Week of direct action at the Armed Forces Recruiting Center (Spring 2008)

The Winona Catholic Worker community joined forces with friends and fellow peacemakers for a week of direct action at our local Armed Forces Recruiting Center. After weeks of preparations, meetings and research the group made a plan for three specific actions and a slough of letter writing. Monday, February 25, was declared “Women’s Day,” and was planned and implemented by the 6 women of the group. Two women entered the Recruiting Center and had a lengthy conversation with the recruiter and a recent Iraq veteran. The group of women then stood vigil outside of the recruiting station for 3 hours. At one point they hung a sign over the door of the building stating that it was “closed for business.” The sign was later removed after police were called. Wednesday, February 27 was a more festive day centered around the sharing of food. The group set up a large table directly in front of the Recruiting Center and served free food to passersby. The hot soup and homemade cookies were a hit with everyone on that chilly afternoon. A simple sign that hung on the table read “eating with each other makes fighting amongst ourselves impossible.” Thursday, February 28 concluded our weeklong campaign with a somber but serious message to the Recruiting Center and the town of Winona. John Heid and Becky Lambert planned to chain the doors of the center closed before anyone had the chance to enter. The group felt it necessary to make it clear that because the Recruiting Center was operating in violation of international law, business cannot go on as usual. The original plan was slightly altered by the fact that someone was already in the building, but Becky and John quickly amended their action by taking a seat directly in front of the door. No one would be entering without first moving Becky and John. Diane and Mike Leutgeb Munson joined the mini-blockade until warned by police that they would be arrested for trespass. Becky and John remained and were quickly handcuffed, removed from the property, processed, ticketed and released (John was held for much of the day on account of his refusal to identify himself). Local media coverage of the weeks events was thorough and the slough of letters to the editor written by the group itself brought many key issues to the attention of the Winona community. We are hopeful that this is the first step towards truly ending recruitment in our town.