by Brandon Collins

March 19, 2010 - The University of Virginia commemorated the 7th anniversary of the Iraq War, by inviting a war criminal to our town to speak, twice, about his book. John Yoo is the infamous Bush administration lawyer who authored the "torture memo" giving authorization to military officials to use torture in their interrogations. What is often left out about Yoo is that he also gave authorizations for the illegal aggressive war in Iraq, the Patriot Act, warrantless wiretapping, and indefinite detention. All of these "authorizations" are quite clearly illegal under the US Constitution and the UN Charter and constitute war crimes. Our current Deptmartment of Justice has stated that it has no intention of prosecuting these crimes, and the current Obama administration continues to utilize the tactics of torture, indefinite detention, wiretapping, and prolonging the illegal war in Iraq.

To mark the occasion, several Charlottesville activists came together to organize a protest against Yoo for the actions he has taken. Socialist Party of Central Virginia Chair Reagan Greenfield, and Secretary Brandon Collins were among the group of organizers who gained support from many anti-war and peace groups including After Downing Street, Code Pink, Charlottesville Center for Peace and Justice, and World Can't Wait. A "funk the war" march was held taking protesters from the Corner at UVA up to the rally sight across from Minor Hall, where Yoo was to speak. Actions were also planned for inside the events where Yoo was to speak. Socialist Party members were extremely helpful in organizing of this protest, particularly concerning outreach, press releases, and sign making.

Funk the war is a popular way to protest these days, a kind of mobile street party/protest. Our funk the war, despite having a loud boombox, failed to get anyone to boogie down in the streets for peace, perhaps due to a lack of student involvement. Despite a massive effort on the part of organizers to involve UVA students and faculty, very little support came from the student population. The march was great anyway, filling up one side of the street with no police escort, so it was highly visible. About 100 people participated in the rally, and quite a few of them were from out of town. The anti-war rally in DC the next day brought folks our way to participate in this event. SP-ers managed to bring a lot of folks out through our contacts with Richmond May Day and the Virginia People's Assembly. Speakers were big names- Cindy Sheehan, Ray McGovern, Anne Wright, Debra Sweet, and even Charlottesville Mayor and City Councilor Dave Norris and Kristin Szakos offered a few words to the crowd.

Beyond what had been planned by organizers for the day, some activists had made it so that John Yoo met with resistance at every turn while he was in Charlottesville. He spoke at the Miller Center that morning, with people speaking out even before he took the podium (the owner of the bookstore where the last SP-USA national committee met). The secretary of the Central Virginia Local was among the many who disrupted the speech (see video below). No arrests were made, a few folks were removed. Later, during the rally and while Yoo was speaking at Minor Hall, various citizens spoke out and were removed as well. At the end of the rally, in a fit of spontaneity, protesters gathered in front of Minor Hall (where they weren't supposed to be protesting as per the UVA police department) to try to fill the few empty seats that were still available. Police would not let anyone in, much chanting occured, arrests were threatened, and we witnessed a few people being removed from inside Minor Hall. We later learned that all of the mayhem outside could be heard from inside Minor Hall.

As we wound down the day, a few demonstrators had remained to catch a glimpse of the war criminal as he was leaving. John Yoo had a police escort of about 10 cops walk him to his car amid protesters asking them to arrest him instead of protecting him. Traffic was blocked off for his speedy getaway.

All in all, John Yoo ran into a lot concerned citizens on his swing through Charlottesville. Press was great leading up to the day, and pretty good afterward. Organizers had tried to stress the illegal aggressive war aspect of John Yoo's actions at every turn, as war encompasses the whole of all the other war crimes. This message was not really put out by the press however. Perhaps torture is an easier thing for people to recognize as being a crime, nevertheless aggressive war is a crime under the UN Charter (thus a crime under the US Constitution as it respects treaties) and that message needs to be made loud and clear. The fact that the DOJ won't do anything about the war criminals inside the Bush administration and now the Obama administration as well makes it all the more imperative that regular citizens get in the streets and demand justice.

***
Brandon Collins is the Secretary of the Socialist Party of Central Virginia.