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'Equal Voting Rights for DC' Rally
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'Congress tells us how to live and tells us how to die,' says Johnny Barnes of the ACLU-NCA.
DC Councilmembers Kwame Brown and Kathy Patterson encourage the OSCE to take action.
DC voting rights supporters hold signs asking the OSCE for support.
Rep. Eleanor Holmes Norton speaks at the rally before influencing OSCE delegates.
Rep. Eleanor Holmes Norton addresses DC voting rights supporters on the corner of 14th Street and Pennsylvania Avenue, NW.
Rep. Eleanor Holmes Norton addresses over 300 DC voting rights supporters.
Supporters hold the Equal Voting Rights for DC banner.
Ilir Zherka, executive director of DC Vote, introduces the rally.
DC League of Women Voter Members held signs asking drivers to 'Honk if You Like DC Voting Rights'
Rally attendees hold their signs high as OSCE members enter the JW Marriott.
Shawn Rolland of DC Vote works with Adam Eidinger, Faith and Jude to lead rally chants.
DC Shadow Senator tells the OSCE to support equal voting rights for DC.
Two DC Young Suffragists color signs to hold.
The DC Young Suffragists prepare to sing to the rally crowd.
DC Young Suffragists show off their homemade signs.
Tim Cooper of Worldrights fires up the rally crowd.
The DC Vote political art display stands on Freedom Plaza with the U.S. Capitol in the distance.
The DC Vote political art display - Under Development: Equal Voting Rights for DC.
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| Date: |
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Friday, July 1, 2005 |
| Location: |
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Freedom Plaza
Between 13th and 14th Streets at Pennsylvania Avenue, NW |
| Time: |
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7:30 AM - 2:30 PM |
On Tuesday, July 5, 2005, an Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE) Parliamentary Assembly resolution calling on the Government of the United States to give DC residents equal voting rights in Congress in order for the U.S. to fulfill its OSCE human dimension commitments passed the 55-nation body without objection.
Previously, the United States of America was found by the Organization of American States (OAS) to be violating international law by denying the residents of Washington, DC, equal voting rights in Congress.
On Friday, July 1, 2005, about 300 DC voting rights supporters came together for the Equal Voting Rights for DC Rally as the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE) Parliamentary Assembly began their annual session in Washington, DC.
A series of events were successfully planned and designed to encourage the more than 300 international diplomats to pass an amendment to a draft resolution supporting full congressional voting rights for DC. The amendment passed with overwhelming support.
- From 7:30 AM to 9:30 AM, volunteers rallied outside of the host hotel, the JW Marriott on 14th Street at Pennsylvania Avenue, NW, and greeted the parliamentarians as they arrived for the beginning of their weekend long meeting.
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At 12:00 noon on the western side of Freedom Plaza, Congresswoman Eleanor Holmes Norton, DC Vote and other pro-democracy groups highlighted a political art display created to visually represent DC's denial of democracy.
"Under Development: Equal Voting Rights for DC"
The political art display featured four old-style voting booths surrounded by chain-link fencing topped with barbed wire and featuring bright yellow and black signs warning "DC Residents Keep Out! By Order of Congress." Without full voting representation in Congress, the American's living in Washington, DC, are still waiting for democracy's construction to be complete.
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Immediately following the introduction of the art display, volunteers rallied outside of the JW Marriott on 14th Street at Pennsylvania Avenue, NW, and greeted Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist and Speaker of the House Dennis Hastert as they arrived to address the OSCE Parliamentary Assembly.
Thanks again to everyone who made the event such a huge success!
More Information:
Media Related to the Equal Voting Rights for DC Rally
- Watch a video montage of the Equal Voting Rights for DC Rally, created by Mike Flugennock.
(NOTE: It may take a few seconds to load. Viewing this program requires Real Player. To download a free version of Real Player, Click Here.)
- Watch news clips of the rally by NBC 4 and NewsChannel 8.
(NOTE: It may take a few seconds to load. Viewing this program requires Real Player. To download a free version of Real Player, Click Here.)
- Read D.C. Voting Rights Wins International Support, by Dan Rasmussen, Nortwest Current, dated July 7, 2005.
- Read International Body Backs Vote for D.C. by Mary Beth Sheridan, Washington Post, dated July 6, 2005.
- Read Annie, Grab Your Guns... by Tom Sherwood, NBC 4, dated July 6, 2005.
- Read DC Vote's press release on the approval of the resolution, dated July 5, 2005.
- Read Norton Sees Leverage in Fight for D.C. Voting Rights from WTOP Radio Network, dated July 5, 2005
- Read by John McArdle, Roll Call, dated July 5, 2005
- Read Eleanor Holmes Norton's letter to OSCE delegates after the approval of the Third Committee Resolution, dated July 5, 2005.
- Read the OSCE press release on the approval of the Washington Declaration, dated July 5, 2005.
- Read Guns Over Democracy, an editorial from the Washington Post, dated July 4, 2005.
- Read D.C. Voting Rights Push Gets Foreign Backing, by Carol D. Leonnig, Washington Post, dated July 3, 2005.
- Read Fulfilling the Democratic Promise, by Nick Hoover, Washington Examiner, dated July 3, 2005.
- Read Think Locally, Act Globally, by Mary Beth Sheridan, Washington Post, dated July 2, 2005.
- Read the Equal Voting Rights for DC Event Press Release, dated July 1, 2005.
- Read DC Vote to Lead Rally at OSCE's U.S. Gathering by John McArdle and Jennifer Yachnin, Roll Call, dated June 30, 2005.
- OSCE Press Advisory for the July 1 - 5 Paliamentary Meeting in Washington, DC
- Read "Taking D.C.'s Case to the World" by Bill Mosley, Common Denominator, dated June 13, 2005.
Other Related Materials
- Read the Final Washington, DC Declaration of the OSCE Parliamentary Assembly and the Resolutions Adopted at the Fourteenth Annual Session. (PDF 297 kb) (NOTE: The DC voting rights issue is on page 8 in Chapter III, Section 58.)
- Click here to read the amendment to the OSCE resolution supporting full congressional voting rights for DC
, which passed with overwhelming support
- DC City Council's Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe Emergency Resolution of 2005, passed unanimously on June 7, 2005
- OSCE November 2, 2004, Election Observation Mission Final Report, dated March 31, 2005. This report marks the first time that the OSCE formally addressed the denial of equal congressional voting rights for DC citizens (PDF 254 kb).
- Read the Organization of American States report, dated December 2003, that finds the United States of America in violoation of international law, because of the denial of equal voting rights in Congress for DC residents (PDF 302 kb)
- Listen to a special message from DC Vote Executive Director, Ilir Zherka on the Equal Voting Rights for DC Rally (WAV file, 208 kb)
Rally Sponsors
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