Pacific Views

Iraq Protest Friday at [Where You Are]

Meteor Blades asks people to wear black armbands Friday, wherever they are, to protest the war.

Barry Leiba, who provided sorely needed conversation during the march last weekend, suggests a rolling protest. This would consist of calling and then visiting your congressperson's office with a short, prepared set of limited talking points and speaking with either your representative or a staffer.

From personal experience, I'd urge you to accept speaking to a staffer and not to feel brushed off by it; your representatives can't be everywhere at once and they rely on their staff to be their eyes and ears. Senators will usually have several state offices, and representatives often have multiple offices depending on the size of their districts, so they may have an office close to you. Take advantage of the most convenient location, call to express your opinion and perhaps work out an appointment.

As someone once said at DailyKos, 100 phone calls is an emergency in a congressional office. That many visits, whoa. People rarely make the effort to do that. Everyone understands that it's going far out of your way and if you'd take the time for it, not only does the issue really mean something to you, but you probably let other people know about it in your daily life.

Tell them that the Iraq war is an emergency. That getting out of it is a high priority. And if you remember, tell them to do everything in their power to keep us from getting into yet another war in Iran.

Be a friend to your country and your government by working to protect it from its own excesses.

Posted by natasha at September 19, 2007 05:01 PM | Activism | Technorati links |