Joy First: Trespasser for Peace

Joy First sends us this statement, which she intends to read at her trial in Madison Municial Court on Friday, January 25. Joy was arrested with six others: Bonnie Block, Conor Murphy, Jean McElhaney, Jamie Haack, Susan Spahn and Father Jim Murphy during a "die-in" at Madison's East Towne Mall, organized by Madison Pledge of Resistance.. The peaceful protesters, who were assisted by others reading the names of Americans and Iraqis killed in the war, were charged with unlawful trespassing, and fined $424.

Statement for Madison Municipal Court - Joy First, January 25, 2008

Good afternoon Your Honor.

I come before you again today for the same reasons I have come before you several times in the past. Our government is engaged in an illegal and immoral war in Iraq causing unbelievable human suffering. I cannot remain silent while my government is engaged in war crimes against humanity, while my government is responsible for the murder of a million innocent Iraqis and almost 4000 US soldiers, while my government is breaking international laws and treaties, such as the Nuremberg Principles, the Geneva Convention, and the UN Charter.

I have done everything I can to be heard by my government. I have called and written the president and my message falls on deaf ears. I have visited, called, and written members of Congress more times than I can count, beseeching them to end the funding for the war. As the war continues and the human suffering grows, I must continue to speak out more strongly against the actions of my government. Principle seven of the Nuremberg Principles states that if I do not, I am complicit in the crimes of my government.

Part of what I must do is to raise awareness among my fellow citizens of the horrors of what is going on, and to ask them to join me in speaking out against the war. With that in mind, I, along with my co-defendants, went to East Towne Mall on November 2 to dramatically illustrate the human costs of the war through a die-in. This was a peaceful action, protected by my First Amendment right to free speech. We would have stayed for a period of about an hour and then left if we would not have been arrested. Malls are our new town square and it is imperative that we have the right to free speech in a mall. For that is where the people are. We did a similar die-in on a public sidewalk in front of Senator Kohl’s office and we were not arrested. While in front of Senator Kohl’s office, the police observed our action and we were not breaking any laws. We went to the mall because we must go where the people are to share our message. The question of whether we have the right to free speech in a mall is being raised around the country. Recently, there was a decision in a California court allowing free speech at a shopping mall there.

Your honor, it is my sacred duty and responsibility to continue to speak out against the war and occupation of Iraq, and I will not be deterred. I was in Washington, DC on January 11 and arrested with 80 others at the US Supreme Court for speaking out against our government’s illegal actions, their use of torture and denial of the right of Habeas Corpus to the men being detained in Guantanamo. I was incarcerated for 30 hours in horrible conditions where we were denied food, water, and sleep. This experience dramatically increased my resolve in speaking out against the crimes of my government, where my personal safety and comfort is no longer as important as the principles I must stand up for at this critical point in human history.

We have a war criminal in the White House and a congress complicit in the war crimes, yet we are being persecuted for doing our duty as we cry out for peace. We come to you, the third branch of our government because we have faith in our system, because we believe that somehow our system will work and that our voices will be heard. We come here before you today asking you to find us not guilty, to say that we are not the ones committing a crime, we are not responsible for the deaths of millions of innocent people. We come before you today, as we did on November 2, to say that we are not breaking the law, but that we are upholding the law by our actions.

I believe we are now at a critical time in the history of our country and of the world. We just celebrated the birthday of Dr. King. A year before his death he began speaking out strongly against the war in Viet Nam. His words still ring so clear and true today. He said, “The choice is ours, and though we might prefer it otherwise we must choose in this crucial moment of human history.” We made a choice to speak out against the war on November 2nd . Today, we come to you asking you to make a choice for truth and justice and peace and find us not guilty.

Thank you Your Honor.

Joy First is a member of WNPJ and Madison Pledge of Resistance.