I have been a part of CAN UW-Madison since transferring here last fall. When I got here then there were about six members of CAN who came to meetings. With so few of us we couldn't do very much. Very near the end of the semester after the Democrats took the Senate and House, I heard of the proposed march on the capital on January 27th. Since I had not been able to make it to DC in any of the previous rallies since leaving the military, I decided that I was going and if possible so were a bus load of folks from Madison. To this end I and the other three members of CAN who were active set out to get buses lines up and find riders.

The community groups felt that a local rally was more important so we took it upon ourselves to build the buses for Madison and surrounding areas. With the help of a few other people, one of which put up over 1000 fliers during the winter break, we began to sell tickets for the trip. We sent out a few student body emails and received a good response from students ready to go. By the time the semester started a mere five days before the trip we had over a bus full of people. Within those five days we filled up the second and in two days filled our third bus. This trip was instrumental in finding members to fill our ranks and help build a fight against the occupation of Iraq on campus. The trip was long but amazing. I got back in touch with some IVAW members I had met earlier in the month at the strategy conference and Appeal for Redress press conference and also met a bunch of new members.

Our first CAN meeting after getting back from the trip had over 45 participants and people were very excited about what they had just done. Throughout this semester we have done a number of actions including: protesting military and CIA recruiters on campus, sending another bus to DC for the March on the Pentagon, screening "The Ground Truth" with members of IVAW speaking about their experiences in the military among other things.

During the lead-up to the walk we put put massive efforts into chalking and flyering on campus. I worked with a few other members to flyer at a Save the Earth event and spent six hours chalking and flyering on the Saturday beforehand, including two areas on the Engineering side of campus with vast amounts of chalk (a conservative area but where I am all day long). After building for the walk-out for a few weeks, I was still planning on going to my class during the walk-out and rally. However, that morning I decided that I had put too much into this event to sit in my class and listen to a boring lecture when there is a war to stop. So I decided to go to the rally and witness the fruits of my and other's labor.

The day was a break in the unusually high temps that we had been experiencing and may have hurt our turnout. However, we had about 200 people at the rally (http://img245.imageshack.us/my.php?image=herbkohlsofficeoccupatiag8.jpg). Two members of the local chapter spoke among others. Following the rally, once everyone was a little chilly, we started the march down State Street to Kohl's office. Once everyone got up there the office was completely packed (http://img257.imageshack.us/my.php?image=herbkohlsofficeoccupatiir4.jpg). Of course the office staff was completely surprised to see so many folks occupying the office and we actually had a list of demands of the guy. (For a number of weeks there have been 5 or so people sitting in his office trying to get Kohl to meet with them. They stay out of the way for the most part and have been unsuccessful in their attempts.) We had the entire office filled and our demands were read (http://youtube.com/watch?v=TLc4Gvjsy0c) and ignored in the response sent by Kohl (? or his staff).

For more on the events while we were there see my blog (http://ted.gnn.tv/blogs/22867/We_are_occupying_Herb_Kohl_s_Office?r=5).

So why did I occupy my Senator's office? He refuses to acknowledge the illegality of the continued occupation and refuses to acknowledge the lies which started it. In his response he said that the "war" is a failed policy and didn't even respond to our demands. He has not been back to Wisconsin in over six months, has never met here in Wisconsin with folks wanting to, has not followed through on the requests of the activists to talk about the war...

So if we knew he would not talk to us why would we participate? There are many in this country who felt that after the November elections the Democrats would work to end the war. After all, the country is against it and they were the only option on the ballot for most voters, so they owe it to their constituents to end the occupation. Instead, the Democrats have refused to even take the war issue on for the lies and deceptions which started it. When they took office, suddenly impeachment for spying, torture, lying us into war... was off the table and so was addressing the war. They said they were waiting for the Iraq Study Group Report, when the citizens clearly want the war to end. But once the report came out they still refused to take action and have even verbally abused a mother of an IVAW member who asked about cutting off funding for the occupation (http://youtube.com/watch?v=WAlkfYczY4c). They represent the people and we want the occupation to end.

I didn't vote for them in the first place since I knew they would do nothing, I was not surprised at their lack of action. I had given up on the Democrats when in the 2004 election they failed to argue against the war. However, I still expect them to respond to their constituents.

I have contacted Herb Kohl on a huge variety of issues since before the occupation began. I am still waiting for a response from him in regards to where he stands and how he will work on the issues I addressed. His lack of action and lack of time here in the state led me to push him and his office staff for a meeting. After all, others have been demanding it for months. So if we came with a huge group and took over the office surely he will see that he cannot hide halfway across the nation forever, right? Of course he wouldn't bow to our pressures, we have no lobbying fund with which to talk to him and he doesn't arrange meetings in every county each year like our other Senator. So to prove his inaction and help show the rest of the country what needs to be done to send the Democrats a message I along with over 100 people went in and occupied Herb Kohl's office.

Also see our blog from inside the office http://madison.indymedia.org/feature/display/57022/index.php
and if you are on Facebook read the response of one of our members with numerous links to his youtube videos http://wisc.facebook.com/note.php?note_id=2362141282&ref=mf

his videos
http://youtube.com/profile_videos?user=heiseheise

my videos
http://youtube.com/profile_videos?user=tdennis007