National Campaign for Nonviolent Resistance

Formerly the Iraq Pledge of Resistance

A nationwide network of individuals and organizations committed to ending the wars in Iraq, Afghanistan and working for the abolition of torture, utilizing the nonviolent practices and disciplines of Gandhi, King, and Day.

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CIVIL RESISTANCE

In 2002, the Iraq Pledge of Resistance was formed to prevent a war with Iraq. While we failed, we continued to engage in nonviolent direct action to end the war and the occupation. Eventually, the group, in expanding its focus, became the National Campaign for Nonviolent Resistance [NCNR].

As a group with lots of direct action experience, NCNR has consistently encouraged organizations and individuals to recognize the difference between civil disobedience and civil resistance. We see the difference as being important in the struggle for nonviolent, positive social change.

The classic definition of civil disobedience, as practiced by the civil rights movement, is the breaking of an unjust law with the intent of changing it. In Montgomery, Alabama in 1955, Rosa Parks broke an immoral law when she refused to give up her seat on a city bus to a white person.

It is rare for today’s activists to do "civil disobedience,” as it removes the onus from the government to prove a defendant was engaged in criminal activity. Doing CD eliminates the argument that the government, or a corporate entity, is the lawbreaker. Doing CD can cause a majority of the people to plead guilty and pay a citation fee. An individual has to decide whether to pay out or not. However, if a large number of people are arrested, and the organizers urge participants to pay out, that can amount to the payment of a hefty “protest tax.”

Today, NCNR activists engage in civil resistance, which means taking action to uphold the law. For example, we repeatedly challenged the Bush/Cheney government which disavowed the rule of law.

Using the term civil resistance is important for several reasons. First, in every statement about an action we point out that a government, or a corporate entity, is breaking the law. Second, we stress our Nuremberg obligation to act against the government’s lawbreaking. Finally, there is the matter of speaking in court after the action. A defendant who states s/he was engaged in civil disobedience not only is pleading guilty, but is letting the government off the hook for its failure to prosecute the real criminals.

If we are arrested, we encourage participants to go to trial and then use the courtroom to state that the action was lawful since its intent was to expose actual violations of the law—starting an illegal war, torturing prisoners or destroying the environment.

In court, we point out citizens have a Nuremberg obligation. At the Nuremberg trials, the court determined that citizens must challenge the government when it breaks the law.

Join us at the White House to act against the Afghanistan War!

Join us October 5th when we visit the White House, and you can sign the petition to President Obama... HERE!

If you plan on being a part of the October 5th mobilization in Washington, please fill out this online form.

We will be gathering at McPherson Square (15th and I Streets NW) at 10 a.m. on Monday, October 5th and then silently processing (two and a half blocks) to the White House to deliver a letter to Obama and request a meeting. The gathering will feature Liz McAlister as a speaker.

In front of the White House we will be joined by various affinity groups, such as the Atlantic Life Community, Witness Against Torture, Veterans for Peace, World Can't Wait, and Activist Response Team. Other groups fully endorsing the action and participating are Peace Action, Code Pink, the War Resisters' League, Voters for Peace, The Washington Peace Center, and Student Peace Action Network. During this action we will all be following the Nonviolence Guidelines listed on this site.

For those actively participating, we ask that either a "We Will Not Be Silent" t-shirt, or a simple black shirt be worn.

We are calling for withdrawal of all U.S. troops from Afghanistan, ending the illegal bombing with US drones, including neighboring Pakistan, and the closing of the Bagram prison and ending indefinite detention and torture. We are calling for an end to these wars and occupations, including that of Iraq, so that our resources can be used for life-sustaining actions including the funding and the rebuilding of Afghanistan’s and Iraq's infrastructure and medical assistance to Afghans and Iraqis, in addition to poverty reduction programs in the United States and world wide. We are calling for accountability for those who have committed war crimes.

If you wish to join us in DC on the Monday of the same week our nation will be entering its 9th year of War in Afghanistan, contact the NCNR Co-Conveners! We will meet on Sunday, Oct. 4th, 2-5 p.m. at the Festival Center located at 1640 Columbia Road NW.

