The American conscience has been in a long decay, spiraling toward a nihilism exhibited through patterns of self-destructive behavior. With rare exception, those who once represented the moral force of society – politicians, religious leaders, academics, journalists, and even leaders of so-called progressive movements – can no longer combat the pervasive influence of a consumption based society propped up by imperial threat, violence, and rapacious greed. As “We, the People,” bear the financial burdens of pathological wars on terror and corporate irresponsibility, the poor of the earth cry out.

The environmental destruction – for nearly two months oil has gushed into the Gulf because of BP’s government-endorsed “error” – has reached epic proportions. And once again, it is the poor and the marginalized – those not welcome or unheard in the halls of power and privilege – who will suffer the most: people of color, the uneducated, the developing world, the winged and four-legged creatures, the hills, the water. The mountains of Appalachia are being blown up with amounts of TNT comparable to the nuclear bomb dropped on Hiroshima. Over 500 of the world’s oldest mountains in one of the most diverse bioregions have been blown up. They are gone forever. It has been five years since Hurricane Katrina and now the people of New Orleans and other Gulf Coast residents are faced with devastated shorelines and economies. And yet where are the voices of outrage? Where are the people and the mass action? Who is denouncing our insatiable appetite for oil and coal that kills the very Earth that gives us our life?

We will not win the war we are waging against the Earth as we seek to conquer and control all of its resources. We can fight the Taliban in Afghanistan and de-stabilize countries like Iraq and Pakistan to secure access to oil-rich areas. Even as we outspend the all the combined military budgets of the world, we cannot outspend, overthrow, or even intimidate the Earth. We will lose. We may think we are winning, and in the short-term it might even appear that way. But there will come a time when the peoples of the Earth, probably from a country with nuclear weapons and a capitalist ethos, will make the world an inhabitable place. The Earth, over time, with the incredible resiliency of creation that can be observed by just watching the emergence of a Sequoia tree or a mustard plant from the tiniest of seeds, will go on. Its people may not.

What is needed is a revolution. This is not a call to arms. It is a call to the heart. Dorothy Day, co-founder of the Catholic Worker movement and communities known for its hospitality to the poor and its pacifism, proclaimed that “what is needed is a revolution of the heart.” It is a revolution that begins with each one of us, but not in isolation. The revolution of the heart takes place in community. And it is only through being in community that the revolutionary vision that Dr. King called for – the radical transformation of values as he denounced the giant triplets of “racism, militarism, and consumerism” – can be embraced and waged. And this revolution is already underway. It is happening on the margins, in oppressed communities, in the abandoned places of Empire like Detroit and Philadelphia, on the borders, the inner cities and the rural farming towns. All over this country, people are coming together to build community. The state has abandoned them. The promises of life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness are virtues extended to the proud and the rich, not the humble and the poor. But it is in the humble and simple work of local family farmers committed to organic production practices and land stewardship that true life, liberty and happiness is found.

The Land Stewardship Project (LSP) in Minnesota is a widening community of small-scale, organic farmers committed to building an educated and capable network of regional farmers and resisting policy that promotes an industrial, oil-based agribusiness model. Communities are emerging that are transforming the way people see the world. It is giving birth to imagination and a moral formation in a lifestyle that considers the land ethic, as Aldo Leopold referred to it. In Appalachia, hope springs eternal from communities like Coal River Mountain Watch that, through education, organization, and research, are advocating for sustainable environmental and economic alternatives to mountaintop removal such as the Coal River Wind project. Other communities like Climate Ground Zero that engage in nonviolent direct action to stop mountaintop removal exhibit tremendous courage in a society built on fear and show a willingness to suffer persecution, arrest and jail for being the voice of the mountains.

It is in places like LSP, Coal River Mountain Watch and Climate Ground Zero that the American conscience is being forged in the burning fire and struggle for social change. The communities that are built consist of strong-willed, principled individuals who have the capacity to make moral judgments and discern a course of right action. They are not distracted or dissuaded – although they are at times disillusioned and often depressed – by the empty promises of corporate-backed politicians. But the resiliency of these American people, closely connected to the life of the Earth, is what will save the people from the self-destructive war abroad in search of oil and at home in search of coal. There are many ways to resist what are termed the works of war, of which include the destroying crops and land and contaminating water. The alternative models that the aforementioned communities promote ween us from our dependency on a broken, violent system toward one of communion and sustainability.

