Seat of our Pants Tour by Cindy Sheehan
Between the time that I co-founded Gold Star Families for Peace (GSFP) in January 2005 and camped out in Crawford, Texas in August of that same year, I traveled extensively with my anti-war message.
I would go from town to town wherever I was invited and speak to small or medium crowds…rarely large.
My accommodations for those days ranged from sleeping on couches to having my own suite in a Rhode Island mansion.
I floated in the waters of Cape Cod with one of my on-the-road “moms” and swam in a pond with another in Mass; literally froze in Maine in January, then went back in July for much nicer weather. In Florida I had to sleep on a couch because the absent owner’s scary cat wouldn’t let me in the bedroom. Later on in that same Florida trip I got elbowed in the stomach by a St. Petersburg cop because I was getting to close to where George’s motorcade was going by on his way to a fund raiser with his base, the “haves and have mores.”
Everywhere I went I made friends but also heard the frustration of the people I spoke to. “What can we do to end the wars…yesterday if not sooner?” We would brainstorm and try to figure out something that would “spark” a movement for change.
I plugged away and rode on buses, trains, cars and airplanes, never staying in one place for more than two days. Every place I visited would take up a collection for me so I could move on to the next town.
After Camp Casey in Crawford, I lost most of the control over my travels and the activists scheduling me and the activists that I was being scheduled to visit started to guard me and my time because, truthfully, the international travel and meeting thousands of people was exhausting, but I missed so much of the personal relationships that I forged before camping out in Crawford. Many of those people joined me in the ditch next to Prairie Chapel Road.
In Crawford, we sparked the movement. No one can argue that we didn’t bring the lies and criminality of BushCo to the forefront and tens of thousands of people became anti-war activists after our Peace Camp, Bring Them Home Now Tour and our activities for peace that continued up until the Democrats regained control of both Houses of Congress.
Sadly, that was the goal of many of the groups that I worked with: Electing Democrats. That was NEVER my goal. My goal has not been accomplished. My immediate goal is still troops out of Iraq AND Afghanistan and my long-term goal is to peacefully throw off the chains of the Robber Class and to have a country/world that is peaceful AND secure; environmentally healthy WITH renewable, clean energy; prosperous AND with a fairer distribution of resources and wealth. As we have seen over the years, the politicians, no matter what party, do not want these things for We the People, so that’s what my new Internet Booklet and my new tour will address.
I am now very excited to hit the road again by myself, by the seat of my pants doing what I can to Rally the Robbed Class to become the Independent Class. To build upon existing friendships and organization and build new relationships and structures where needed.
I am calling it the Seat of OUR Pants, because like my Congressional Run and my Online Show, these movements must spring up organically from the literal grassroots to be effective and I need your help!
I would go from town to town wherever I was invited and speak to small or medium crowds…rarely large.
My accommodations for those days ranged from sleeping on couches to having my own suite in a Rhode Island mansion.
I floated in the waters of Cape Cod with one of my on-the-road “moms” and swam in a pond with another in Mass; literally froze in Maine in January, then went back in July for much nicer weather. In Florida I had to sleep on a couch because the absent owner’s scary cat wouldn’t let me in the bedroom. Later on in that same Florida trip I got elbowed in the stomach by a St. Petersburg cop because I was getting to close to where George’s motorcade was going by on his way to a fund raiser with his base, the “haves and have mores.”
Everywhere I went I made friends but also heard the frustration of the people I spoke to. “What can we do to end the wars…yesterday if not sooner?” We would brainstorm and try to figure out something that would “spark” a movement for change.
I plugged away and rode on buses, trains, cars and airplanes, never staying in one place for more than two days. Every place I visited would take up a collection for me so I could move on to the next town.
After Camp Casey in Crawford, I lost most of the control over my travels and the activists scheduling me and the activists that I was being scheduled to visit started to guard me and my time because, truthfully, the international travel and meeting thousands of people was exhausting, but I missed so much of the personal relationships that I forged before camping out in Crawford. Many of those people joined me in the ditch next to Prairie Chapel Road.
In Crawford, we sparked the movement. No one can argue that we didn’t bring the lies and criminality of BushCo to the forefront and tens of thousands of people became anti-war activists after our Peace Camp, Bring Them Home Now Tour and our activities for peace that continued up until the Democrats regained control of both Houses of Congress.
Sadly, that was the goal of many of the groups that I worked with: Electing Democrats. That was NEVER my goal. My goal has not been accomplished. My immediate goal is still troops out of Iraq AND Afghanistan and my long-term goal is to peacefully throw off the chains of the Robber Class and to have a country/world that is peaceful AND secure; environmentally healthy WITH renewable, clean energy; prosperous AND with a fairer distribution of resources and wealth. As we have seen over the years, the politicians, no matter what party, do not want these things for We the People, so that’s what my new Internet Booklet and my new tour will address.
I am now very excited to hit the road again by myself, by the seat of my pants doing what I can to Rally the Robbed Class to become the Independent Class. To build upon existing friendships and organization and build new relationships and structures where needed.
I am calling it the Seat of OUR Pants, because like my Congressional Run and my Online Show, these movements must spring up organically from the literal grassroots to be effective and I need your help!
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