15 Magic Hours

A report from Phil Chinn on the port blockade at Olympia that stopped the weapons of murder from reaching Iraq for 15 hours of peace:

"The most vivid memory in my mind at the moment is huddling under a tarp, in a makeshift tent at 3:00 AM in the pouring rain. I remember being soaked to the bone, drinking hot tea with a few unfamiliar faces. We had constructed the tent out of a tarp and a barricade, which was blocking the street on two sides, with a small path for cars to get through. Trucks and Strikers could not make it through, and we even had a truck axle and several cement blocks ready to block off the entirety of the road. We had held the road for nearly 12 hours at that point, with another barricade at the main entrance to the port blocking off every path that military vehicles and equipment could be driven down. Somewhere, between the rain and the cold wind, was a sense of joy. We had turned back police from our barricades, and we were going to maintain them as long as we could. While in most other situations the chant 'Whose port? Our port!' would be little more than wishful thinking; for a while, it was true." - Phil Chinn, "Port of Olympia, November 2007 - SDS News Bulletin

Christians know that "direct action gets the goods", as Jesus showed so often and so convincingly. We can lobby and plead and vote, but in the end, the powers only respond when they suffer pain and inconvenience. May a whole new generation of activists arise from the ashes of indifference!