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With Mass Child Freezing Deaths, Proof of Mass Starvation, US in Violation of Geneva in Afghanistan
A little known aspect of World War II history is that immediately after the end of major hostilities, as Europe lay in ruins, millions of Germans in Ally-occupied Germany and people in other Axis nations descended into a spiral of humanitarian crisis, and faced the specter of mass starvation as Allies bickered over the spoils of war. After a particularly harsh winter in 1946 - 1947, Assistant Secretary of State William Clayton reported to Washington that "millions of people are slowly starving." With the infrastructure ruined, and with a shortage of coal, many Germans froze to death.
UK Women Gathering Emergency Supplies/Funds for Afghan Refugees, Temperatures to Drop to Seven Degrees
Last week I reported on the tragedy in the refugee camps in Kabul in which at least 23 children under age five have frozen to death since Jan. 15th, as a result of temperatures in the mid-teens with families sleeping in unheated tents and inadequate blankets. (See "In the Midst of $2 Billion Per Week Spending on War, Babies Freezing in Kabul for Lack of Food, Fuel.") This was first reported by Rod Nordland of the New York Times.
Still Locked Away in Guantánamo
Words of a man cleared for release - yet still locked away in Guantánamo:
Shaker [Aamer] also explained that he "does not expect President Obama to do anything better than his predecessor, President Bush. Presidents are, he thinks, hemmed in by the powers that surround them." In his own words, “The White House is a straitjacket. You just wear it.”
-from 10 Years in Guantánamo: British Resident Shaker Aamer, Cleared for Release But Still Held by Andy Worthington
We Shut Down the Military Recruiting Stations
Yesterday, approximately fifty people including students from Borough of Manhattan Community College (BMCC) along with members of Occupy Wall Street, Veterans For Peace, War Resisters League and World Can't Wait shut down three military recruiting stations that are situated within one block from BMCC and Stuyvesant High School on Chambers St. in Manhattan. Students and others gathered outside the gates of BMCC on Wednesday morning demanding “Stop the Wars, Stop the Recruiters!”
Protest Planned at Council on Foreign Relations
Dear Americans for Peace and Dialogue with Iran - Emergency Call
Date: Thurs., March 1, 2012
Time: Gather at 5:00 PM
Place: Council on Foreign Relations
58 East 68th Street, NY, NY 10065
(Building just off Park Ave.)
Iranian communities across the U.S. and in Iran are outraged by learning that Jonathan Tepperman, Managing Editor of Foreign Affairs magazine, the bi-monthly publication of the Council on Foreign Relations (CFR), has allowed Matthew Kroenig's toxically anti-Iran article: "Time to Attack Iran" to appear in the Jan/Feb. 2012 issue of the magazine. As if this egregious act was not enough to bring discredit to the magazine and the Council on Foreign Relations, CFR is sponsoring a public "live debate" on March 1st, to convince Americans that war on Iran, just as the ones in Iraq, Afghanistan, Pakistan, Libya and Syria, in its early stages, is the rational, humane and civilized method of dealing with the differences between the two countries of U.S. and Iran.
It is a well-known fact that is verified numerous times by even some top U.S. officials in the U.S. Administration and intelligence services, including by the Secretary of Defense Leon Panetta and President Barack Obama among many others in the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) that Iran has no nuclear weapons or even programs.
American Iranian Friendship Committee (AIFC), consistent with our 8 year Mission Statement, call on all Iranians and Americans who do not wish to witness another war – this time on Iran – to join us in a protest picket line in front of the Council on Foreign Relations to voice your opposition to this meeting that intends to promote war, death and destruction of yet another country in the Middle East.
Negotiate with Iran! Remove your Warships!
Lift the Sanctions! Sign a Non-Aggression Treaty!
Iran has no NUKES! U.S. and Israel have 1000's!
Called by American Iranian Friendship Committee (AIFC) www.iranaifc.com 914-589-0744
Drone Summit: Killing and Spying by Remote Control
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The peace group CODEPINK, the legal advocacy organization 
In the wake of the 9/11 attacks the U.S. government has increasingly deployed drones in the Middle East, South Asia, and Africa. While the U.S. military and the CIA initially used drones primarily for surveillance, these remotely controlled aerial vehicles are currently routinely used to launch missiles against human targets in countries where the United States is not at war, including Pakistan, Somalia and Yemen. As many as 3,000 people, including hundreds of noncombatants and even American citizens, have been killed in covert missions.A Festival of Conscience in New York
Festival of Conscience is being run in conjunction with the play, "Another Life", about the collective trauma post-9/11, greed, war and the ensuing U.S. torture program. Both events are produced by Theater Three Collaborative, Inc. in residence at the Irondale Center, Fort Greene, Brooklyn; March 8-24, 2012.
