Press enter after choosing selection

Dig Craters Everywhere!

Dig Craters Everywhere! image
Parent Issue
Day
7
Month
July
Year
1972
OCR Text

DIG CRATERS EVERYWHERE!

After digging the crater in front of 1520 Hill Street. The sign in the background reads: "This bomb crater was dug by rainbow people of Ann Arbor to symbolize the damage done to the people of Indochina by U.S. bomb. It will remain until the war is over."

On July 4, 1972, as Amerika celebrated America's War of National Liberation and War of Independence from Great Britain, the Rainbow People of Ann Arbor celebrated the struggle of the Indochinese People for National Liberation and Independence from Amerika by digging a bomb crater in the front lawn of the Rainbow Peoples' Party Headquarters.

Ever since Nixon announced resumption of the full scale bombing of North Vietnam, bomb craters have been happening around the Ann Arbor community. Craters have been dug by rainbow people on University and individual private property.

Bomb craters are a permanent reminder to the death, destruction and misery inflicted on the people of Indochina by Amerikan bombings, but they also serve as a permanent reminder of the perseverance and self-reliance of the Indochinese people. The bomb craters remind us of the misery and pain suffered by our yellow comrades daily bombs and bomb craters are a very real part of those peoples' lives every day. But we learn that bomb craters can be made useful, the Vietnamese plant crops and flowers around and in bomb craters, we'll do the same.

Craters were dug on two separate occasions on University property, and each time the University responded in its traditional contradictory manner. On the one hand, the University puts on a front as being publicly against the War, yet massive War Research is done by the University. Bomb craters on U property point to the massive research that is carried on to develop tools of mass slaughter with the help of this institution. "Smart Bombs," and "TV Bombs," a whole arsenal of death dealing weapons are developed right here under our noses. At the first crater dig, 4 people were arrested for malicious destruction of property, at a later dig 38 people were arrested and many brutalized by the Ann Arbor police. As the University prosecutes people for malicious destruction of property the University itself is engaged in War Research that maliciously and criminally destroys the lives and property of a whole race of people. We charge the University as co-conspirators with the U.S. government in the crime of genocide. Because of the University, the business of War goes on.

Over 40 people are caught up now in court battles stemming from the bomb craters. The war criminals at the University, and their silent partners in the city administration, are trying to hide their criminal activity by charging 40-plus peaceful people with bringing the bomb craters home. Justice in Babylon is not bestowed on a people, it has to be forced, fought for. If we are to ensure that the 40 crater diggers are to receive justice and the war criminals are to receive justice then we must be prepared to fight a legal battle. The diggers are not the criminals, the University is.

People need to see bomb craters all day, everyday, so we can get some sense of the widespread destruction that is being done in our name. We encourage people to dig bomb craters everywhere across the city and across the state, we encourage people to support the investigations of the War Research being done at the University, we encourage people to follow and support the court battles of our brothers and sisters charged with crater digging (beginning with a pre-trial hearing July 11).

The Fourth of July has new meaning to Rainbow People, it's a day that we celebrate, not only the independence of this country from English oppression, but it also is a day on which we celebrate the struggle for independence and self-determination for the people of Indochina and all oppressed people around the world. Long Live the Struggle for Independence, Long Live the Struggle of the Indochinese People!