On June 25th we visited the Dept. of Justice

NCNR organized a procession and nonviolent direct action at the Department of Justice Demanding Attorney General Eric Holder uphold the law, and appoint a special prosecutor to investigate and hold accountable Bush/Cheney officials who authorized torture and committed other war crimes... [MORE]

Eve

We spoke truth to power in the U.S. Senate:

Reflection on "Effectiveness"

By Max of Baltimore Pledge of Resistance

WHEN WE SPEAK TRUTH TO POWER, DOES ANYONE LISTEN?

"In late June Holder asked an aide for a copy of the CIA inspector general's thick classified report on interrogation abuses. He cleared his schedule and, over two days, holed up alone in his Justice Depart ment office, immersed himself in what Dick Cheney once referred to as ‘the dark side.’ He read the report twice, the first time as a lawyer, looking for evidence and instances of transgressions that might call for prosecution. The second time, he started to absorb what he was reading at a more emotional level. He was ‘shocked and saddened,’ he told a friend, by what government servants were alleged to have done in America's name. When he was done he stood at his window for a long time, staring at Constitution Avenue.” Independent’s Day, Daniel Klaidman, NEWSWEEK dated Jul. 20, 2009

For several years, members of the National Campaign for Nonviolent Resistance [NCNR] have tried to speak truth to power. For example, after an exuberant rally in Washington, D.C.’s John Marshall Park on June 25, Torture Accountability Action Day, NCNR led a march to the Department of Justice to seek a meeting to discuss the indictment of George W. Bush and Richard Cheney.

A letter had been sent on May 11 to Attorney General Eric Holder requesting a meeting. He never responded, so we marched to the DOJ entrance on Pennsylvania Avenue with banners calling for the prosecution of members of the Bush Administration for war crimes.

Last year, we sent a similar letter to then-Attorney General Michael Mukasey. Since he did not respond, we rallied on November 10 outside the DOJ’s Constitution Avenue entrance. A public relations person came out and said he would only deliver our letter. Since we were denied a meeting, sixteen of us did a die-in on the sidewalk. The police declined to arrest us.

The same PR person came out on June 25 and took a copy of the Holder letter. This time he claimed we would receive a response, but said nothing about a meeting. So again we did a die-in, and twelve of us got on the sidewalk to express our disgust. First, representatives of the DOJ were refusing to meet with concerned citizens, and second, it seemed the illegal machinations of the Bush administration were not going to be investigated. The police had orders not to arrest, so we remained on the sidewalk for at least an hour. Afterwards, we resolved that we would continue our efforts to challenge the Department of Justice.

Media reports surfaced in July suggesting Attorney General Holder is seriously considering the appointment of a special prosecutor to investigate torture and other abuses that occurred during the Bush-Cheney administrations. This was remarkable, more so considering the Obama White House is opposed to digging up the skeletons.

It is difficult to ascertain what exactly Holder intends to do. Will this be another whitewash, designed to placate the protesters who are demanding justice for all? Or will Holder actually try to restore the rule of law with a thorough investigation followed by a vigorous prosecution of the war crimes?

What interests me is what effect, if any, Torture Accountability Action Day and the other protests might have had on Eric Holder. Is he a government official with a conscience? Is he prepared to go against the president and his advisors?

Members of NCNR have frequent discussions about "effectiveness." Presumably all groups have similar discussions. Of course, these discussions have to be grounded in the reality that we are challenging the actions of the U.S. government, the greatest imperial power in world history. And it is essential to recognize we have the best Congress corporate lobbyists can buy.

We have no idea if anyone in government, except for the police, notices NCNR’s acts of civil resistance. It was decades later before it was revealed the Vietnam War protests did affect the likes of Robert McNamara and Richard Nixon. We still have not yet received a response from the attorney general, but we are prepared to remind him it is his duty to investigate further the high crimes and misdemeanors of possibly the most notorious administration in the country’s history. Calling for a serious investigation would ensure Holder’s place in history.

Presumably, our actions directed at the Department of Justice have had no effect on its decision-making. Nevertheless, we will continue to act against injustice regardless of our effectiveness. Any nonviolent direct action can have an effect on those who are participating, those supporting, those observing and those being challenged. Quantifying the effect is very difficult.

The need to speak truth to power is an essential part of my life, and I try to be effective. But in these times when our government persists in its warmongering, refuses to stop shredding the Constitution, passes lame climate change legislation and ignores single payer heath care reform, we must act regardless of our effectiveness.

Max Obuszewski has been a member of the National Campaign for Nonviolent Resistance since its inception.