Tickets: http://www.irondale.org/Anotherlife.html
The goal of this three-week series is to foster meaningful dialogues across disciplines to address the most pressing questions facing us today: What kind of nation have we become? What kind of country do we want to be?
Festival of Conscience Calendar of Events
Darius Rejali presents: Torture & Democracy
Thursday, March 8
One of the United States foremost experts on torture discusses his latest book, Torture and Democracy, whichwon the 2007 Human Rights Book of the Year Award from the American Political Science Association, and the state of the US torture program ten years after 9/11.
Blackwater Revisited, Conversations of Privatization, Torture, and War From the Front Lines
Friday, March 9
From the front lines in the fight against Blackwater and Abu Ghraib, lawyer Susan Burke, who brought suits against private contracting firms for their role in the torture program, and Donovan Webster, journalist and author who accompanied Susan to Iraq to take testimony from torture survivors talk about their experience.
Tortured and Torturers
Saturday, March 10
Tortured and torturers: a contrasting discussion on how soldiers came to torture, and the consequences for both the victims and the perpetrators. The event will feature Zeke Johnson, National Security Director of Amnesty International and Joshua Phillips, author of None of Us Were Like This Before: Americans Soldiers and Torture, the story of American soldiers who tortured in Iraq.
Faith and Terror, Part 1
Tuesday, March 13
Religious leaders, journalists and activists come together for a two-part discussion about consciousness, belief, torture, and resistance. Join the National Religious Campaign Against Torture’s Director of Program Coordination John Humphries and New York St. Mary’s Episcopal Reverent Earl Kooperkamp for dialogue about faith, torture, and the religious communities response to torture and war in the shadow of 9/11.
South of the Constitution: Ten Years at Guantanamo
Wednesday, March 14
Lawyers representing Guantanamo detainees and Amnesty International discuss and debate Guantanamo today. The event features Tom Parker, National Security Director, Amnesty International, DC, and Baher Azmy, Legal Director for the Center for Constitutional Rights.
Intersection
Thursday, March 15
Activists and authors discuss the intersections of torture, militarism, and the prison-industrial complex.
The War On Terror Comes Home
Friday, March 16
Lawyers, family members, and community leaders discuss how the war on terror has affected Arab Americans, and what is being done to change it. Leading the evening is Pardiss Kebriaei, a lawyer with the Center for Constitutional Rights currently working against the backlash of the domestic war on terror.
Occupy Movement Presents: A History of Non-Violent Resistance
Saturday, March 17
The Occupy Movement premiere a new documentary on the history of nonviolent resistance created for Occupy by videographer Paul McIsaac, plus performance by the high school students from Bedford-Stuyvesant’s Bailey’s Café arts initiative.
Women and Resistance
Tuesday, March 20
In conjunction with Women’s History Month, Code Pink co-founder Medea Benjamin and eco-feminist Ynestra King will lead a discussion with prominent women’s anti-war activists on women's role in the movements’ against militarism, nuclear weapons, war, and torture.
Mark Danner presents: Torture and the Forever War
Wednesday, March 21
Mark Danner Presents: Torture and the Forever War. Writer and Berkeley professor Mark Danner talks about the permanent "new normal" when it comes to human rights and torture in the post-9/11 era.
Faith and Terror, Part 2
Thursday, March 22
Religious leaders, journalists and activists come together for a two-part discussion about consciousness, belief, torture, and resistance. Rabbi Simkha Weintraub of Rabbis for Human Rights-North America, author David Swanson, and activist and CUNY professor Ramzi Kassem talk about the faith-based response to torture and the recent Witness Against Torture actions in Washington DC.
A Decade of Torture and Law
Friday, March 23
International human rights leaders Gabor Rona of Human Rights First, Jonathan Hafetz, of Seton Hall Law, and Alexander Abdo of the ACLU leads the night with the highs and lows in the legal battles against torture.
Closing Evening and Reception
Saturday March 24
In the finale of ‘Another Life’, playwright and producer Karen Malpede sits with Larry Siems, author of The Torture Report to discuss her inspiration, research, and motivations in developing and producing the play. Reception to follow.
Make Tuesday F28 a Day of Mass Action Everywhere; Stand with Occupy. STOP the Suppression of the Occupy Movement!
