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"Got a few more calls today, one from an abductee who just could
not stop saying thank you, and wishing well. One from someone
who apologized for not giving his name - just wanted to say
thank you and that he was in the military and all that the
disclosure project witnesses say is true, and much more, and he
just wanted to share his appreciation. Someone else from Atlanta
-- 'thank you' and so on.... Very nice people, chatted with all
of them, and all very concerned about my health, but also very
appreciative.."
                            --Partial report by Lara on Day 13
 

On July 26, 2001 Lara Johnstone, a 35 year old woman from
Oakland wrote a letter to President George Bush in support of
400 UFO Disclosure Witnesses who had come forward to tell of
their involvement in the cover-up of the UFO story by the
government. Lara stated in her letter that she would support her
request for disclosure with a hunger strike. Now, two and a half
weeks later there is still no reply from President Bush, or any
one else at the White House. There is not even an acknowledgment
that the letter arrived.

This author E-mailed to President Bush, the first article in
this series 'Are You Ready for the Revolution', detailing Lara
Johnstone's hunger strike for UFO Disclosure. Moments later the
automatic E-mail responder at the White House sent back a reply.
"Thank-you for writing President Bush. He is not able to read
all his mail... thanks for your ideas... yada, yada.

The fact that there was a response was good news. It meant that
Bush was still there, and maybe Lara might still get a response.
Neither rogue North Korean terrorists, nor Al Gore forces had
overrun the White House. Bush was still in charge.

On July 28, two days after Lara sent her letter to the
President, and exactly one year after President-elect George
Bush promised UFO researcher Charles Huffer he would reveal the
UFO truth to the world, Lara began her hunger strike.

It is now August 12, sixteen days into the hunger strike. George
Bush is on holidays at his Texas ranch, probably enjoying the
occasional home ground Texas steak. Lara on the other hand is at
home, living only on water, vegetable and fruit juices, and
vitamins. She is concentrating on her perceived mission, and
planning what action to take next.

While she waits for the President to answer, Lara is writing a
second letter to President Bush. She is also working on a web
page she has set up to inform people about her mission:

http://www.amandla.org/ufo/

She calls the site "The Bush/UFO Disclosure Request". It is a
web site detailing the "Hungerstrike Requesting President Bush
to honor his agreement to tell the American people the truth, by
supporting the Disclosure Project witnesses to testify about
their extensive knowledge of UFOs." In days the site is up and
running, without all the 'Under Construction' signs that are so
common with new web pages.

The web site Lara has developed has a section where the original
letter of protest to President Bush can be read. There is a
section that relates news, and articles that have been written
about the hunger strike. There is a direct link to Dr. Steven
Greer Disclosure Project web site. There is a section on
upcoming events. Finally, Lara has included a section that
displays some of the letters of support she has received. She
has some strong supporters.

Among the many letters she has received are the following
examples:

- Ron Eastwood, a former bodyguard for Martin Luther King's wife
and children following his assassination wrote. Eastwood
detailed a hunger strike he had participated in with United Farm
Workers Union organizer Caesar Chavez. He told Lara, "My own
congestive heart failure, obesity, diabetes and high blood
pressure prevent me from taking the drastic measures you have
chosen (namely hunger strike) but be assured I shall make my
ability to write a sword of words to rattle the cages of as many
of our recalcitrant and cowardly public servants as possible on
this cause for total public disclosure. With your permission may
I send a copy of this message to my local news media and
government officials alone with the attached copy of the notice
which informed me of your awesome undertaking."

- Larry Bryant, a UFO researcher and long time crusader for
total disclosure of the UFO story by the government wrote, "As
an old semi-street warrior myself, (having taken part in the
anti-UFO-secrecy demonstrations that the now defunct Operation
Right to Know mounted some years ago at the White House, the
Washington Post Building, the Pentagon (there only indirectly.
Since I was still employed there), and the GAO building in
Washington), I get a vicarious thrill knowing that a young woman
has taken this bold lead in a renewed knock on officialdom's
UFO door."

