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Operation Dewey Canyon IV: A Limited Incursion into Congress 'Land'

By VVAW

WED. THRU SAT., 12TH THRU 15TH MAY

Organization on the Mall: Plans call for the Mall area to be organized by geographical regions—the West, the Midwest & South, and the East. Because we are looking for the best possible way to establish democracy within the Mall site, we are planning for regional leadership so that complaints, suggestions, ideas or plans can be passed along as quickly as possible. We all know that during a march or demonstration, we follow what leadership says—and complain later: we believe that leaders within each region will give the best means of getting the input as quickly and efficiently as possible.

Literature, etc: Because a number of different groups have already asked about selling their literature, T-shirts, bumper stickers or whatever during the Demonstration, and because we do not want to turn either the Mall or the marches into shopping bazaars, we have set up an area in the administration tent where anyone may have their material for sale. Beyond this one are we expect no selling of material during the demonstration.

Money: We will be asking for a $15 registration fee when people come in to the Mall. This will include meals from Wed. evening through Saturday morning. Arrangements have been made for parking at the Armory Parking Lot near the RFK Stadium; the cost is $2 per car per day, and $6 per bus. It's an easy subway ride from there to the Mall. VVAW is planning on serving two meals per day—for lunchtime you will be on your own. Any money that can be contributed in advance (for things like renting a state or port-o-sans or trucks or the many other things needed for this kind of demonstration) is badly needed.

Security: A recruiting booth for more members of the security team will be near the registration table. We learned the meaning of discipline in the past and enjoy using what the military taught us about the value of working as a unit. The security team will have both internal functions and external functions—in short, we plan to police ourselves. To quote from the statement of the security team leader during the planning meeting, "The ways we used to respond to guarding an officer's club or banana plantation will be out of the question here. Those funny cigarettes used to make the boredom much easier to take, but when our friends and families are at stake, there is no boredom. Whether it's night guard, running extra miles or whatever, we will do it because this is what we thought we were fighting for in Vietnam in the first place."

Do's and Don'ts: Do write your congressman to say you'll be in to see him; get in touch with other vets you know and bring them along; bring raingear and sleeping gear (but not more than you can carry); bring a heavy-duty flashlight; bring fatigues and comfortable shoes. If you have medical problems or young children, do let us know ahead of time.

Don't bring drugs, or alcohol—there will be none of either on the Mall. No firearms or pets; this is a peaceful, non-violent demonstration. Don't expect a vacation, but do expect to have the kind of good time which comes from a lot of people working for the same thing, together!

ENDORSERS (PARTIAL LIST)

Vietnam Veterans Against The War; National Association of Black Veterans; National Association of Concerned Veterans; Retired Hunger Strikers; Vets Coalition of Southern California; Vets Crisis Hotline of Los Angeles; Black Veterans for Social Justice of Brooklyn, NY; Country Joe MacDonald; Al Santoli, author of Everything We Had; Pete Seeger; Tad Foster, creator of "The Vietnam Funny Book"; President William Winpisigner of the International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers; Tom Loftus, Majority Leader, Wisconsin State Assembly; Center for Creative Non-Violence of Washington, DC; Washington Peace Center; Bob Chenowith, ex Vietnam POW; United Professionals of Wisconsin; Idaho Vietnam Vets Association; Vietnam Veterans Corps of Virginia; O'Hare Local, American Postal Workers Union; Local 423, District 48, AFSCME; Operation PUSH; Agent Orange Victims of New Jersey; Monmouth County (NJ) Peace and Equal Rights Committee; Veterans of the Vietnam War, Salt Lake City; Swords Into Plowshares of San Francisco; Bill Davis, Chairman, Illinois Vietnam Veterans Civic Council; Vets for Peace; Jack Gladden, Student Body President, university of Wisconsin, Milwaukee; Incarcerated Veterans Project of San Francisco.