World Can't Wait is supporting the Call for Mass Action Against the Suppression of the Occupy Movement. It's not only the barricades and batons, constant surveillance, mass arrests, and escalating charges against occupiers. It's the fact that these occupations have been pushed and beaten from public squares, and squeezed into the margins.
Don't wait for "something" to happen in the spring. Join the F28 actions now:
UC Davis November 2011
Why Did Petraeus Fire the Auditor Charged with Stopping Flow of Pentagon Funds to Taliban?
The story which reared its head then dropped off the radar in summer of 2010 is still alive: that the major source of funding for the Taliban is likely the Department of Defense itself, estimated around $400 million per year, which is funneled to Afghan "security" companies as "protection payments," for allowing the massive and constant ground traffic of convoys of supplies for US bases to crisscross the country, unhindered by attacks. So says a report, "Warlord Inc.," by a House subcommittee chaired by Rep. John Tierney.
Jump Back! It's Time for UNAC! See you there!
Build the Movement to Stop Sanctions and Intervention Against Iran! Defend the Egyptian Spring from the U.S.-backed Military Regime!
Attend the United National Antiwar Coalition Conference, March 23-25, 2012, Stamford, CT
(Click the link at the bottom of the email to register for the conference)
On Saturday, February 4th, at the urging of United National Antiwar Coalition and other key forces, activists took to the street in 80 U.S. cities and towns and in six countries to say No Sanctions! No Intervention! No Assassinations! No War on Iran. On February 11, activists worldwide demonstrated solidarity with the Egyptian youth standing up to the U.S.-backed military regime.
It is becoming increasingly clear to antiwar activists that Leon Panetta’s promise to shift from combat troops to drones and special ops in Afghanistan, along with the combat troop drawdown in Iraq, is only the prelude to intensified U.S. efforts to defeat the Arab Spring and to maintain, by other means, dominance in the region. The drawdown has been accompanied by increased belligerency against Iran and Syria, as well as new boots on the ground in the Asian Pacific and Africa.
While the mainstream media plays up the falsehood of the U.S. government’s fear that Israel will bomb Iranian targets prematurely and without U.S. support, antiwar activists know that the immediate withdrawal of the $30 billion in weapons pledged for delivery to Israel between 2009 and 2018 is the only move that would indicate that the U.S. was truly trying to avoid war with Iran.
We need to remind the public that shortly after he took office in 2009, President Obama delivered 55 GBU-28 Hard Target Penetrators, or bunker buster bombs to Israel, weapons whose target could only be Iranian nuclear facilities. If Israel attacks Iran, it will be acting as a proxy for the U.S. with full U.S. backing. Rather than working to avoid a hugely destructive war, the White House is playing with fire, ratcheting pro-war hysteria, carrying out war by means of crippling sanctions and covert ops, and all the while maximizing the possibility of a volatile military encounter by crowding U.S. naval forces in the narrow seas off Iran’s coast.
The February 4thactions against war on Iran must be only the first step of a campaign to expose the government’s deceptions and to educate the majority about the real politics behind the U.S./NATO/UN sanctions and saber rattling. The February 11 actions in solidarity with the Egyptian people must be only the first of many such activities.
Come to the United National Antiwar Coalition Conference from March 23-25, 2012 to continue to develop such campaigns. There will be several major plenary panels on US-NATO strategy shifts and at least five of the nearly 50 in-depth educational workshops will deal with Iran and Egypt. There will be plenary sessions to discuss and vote on strategy and action plans and how best to mobilize the 99% to end the current wars and prevent the new wars being planned at the NATO/ G8 summit in May.
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UNAC Conference Highlights Related to Stopping a War on Iran and Demonstrating Solidarity with the Egyptian Youth & Trade Unionists
Friday, March 23:8 pm--OpeningPanel: Shifting Strategies of Empire: Analyzing the Military and Economic Plans of the 1%.
Presenters: Mrs. Xiomara Castro de Zelaya, recently elected by the FNRP (Frente Nacional de Resistencia Popular) as the presidential candidate of thenew Libertad y refundación party, Honduras; Andrew Murray, UK Trade Unions Congress General Council and head of UK Stop the Wars Coalition thru 2011; Kazem Azim, Solidarity Iran; Col. Ann Wright, Dissent: Voices of Conscience; Ahmed Shawki, Egypt Solidarity Campaign; David Swanson, War is a Crime.org; Adaner Usmani, Labor Party of Pakistan; Abayomi Azikiwe, Pan Africa Newswire; Bernadette Ellorin, BAYAN (Philippines); and Fignole St. Cyr, Autonomous Confederation of Haitian Workers
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Saturday, March 24, 2012, 9:00 am:The NATO/G8 Summit: The Intersection of Austerity and War in the Plans of the 1% and Our Response--a Plenary Panel with leaders of the Coalition Against NATO/G8 War and Austerity (CANG8), the United National Antiwar Coalition (UNAC), and the No War on Iran network.
