 Peace monument on the capitol grounds. "May Peace Prevail on Earth" is printed in four languages, including Arabic. Photo by Michael Heggen. |
Day 17In order to help alleviate some of the burden of writing the journal, Mike Nolley has volunteered to write a few journal entries. 3 April 2003 In the last few days, I have filled in for Michelle, which enables her to go home for a few hours, or take Tala to lunch. I deeply appreciate what Michelle has done, and I encourage everyone to fill in for her as much as possible, and let her return home on a regular basis. When the going gets tough, and it starts raining, Michelle is often the only one there. It is important to keep the ball rolling, through the bad weather. I find the conversation at the Capitol steps to be refreshing and the experiences varied. Doug has been actively involved in the last few days in setting up a lighting fixture which projected two giant peace signs onto the capitol walls. An ingenious arrangement was produced that used the light from the already existing 4 flood lights filtered through wood cut outs, masterfully focused by Doug, who is a former lighting engineer. Four nights in a row he was able to put them up, drawing several people to our encampment. The signs caught the attention of some who saw it during a TV interview with Michelle. Two days ago, Doug was given notice by police and capitol security that the signs were not acceptable. Doug spent all day yesterday exploring whether a permit was possible, but was unfortunately denied, on the grounds that the capitol building could not itself be used as a way of conveying a message which might serve either political or commercial interests. Peter Courtney said to Doug that if this kind of free speech was allowed, Nike would also be allowed to display their swoosh on the capitol building. I found that argument convincing on the face of it, given that the capitol is meant to be "sacred ground" politically, and not charged with any particular message. It's true, the fact that our encampment is located at the Capitol is being used for a political message--but traditionally the capitol can't expel people for being there, with whatever stuff they bring with them. So theoretically, we could fly huge silks with our message on them, around the capitol, and *technically* get away with it. However, the real issue is credibility, not legality. The difference between our hand built signs and the larger ones is that the larger ones are more professional, and lend credibility to our cause. Some will not want this. Every step we take in the direction of professionalism and credibility will be met by an equally "credible" force in the opposite direction. This is politics. Essentially, the task we want to undertake is to lend credibility to our cause, by making our message more visible, and more professional. We've in the last day come up with a dry erase board and laminated headers (masterfully created by Marina). One goal might be to have some kind of electronic information resource, which was visible from the road. A secondary goal would be to provide the information in a highly credible and convincing way, without stooping to exaggeration or cheap tricks. These techniques, of course, would be at everyone's discretion, and would depend on how long the war lasted. In my next entry, I will discuss the spiritual issues that are coming up in a wonderful way at the capitol steps. --Michael Nolley |
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