In the fall of 2002, several of us from around the North Country were feeling very frustrated at the direction our country was taking. We began demonstrating in front of the Tops Supermarket in Elizabethtown, across the street from the county court house. With a sign saying "Honk if you want peace" and a few handmade placards, we came out every week that winter and spring. Many people were responsive and glad to see us out there and some even joined us.

As we got to know one another we started to discuss what else we could do to express our anger at the many destructive and unjust policies of the Bush administration. We decided to call ourselves the Diogenes Society, after the student of Socrates who carried a lantern in broad daylight looking for an honest man. That winter was the coldest in 30 years and Lake Champlain froze from Essex to Charlotte. In cooperation with the Vermont Peace & Justice Center, we organized a "Peace on Ice" gathering. On March 8, 2003, just days before the start of the war in Iraq, about 250 people walked from the NY side and the Vermont side and met in the middle to form a giant peace sign. We arranged for a plane to fly over and take pictures which were widely circulated in the local and even national press. That summer we organized an event in Elizabethtown called "Music and Poetry for Peace". We put up flyers in several towns asking people to come with a poem or a song to express their feelings about the war. Over 50 people contributed to a very inspiring and poignant evening.

On the first anniversary of the Iraq war we had a large demonstration at the former Atlas missile base in Willsboro. Almost 300 people came from all over the North Country and Vermont to hear speakers including Rev. Sally White whose son was in Iraq. Again, we made a giant peace sign, this time over the door of one of the missiles and photos of this got tremendous local and national coverage.

During the 2004 election some of us worked to defeat Bush in swing states. That summer, we also hosted a gathering in Keene Valley to hear speeches by Jerry and Sis Levin, a husband and wife team who are working for peace in Israel and Palestine.

Diogenes has also sponsored fundraisers and workshops supporting the Center for Constitutional Rights, a legal and educational organization dedicated to protecting the rights guaranteed in our Constitution. In 2005, we heard about CCR’s work challenging the policies of torture and extraordinary rendition which were revealed during the Abu Ghraib scandal. In 2006, we hosted Bill Goodman, CCR’s legal Director, who spoke about their lawsuits over domestic wiretapping and prisoner abuses at Guantanamo, as well as CCR’s new book, Articles of Impeachment Against George W. Bush. We also heard from Plattsburgh Councilman Bill Provost about his inspiring attempt to get the town to pass a resolution to investigate the Bush Administration’s high crimes and misdemeanors.

Diogenes has numerous ongoing campaigns. We invite you to take part in them through this website by clicking on the links below. Our current projects include:

* North Country Regional Impeachment Drive (RID). Through this initiative, Diogenes offers helpful information, tips and strategies to concerned citizens who would like to urge their own town boards to endorse resolutions like Plattsburgh's, calling for investigation into the actions of the Bush-Cheney administration;

* protesting the permanent military bases being built in Iraq;

* opposing the use of land mines and calling for the safe disposal of existing ones;

* supporting local progressive candidates;

* continued resistance to the Iraq War.