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Sunday, March 23, 2012, Noon:Global War, Warming, and the Economic Meltdown: Bill McKibben, architect of the XL Pipeline campaign; Richard Wolff, author of Capitalism Hits the Fan; and Vijay Prashad, author of a The Darker Nations: A People’s History of the Third World.
Workshops on Egypt include:
Egypt: One Year After Revolution: Where is the Struggle Headed?
Description: One year ago, a revolution began in Egypt that ultimately brought down the U.S.-backed dictator Hosni Mubarak after 30 years in power. Following on the heels of the Tunisian revolution, Egypt's struggle provided a ray of hope for millions of people around the world. But a year later, many of the aspirations of the masses of Egyptians have yet to be realized. While Mubarak is gone, the generals who served him still run the country, and in recent months, they have stepped up the level of repression against all those--youth, women and workers--who want the revolution to deliver real change. Hear analyses and reports from the barricades in Egypt and from the solidarity movement worldwide.
Presenters:
Ayman El-Sawa is an Egyptian American who has played a leading role with the Ad Hoc Coalition to Defend the Egyptian Revolution, the group that sponsored the January Egypt solidarity actions in NYC.
Ahmed Shawki is an Egyptian American who was in Cairo during the 2011 revolution and who today heads the Egypt Solidarity Campaign.
2. From Egypt to New York City: “Anti-Radicalization” Laws, Surveillance, the War on Terror Industrial Complex, & the
NDAA (National Defense Authorization Act.).
Description: As President Obam signed into law the NDAA creating legal military tribunals without
trial for people accused of “terrorism,” how we challenge the War on Terror and military/prison
complexes aimed to destabilize anti-neoliberalization movements of workers, youth, and people of the Global South? A panel of family members of victims of FBI entrapments of Muslims, antiwar activists, Egyptian solidarity activists, Black power activist targets of COINTELPRO, South Asian/Muslim
low-wage immigrant workers from NYC, and community organizers will speak on how/why informants
and surveillance are targeting Muslims and activists worldwide. We will make links beyond the narrow U.S.-centered and Muslim framework to Co-Intel Pro, global resistance to neoliberal capitalism, and migrant workers struggle. We will hold a group discussion on strategies and campaign action
challenging the criminalization of dissent, the use of Muslims as justification for a national security
regime and wars, and how movements in Egypt and globally have resisted U.S. War on Terror
injustices.
Presenters:
Monami Maulik, Executive Director of DRUM-Desis Rising Up & Moving;
Fahd Ahmed, Legal Director of DRUM;
Shasheena Parveen, Mother of Sirah Martin, entrapped and serving 30 years in prison;
Shahid Buttar,Director of the Bill of Rights Defense Committee;
Osman Chowdhury, DRUM member and NYC taxi driver; and
Egyptian solidarity activistsrecently returned from Cairo.
1. Targeting Iran: The Truth Behind the Hype:
Description. Few U.S. activists have visited the Islamic Republic of Iran or know much about this ancient and complex society. With Iran clearly the next target of U.S. aggression, the government and media campaigns of misinformation and demonization are in full swing. The goal of this workshop is to provide activists with a historical overview of U.S.-Iranian relations; facts about the supposedly central issue of Iran's “nuclear ambitions”; an examination of how the U.S. uses Iran's internal issues to present a false and threatening picture of Iran and its government; and a look at how anti-war movements in other countries are reacting to the growing threat of war.
Moderator:
· Ana Edwards, Board of Directors, Campaign Against Sanctions & Military Intervention in Iran (CASMI), participant, 2ndGrand Congress of Iranians Living Abroad, Tehran, 2010
Presenters:
· Kazem Azim, a native of Iran, participated in the 1979 Revolution. Active with the Confederation of Iranian Students; former editor of theoretical journals of the Toilers Party; founding member of Solidarity Iran.
· Mansoureh Tajik, a native of Iran and assistant professor at the University of Massachusetts at Lowell. A peace and community activist, works collaboratively in the U.S. and Iran with local community-based organizations on environmental health and sustainability issues.