- Tom Buyea from Miami Florida wrote, "I just read about you and
forwarded the email to about 3,000 people on all my UFO &
government conspiracy etc. email lists. What else can we do to
help you?"

- Hi there, I just read about you, I am the International
Director of P.R.I.S.M. International Paranormal Research
Investigation Services & Monitoring International here in
Adelaide, South Australia, I am starting "Operation Recovery"
which is the Sister to Project Disclosure, & I have people
coming forward, all though I would not like to say if the
Extraterrestrial Agenda is good or bad, how ever like you I
believe in the uncovering of the truth behind it all. You are a
brave lady, I admire you very much, I Love you very much too :)
I hope one day I can meet you & give you a big hug, cause your
my hero Lara, & everyone else's too, thank you for being there
for us, if I can help you somehow, please ask how!, take care
Lara, from all your friends in Australia
 

Lara spends time talking to people from all over the world
(calls from as far away as the UK and Australia) who have phoned
to offer support. She counsels with a small group over what to
do next, and E-mails people who have written with questions or
comments about her actions. She also watches and comments on the
many messages being posted on the many Internet discussion
boards that are discussing her Hunger Strike.

There have been ups and downs, even though after talking to
Lara, one comes away with the impression that for Lara it is all
good. She is a strong tree in the windy storm. Usually, it is
Lara who provides the support for the many concerned people who
see a looming disaster, and who have called her and expressed
concern for her well-being. An example is Lara's answer to one
concerned person who asked her about the pain of being hungry
all the time. Lara's response, "You are only hungry for the
first three days. I promise."

Despite Lara's steadfast optimism there have been downs over the
first 16 days of the hunger strike. The main down would be the
weight. Lara is down 13 pounds. To most this would seems like an
ensuing disaster. Lara, however, says, "I have a few pounds I
can lose."

Most of the comments have been supportive but unfortunately
there have been some real shots taken at her. Lara has after
all, chosen to involve herself in the world of Ufology where
primitive tribal warfare is often the norm.

One example of the very few attacks on Lara came from Jack
Sarfatti, a physicist who hosts a very small UFO/zero point
energy chat group (made up mainly of theoretical physicists, and
"bump in the night" intelligence types). Sarfatti is a big
supporter of space-based weapons. Perhaps it Lara's open
opposition to space based weapons that led Sarfatti to post a
vile attack on Lara on the Internet:

"Laura is a typical clueless New Ager brainwashed by Macroshift
psycho-babble with no ability to discriminate between real
science and Cargo Cult superstition posing as science. This poor
woman is obviously in need of psychiatric help."
 

Where the normal UFO response would be to counter-punch, Lara
was calm and collected in her response to Sarfatti. Perhaps this
is a result of the fact that Lara had absolutely no background
in Ufology before beginning the hunger strike. She took the
attack as an opportunity to repeat the goals of the hunger
strike:

"I appreciate your comments, and, I am okay with you saying
whatever you like - I know that your definition of who I am or
what I do is not 'who I am' ;-), only your imagination! ;-) And
a very vivid one at that! ;-) I want the truth, I want the light
of the truth to shine where the darkness of secrecy, fear and
hate currently reigns and makes us more afraid of one another,
so that we call them names, whatever name we wish to denigrate
them by. I apologize but I do not wish to do that, and that is
not my quest or my purpose. I shall continue my search for
truth, and I support you in continuing yours. Mine is a request
to President Bush to honor his agreement with Charles Huffer and
the American people. I imagine that includes you! ;-), unless
you already have been informed about the 'secret' truth!, and
are trying to deflect the issue to me!"
 

