November 9, 2014
EVE: I’d like to share with you the circumstances under which I first became involved with peace and justice issues. I’m not sure that Orlando Tizon knows I hold him responsible for this, but it was he that started it all when, in 2005, he invited me to TASSC’s (Torture Abolition Survivor Support Coaltion) annual vigil in Lafayette Park. I knew Guantanamo existed, and that the US engaged in enhanced interrogation of the prisoners, but since I didn’t know much about TASSC, I decided to see what it was all about. When I arrived on a Friday night, I saw a large cage in which a chained and hooded man or woman (I couldn’t tell which), wearing an orange jump suit, was kneeling on the ground. Outside, a group of demonstrators were handing out leaflets to the crowd. Orlando told me that the cage was a replica of the cage used in Guantanamo to hold prisoners who were also chained and hooded most of the time. He explained that throughout the weekend, volunteers were being asked to stay inside the cage for two hours and then asked if I would like to volunteer “Sure, why not,” I replied.
I asked him if any of the volunteers had been themselves torture victims. “No,” he replied. “Nor do they ever risk arrest.” If I had known then, what I know now about what torture does to the human psyche, I never would’ve asked such a question.
After being hooded, chained and immersed in silence for two hours, I was released from the cage. It was dark outside, and for several seconds, I was completely disoriented. What moved me the most about the experience was that when I was released, one of the torture survivors thanked me for volunteering. When the vigil ended on Sunday, a group of demonstrators crossed the street to the White House to present their demands to the President to close down the School of Americas which until recently, trained foreign military in the use of torture, and to close down Guantanamo and other secret prisons that use torture. The demonstrators were subsequently arrested. I was among them.
We are a nation ruled by law, so you might wonder why I think I have the right to defy the law but the bomb-thrower should be prosecuted for her actions. Why can’t she use the same argument as I to justify what she does? Cannot she also say she is carrying out her beliefs and that that take precedence over the law of the land? I’ll answer this with a true story. Every Monday, a group of protestors stand inside the “free speech zone” at the Pentagon, an area where we can protest without risking arrest. We hold signs and banners that clearly say why we are there. Often, there are more police than protestors, but the same stream of workers see our signs on the way to work. Last Easter, a group of protestors kneeled down in front of the entrance, outside the permitted zone. A cross was placed in front of us, and Art Laffin from the Catholic Worker lay face down on the ground, clearly demonstrating our unspoken prayer, “Jesus, have mercy upon us for continuing to crucify you by our war making.” Others were standing in the “free speech” zone holding signs and a large banner. The police surrounded the kneeling group, but when they didn’t do anything, I asked one of them, “Aren’t you going to arrest us? "Oh no,” he replied, “We trust you…we know who you are.”
The Apostle Paul said, “Though I speak with the tongues of men and angels,and have not love, I’m like a noisy gong or a clanging cymbal…If I hand over my body so that I can boast, but do not have love, I gain nothing.” The police know who we are, and that we act out of Love, a gift that is more powerful than any weapon that the US can devise. So be it.
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MARK (Mark Goldstone is a "Movement lawyer" who has been defending Eve Tetaz in her non-violent civil disobedience. Eve invited him to teach, thinking he would talk about civil disobedience."
Thank you for inviting me and welcoming me and my family and friends to your beloved community. Thank you to Patty and Marja who were a great support team for Eve for her September trial in Syracuse NY, for opposing drones.
I want to tell a few Eve Tetaz stories. She called me this past Thursday and asked me about this presentation Sunday. We were on phone about five minutes. We discussed times. We discussed location. We discussed themes. We discussed parking. At end of it, as the call was winding down, Eve said, “Oh, by the way; I got arrested today.” "You did?" I responded.
So I have represented Eve many, many times for her arrests for peace and justice, always completely non-violent. One time she got sixty days jail-time for an anti-war protest and I went to the dc jail to visit her to see how she was doing. She was about 80 years old.
“How are you,” I asked.
“I am wonderful, she said.”
“Really?”
“Yes. I am having a wonderful time in jail.” “
Really?”
“Yes, I am living in a gated community. There are lovely women who bring me food three times a day.”
Eve is a woman of many issues and concerns. She was trying to end the war in Iraq and got arrested more than anyone else protesting against war in Iraq. She was the Rosa Parks of the anti-war movement.
- She also protested against the war in Afghanistan.
- Stop drones.
- Shut down Guantanamo.
- Against climate change.
- Against death penalty.
And she doesn't mind sacrificing her body for these movements and been arrested twenty-something times. She often says she's not disturbing the peace. She's disturbing the war. She often wears a t-shirt with that message. And she took a sixteen-hour bus ride to Syracuse NY to oppose drones. Why does she do it? Her faith. Her belief that individuals can make a difference. But she has a calling and would act because of her faith and her conscience no matter if she is effective. Or listened to. Or found guilty. Or sentenced to jail.
She often says "She has no choice but to speak up, to speak for those who have no voice: Only 36% of voters voted in mid-term elections on Tuesday. And they get the voice. The 64% who didn't vote get no voice. She simply cannot remain silent. Also it is important to understand her worldview in regard to people: People are not good or bad. Terrorists or non-terrorists; pro-American or anti-American. They are people. They are all God’s children. And only God gets to decide who lives and who dies.
The US government makes a determination about acceptable levels of collateral damage before deciding whether to conduct a military strike, say during a drone strike. Collateral damage: That is innocent men women and children accidentally blown up. Eve does not accept collateral damage. There is no level of collateral that is acceptable. Human beings are not collateral.
So I have enjoyed representing Eve and helping get her message out and speaking truth to power and helping build the beloved community. Every movement for peace and social justice has used the tactic of non violent civil disobedience. Think of the long struggles for labor rights. Civil rights. Women's rights. Gay & lesbian rights. Anti-war. As Martin Luther King, Jr said, the arc of the moral universe is long but it bends towards justice. I am honored to stand with citizen Eve, an active and engaged citizen. She is non-violently speaking truth to power. She does not want actions of her government that she disagrees with to be done in her name. Eve often says "Not in my name. Not with my tax dollars.”
I will close with this quote from Mahatma Gandhi: "First they ignore you, then they laugh at you, then they fight you, then you win.”"