· Sara Flounders, Co-Director of the International Action Center and coordinator ot the StopWarOnIran.orgCampaign; editor and co-author of 10 books published by the IAC; visited Iran in 2011.
· Ken Stone, Steering Committee, Canadian Peace Alliance; co-founder, Coalition Against Racism, Hamilton, Ontario; Jewish participant in conference in support of the Palestinian Intifada held in Tehran, 2011
· Phil Wilayto, Board Member, CASMII; author, In Defense of Iran: Notes from a U.S. Peace Delegation's Journey through the Islamic Republic; speaker, 2ndGrand Congress of Iranians Living Abroad, Tehran, 2010.
2. Iran: Solidarity, Not Intervention.
Description. As threats of a US/Israeli military attack and multiple rounds of sanctions continue to destabilize Iranian society, it has never been more urgent for the anti-war movement here to act in solidarity with the Iranian people. But what exactly does this mean? Is our role simply to oppose outside intervention? Or does an anti-war movement that is also committed to social justice need to have some accountability/responsibility to our counterparts in Iran? This workshop will consider these questions by looking not only at the conflict between governments, but also at what is happening on the ground in Iran. We will propose new strategies based on rethinking international solidarity from the bottom up.
· Presenters: Manijeh Nasrabadi and the Raha Iranian Feminist Collective. Manijeh Nasrabadi is a prolific Iranian-American writer and the co-director of the Association of Iranian-American Writers
3. The West's Politico-Economic Warfare on Iran.
Description. Presentation of Economic Data and updates on Sanctions, Privatization and Prospects of the Iranian Economy 2) Impact on Iranian working class -discuss the perspectives of working class Iranians toward U.S./Israeli threats and the economic conditions worsened by the harsh sanctions, and their impact on families.
· Presenters: Eleanor & Ardeshir Ommani, Co-Founders of American Iranian Friendship Committee (AIFC); recently returned from a 50-day visit to Iran with family, community activists.
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To Register, Get Transportation Information, Book a Room, Submit an Amendment or Resolution, or Contribute, visit www.unacpeace.orgor call 518-227-6947. Funds badly needed for scholarships. All funds collected over costs will be used for NATO/G8 summit May 19 protest expenses.
Or Click here to register for the conference. Go to the website to register for a hotel room at a reduced price (www.UNACpeace.org).
Call the State Dept on Behalf of US Citizens Arrested in Bahrain
Please call 202-647-4000 and leave a comment with the U.S. State Department asking them to halt the Bahraini government's deportation of U.S. citizens who are in Bahrain and have observed government brutality against peaceful protesters. Six U.S. citizens are now in detention including three from Voices for Creative Nonviolence. You can also tweet the State Department at @StateDept. Please help spread the word. ---
February 14, 2012
Six US citizens arrested in Bahrain, to be deported
Contact Witness Bahrain to schedule an interview.
For Immediate Release
[Manama, Bahrain] Six US Citizens were arrested by Bahraini security forces in Manama on Tuesday during a peaceful protest on the way to the Pearl Roundabout. Protesters had marched into the city center to reestablish a presence of nonviolent, peaceful protest on the one year anniversary of the Arab Spring uprising in Bahrain.
In the Midst of $2 Billion Per Week Spending on War, Babies Freezing in Kabul for Lack of Food, Fuel, Blankets
It goes on and on and on, a black Theater of the Absurd. NATO truck convoys laden with every comfort imaginable which US war contractor dollars can buy - bottled water, frozen steaks, space heaters, air conditioners, new SUVs, anything really - roll into Kabul destined for military bases, embassies, and the universe of end-delivery points which comprise a major military occupation. The "burn rate" for the occupation, the military's term for the rate of spending, is over $8 billion a month or $10 million every hour, making it the most expensive war in US history. Along the way, the convoys pass in plain view of the refugee camps where 35,000 people fight day-to-day for barest survival, internally displaced persons or IDPs who have fled the fighting around their homes in other parts of Afghanistan.
INT’L PEACE GROUP TO HOLD MEETING ON JEJU ISLAND, SOUTH KOREA: WILL SUPPORT VILLAGERS' FIGHT AGAINST CONTROVERSIAL NAVY BASE
The Global Network Against Weapons & Nuclear Power in Space will hold its 20th annual space organizing conference in Gangjeong village on Jeju Island in South Korea from February 24-26. The group is made up of 150 peace groups around the world who are working to oppose the development of a new arms race in space. The theme for the conferencewill be Jeju for Island of Peace.
