A day-long downpour in the nation's capitol on August 7 did little to deter hundreds of activists from marching on the Treasury Department and rallying at the White House to oppose the ten year-old economic sanctions on Iraq. The diverse crowd was brought together by the broad-based National Mobilization to End the Sanctions Against Iraq as part of the Fellowship of Reconciliation's summer-long People's Campaign for Nonviolence. The campaign involved many different groups from across the U.S. taking responsibility for a day each of peace protests and activities in Washington, D.C. during July and the beginning of August.

The Department of the Treasury annex on Lafayette Square was the first stop of the march. Treasury, responsible for enforcing trade restrictions, has threatened to prosecute private humanitarians working together to import banned and restricted items. One such item - a water chlorinator - was offered by marchers to Secret Service agents barring the door. Also presented was a list of 1,000 people who have donated money and declared themselves complicit with efforts to violate the anti-humanitarian aspects of the sanctions. Turned away, the marchers moved on to the White House, where some demonstrated in the "no protest" zone.

Police arrested a total of 104 people for refusing to leave the zone, including three who marked the sidewalk with blood. Among those arrested were Iraqi-Americans, people who have recently been to Iraq to document and witness the impact of the sanctions, and many staff and board members of the Fellowship of Reconciliation and other participating organizations. All were released that day, pending a hearing in federal court October 18.

In London on August 7, Voice in the Wilderness-U.K. led a coalition of over 300 British opponents of the sanctions in a march on Whitehall, outside the Foreign Office. Nearly one hundred people participated in a massive die-in. Scores were dragged out of the way by police, many several times as they would rejoin the die-in. Four were eventually arrested for obstructing the road. A short while later, another woman was arrested during a companion demo at the U.S. Embassy. The day before, Dave Rolstone, who has thrice traveled to Iraq in violation of the sanctions, scaled London's Millennium Wheel, from which he hung anti-sanctions banners and vigiled for 90 minutes before negotiating with police his descent without arrest.

Earlier in the summer in D.C., the People's Campaign for Nonviolence joined with the American Friends Service committee to protest both the National Missile Defense program and the Iraq sanctions. At the July 3 demonstration, 25 people were arrested in front of the White House, cited and released. Their charges were dismissed on September 20.

In a related People's Campaign for Nonviolence event on July 10, the Internal Revenue Service also barred their doors to seven war tax resisters ready to plead guilty to the charge of not paying others to kill. The nonviolent direct action followed an international conference of war tax resistance in Washington, D.C.

Catholic Workers took part in the summer Campaign with a witness at the Pentagon on August 5, resulting in five arrests. The defendants were cited and released, and charges were dismissed when they returned to court in September.

For more information, contact the Fellowship of Reconciliation, POB 271, Nyack, NY 10960; (914)358-4601.