Kevin Zeese: What is Camp Democracy? When and where will it be occurring? Who is involved?
David Swanson: Camp Democracy is an attempt to bring together movements for peace and justice to demand change. It's motivated by:
1) Lots of ordinary people around the country demanding to know when they could come to Washington and refuse to leave without peace and accountability;
2) The need for Bush not to be able to escape Camp Casey by leaving Crawford; and
3) The need to bring movements together that are interwoven on the policy level but not at the level of grassroots organizing
Camp Democracy will bring together movements for peace, Katrina recovery, immigrants rights, labor rights, electoral reform, women's rights, environmental sanity, accountability and impeachment. We'll open the camp in Washington, D.C., on September 5th and run at least until September 21, the International Day of Peace, when a movement called Declaration of Peace has planned massive civil disobedience. We will provide nonviolence training during Camp Democracy. We'll also provide panel discussions, workshops, dramatic performances, concerts, lobbying training, and lobbying for an end to funding of the war -- because the war must end and because we need our money for useful projects.
This will not be a march preceded by speeches. It will be a Chautauqua, a teach-in, a movement-building festival. And its’ aim will be to kick-start the sort of massive occupation of our nation's capital that ought to come spontaneously from an aware and responsible public. This is do-or-die time for the people of this country if we want to have a government of, by, or for us, if we want to have a world without endless war, if we want to have social justice or security, if we want to have a sustainable planet for our grandchildren.
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