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There are over 100 demonstrations taking place across the country today, on International Human Rights Day. Well, some of the participants decided to give us a call.

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AMY GOODMAN: We listen to what some of those actions are around the country.

AMY GOODMAN: Hi, you’ve reached Democracy Now! Please leave your name, the station you listen to, the area you’re calling from, and then let us know how you’re organizing, what you’re doing in this time of war. Thanks for calling.

MARK WALLER: Hi, this is Mark Waller with the Houston Coalition for Justice Not War, and we listen to Democracy Now! on KPFT here in Houston. And our plans for tomorrow are to have a big demonstration on the sidewalk across the street from the Galleria, which is a major international shopping center here in Houston. And along with that demonstration is going to be some street theater that will involve a Santa Claus passing out presents to American children, and the United States delivering bombs and missiles to the children of Iraq.

RUSTY NELSON: Hi, this is Rusty Nelson at the Peace and Justice Action League of Spokane. We’re going to have a joyful noise for peace on December 10th, a candlelight walk from the Peace and Justice Action League to the Federal Building in Spokane, singing holiday songs, including traditional Christmas carols, Jewish Hebrew songs and Arabic songs. We’ll vigil at the Federal Building and celebrate the United Nations Declaration of Human Rights, then return to our place for hot cider and cookies and sharing peace among ourselves.

MIA: Hi, my name is Mia [inaudible], and I’m calling on behalf of New York-New Jersey CAN, which is the New York region Campus Antiwar Network of 11 schools, including SUNY Stony Brook, Columbia University, Hunter College, Bard College, NYU, New School, Rutgers, Hunter High, City College, Fordham and Princeton. Each of the CAN schools is holding an event on its own campus on December 10th in honor of Human Rights Day. These events will range from teach-ins to sit-ins to die-ins. Although these events will differ in character from school to school, the message will be the same: There is a powerful and unified voice of student opposition to the war on Iraq.

RICHARD ANDREWS: This is Richard Andrews. I’m calling from the Boulder-Denver area. Our station is KGNU. On December 10th, we are participating, along with others around the country, in a nonviolent civil disobedience action in Denver. It will occur at the Customs House, which is a military recruitment center in downtown Denver. People will be lying on the sidewalk in body bags with visible painted wounds, in a partial blockade of the sidewalk that leads into that building. There will be coffins with U.S. flag and other flags raping the coffins, symbolizing the death and destruction of war. Taped sounds of war will be heard in the background. Many individuals are prepared to be arrested if the police respond in that fashion. We are committed to stopping this war against Iraq.

ELIZABETH OSHEL: My name is Elizabeth Oshel. I’m working with People Opposing War in Mount Holyoke College in South Hadley, Massachusetts. On December 10th, Mount Holyoke College People Opposing War will be joining with the Western Mass Stop the War Coalition, the AFSC and community members from all over western Massachusetts in a rally and vigil at Court Square in Springfield.

VIRGINIA RODINO: *Hi, my name is Virginia Rodino, and I’m calling from Washington, D.C. I’m part of the antiwar coalition known as Recruiters for Peace and Justice Coalition. On December the 10th at 8 a.m., the Recruiters for Peace and Justice Coalition will hold a demonstration and civil disobedience outside the U.S. military recruitment center at 12th and F streets. Under the No Child Left Behind Act, a new federal education law, schools can lose all their federal aid if they do not give the military contact information for all of their students. Also, there is a targeting of racial minority and lower-class students in high schools and colleges through military recruitment.

GREG FIELD: Hello, this is Greg Field, calling from Portland, Maine. Peace Action Maine is holding a demonstration on Tuesday, December 10th, International Human Rights Day. We’ll be gathering at Monument Square, which is one of the main downtown gathering points, for a public rally. And we’ll be moving from there, down to a spot in between the offices of our two United States senators, Senators Olympia Snowe and Susan Collins. Delegations from the rally will be going in to visit. We presented the senators with a call for their action with a list of demands, and we want to speak with them. If they won’t contact us and at least agree to meet with us face to face at a later point, some of the members of those delegations are prepared to sit in the offices as an act of civil disobedience.

ALLIE PERRY: Hi, this is Allie Perry, and I listen to WPKN in Bridgeport. I’m calling to let you know that on December 10th, Reclaiming the Prophetic Voice, which is a statewide interfaith group of religious leaders and people of faith, will be planning an action in Hartford, Connecticut. We will be meeting at 11:00 at the First Presbyterian Church on Capitol Ave. in Hartford in procession to the Federal Building. There we’ll be joined by student groups, and we all will participate in a public signing of the Pledge of Resistance.

MINDY STONE: Hi, my name is Mindy Stone. I’m with the Indian River Green Party and ANSWER. We will be hosting a candlelight peace vigil in Vero Beach, Florida, at the Heritage Center on Tuesday, December 10th, 5 p.m. to 7 p.m.

RICKY BRIDGES: This is Ricky Bridges, University of Louisiana Monroe. We need help down here organizing. We are staging a rally for peace at the University of Louisiana at Monroe on Tuesday, December the 10th.

WINNIE DETWILER: Hi, my name is Winnie Detwiler. I’m calling on behalf of Sacramento/Yolo Peace Action. We are going to be gathering from 4 to 6 p.m. at the corner of 16th and J streets in Sacramento, California.

MARGOT SMITH: Hi, this is Margot Smith from the Berkeley Gray Panthers. We listen to KPFA. It’s stand up now against the war in Iraq on International Human Rights Day. We’re having a rally and vigil at noon on December 10th at the Oakland Federal Building. It will be an interfaith gathering to speak and sing and pray for those whose human rights are abused in the United States and elsewhere. Bye.

PAT ELDER: Hi, this is Pat Elder with the American Friends Service Committee in Washington, D.C. We are planning a vigil and march, starting in Farragut Square, very close to the White House, on Tuesday, December 10th, at noon. We wanted to demonstrate in Lafayette Park, directly across from the White House, but the authorities no longer allow demonstrations greater than 25 there.

ERIC LARSEN: There is Eric Larsen. I am with No Blood for Oil, New York City. I listen to WBAI. At 8 a.m. on Tuesday morning, the military recruiting station in Times Square in New York at 46th and Broadway is going to be transformed into a peace recruiting center. You can join us to oppose the U.S. government’s decision to channel money that could go toward housing the homeless and repairing our schools into a permanent war for oil profiteers, and to march with us at 9:30 a.m. to the U.N., where we’ll be supporting the faith-based peace activists, who will be doing civil disobedience there against the invasion of Iraq.

AMY GOODMAN: Some of the voices of people who are rising up today on the streets of the United States. You are listening to Democracy Now! We’d welcome your comments, what you’re doing. You can call us at 212-209-2999, how you feel about an imminent invasion of Iraq, 212-209-2999. This is Democracy Now! When we come back, we go to the funeral of Philip Berrigan. Stay with us.

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