A wonderful e-mail has been circulating today. It describes how Alice Paul, Lucy Burns and other women of the 1900s — two generations after Susan B. Anthony and Elizabeth Cady Stanton — were beaten, jailed, trashed in the newspapers and taunted by crowds when they snuck into private venues, stood in lines illegally, chained themselves to the White House, and more, all to get the right to vote. Now praised, then they were considered crazy, obnoxious, rude, loud, and weird. Why couldn’t they just be quiet? Why couldn’t they just politely voice their opinion through the (unjust, sexist) system? Hmm. Funny, CODEPINK women hear the exact same questions today!

Nearly each day, someone informs a CODEPINK member to her face, in an e-mail or by comment (cough cough), that our attempts to stop the war, to stop all future wars, to demand our great nation invest in diplomacy, health care, education and infrastructure rather than destruction are crazy. We are rude, we are weird, we are obnoxious. Sometimes — most times — these tauntings are laced with misogynstic, ageist and homophobic epithets — “old hags” “lesbians” (as if that’s a bad thing), “prudes” etc. And in places like the Democratic and Republican conventions, where free speech and dissent should be protected, we are locked out from public events, taunted by onlookers, pushed back by police and, sometimes, arrested.

It happened to our foremothers, the suffragettes, too. From this incredibly powerful e-mail:

“Remember, it was not until 1920 that women were granted the right to go to the polls and vote.

The women were innocent and defenseless, but they were jailed nonetheless for picketing the White House, carrying signs asking for the vote…

It is jarring to watch Woodrow Wilson and his cronies try to persuade a psychiatrist to declare Alice Paul insane so that she could be permanently institutionalized. And it is inspiring to watch the doctor refuse. Alice Paul was strong, he said, and brave. That didn’t make her crazy.

The doctor admonished the men: ‘Courage in women is often mistaken for insanity.’” (Read the rest, and see brilliant photos, here).

Peace work and activism is not easy. We face incredible systems of power, and all of those people benefitting from them, and everytime we threaten them, we face the tauntings. The arrests. The abuse. But Alice Paul and other women prevailed after nealy 100 years of work. Can we stand another 100 years of war?

Nine are reported to have been arrested for “conspiracy to riot,” and Coldsnap reports that the National Guard moved in on Cedar and Kellogg and threatened mass arrests.

NEW: Audio of Amy Goodman’s arrest is available here: http://www.indybay.org/uploads/2008/09/01/amy_goodman_arrest.mp3

—Just met the man in the cafe who posted this information! his name’s KP, and he’s with the amazing WORT in Madison, WI.

My husband, Brian Conley, has dedicated his life to helping oppressed people
communicate their struggles to the world. Since 2004 he has worked on the
video blog Alive in Baghdad which produces and
distributes weekly video segments about daily life in Iraq and the impact of
the war.

Brian went to China to document pro-Tibet protests taking place concurrent
with the Olympics. He was not participating in political actions, only
documenting them as any journalist would. On August 19, 2008, he was
arrested by Chinese authorities for this work, along with 5 others working
with Students for a Free Tibet, Jeff Rae (who also works with Alive in
Baghdad), James Powderly, Jeff Goldin, Michael Liss, and Tom Grant. Under
China’s repressive government it is illegal to record expressions of free
speech and work as a journalist without state supervision.

This situation is only one of many examples of the Chinese government’s
repression of free speech and activists for Tibet. In most cases the
repression is much more severe, ranging from torture to indefinite detention
to summary execution. In the last few months over 400 people have been
killed in Tibet for their political activities.

Brian would be uncomfortable with the attention being paid to his situation.
He would want us to focus on the people around the world who are truly
struggling – as a result of war, global economics, racism, imperialism and
other injustices.

But we also want Brian home, along with the 5 people detained with him. He
and are I starting a family, and are looking forward to the birth of our
first child in October. Although I am now 31 weeks pregnant, Brian went to
China with my full support. We decided together that we cannot stand aside
while people are tortured, detained and killed because they want a better
life for themselves and their children.

For more information about the detention of Brian Conley and 5 others in
Beijing, please see www.freetibet2008.org . Please consider donating money
to Students for a Free Tibet to support their work. To get regular updates about Brian’s situation or to
arrange an interview with me (Eowyn Rieke, Brian’s wife), please email
brian.conley.update@gmail.com

AUGUST 24 UPDATE:
Following protests and pressure from the US government, the detainees—Brian and James among them—are on planes bound for LAX now. Whew!