Another temporary down was the lack of support or contact from
people that would have been expected to race to Lara's aid.
Again the ever-positive Lara understood. She told this author:

"I imagine they are a little unsure as to what to do - should
they endorse, and then it goes down the drain, and damages all
the work they have done... My focus - I want to keep on Pres.
Bush - it was his agreement (made twice) with Huffer (and
therefore the people) that I want him to keep, or at the very
least re-negotiate - which is what anyone who makes an agreement
has to do, if they can no longer keep it! So, I am going to
attempt to keep my focus there... They need to keep their
'professionalism' - and not be seen as 'activist' and they have
worked hard at that... I can support them, and appreciate their
work, without them having to 'endorse' me. They are not
responsible for my actions; only I am, just as only bush is for
his! ;-)"
 

To avoid confusion and to keep the lines of communication lines
open Lara E-mailed one of the groups on August 9th:

"I am writing because I would like to keep an open line of
communication... to keep you informed. I imagine disclosure and
knowledge on your part of my actions would be more helpful than
silence and surprise."
 

As the third week of the hunger strike began Lara received two
new indications that her efforts were not in vain. In addition
to all the people who had been motivated by he action, it was
learned that Charles Huffer, whose original contact with George
Bush had motivated Lara, was now motivated by Lara's action to
press again for his own answer from the White House.

On the August 11 'Strange days... Indeed' radio show broadcast
out of Toronto radio station CFRB, Lara appeared to update the
listening audience on how the hunger strike was progressing.
While on the air she received positive encouragement from
Washington D.C. UFO lobbyist Steven Bassett who was also a
guest. Bassett had been closely connected to the Disclosure
movement, and his words came as a comfort that the Disclosure
movement had come to grips with Lara's form of public protest.
Bassett spoke about Lara and the hunger strike.
 

I had talked with Lara at length (2 hours). What I think about
this is really straightforward. When the government looks out
the window, what it needs to see - particularly now in an ever
increasing degree - is a relentless public coming at them from
every different direction, very clearly not going to give up,
not going to go away. That means pacts, lobbyists, hunger
strikes, marches, and protests like we used to have. It means
political initiatives, press conferences, and the whole nine
yards. The more it sees that the more it will start to realize
that there is simply no where to go but toward us, with the
disclosure and with the truth.

Lara is adding another piece to that mosaic, and she knows what
she is doing. She's good at it. I knew this would happen, and I
think it's coming from a person that can do well. I have
indicated to her that when she gets a little further along,
because as you know these things tend to go for 60-80 days if
you're really serious, in which case Lara will be getting
requests to model in New York. In a little while when she is a
little further down the line I have every intention and every
capability to bring this to the attention of the entire
congress, as well as the political press here, and to the next
level of awareness.

It's her show, not mine. I will stay in the background. Getting
into the public is very easy. Whether she gets onto any of the
shows like Art Bell or Jeff Rense - well that's up to them. For
now it needs to build a little slowly. I think that's
appropriate. It's timing is excellent. The strategy is
wonderful. Tying it to the Bush statement, so that it can be a
matter between her and George Bush is wonderful. It's logical.
It's something that people know about. Huffer was there. It has
all been documented. The effect of it will be to bring new
attention to the Huffer event, which as you know came and went.
It is out on the net but in large is not news to the press
anymore, unless of course something like this happens. So all of
this works very nicely, and the timing is great as well... if
I'm Washington looking outside the beltway, I'm seeing this
stuff happening. Clearly I'm going to be getting a clear
impression that I can play deaf, dumb, and stupid, and this is
going to go away.
 

Upcoming Events

On Monday Day 17, Lara takes her hunger strike to the steps of
the federal courthouse in Oakland, to petition her Congress
woman Barbara Lee to write a letter to President Bush sharing
Lara's request for UFO Disclosure.

On Monday Day 17, Lara will be interviewed by the South African
News Service out of Washington. The media in South Africa
considers Lara the most prominent South African activist in the
United States.

Lara will be interviewed by host Adam Clark on the Wake Up
America website. Listen live at 8:00 p.m. Central Wednesday

On Day 22, Saturday, August 18, at 10:30, Eastern, Lara
Johnstone will appear on 'Strange Days... Indeed' CFRB 1010 AM
Toronto, Canada for an update on her progress at: http://www.cfrb.com/