On the Line.

Children March on Death Row

Waynesburg, Pennsylvania

Sister Helen Prejean, at right, leads an opening prayer (behind her is Muslim leader Mauri Salakhan) at a vigil against the death penalty held outside Pennsylvania's Greene Prison on August 13. The vigil marked the culmination of a three-day action called Children's Crusade 2000. Parents and children from more than forty countries camped at the Bruderhof Community in Farmington, then marched together to the prison for the vigil. Organizer Johann Christoph Arnold says that the event was a call to end violence and exploitation in order to celebrate life. "If children can get along, one day adults can, too," says Arnold.

For more information, call the New Meadow Run Bruderhof at [phone]. Or e-mail Children's Crusade 2000 at [e-mail].

A Dash for Peace

Los Alamos, New Mexico 

Two protesters dash across a "No Trespassing" line at the Los Alamos National Laboratory on August 9. They were commemorating the fifty-fifth anniversary of the bombing of Nagasaki. The protesters who crossed the line were detained for an hour before being driven back to their cars. No one was arrested.

For more information, call Peace Action New Mexico at [phone].

Farm Workers Demand Better Wages

Mattawa, Washington

On August 6, Noe Sitio of Wenatchee, Washington, walks along Interstate 243 accompanied by his wife, Marisol, and with his sister, Elizabeth, on his shoulders. Approximately 4,000 people marched four-and-a-half miles to call for better wages and conditions for farm workers and amnesty for those who are undocumented. Some marchers said the make $6.50 an hour picking apples. "We cannot feed our families with these low wages," said farm worker Arnulfo Ramirez, who was one of the marchers.

For more information, call the United Farm Workers at [phone] or go to the web site at www.ufw.org.

Chicken Catchers Unionize

The Delmarva Peninsula

On July 6, chicken catchers who work for Perdue Farms in Georgetown, Delaware, and Salisbury, Maryland, voted to join United Food and Commercial Workers Local 27. The sixty-nine mostly African American men are the first Perdue employees to vote for a union. The catchers grab three or four chickens at a time. Their hands often become raw and bloody because the chickens peck at and scratch them. The workers are frequently paid on a piece-rate basis of $1.86 per 1,000 chickens caught. Chicken catchers capture as many as 50,000 birds per eight- or twelve-hour shift.

For more information, call the AFL-CIO at [phone] or visit the Justice for Poultry Workers' web site at http://poultry.nicwj.org.

MoMA Employees End Strike

New York, New York

Abbie Bridge, a librarian at the Museum of Modern Art, wore a neon "No MoMA" sign as she walked the picket line in front of the museum. After four-and-a-half months on strike, museum employees voted unanimously to settle. Represented by the Professional and Administrative Staff Association Local 2110, the strikers secured a new five-year contract with 3.5 percent annual raises.

For more information, call the Professional and Administrative Staff Association Local 2110 at [phone] or send an e-mail to: [e-mail].

Protest Against Monsanto

St. Louis, Missouri

On August 18, 200 farmers, environmentalists, and consumers gathered at the Gateway Green Center to protest Monsanto's genetically engineered seeds. Monsanto's products include Roundup Ready soybeans, genetically altered to resist the company's Roundup Ready herbicide, and Bt corn, which has the Bt pesticide spliced into the corn's DNA. The event concluded with a march to the Monsanto headquarters.

For more information, call Missouri Resistance Against Genetic Engineering (MORAGE) at [phone] or send an e-mail to morage!@unbounded.com.

Sing Out Against Sanctions

Washington, D.C.

Folk singer and peace activist Pete Seeger performs at the National Mobilization to End Sanctions Against Iraq on August 6. Nearly 1,000 people attended the rally, which was held in Lafayette Park across from the White House. The United Nations estimates that more than 500,000 Iraqi children have died as a result of shortages in medical and humanitarian aide brought on by the embargo that began ten years ago.

For more information, call the National Mobilization to End Sanctions Against Iraq at [phone].

Housing Prices Go Sky High

Colorado Springs, Colorado 

A bus carrying affordable housing demonstrators turns into the Preserve, a high-priced housing development, on August 14. Cyndy Kulp, the head of the Colorado Springs Housing Advocacy Coalition, holds an annual "Parade of Homeless" in conjunction with developers' "Parade of Homes" to protest the city's continual lack of affordable housing. According to Kulp, the average price for a new home in Colorado is $220,000, or twenty times what a minimum wage worker will earn in a year.

For more information, call Cyndy Kulp of the Housing Advocacy Coalition at [phone].