dear friends
starting tomorrow I plan to protest every day of this week from 12 noon - 2 pm in front of the federal building (corner of monroe and main). I have two signs: one for dr. al-arian and another for al-marri - the peorian. please join me if u can. thank u.
thank u mark for helping me with the posters.
ill have a petition for people to sign.
for more info check out these sites
http://www.democracynow.org/article.pl?sid=07/03/16/1410255
http://www.freesamialarian.com/home.htm
March 19, 07
day 1
never having taken an initiative like this before, i was a little apprehensive at first, but once i situated myself in front of the federal building at the corner of main and monroe it was just like the papn protest i have participated so many times on saturdays from noon - 1 pm at the corner of university and main.
the first person who talked to me may have been a peoria journal star worker. he knew a lot about al-marri: he is from qatar and his wife and children are in saudi arabia. that was good to know, i have been unsuccessfully have been trying to find their whereabouts.
there was quite a bit of traffic and most people seemed curious. one women while waiting for the light to turn green asked me where he was now. i don't don't who she was referring to, al-marri or al-arian. my response: virginia, where i believe both of them are being held.
several pedestrians stopped by, one man was really angry, nancy had joined me shortly before he came. i could identify with his frustration: how could this all be happening? i gave him loose change dvd and 11 remarkable facts about 9/11. he said he was going to make copies and pass them around, he may even join big papn protest tomorrow evening at 5 pm at the same place.
other reactions from pple in cars: one woman started laughing, one man gave thumbs down, one gave thums up, one honked horn, most others gave just curious looks.
tomorrow ill have a petition for the release of al-marri and al-arian for pple to sign, copies of which i'll send to members of congress and white house. if u can't make it during the day, please remember to sign the petition in the evening.
thank you nancy for taking time from your lunch hr to join me.
yesterday was quite a busy day, protest for dr al-arian and al-marri earlier in the day, more protest at 5pm against the war followed by the peoria disposal company and ending with monthly meeting of peoria area peace network. i started writing the journal but didn't send it. today i found out WMBD did air our interviews.
i met some more wonderful people in the evening protest. lot of people really do care! razia
Dear friends, thank you for writing, its heart warming to receive messages of encouragement.
March 20, 07
Day 2
Today as i pulled in to park by the side of library on Main Street, the car in front had a jimmy Dennis bumper sticker. I thought of Tonya but it was Nancy already there to join me in the protest.
i came to know of jimmy Dennis thru Jim and Tonya who have taken up his cause: to save him from death row, they along with hundreds of others believe he was wrongly convicted of murder. they have build a web site for him: http://www.jimmydennis.org/
as i was saying I got so excited to see Nancy that i almost forgot to put money in the meter, again Nancy came to the rescue. later on i saw at least two may be more city parking enforcement vehicles pass by every few minute.
As we were crossing Monroe Street we saw WMBD-local CBS TV- car parked in front of the library. We had hardly put down the extraneous stuff we were carrying, than the young woman was there with her camera and microphone. She interviewed both of us. I don't know if it made it to the air or not, still it was nice to be noticed and that is the whole point, to make public aware of the wrongful imprisonment of people on mere suspicion in this land of the free.
Soon afterwards Mike, a Vietnam veteran, came on his bike. Nancy and I were delighted to see him. He stayed for a while and like the rest of us vented his frustration at the absurdity of the whole state of affairs.
Nancy left a few minutes before 1 pm and Mike stayed for a few minutes holding the poster on his bike.
Most people as usual were curious, some stopped by to ask who these men were and if I am related to them in some way, what I hope to accomplish, etc.
One guy driving a big SUV made a point to show me his thumbs down, and at the end while I was walking to my car holding posters hanging down with backs facing each other, another man pulling out of an alley in a big truck yelled "yeah let those terrorists be free to kill more people” he wasn't interested in my pronouncement that these men have not killed any one nor they have anything to do with any other killing. They are the victims of a witch-hunt.
One woman signed our petition. In the evening all the people who were at the PAPN protest also signed the petition.
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