Ann Wright: A Camp for Democracy in US Capital

How about having a camp in the middle of our nation’s capital in beautiful autumn weather? Having been a part of the four Camp Casey’s during the past year and coming directly from hot, hot central Texas and ole Crawford, Texas, opening a camp here in “cool” Washington sounded right to me.

Since we were in Bush’s backyard in Crawford, why not bring our concerns on the direction of America and the need to use and preserve our democracy, to the backyard (or frontyard) of Bush in the White House and to other government officials and lawmakers?

Well, that’s what Camp Democracy is doing right now. Every day concerned Americans are coming to Camp Democracy to think, listen, and act on important concerns.

Camp Democracy is on an extraordinary site on the mall between the Washington monument and the US Capitol, on 14th and Constitution-you can’t find a better location for walking four blocks to the White House or hiking 14 blocks to the Capitol (or take the metro) to express your concerns to President Bush, Vice-President Cheney and the Congress in person.

You can fire up your information and enthusiasm by talking with excellent writers and speakers like Antonia Juhasz “The Bush Agenda, Invading The World, One Economy at a Time” (September 6 and 9), Jeremy Brecher and Brendan Smith “In the Name of Democracy: American War Crimes in Iraq and Beyond” (September 8 and 9), ARun Gandhi “Legacy of Love: My Education in the Path of Nonviolence” (September 11), Dave Lindorff “The Case for Impeachment: The Legal Argument for Removing President George W. Bush from Office ; This Can't Be Happening!: Resisting the Disintegration of American Democracy ; Killing Time,’
Elizabeth Holzman “The Impeachment of George W. Bush: A Practical Guide for Concerned Citizens “ (September 18 ), Ray McGovern “NeoCONNED and NeoCONNED II (September 13 and 18), Marcus Raskin “The Four Freedoms under Siege: The Clear and Present Danger from Our National Security State, (September 18), Scott Ritter “Target Iran: The Truth About the White House's Plans for Regime Change ; Iraq Confidential: The Untold Story of the Intelligence Conspiracy to Undermine the UN and Overthrow Saddam Hussein ; Frontier Justice: Weapons of Mass Destruction and the Bushwhacking of America” (September 19) and Howard Zinn (September 20) and many others.

Each day tremendous singers and poets tell about their vision for America in verse and song. Each night you can watch new documentaries and movies on the need to end the war, environmental and social justice issues and talk with the filmmakers and many of the persons portrayed in the films.

Camp Democracy is inspirational and we hope you will come to Washington and be inspired to take our country back! Come join us soon!

See the entire schedule of Camp Democracy on www.campdemocracy.org with a complete list of speakers, singers, artists and movies.

Ann Wright - Retired US Army Reserve Colonel and US diplomat who resigned in March, 2003 in opposition to the Iraq war

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