In an epoch such as ours, where postmodern skepticism runs deep of authority figures and leaders of any sort, the force for moral transformation will not come from the likes of Day or King (we’ve seen where the Obama hope has left us). Instead our hope is in the bottom, in the communities on the margins doing the work themselves. Leaders already exist in these networks and will continue to emerge. But it is in community that we will be propelled into the revolution of the heart and our conscientization needed for peace, social change, and ecological justice.

Sixty Catholic Workers and friends from the Midwest held a demonstration to contrast the Works of Mercy and the Works of War outside the Federal Building in Chicago, Illinois on April 26, 2010.  The nonviolent protest was the culmination of a weekend gathering known as the Midwest Catholic Worker Resistance Retreat that happens every spring and ends in nonviolent direct action.  This year’s retreat, “The Cost of War: At Home and Abroad” had over 200 people in attendance from all over the country.

The Midwest Catholic Worker Community is representative of a nationwide movement of Catholic Worker houses which have practiced the works of mercy since the movement was founded by Dorothy Day and Peter Maurin on May 1st, 1933. These works include providing hospitality to the homeless, feeding the hungry and practicing simple living.

Civil resistance is a part of our tradition and one rooted in hospitality.  We take to the streets because people are hungry and homeless because of an ever-increasing U.S. military budget.  At 9:00 a.m. Monday morning, seven activists sprawled out in front of the building–dramatizing the human costs of war– while twelve others, in shirts reading “Stop Funding U.S. Wars”, entered the building and refused to leave.  Seventeen Catholic Workers ended up being arrested. Others handed out food and offered coffee to passers-by to engage in the Works of Mercy and educate about the devastating effects of U.S. militarism.

Through our witness, we hope to highlight an alternative vision for building society that is based on a philosophy of personalism and works of compassion.  We are calling for an end to the wars in Iraq, Afghanistan and U.S. military aid to Israel.  Let us replace the Works of War by practicing the Works of Mercy.

The internationally praised Executive Orders signed by President Obama on his first day in office to close the illegal prison in Guantánamo missed its deadline last week.  But that was old news.  It was clear from early on that the closing of Guantánamo, as well as the ending of other Bush era policies in the “War on Terror,” were not going to be much more than a face-lift.   An Obama-appointed Task Force, led by the Justice Department, just finished a collaborative effort in re-reviewing (including the men at Guantánamo cleared for release by the Bush Administration’s standards) the cases of all the remaining men at Guantánamo.  What did they find?  The results are quite staggering and depressing and confirm the continue need for action, witness and pressure against torture and the condition that allow it to happen.

Of the 198 men (now 196 after two Algerian men were released on January 22, 2010) it was reported that “nearly 50 should be held indefinitely without trial under the laws of war,” according to The Washington Post. As Andy Worthington correctly notes, such indefinite detention is not only legally dubious, it “rubs salt in Guantánamo’s wounds” by announcing such findings on the anniversary of Obama’s missed deadline.  And yet, 110 men are cleared for release, many for the second time, but remain indefinitely detained as the question of where these men are “allowed” to go is resolved.  Repatriating or resettling these innocent men – letting these men go free – is difficult because the United States refuses to take any of them and is stringent in allowing men to return to the Middle East because of unsubstantiated claims of “recidivism.”  Succumbing to the fear-mongering, the U.S. Congress has barred the settling of innocent men from Guantánamo into the United States.  The vote, which passed the Senate 79-19, effectively tied Obama’s hands from making the simple gesture to primarily European nations that the United States is willing to clean up its own mess.

And that is why we continue to protest against torture and indefinite detention.  Waging Nonviolence (here, here, and here) reported some of the activities and civil resistance from Witness Against Torture’s Fast and Vigil for Justice, particularly the 42 women and men arrested at the U.S. Capitol last week mourning the deaths of the three “suicides.”  Most of those arrested spent close to 30 hours in jail, identifying themselves only by the name of a prisoner cleared for release.  After a fast from solid foods for a week and a half, it was a difficult experience for those who spent the day and a half in jail with little water to drink.  But we realize the 12-day, liquid only fast is a small, humble attempt to bring the human face of and suffering reality of the men in Guantánamo (and Bagram) to the United States.  The stories and poems that are related to us by the men in Guantánamo (and through their lawyers) draw us into their humanity in ways that only fasting can do.  Through our own experiences of suffering during the fast, albeit miniscule in comparison, our hearts and imaginations are cracked open and we are able to feel the tears and pains and sorrows and hope (the little there is left) of the men in Guantánamo.  Although we are kept many miles apart, with borders and walls and barbed wired and armed guards and land mines separating us, during moments of our fast, we are drawn into compassion for even those we are told are our enemies.  For some reason, and Gandhi certainly knew this, when you fast, the layers of judgment, fear, and violence are shed and you are able to love even the “worst of the worst.”

