[indymediapr] Dan Berrigan-Vietnam to Iraq-Resistance to War and Empire

[Mary Anne Grady Flores]

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PRESS RELEASE:  For Immediate Release

March 28th, 2006

Contacts:
Paul Sawyer 272-7874  pls12 en cornell.edu
Anke Wessels  255-5027 akw7 en cornell.edu
Mary Anne Grady Flores  273-7437 mgrady en lightlink.com

Dan Berrigan- Vietnam to Iraq -
Resistance to War and Empire
1st Event of Celebrating the Legacy of Activism at Cornell
A Benefit for the St. Patrick's Four

	Monday 7:30 pm April 10th, 2006

	Anabel Taylor Hall Auditorium

	Cornell University

	Suggested Donation: $8 /  $5 Students /  Kids Free


Fr. Daniel Berrigan is a Jesuit priest, social activist, and poet, 
age 85. He served as assistant director of  Cornell United Religious 
Work from 1966 to 1970. Berrigan was active in leading the antiwar 
movement at Cornell and abroad, and played an instrumental role in 
the national peace movement of the late '60s while he was with CURW. 
"The fact that this is part of Cornell's history is something to be 
celebrated," says Anke Wessels, director of Center for Religion, 
Ethics and Social Policy.  "Hopefully this will encourage students at 
Cornell to know more about that history and be inspired to be more 
vocal and active." In early 1968, Berrigan and historian Howard Zinn 
traveled to Hanoi to successfully cause the release of three American 
military fliers who had become POWs after being shot down by the 
Vietnamese.  He gained national attention with his brother Phil for 
their acts of nonviolent civil disobedience, both destroying draft 
files (1968) and participating in the first Plowshares Action, 
disarming the nose cone of a nuclear warhead (1980.)  Berrigan, who 
continues to lead us as a peace activist, will draw the parallels 
between Vietnam, Iraq and the ongoing military campaign of US empire. 
He'll be focusing on the importance of the nonviolent response to 
these wars as exemplified by the St. Patrick's Four.


The St. Patrick's Four (SP4) defendants -- Danny Burns, Peter DeMott, 
Clare Grady and Teresa Grady -- are now serving time in prison for 
their nonviolent act of civil disobedience, receiving sentences from 
four to eight months in late January, 2006. On St. Patrick's Day, 
March 17, 2003, two days before the US invaded Iraq, the four acted 
to avert the war. They protested at our local military recruiter's 
station in Ithaca, NY, by pouring a small amount of their own blood 
and then kneeling in prayer in the entrance.They went on trial in 
2004, which resulted in a hung jury. Their case was forwarded to 
federal court and in 2005, they were tried a second time.  In the 
federal trial they were charged with conspiracy, trespass and damage 
to property. The second jury found them innocent of the conspiracy 
charges. The jury found them guilty of the lesser charges. The money 
from this event will be used to support the four families.  For 
further info go to http://www.stpatricksfour.org.  This is the first 
event of two weeks of activities on activism. 


"COMMEMORATING THE PAST/PLANNING THE FUTURE:  THE LEGACY OF ACTIVISM 
AT CORNELL" April 10-22, 2006

For two weeks in April,  Cornell will be the site of a series of 
coordinated events commemorating and re-examining the history of 
political activism on the campus, from the antiwar movement of the 
1960s to the struggle over Redbud Woods in 2005. The emphasis is on 
the RANGE and CONTINUITY of progressive political activities over 
fifty years' time.  A photo exhibit in the Willard Straight Browsing 
Library, beginning April 10, will provide a quick sketch of some 
highlights from the past fifty years. Other events include an 
activist film night (April 17) and a week-end of panels focusing on 
the divestment movement of the 1980's, which began twenty-one years 
ago this month  and on the future of activism (April 22).  The series 
will conclude with a concert by local musicians with political 
commitments, including jazz, gospel, hip hop, and folk artists.  The 
ultimate aim of all the events is to explore the lessons the past 
holds for those committed to building a better future in the 21st 
century.

More on Daniel Berrigan
  In 1968 during his time at Cornell,  Fr. Berrigan and a group of 
Catholic activists, now known as "The Catonsville Nine," napalmed 378 
draft cards from a selective service office in Catonsville, Md. After 
being sentenced to three years in prison, Berrigan decided to go 
underground "on the very day he was scheduled to begin his prison 
term" on April 9, 1970, Wessels said. "He left his office keys on a 
secretary's desk in Anabel Taylor Hall and disappeared. Calling 
himself a 'fugitive from injustice,' he decided to stay out of jail 
to continue the work of nonviolent resistance to the war."


  On the day he was to begin his sentence, Berrigan made an appearance 
at the "America Is Hard to Find" weekend, a music and political 
festival with performances by Judy Collins, Phil Ochs and Country Joe 
and the Fish, planned by Berrigan and activist students for the 
weekend of April 17-19, 1970.


  Anke Wessels continued: "The weekend culminated in Barton Hall, when 
Dan Berrigan, disguised in a motorcycle helmet and tinted goggles, 
walked past the FBI agents posted at the doors of Barton Hall to the 
rousing applause of an audience of 8,000 to 10,000 people. Though 
Berrigan's presence there clearly placed him in danger of being 
apprehended, the Bread and Puppet Theater continued with a scheduled 
performance. During the performance, the lights dimmed and Berrigan, 
hidden under an enormous puppet, was escorted out the back of Barton 
Hall to a waiting car. Successfully eluding the FBI for the next four 
months, he became kind of a peace movement folk hero."  Berrigan went 
underground until federal authorities arrested him on Block Island 
(off Rhode Island), and served18 months in prison.








-- 
Mary Anne Grady Flores
      514 N. Plain St.
       Ithaca, N.Y. 14850 (607) 273-7437
      mgrady en lightlink.com

St. Patrick's Four Support Group
    http://www.stpatricksfour.org

  Ithaca Catholic Worker
  Vieques Support Group

La Cocina Latina Catering
  *Specializing in Caribbean,
  Central & South American
  Cuisine*

"The poor tells us who we are,
  The prophets tell us who we could be,
  So we hide the poor,
  And kill the prophets" - Phil Berrigan

"Because we want peace with half a heart, half a life and will, the
war making continues.  Because the making of war is total - but the making
of peace by our cowardice is partial."  Father Daniel Berrigan

"There comes a time when silence is betrayal."  MLK  
"Those who make peaceful revolution impossible make violent 
revolution inevitable." - JFK
"If you think you're too small to be effective,
you've never been in bed with a mosquito."
			-- War Resisters' League


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