It warms my heart when people take an event in the news and turn it into action:
www.shoebush.org
JOIN US IN WASHINGTON,DC
January,19th
SHOES FOR BUSH action "For the widows, the orphans, and those killed in Iraq."
send me your old shoes to take to DC. ALL SHOES DONATED to the needy in the DC/Baltimore area and distributed by the DC Greens
On January 20th,tens of thousands of people will be gathering to celebrate the Inaugural of President Barrack Obama.It will be a historical marker and a joyous and celebratory occasion. However, the promise of change, does not mean that we can shut the door, on the past eight horrific years of the Bush administration and wipe clean the images of shear terror, torture and suffering on the faces innocent Iraqis who have faced death and total destruction of their country. Also, it will not be easy for our own families, like Melida and Carlos Arredondo who have lost their child to an unjust and immoral war. Americans of conscience are grieving for our children and for those in Iraq. To watch president Bush leave office, unaccountable is like rubbing salt into a wound.
On Monday, January 19th at 11:00 people will be converging at a permitted site near the White House for what may be a cathartic action of hurling a shoe at an image of President Bush. In the spirit of Mutadhar Al-Zaidi and in solidarity with the people of Iraq, we invite you to join us.
If you are will be in town for the Inaugural, bring an extra pair of shoes with you! If you cannot be there with us you can send us your shoes and we will take them to DC in a U-Haul. No Bomb-sniffing dogs at our post office! Unfortunately if you send shoes to the White House they are taken to a remote location and the gesture will be for not.
We are designating a page on this web site to post the names of people who are collecting shoes in your area. These people will deliver the shoes to collection points where those who will be traveling to DC, by car, will pick bring them up.
Please consider writing notes and putting them in your shoes. We will read them at the SHOES FOR BUSH event where documentary film maker Scott Hamann will be recording this historic mass action. Artists are invited to be creative if they choose to create a work of art work with their shoes.
ALL SHOES WILL BE DONATED TO THE NEEDY IN THE WASHINGTON/BALTIMORE AREA. A few will be saved for posterity and perhaps we should donate those to the Bush Library.
My appreciation goes out David Swanson for his literary contribution and support as well as to Andrew Lehman, Marcia Bernstein and Dana Simpson for their contribution of web site creation, The Washington Peace Center, the DC Statehood Green Party and my activist friends and organizations in DC who are supporting this mass action.
Jamilla El-Shafei
organizer@shoebush.org