We fast because it makes us more human, makes them more human.  Dorothy Day, the co-founder of the Catholic Worker, often extolled the “weapons of the spirit, [the] denying of ourselves and taking up our crosses” as the foundation for radical social change.  Gandhi urged his followers to fast to reiterate the need to be nonviolent. We fast because it draws us deeper into nonviolence and emboldens us for public action and civil resistance. Throughout our 12-day fast, many of us expressed a deeper solidarity with the men at Guantánamo than we had experienced before. Only a handful from Witness Against Torture have traveled to Cuba to try to visit the prison. Very few of us have been able to share in dialogue and community with the men imprisoned there, as we are not lawyers.  We fast and protest because indefinite detention, torture and extraordinary rendition are always wrong.  We fast and protest because we want to live in a world not ruled by fear but by courage. And so, while our bodies may be weakened by the fast, our spirit and our resolve are strengthened to hold on, to keep fighting, to keep protesting because one day justice will flow like a mighty river and our brothers at Guantánamo will be welcomed at our table.

Close to two hundred people marched through the streets of downtown Chicago visiting some of the nation’s worst climate criminals as part of the November 30 Global Day of Action.  With its own marching band, puppetistas, signs and banners, the Chicago coalition of activists and environmentalists delivered “citations” to the EPA, JP Morgan Chase, Midwest Generation, and the Chicago Board of Trade for their part in contributing to destructive environmental practices and false, market-based “solutions” to climate change, such as the cap and trade and carbon offsets.  Check out the Act for Climate Justice website for more photos and information from Chicago.

The day’s march and rally culminated at the Chicago Climate Exchange, North America’s largest carbon trading system for greenhouse gases and the epitome of capitalism’s willful ignorance of the folly of market solutions for dealing with the ever-present reality of climate change.  Activists took to the streets, blocking police officers and traffic as 12 women and men locked themselves together and blocked the intersection leading to the CCE in protest of the false hopes promised by government and business leaders.  The blockade drew hundreds more onlookers and passer-bys wondering what the point of this protest was.  Leaflets and conversation ensued as we spoke about the need to put pressure on leaders for the upcoming international talks at Copenhagen, the hoodwinking of public resources by private industry, and government aid and complicity in mountain-top removal and rainforest destruction.  The protest had high energy as we danced and sung and marched our way back to Federal Plaza, grateful for the witness of men and women willing to put their bodies on the line and try their convictions in court.

Today’s action followed a weekend’s worth of teach-ins, skill sharing, organizing, nonviolent direct action training, and community building.  Hopefully events and actions such as this, following the October 24 “350 ppm” day of witness, will continue to go deeper into nonviolent resistance and engage in creative conflict with the corporate criminals whose insatiable greed for the market is destroying our earth and its peoples.

Today marks the beginning of the ninth year of war in Afghanistan.  The ongoing conflict has claimed the lives of 804 Americans and an unaccounted number of civilians.  Over 1,500 civilians have been killed since January of this year alone, the Chicago Tribune reported.   Accounts of wedding receptions and schools being bombed are no longer as heart-breaking as they once were because of how commonplace they have become, with the United States’ increased war presence in Afghanistan and no end in sight.

The United States’ has 65,000 troops in Afghanistan with military requests for tens of thousands of more troops.  NATO has 40,000 troops there, also.  On Monday of this week, October 5, Press Secretary Robert Gibbs answered questions from reporters regarding the war in Afghanistan as over 500 people gathered outside the White House to protest the war.  Gibbs was quoted as saying that pulling out of Afghanistan is “not something that had ever been entertained.”  Furthermore, CBS reports the following:

The White House said Tuesday that President Barack Obama considers it “tremendously important” to listen to Congress about the flagging war in Afghanistan but will not base his decisions on the mood among lawmakers or eroding American public support for the war.

Had Obama stepped outside of the White House and beyond the black, wrought-iron fence that Witness Against Torture had chained themselves to and onto the Pennsylvania Avenue sidewalk where folks from groups like Veterans for Peace and the War Resisters’ League mourned the dead, he might reconsider making such comments.

