On Monday, April 7th, 2003, 25 people, representing many organizations within Santa Clara County, including the South Bay Mobilization, read a prepared statement to a representative of Lockheed Martin Corporation, the largest weapons manufacturer in the world, in Sunnyvale, CA.

The San Jose Mercury News printed an article about the event in Tuesday's paper (April 8th), we counted 22 people there early on, not 20 as the article said, but people joined us later bringing the total more likely to 25.

http://www.bayarea.com/mld/mercurynews/5585937.htm

San Jose Mercury News
Posted on Tue, Apr. 08, 2003

Activists attempt to bring message to Lockheed Martin
By Crystal Carreon
Mercury News

A small motley gathering of mothers, students and retirees
held signs protesting the war Monday in front of Lockheed
Martin in Sunnyvale, condemning one of the world's largest
defense contractors for what they see as its role in killing
civilians.

No arrests were reported among the 20 members of the South Bay
Mobilization to Stop the War who formed a procession along
North Mathilda Avenue to deliver a letter to a Lockheed official.
The letter, which outlined the group's concerns about weapons
``used to kill innocent Iraqis'' and the company's contribution
to ``an unjust war,'' never made it past a security checkpoint.

``We're here as weapons inspectors,'' said a Sunnyvale pharmacist
while hoisting two anti-war signs and nodding toward Lockheed's
campus. ``They did not find any weapons of mass destruction,
so far, in Iraq, but this is the place that makes these weapons of
mass destruction. This is the place destroying so many civilians.
This is the place of hypocrisy.''

San Jose mother Karen Maleski flipped through the pages of a
book depicting grim photographs of malnutrition, disease and
death among Iraqi children. Nearby her daughter, 3-year-old
Emma Foss quietly pressed stickers in her coloring book.

``I hope she will never have to know war or what we are
responsible for creating,'' Maleski said, adding that the
U.S.-led embargo on Iraq has prevented basic medical supplies
from reaching civilians. ``We have injured and killed an awful
lot of children in Iraq over the past 13 years. I couldn't
imagine what these people have gone through.''

Security officers stopped the protesters from walking onto
Lockheed's property, referring all statements to be made
through the public relations office. But Stanford student
Malauika Monanan approached the company's security and emergency
services chief and read the 4-paragraph letter aloud.

``We can no longer allow the business of warfare to continue
as usual,'' she read. ``We ask that the people of the corporation
examine and question their involvement in a process for which
the main goal is finding ways to destroy life.''

Security chief, Jim Pestana listened with his arms folded
across his chest.

``That's fine,'' he said. ``This is a free country.''