In consultation with SusanG and a few other good friends here in Southern California, I am organizing what I think is a novel and potentially powerful form of protest. Below is a summary of my proposed action. Even if you can't join in on the fun, please offer your feedback, positive or critical. I want to do this right, and I am a novice in the world of social activism.
For now I'm going to call this thing the "Elijah Project" -- a conscience-pricking, verbal assault on the Christian fundamentalists who continue to wholeheartedly support the Bushist agenda and ignore the illegal detention, abuse and torture of prisoners suspected of being terrorists, Iraqi insurgents or "persons of interest."
In the Old Testament, Elijah was the one prophet who dared challenge the tyrant king, Ahab, and his greedy, murderous wife, Jezebel, who pulled the political strings behind the scenes and misled the people with her cadre of corrupt priests. Project Elijah is about taking on the churches that support the Bushist agenda, who, not unlike Jezebel, promote religious oppression in our country and work to undermine our constitutional rights and the rights of people everywhere.
As American citizens, we can no longer tolerate illegal detention and torture by agents and soldiers of the US government. Project Elijah is about utilizing the very foundation of the Christian faith, its Bible, to remind adherents of their sworn duty to love justice and show mercy. Jesus said, "I tell you, love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you." The fundamentalists, by their support of the Bushists, have reversed this saying. They might as well rewrite it to say "hate your enemies and persecute those you suspect have or might hurt you..."
With your help, it is my hope to organize a barrage of quiet protests, to take place outside as many churches as we have Resisters to man the sidewalks, to remind churchgoers of all the human suffering that the president they elected is responsible for. Our weapon will be shame. I want to shame "the people of Christ" into rethinking their support of George Walker Bush and his so-called "war on terror."
Beyond people to man the picket lines, we need organizers across the country to facilitate protests in their area. We need people of an artistic bent to help make effective props and compelling signs and pamphlets. We need computer geeks. We need people to open up their homes for meeting places. We need writers, press spokesmen and good people everywhere to help us get this message out, by every means at hand. We could really use experienced activists to pass on their wisdom and a lawyer or two or three to help keep us out of trouble with the law.
While I am a Christian myself, you need not be a Christian or a religious person to join the Elijah Project. We need people who believe that the rights of all human beings must be respected, that no man or woman should be imprisoned for months and years at a time without trial, that torture is an unacceptable evil under any circumstances, that American imperialism is wrong, that our political and military leaders -- and not just the kids in uniform -- are morally and legally responsible for the terrors of the Bush regime.
It's my hope to be outside the first churches Easter morning. Thereafter, we want to expand our "visits" to more churches and to never let a Sunday go by without somebody having to pass through an Elijah Project picket.
Please consider helping us. If you want to participate in any way or if you are just thinking about it, it's best that you go to http://groups.yahoo.com/group/ResistanceUSA/ and join our email discussion group, ResistanceUSA, at Yahoo Groups. (In time, I hope to have a blog solely dedicated to Project Elijah.)
Thank you...
Mark Parker
Banning, CA
res0cmfw@verizon.net