The famous “postcard picture zone” has historically been one of the premier locations for Americans to exercise their right to free speech and right to petition their government for redress of grievances.  Women won the right to vote from Suffragists showing up on the White House sidewalk. They were, of course, summarily arrested for their civil resistance.

So would be the small, yet determined coalition of peace groups calling for a new foreign policy that: “Mourns the Dead, Heals the Wounded, and Ends the Wars.”  The coalition, organized by the National Campaign for Nonviolent Resistance, is the smoldering embers of what was once a raging, hot peace movement until the Obama presidency (as a supposed anti-war candidate) doused out the movement.

Yet when the U.S. Secret Service abused 23 nonviolent protesters and the U.S. Park Police arrested 61 people expressing their dissatisfaction with their government’s criminal activities in Afghanistan, Pakistan, Iraq, and Guantanamo and the White House responds with blatant disregard for democratic process and public will, the reality of the Obama administration continuing the Bush legacy of imperial war and human rights abuses becomes more clear.  These illegalities belong to Obama and his supporters now.

The question that remains unanswered though, is to what lengt the American peace movement is willing to suffer abuse, jail, and humiliation through its commitment to Gandhian nonviolence as it engages the most powerful, most violent government in the world to convert it to the way of peace?  Hopefully Monday’s actions by these nonviolent resistance communities and organizations are the signs of a renewed commitment to ending the U.S.-sponsored violence and the beginning of a truly revolutionary peace movement.

Humanitarian aid worker Walt Staton, who was convicted of “knowingly littering” in a U.S. District court by a jury in Tucson for leaving sealed, gallon jugs of water along migrant trails on the Buenos Aires National Wildlife Refuge, received his sentencing on Tuesday.  Federal Magistrate Jennifer Guerin ordered Staton to complete 300 hours of trash pickup on public lands within a year while he will also be on unsupervised probation. In addition, he was banned from entering the BANWR during that time.

Volunteers with organizations that put water along the trails, like the Samaritans and No More Deaths, are fond of saying that much of the garbage that litters the beautiful Sonoran desert belongs to the government, not the migrants or humanitarian workers.

It is puzzling to try to understand the government’s use of resources in prosecuting and demonizing people like Staton.  It is not uncommon to hear from law enforcement officials that the humanitarian organizations are well-meaning, but their efforts to place water in the desert is misguided and contributing to illegal immigration.  But the reality is that it is failed border and immigration policy that forces people into the deserts, not gallons of water along the trails.

Two long-time peace and anti-nuclear activists have brought their nonviolent protest and resistance to the U.S.-Mexico border. John Heid, a Quaker with Christian Peacemaker Teams, and Fr. Jerry Zawada, a Franciscan priest, were arrested on trespassing charges as they prayed and offered repentance for the thousands of migrant deaths that are the consequences of an increasingly militarized border.  In a prepared statement, Heid and Zawada announced their intentions:

On this, the 64th anniversary of the atomic bombing of Hiroshima, Japan, we call for an end to militarization in all its guises. An end to bombs, nuclear and conventional. An end to the use of Drones (unmanned aerial vehicles). An end to walls, fences and their virtual counterparts that divide us and promote fear of each other. An end to war without end.

This morning we vigil at the gates of Davis-Monthan Air Force Base,home of a Predator UAV unit which now flies missions around the clock in Iraq and Afghanistan armed with Hellfire missiles which have killed hundreds of unarmed civilians. We demand an end to the unilateral slaughter.

This afternoon we vigil at a communication tower, “Tucson-1″ (virtual fence) construction sight. Fences and walls, solid and virtual, have funneled people in migration deeper into the harsh, dangerous terrain of the Sonoran desert, resulting in more than 5,000 deaths since 1994.

These three – bombs, drones and fences/walls – are lethal weapons directed specifically at noncombatants. Cities like Hiroshima, villages in Iraq and Afghanistan and the U.S.-Mexico borderland have been deliberately targeted and violated. These are crimes against humanity. A betrayal of civility. In spiritual terms, a sin. “Today we pray without ceasing for a world without weapons and fences. We pray for peace, for justice, for unity which makes walls and war obsolete.

