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About my Photography with Chicago IMC
Garth Liebhaber April 11, 2004

I have been a committed volunteer since the Chicago Independent Media project started in the fall of 2000. The year following the Seattle WTO police riots of 1999 was a watershed year in kickstarting the anti-globalization movement. That spring many, including myself made the next World Bank protest in D.C. on April 16th. The summer brought the RNC in Philadelphia and DNC in L.A., where the oppressive police actions served well to radicalize many of us to activism.

Having recently graduated art school, the social justice movements became a natural fit to apply my art in a meaningful way. Since September of 2001 I have been doing my best to photograph the grassroots Peace Movement which exploded beyond many of our expectations. Since October of 2002 I have worked very hard in covering as many events related to stopping the war in Iraq as I possibly could. Whether it was the Iraq Peace Pledge’s die-ins at *Federal Plaza*, the February 15th 2003 *The World Says No To War protests* or the *March 20th* march up Lake Shore Drive, I have helped contribute to the non-corporate people’s history of this time we live in.

It has become my intent to put the work of the past two years into a book. No Blood For Oil: Two years of war resistance, a photo journal of the grassroots peace movement. In my research I have found only a handful of photography books dedicated to the peace movement. We need more contributions to our own people’s history, and I hope this endeavor can be part of that. We need to reclaim this history to reclaim ourselves, our own places from which we can act as whole people. It’s been pointed out that if the American public could watch unadulterated news of the Iraqi civilians who have been suffering so harshly under the war, that the war would be over in a week.

In this regard, partaking in the Christian Peacemaker Team delegation is both an extension of my own peace witness as well as the desire to awaken others. For a few weeks after I was accepted on the delegation I did not talk to anyone about it. The realization that I could find myself in Iraq was very scary. Now, though, I am not scared as I was before. I feel I have a healthy amount of respect for what I am going into, but I also feel something beyond that. I feel a strong desire to go beyond my fears, fears which largely serve to control us. I also feel a strong desire to meet the people who have been most affected by our nation. I don’t feel I am going in order to ‘help them’. I feel I am also going in order to help ourselves, I suspect I shall learn a lot on how we in America can better live. I heard Kathy Kelly speak before she went into prison down in Pekin recently. She talked on how, yes, we need to rebuild Iraq, but we also need to rebuild ourselves. As the country that consumes most of the world’s resources, we need to ask ourselves how we can live more simply, so that others may simply live.

Below is a listing of some of my photography that I have done with Chicago Indymedia over the last few years. Please take a few minutes and enjoy a rich history of what we the people are capable of. Peace.


March 20 04, Anniversary of Iraq Invasion pt.1 pt.2 pt.3 pt.4

March 6th Protest of Coup in Haiti

Raymond Grunewald Vigil

I Am Tom Hurdall Protest

12 13 03 CAFTA Protest

Chicago Pride 03

Congress Hotel Strike pt.1 pt. 2

3 16 03 Children and Babies for Peace

NYC F15 The Day the World Said No To War!


To see selected images available for donation, go here.