The South Korean Navy is building a base just 300-miles from the Chinese mainland. The base will become a port for U.S. Navy Aegis destroyers outfitted with “missile defense” systems that are key elements in Pentagon first-strike attack planning. The 400-year old Gangjeong fishing and farming village on Jeju Island is being destroyed to build the base. Endangered soft-coral reefs offshore will also be destroyed when the seabed is dredged to make it possible to bring U.S. warships into the port.
A One Percenter Puts Over $200 Million into the Peace Movement
I'll tell you who did this below. First read part his rather unusual letter:
"I have transferred to you as trustees $231 million in bonds, the revenue of which is to be administered by you to hasten the abolition of international war, the foulest blot upon our civilization. Although we no longer eat our fellow men nor torture prisoners, nor sack cities killing their inhabitants, we still kill each other in war like barbarians. Only wild beasts are excusable for doing that in this, the Twenty First Century of the Christian era, for the crime of war is inherent, since it decides not in favor of the right, but always of the strong. The nation is criminal which refuses arbitration and drives its adversary to a tribunal which knows nothing of righteous judgment. . . .
"I hope the trustees will begin by pressing forward upon this line, testing it thoroughly and doubting not.
"The judge who presides over a cause in which he is interested dies in infamy if discovered. The citizen who constitutes himself a judge in his own cause as against his fellow-citizen, and presumes to attack him, is a law-breaker and as such disgraced. So should a nation be held as disgraced which insists upon sitting in judgment in its own cause in case of an international dispute. . . .
"Lines of future action cannot be wisely laid down. Many may have to be tried, and having full confidence in my trustees, I leave them the widest discretion as to the measures and policy they shall from time to time adopt, only premising that the one end they shall keep unceasingly in view until it is attained is the speedy abolition of international war between so-called civilized nations.
"When civilized nations enter into such treaties as named, and war is discarded as disgraceful to civilized men, as personal war (duelling) and man selling and buying (slavery) have been discarded . . . the trustees will please then consider what is the next most degrading remaining evil or evils whose banishment -- or what new elevating element or elements if introduced or fostered, or both combined -- would most advance the progress, elevation and happiness of humanity, and so on from century to century without end, my Trustees of each age shall determine how they can best aid humanity in its upward march to higher and higher stages of development unceasingly. . . ."
Be an International Peace Delegate
The Fellowship of Reconciliation has been advocating nonviolence and peaceful resolution of conflict since World War I. One of the ways we at FOR practice building bridges of understanding among nations is civilian diplomacy. International civilian diplomacy, a "track two" form of diplomacy, has been practiced by FOR since the 1920s.
Join us on an upcoming delegation!
Federal Judge Strips Vermont of Power to Terminate Nuke: State Government Diddles but Vermonters Take Matters into Own Hands
By Dan DeWalt
Entergy Nuclear of Louisiana, which operates the Vermont Yankee (VY) nuclear reactor in Vernon Vermont has launched an attack on the state of Vermont with the help of the federal courts.
Vermont state law gives the state the power to decide whether to allow further operation of the reactor past March 21, 2012 (the expiration date for VY). When Entergy bought VY, they agreed to this law and swore that they would not try to abrogate it. This was an outright lie on Entergy's part, and they sued the state as soon as it was decided that further operation of this crumbling, leaking and led-by-liars reactor would NOT be in the interests of the state and they were not given permission to continue operation past March 21.
Chat I Just Had With Homeland Security
After publishing this report I was contacted by ICE (Immigration and Customs Enforcement). The individual involved never returned my call. Instead I heard from Brian Hale who said he had been with Director Morton at the event recently held at the University of Virginia and discussed in my report. He told me that ICE in fact had nothing to do with contacting activists, that in fact Ed Ryan (who had contacted local residents from an ICE email address) actually worked for Federal Protective Services which used to fall under ICE and still has some ICE email addresses. I asked Hale, regardless of department, why any branch of Homeland Security was using our money to contact us in a manner that intimidated people out of exercising their First Amendment rights. Hale told me to ask Federal Protective Services (FPS).
I reached Rob Winchester at FPS. I asked him about the January 20th MovetoAmend.org "Occupy the Courts" events held here in Charlottesville, Va., and around the country. He said that FPS inspectors had tried to facilitate events in order to get them permitted and make them legal. Some of the events, he said, were on federal property. The intent had been dialogue and not intimidation. If people were intimidated, he said, he apologized for that.
