTC, which offers tuition if you agree to enlist at the university level.

Counter-recruiting activists in San Francisco agitated for years and finally succeeded in 2006 in getting a San Francisco School Board vote to phase out JROTC from the district. The military countered by going around the school board and placing an initiative on the ballot last fall supporting JROTC.  The non-binding Proposition V passed by a slim margin, and the San Francisco school board voted 4-3 in May to keep the JROTC program three weeks before it was set to expire, but then laid off all the JROTC instructors. Budget cuts are a double-edged sword, apparently.

The four SF school board members who had voted in 2006 to remove JROTC were no longer on the board by May, 2009. Maybe time for you or a family member to think about running for your local school board?

Locals calculated JROTC cost San Francisco taxpayers nearly $1 million per year. A million that could be spent lowering class sizes from 40+ kindergarteners. But that might be dangerous.

If kids come up through schools which teach them, not what to think, but how to think, they may be a lot harder to recruit.

Then, an amazing victory for a community in Atlanta that didn’t want the military helping to create a public high school for their children. Activists waged a two-month campaign to oppose the establishment of a military-themed high school which the U.S. Marine Corps and the DeKalb County Board of Education had hoped to open on Aug. 10. Relentless watchdogs of their school board, this team of parents, students and community members used media coverage and direct actions to successfully oppose the plan. That’s the good news. The bad news is that Obama’s new Secretary of Education Arne Duncan is known in Chicago for having fostered many such schools during his tenure as superintendent of schools. And plans continue for military-themed high schools in other low-income areas around the country. Who’s watching your school board?

More bad news: the Senate voted 93-1 to “temporarily” increase the Army by 30,000 troops for the next three years. The lone dissenting vote came from Senator Russ Feingold (D – WI). Set up for yet another “emergency” war funding supplemental bill? No way, ’cause Obama promised to stop that sort of thing. Didn’t he?

Finally, for all you counter-recruiting activists out there, here’s the real deal in the words of “Nydas” who commented on Digg about an article from the L.A Times reporting on the family of Pfc. LaVena Johnson, who doubts she committed suicide in Iraq as the Army alleges. This is the c-r target audience, talking about the poverty draft:

“I was stationed at balad. It is, in fact, the nicest place to be stationed inside Iraq. No idea what her experience was like, but with 2 swimming pools, 2 Food courts (Pizza hut, popyes, BK, etc.) and the largest PX in iraq, it wasn’t a bad experience for me. Thankfully i never had to leave the base, as i did administrative work, and the worst of the war i had to witness was seeing Iraqi civilians torn up at the Balad hospital when i would pull guard duty. Maybe she went outside the wire and had bad experiences, or maybe she was depressed with things back home, but Balad is definitely not a bad place to be, and certainly not suicide worthy. Food over there was even better than the crap the Army serves us here. God i miss Mongolian BBQ night, and all the free mountain dew i could drink.”