Manna Jo Greene
Posted on 01/04/2003 6:32:48 PM PST by rface
Manna Jo Greene knows she is not bulletproof, but she is willing to put herself on the line as part of a "human shield" to halt the seemingly unstoppable American-led invasion of Iraq.
Within two weeks, Greene hopes to travel from her home near Rosendale to Saddam Hussein's Iraq, the Middle East country in the United States' crosshairs. Organizers hope to get 5,000 volunteers for the effort.
"My intention is to prevent the war," Greene said yesterday. "I am willing to do whatever it takes. I intend to live with the Iraqi people and I hope the fact that 5,000 Americans are willing to do this will deter the war."
She will go despite the American government's ban on traveling there, despite the chance that war could explode there around her, despite the protests of her friends and co-workers, even of her two grown sons.
"'Ma, it's all well and good, and we appreciate your commitment,' " she said they told her at dinner in New York Thursday night, " 'but when you get to the airport, you have got to get past the Greene brothers to get on the plane.' "
There had been this frustration gnawing away at her in recent months as the war talk intensified, Greene said. Millions of Americans oppose the war under the current conditions, according to one poll, and anti-war demonstrations seemed fruitless. "Demonstrators are too easy to ignore," she said from her home on Cottekill Road. "But I couldn't think what to do about it."
Then she discovered the "Become the Change" campaign, initiated by Gandhi's grandson and others. She immediately signed a "peace pledge" to join 5,000 other Americans who will travel to Iraq in the weeks before the war, which many predict will come late this month or early in February. She estimates it will cost $2,000 to get to and from Iraq and to fulfill her two-week commitment.
"It's a very dangerous situation. ... I could find myself in an active war zone," she said. "It's possible I could get there and [organizers] not have someone to replace me. I could be detained," she said. "Anything can happen."
The decision doesn't come easy, said Greene, 57. The longtime environmental and anti-war advocate works for the Sloop Clearwater. She runs the Hudson Valley Sustainable Network, a group supporting environmentally sensitive construction, out of her home.
A pacifist, she said she used to schedule family vacations around marches in Washington, D.C.
"I am not defending Hussein," she said. "I abhor his methods as much as anyone."
War is different. "It's a waste of American lives and American resources," she said. "It's time to say enough is enough."
Right or wrong?
Manna Jo Greene believes she is acting in the best interest of peace and her country by using herself as a human shield against American bombs in Iraq. Do you believe she has a right and a duty to protest, or do you feel her actions are un-American?
Contact staff writer Paul Brooks at
pbrooks@th-record.com
and give us your opinion.
Ashland, Missouri
Sorry Charlie, you are 'dead meat.'
I'll sell her a five gallon can of gasoline for half that price. She can douse and torch herself in the comfort of her own home.
Manna= Spiritual nourishment of divine origin.
I don't think so.
Why not make it a one way ticket and show some real commitment? Not really serious about being a human shield, huh?
from the link...)Think of it as a vacation for peace.
An organization called the Iraq Peace Team is ready to take volunteers to Iraq -- it has taken numerous other expeditions successfully and safely. Please refer to this link for questions of safety and legality.
It would probably cost no more than a comparable two-week vacation in Hawaii or the Caribbean, yet you would be participating in making history and saving lives.
For these reasons, we want you to sign this pledge. Choose the number of people who would also need to go, for you to feel comfortable going. Once we gather all the data, we plan to use the numbers in the national media.
Think what it would do to apathy if 100,000 people are willing to go to prevent this unjust war!
Join us and make the Pledge!
The Pledge
If 5,000 500 1,000 10,000 15,000 others will go, I will join them in Iraq to prevent loss of life and the spread of war in Iraq and to encourage non-violent resolutions to the complex issues that we face.
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Name:
Email: required*
Anything else about yourself?
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If you have any comments, suggestions, questions about the pledge, what you think of this war, please let us know
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*If you do not fill this in, your pledge will not get to us.
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