It has been several months since Works In Progress put out a call for one or more people to step into its central coordination role. That long-awaited dream has now been realized in two highly revered Olympia activists, Janet Blanding and Wally Cuddeford, who together will coordinate the content and production of this newspaper. Now that the April issue has gone to press, Janet and Wally are eager to dive in.

I applaud your magnificent resistance against illegal the war and occupation in Iraq. The very active work by all of you to protest the shipment of war machines to Iraq has encouraged us and given us an impetus to renew our efforts to prevent the US military from using our land for war of aggression anywhere in the world.

Dear City Councilmen and Women,

It has come to my attention that the Olympia-Rafah Sister City Project is attempting to effect an official sister-city relationship with the cities of Olympia, Washington and Rafah, Gaza. By now you are no doubt aware of the many reasons they wish to pursue this, including to pay tribute to Rachel Corrie whose untimely death in Gaza on March 16th, 2003 should have been met with outrage across the United States. Instead it was met with silence or, in some cases, the vicious attempt to distort what happened to her and why. Rachel Corrie was crushed to death by a D9 . . .

[Fifteen people climbed over a police barrier at the Port of Tacoma on March 11 in order to deliver this document to law enforcement and military personnel overseeing the loading of the USNS Soderman with 300 Strykers and other equipment.]

Whereas, the invasion and occupation of Iraq is contrary to the rule of law inasmuch as it defies agreements that expressly prohibit the belligerent and aggressive invasion of a sovereign nation, and

by David Krieger

Worse than the war, the endless, senseless war

Worse than the lies leading to the war

Worse than the countless deaths and injuries

Worse than hiding the coffins

and not attending funerals

Worse than the flouting of international law

Worse than the torture at Abu Ghraib prison

Worse than the corruption of young soldiers

Worse than undermining our

collective sense of decency

Worse than the arrogance,

smugness, and swagger

Worse than our loss of credibility in the world

Worse than the loss of our liberties

Worse than learning nothing from the past

Worse than destroying the future

KUOW 99.4FM -- Ross Reynolds Interview with TJ Johnson

It will take a diversity of tactics and a broad cross-section of the community to end the US occupation of Iraq

I'm Ross Reynolds in for Monday, March 12, 2007. It's The Conversation.

We begin at the Port of Tacoma, where dozens of anti-war activists have been trying to block the shipment of military vehicles to Iraq. It got a little wild late Friday night.

(Sounds of protesters singing "Give Peace a Chance," screams, gas and projectiles being fired.)

by Marco Rosaire Rossi

American tourists walking through Italian cities are always awestruck by the ancient buildings -- preserved relics from medieval times -- that are scattered throughout Italy's budding modern development. The contrast between ancient and modern, between industrial and medieval is something exotic and alien to many Americans. The United States is so young compared to its European counterparts, and it's hard for any American to understand the world outside of that juvenile scope. For Americans, the rest of the world is new, fresh, uncharted lands, waiting to be explored and . . .

"My Name is Rachel Corrie" comes to Olympia

South Sound residents interested in seeing the one-woman production "My Name is Rachel Corrie" won't have to travel to Seattle to see the play.

The Seattle Repertory Theater will bring its production to the Evergreen State College campus for five shows, April 26-29. Corrie was a student at Evergreen before her death in 2003.

The first show, a tech dress preview, will be at 8:00 pm on April 26.

Evergreen students will be admitted free, on a first-come, first-served basis.