Civil resisters from the Civil Resistance study group that have been meeting at the Friend's Meeting house in Eugene led 70 people in a successful direct action at the recruitment offices of the four major branches of the military service: Air Force, Army, Navy and Marines.
In a dignified, inspired example of classic non-violent struggle, and armed with graphic photo enlargements of the human casualties of the war, American and Iraqi, as well as thoroughly researched material that exposed the lies of our government about the realities of the war and the recruitment process, the resisters confronted the military recruiters and the mainstream media. While acting from a place of deep compassion and respect for the human dignity for those who disagree with us, we achieved three major objectives with startling success; we shut down the recruitment center for the day; we succeeded in injecting into the mainstream media graphic images and powerful verbal messages capable of transforming public opinion about the war; and we established our First Amendment rights to demonstrate at a supposedly "private property" shopping center without interference from law enforcement.
The action was executed after a month of meticulous planning, many meetings, civil disobedience training, copious research and a tremendous amount of hard work and long hours by many of the resisters.
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