I told Winchester that the street corner where the Charlottesville event was held is routinely used for demonstrations without permits or authorizations beyond the First Amendment, and that we have never had a problem, but that the FPS contacts instructing people to inform authorities of their plans by certain deadlines and so forth had in fact intimidated people out of exercising their rights.
Winchester replied that at one location elsewhere in the country some people had "been pushing against the barricades." I didn't ask what the barricades were doing there. In another location, he said, "our folks were laughing and joking with the people there." Mine was the first report of any intimidation, he said.
I pointed out that people who are intimidated by FPS contact do not phone in to the FPS to report that they feel intimidated. Winchester said that he understood and would pass this along as "lessons learned." I thanked him for his apology and for understanding. But this is clearly a work in progress. Many would like to be free to hold rallies without the presence of a militarized federal force, regardless of whether that force is joking and laughing with us. Many would like to be left alone to exercise their First Amendment rights undisturbed rather than fund Big Brother to the tune of $75 billion per year, no matter how benevolent the intentions. The problem is not Ryan or Winchester but the system they have made themselves a part of.
My advice to intimidated activists is to not leave me the only person phoning in to complain. Phone in. Phone every day. Ask for a meeting to discuss the problem. Call 202-282-8000.
Solidarity and Support for Heroic Women Political Prisoners
Dr. Aafia Siddiqui's Appeal Hearing ► FRIDAY► FEB 10 at 9 am
Lynne Stewart's Appeal Hearing ► WEDNESDAY► FEB 29 at 9 am
On Fri., Feb. 10th, at 9 am pack the courtroom at the Appeals Hearing for Dr. Aafia Siddiqui at Federal Court, 500 Pearl Street, New York, NY, 9th Floor Ceremonial Courtroom
Dr Aafia Siddiqui is a victim of torture and abuse. She was illegally kidnapped with her three young children in Karachi 9 years ago — March 2003 and was taken to U.S. custody in Afghanistan where she was shot and severely wounded during an interrogation by FBI agents.
On September 23, 2010 — following five years of secret imprisonment and torture overseas, and two years of torturous pre-trial detention in the United States — this now 39 year old mother of three was found guilty of "attempting to murder U.S. personnel" in Afghanistan (despite all of the material evidence in her favor) and shockingly sentenced to 86 years of additional imprisonment in the U.S. Aafia was sent to Carswell Federal Prison in Ft Worth TX and has been held for 18 months in total isolation.
Aafia Siddiqui holds a place in the hearts of people of conscience internationally irrespective of their faith, nationality or location. There is already immense international outrage about her case. Aafia Siddiqui has repeatedly maintained in court appearances that she was tortured while in U.S. custody.
This U.S.-educated child specialist and doctor of neuroscience has come to symbolize the many hundreds of Pakistanis who have been secretly disappeared, detained and tortured, as well as the national outrage at the continuing deadly U.S. drone attacks.
Let's Pack the Court on Fri ►Feb 10 at 9 am
in solidarity with our sister Aafia Siddiqui.
See: www.freeaafia.org
Lynne Stewart's Appeal Hearing — Wed ►Feb 29 at 9 am
Also makes plans to be in court on Wed., Feb. 29 at 9 am for the Appeals Hearing for the courageous 72 year old human rights attorney Lynne Stewart.
This appeal hearing will also be heard in Federal Court, 500 Pearl Street at 9 am.
On Tues Feb 28: Plan to be at Tom Paine Park — Foley Square, NY
for an all night vigil with poets, speakers, drummers, rappers, gospel singers and dancers from Tues., Feb. 28, starting at 6 pm thru Wed., Feb. 29. Then at 9 am pack the Federal Court.
Since Lynne Stewart's arrest 10 years ago on April 9, 2002 she has fought the false accusations and government frame-up. Lynne spent her life defending poor and unpopular defendants.
Originally sentenced to 28 months in prison, in a unprecedented move her bail was suddenly revoked and on July 10, 2010 she was resentenced to 10 years in prison for showing a lack of remorse after her initial sentencing.
The jailing of Lynne Stewart is an obvious attempt by the U.S. government to silence dissent, curtail vigorous defense lawyers, and install fear in those who would fight against the U.S. government's racism, seek to help Arabs and Muslims being prosecuted for free speech and defend the rights of all oppressed people.
Come and show your love and solidarity with our sister Lynne Stewart
at the Tues ►Feb 28 Vigil and Wed ►Feb 29 Hearing.
See: www.lynnestewart.org
For Information on both cases and the struggles against war, racism and repression see: www.IACenter.org
Where is Conyers with Impeachment Threats Against President for Iran Attack Now?
