OCCUPY NASHVILLE
Press Release: For Immediate Release

Occupy Nashville Infiltrates Rumsfeld Speech

Shouting “I call upon you to surrender yourself as a war criminal” in a ballroom filled with Nashville’s moneyed elite, members of Occupy Nashville infiltrated an elaborate gala Thursday night where former defense secretary Donald Rumsfeld gave a keynote address.

Protesters mingled amid supporters of Rumsfeld during a panel discussion lauding the increased militarization of the world. They enjoyed a lush dinner costing $125 a plate, provided to Occupy Nashville by an anonymous donor. Rumsfeld even patted one protester on the shoulder before he began his speech.

Several minutes into Rumsfeld’s speech, an Occupy Nashville protester stood up and shouted that one of the primary architects of the Iraq war misled the American public and said, “Citizens are waiting outside to receive you and render you to the custody of the authorities.”

Rumsfeld was accused of authorizing torture, causing the deaths of more than 6,000 American servicemen and woman and lying about the presence of weapons of mass destruction in Iraq.

As security escorted each protester out of the building, another sprung up to take his or her place. In all, four protesters successfully infiltrated the event and interrupted Rumsfeld’s speech at the Downtown Hilton Hotel.

Another five protesters got past security and made a brief statement in the hotel lobby.

Outside, a band of Occupy Nashville members waived signs, distributed fliers and chanted, “Hey Donald, you can’t hide! We charge you with genocide!”  Some marched around the hotel with large copies of an “arrest warrant” and prepared to symbolically perform a citizen’s arrest of the man who purposefully invaded a sovereign nation and sanctioned the use of cruel, degrading treatment in contravention of the Geneva Conventions, the international laws governing war.

The protesters outside waited to escort Rumsfeld to The Hague with dignity, but he never surrendered himself.

Protesters explained that although Donald Rumsfeld is no longer in office, they still perceive a clear and present danger to our democratic processes.

They spoke about corporate influence over government and the military. They protested leaders of the military-industrial complex, such as Lockheed, Halliburton and Northrop Grumman, and how they buy influence through campaign contributions, provide high-paying jobs when senior military and elected officials leave government, and lobby politicians to change legislation and policy in their favor.

“Spending on arms and armies misappropriates scarce resources, diverts social capital from productive purposes and depletes a nation’s strength,” a flier read. “Every gun, warship and rocket is a theft from those who hunger and are not fed, those who are cold and not clothed, those who are sick and are not treated, those who seek productive work and are unemployed. Security and liberty must prosper together.”

Rumsfeld’s dinner was sponsored by the right-wing, pro-war think-tank and lobby group The Heritage Foundation as a fundraiser for Tennessee Lynchpins of Liberty, an obscure organization consisting of one man: Williamson County Republican Party Chairman Kevin Kookogey, according to a report in The Tennessean newspaper.

Rumsfeld also used the opportunity to promote his newest book.

Protesters will be available for questions from the media at 9 p.m. in the Nashville Music Garden, at the intersection of 4th Avenue and Symphony Place.

The occupation’s actions on Thursday were part of a nationwide Day of Action to celebrate the two-month anniversary of Occupy Wall Street.

Occupy Nashville is a citizen-led movement that supports Occupy Wall Street. We seek to remove corporate influence from politics.  We demand that our elected representatives be accountable to us and not to corporate paymasters.

We are the 99 percent. We are growing.

Occupy Nashville has general assemblies at 7 p.m. on weekdays and 1 p.m. on weekends at Legislative Plaza downtown.

War by the Numbers:

We are still paying the cost of Donald Rumsfeld’s lust for war:

The war in Iraq — $1.4 trillion, 10 percent of our national debt

One American soldier in Iraq or Afghanistan, yearly cost: $1 million

We spend more on defense every year than all other nations combined — $685 billion — and that excludes the costs of Iraq and Afghanistan
6,274 — the number of needless deaths of American servicemen and women

Over 100,000 — the number of needless deaths of innocent Iraqis and Afghanis
19% — nearly one in five — the proportion of veterans returning from Iraq reporting mental health problems