The virtual tower that Heid and Zawada were arrested at is part of a larger initiative by U.S. federal authorities to deter migrants from crossing the border.  With physical walls – and in some places double walls – making urban crossings much less likely in places like San Diego, Nogales, and El Paso, the flow of migrants has been channeled into remote places hardly accessible to Border Patrol vehicles.  But with the introduction of these virtual towers, equipped with cameras, video, and radar, authorities are pushing migrants into even more lethal terrain. Joseph Nevins reports on the escalation of U.S. border enforcement in his book Operation Gatekeeper: The Rise of the “Illegal Alien” and the Making of the U.S.-Mexico Boundary.

One scholar at the Scalabrini International Migration Institute, Gioacchino Campese, argues that the deadly U.S. immigration policy is not only immoral but also failing.  In his essay “Cuantos Mas” (from A Promised Land, a Perilous Journey: Theological Perspectives on Migration) Campese writes:

After more than ten years since the implementation of the new border strategy, the results have been mostly negative: the federal government has spent billions of dollars in taxpayers’ money; because of border enforcement the smugglers’ industry has boomed to the point of becoming basically indispensable; the violation of human rights of immmigrants continues unabated; there is no real proof that this strategy has substantially reduced “illegal” immigration in the USA; the border build-up, rather than deterring undocumented immigrants from entering the USA, discourages them from returning home; and, most tragically, the number of immigrants dying at the border has simply skyrocketed.  To deal with this latter problem the Border Patrol launched in 1998  – five years after the El Paso experiment [Operation Hold the Line] – search-and-rescue operations to help immigrants stranded in the deserts and mountains of the border region.  But despite these efforts the number of deaths continues to rise because of the strategy itself – the rerouting of the immigrants towards the most dangerous terrains – that is causing these deaths.  The. U.S. government refuses to take any responsibility for all these casualties, which are considered one of the “unintended” consequences of the nation’s effort to protect its sovereignty.

The “unintended consequences,” which are more intentional then many Americans are willing to admit, are the reasons why John Heid and Fr. Jerry Zawada sat in prayer at the virtual tower surveillance site.  The site they visited is only one of seventeen towers in a 23-mile stretch of the border surrounding Sasabe.  The two men, long-time friends through the Catholic Worker and Plowshares movement, have moved their lives and work to the U.S.-Mexico border south of Tucson.  Both are members of the No More Deaths community, whose humanitarian efforts have saved thousands of lives in the harsh terrain of the Sonoran desert.

Border activists from No More Deaths met with Ken Salazar and the Department of the Interior last week to discuss DOI’s escalating policy of issuing littering tickets to humanitarian aid workers.  There is no official word from the meeting, but representatives from No More Deaths at the meeting expressed there was support from Salazar for finding a solution.  The request from DOI to meet with No More Deaths follows on the heels of the humanitarian group’s announcement to resume distributing water on the Buenos Aires National Wildlife Reserve (BANWR).

On July 9, forty humanitarian volunteers returned the BANWR to place water along the deadly migrant trails that cross the refuge.  No More Deaths reports that:

Thirteen humanitarian volunteers received littering tickets after putting out gallon jugs of life-saving water intended for migrants crossing the US/Mexico border.

The citations took place on the Buenos Aires National Wildlife Refuge, which extends 30 miles north from the border in southern Arizona near the small town of Arivaca. The refuge is in a very active migrant corridor.

The weekend’s weather forecast calls for temperatures reaching 110-degrees in southern Arizona. June and July are the deadliest months for individuals attempting the trek through the desert.

Members from three humanitarian aid groups—No More Deaths, Tucson Samaritans and Humane Borders—attempted to place gallon jugs of drinking water at four locations on trails that migrants follow when crossing the border.

One volunteer reflected on the day’s actions and attempts to provide water for migrants.

Gathered in a circle, Rev. John Fife reminded us of our community’s commitment and responsibility to provide humanitarian aid everywhere that it is needed. We recalled two important anniversaries for human rights: the nearly 20 years that have now passed since the fall of the Berlin Wall, and the arrest of two of our volunteers exactly four years prior to the day. The gathering ended with a prayer led by Rev. Gene Lefebvre, summoning strength for volunteers, relief for migrants on the trails at that moment, and the ability to preserve our desert with the end of deadly border policies.

[...]  After nearly four hours we gathered again, this time on the side of the road, to celebrate the courageous resistance of 13 people of conscience and the communities that stand with them. As the caravan departed in mid-afternoon, we left hopeful and still committed, yet at the same time saddened, as dozens of life-giving jugs of water sat confiscated as ‘evidence of a crime’ in the back of a truck instead of on the migrant trail where it is so desperately needed. We also left burdened by the knowledge that, as weekend desert temperatures reach 112 degrees, we will soon hear the news of the next unnecessary deaths that will undoubtedly come. Indeed, as our migrant brothers and sisters continue on this journey, forced to cross in more dangerous areas, we must keep the resolve to continue this work by their side.

