San Jose Area Residents Spell IMPEACH! with their Bodies

At first it was demonstrations against the U.S. wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. Then it was vigils against the on-going military occupations of those countries and the mounting death toll of both U.S. troops and Iraqi civilians. Then the protests became nearly daily affairs as it became more evident that the U.S. government was violating international laws protecting prisoners of war, subjecting them to torture, and humiliating them at Abu Ghuraib and Guantanamo. The signs of protest became long banners of popular outrage at the Bush administration.

Finally, under sunny skies at San Jose City Hall, South Bay residents decided it was time to spell out a still larger message to Congress: IMPEACH! Citizens laid their bodies down on City Hall Plaza Saturday, June 9 to spell I-M-P-E-A-C-H-! It was the largest sign yet of Silicon Valley's growing frustration with the Bush administration's subversion of the U.S. Constitution and violations of human rights. It was also a display of voters' growing impatience with Congress' failure to act to set a timetable to end the war in Iraq and failure to begin impeachment proceedings.

Organized by the Silicon Valley Impeachment Coalition, the Impeach "Spell-In" included participants from South Bay Mobilization for Peace and Justice, the San Jose Peace Center, the Green Party of Silicon Valley, Code Pink, and many other organizations.

Merriam Kathaleen, one of the organizers, explained, "We, all of us, are involved in the peace movement and we have come together to work specifically for impeachment because we believe that the next war can only be stopped by the impeachment and trial of those that brought us this one."

The Silicon Valley Impeachment Coalition stands for liberty under law, against empire (such as war for control of foreign oil), against "elected despotism" (such as torture and imprisonment without trial), and for accountability (no more lies to justify pre-emptive war).