Border activists, along with humanitarian and social justice organizations, are waiting for several government agencies to respond to their request for a meeting, where they hope to address the ongoing prosecution and harassment of aid workers along migrant trails. In last week’s press conference, No More Deaths announced:

[...] we request a meeting between Buenos Aires National Wildlife Refuge (BANWR) officials, the Department of the Interior and humanitarian, human rights, environmental and faith organizations to take place no later than two weeks from today’s date, in order to discuss ways that we can cooperate to prevent additional death and suffering on the US-Mexico border and the federal lands it transects.

Aside from the legal harassment and consequences that detract energy and resources from the life-saving work of these humanitarian organizations, No More Deaths has consistently reported finding slashed gallon jugs of water, most likely done by federal agents along the grueling migrant trails. As the Arizona border community strives to find humane and environmental solutions to these conflicts, Congress is poised to make life along the border even more difficult.

The House of Representatives began hearing arguments on the Department of Homeland Security appropriations bill (HR 2892) yesterday. There are three proposed amendments to this bill that would require the construction of an even more inhumane border wall.

With the current death toll nearing 100, the work of groups like No More Deaths to engage one’s adversary in conversation is a trademark of Gandhian nonviolence. Hopefully BANWAR officials will recognize it is also in their best interest to come to the table so that the inexcusable human suffering in the desert can come to an end.

Humanitarian aid worker, Walt Staton, was convicted on charges of “knowingly littering garbage or other debris” by a Tucson jury on Wednesday for leaving out sealed gallon jugs of water along migrant trails in the Sonoran desert. Staton is a volunteer with the organization No More Deaths. Since 2004 No More Deaths has provided life-saving aid to migrants in distress along the Arizona-Mexico border. Thousands of volunteers have participated in these efforts, which include providing water, food and medical assistance. No More Deaths is a ministry of the Unitarian Universalist Church of Tucson and seeks to work with other religious groups, government, community partners, and individuals willing to work toward an end to the humanitarian crisis occurring in the Arizona desert. A No More Deaths press release summarizes the government’s war on migrants and those offering them humanitarian aid:

On December 4, 2008, U.S. Fish and Wildlife officer, James Casey, cited Staton and three other humanitarians for littering, after being contacted by Border Patrol agents who were following the volunteers. The US Attorneys office later dropped the charges against the other three. Staton refused to accept guilt and pay the original $175 fine. He now faces the punishment of this criminal misdemeanor that could include up to one year of prison time and a $10,000. Sentencing is set for August 11.

In Staton’s court testimony, he told jurors that his actions were motivated by his faith and conscience, and also by his personal experiences of encountering severely dehydrated migrants in distress. He explained how the organization uses system of maps and GPS equipment to place the water in strategic locations. “We try to be conscious as an organization to be the most effective in order to save lives,” stated Staton during examination. He stated that he is not against the law for littering, just the application of it to humanitarian actions.

During closing arguments, defense lawyer Bill Walker held a full gallon jug of water in the air and declared: “When the government tells you this case isn’t about water or this isn’t about saving lives, they’re wrong! This is valuable, life-sustaining water.”

The “littered”, life-saving work of No More Deaths falls with the tradition of nonviolent resistance known as civil initiative, which asserts that humanitarian aid is never a crime.

Calling themselves Hungry for Justice, five people went on hunger strike last Wednesday in Springfield to protest budget cuts that Illinois legislators have proposed to address the state’s $12 billion deficit. According to the American Friends Service Committee (AFSC), if passed, the new budget would destroy critical state programs, including:

• Addiction prevention and treatment (428,000 individuals served)
• Health care assistance for children (300,000 children served)
• Mental health programs (250,000 individuals served)
• Child care assistance for working parents (167,000 children served)

After growing weak on the third day of the fast, 87-year-old Mahaley Somerville was hospitalized on Friday, but hoped to return to the action if her doctor approved.

The group planned on continuing their hunger strike through last Sunday, when a vote on the budget was expected to take place. However, tensions between the Democratic Governor Pat Quinn and Republican state representatives over proposed tax increases and funding cuts has delayed an agreement.  Hungry for Justice has not announced what they plan to do next.