It may have been the one and only thing which prevented an attack on Iran during the Bush years. Chairman of the Judiciary Committee John Conyers spent years fending off nationwide calls to impeach George W. Bush over the invasion of Iraq, the shredding of the Constitution after 9/11, and other high crimes and misdemeanors culminating in a summer of 2008 "non-impeachment impeachment hearings," in which witnesses such as Rep. Brad Miller, Rep. Maurice Hinchey, Rep. Walter Jones, Rep. Dennis Kucinich, constitutional scholar Bruce Fein, former Rep. Elizabeth Holtzman, Vincent Bugliosi and many others came together to implore the committee to bring articles of impeachment.
Burying Black History Month: Graffiti Defacing America's Vaunted Wall of Greatness?
By Linn Washington, Jr.
Ask journalists across America what is the seminal U.S. Supreme Court decision upholding the First Amendment’s press freedom right and most with even a minimal knowledge of First Amendment history will quickly answer New York Times vs. Sullivan.
However, few journalists are aware that the Supreme Court decision significantly reinforcing their press freedom protections arose from the Civil Rights Movement, and in an action involving iconic activist Dr. Martin Luther King.
The 1964 New York Times vs. Sullivan decision is one of a number of U.S. Supreme Court rulings in the Twentieth Century where struggles by African-Americans to obtain long-denied constitutional rights succeeded in expanding constitutional protections for all Americans.
ICE Director Confronted on Intimidation of Nonviolent Citizen Activism
John Morton, Director of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, spoke on Monday at the University of Virginia in Charlottesville. Here's the University's report. Here's the local newspaper's. Both report only on what Morton said, without mentioning what he was asked about by members of the audience following his opening remarks.
He could have been asked about record breaking deportations and the recklessness that has deported U.S. citizens. Perhaps he was. I wasn't there. But Erin Rose, who was there, sent this report:
"Last night I got up the nerve to go confront the director of ICE, John Morton, where he was giving a lecture on the duties and achievements of ICE at the University of Virginia Law School. I went with Nancy, who is a very gutsy woman and really inspires me. We listened while the director spent one hour explaining what his department does. Besides undocumented people, they also deal with child abusers. (I didn't understand that connection.) He told us that since the beginning of his tenure the death rate among ICE prisoners has gone down from dozens a year to less than 10 a year. (Were we supposed to clap?) He also said that incarceration has gone up 50% since he got there. They contract with private corporations and the taxpayer pays the bill. He also said the system needs to be entirely redone, revamped. He gave absolutely no indication what would be necessary or even why....
"... When it was time for questions, Nancy stood up and introduced herself as not a lawyer or a child molester, but just a common citizen who would like to know why ICE considers American citizens who are just disagreeing with their government in a open, planned, peaceful, democratic demonstration, their purview? She referred to our protest against Citizens United [held on January 20th in Charlottesville] and told him that many organizers across the country had been intercepted before the event and monitored during the event by special agents of ICE. He answered that he had no knowledge of it, immediately dismissed it, and went on to the next question.
"So I raised my hand, stood up and told him that I was one of those organizers and that I know of many others -- dozens -- who were contacted and questioned. I asked him how he doesn't know the functions of his own department? When he continued to deny any knowledge of this, I turned to the gentile and learned audience and told them that even though he is not telling them, they should know that this department, which was ostensibly set up to deal with immigration control of foreigners, is now concerning itself with local American citizens that dare to disagree with their government. And that even more disturbing, they are not admitting to this. I stressed that this concerns them and this is what they need to know from this lecture. I then walked out. I was chased by a strange man who caught me just as I left the building, wanting to know what organization I was from. When I asked him what he was doing there, he was vague. Again, he pressed me for information but I blew him off and left quickly. Nancy, who stayed til the end, later told me that she was also approached by this man, who seemed to want to learn as much as he could about us. I went home feeling sick to my stomach and quite depressed. I had expected an explanation in answer to my question, certainly a justification- but not a complete denial. How do you explain this?"
Now, I was the speaker at the January 20th event, and I never heard anything from ICE -- and that always seems to be the case and always leaves me very skeptical. So I asked Erin for more information, and she sent me this email that she had received:
Ryan, Edward A <aryan@ice.dhs.gov> wrote:
From: Ryan, Edward A <aryan@ice.dhs.gov>
Subject: January 20, 2012 - Occupy the Courts
To: [Erin and 13 other people.-DS]
Date: Monday, January 23, 2012, 5:32 AM
To all,
You were previously identified as an Organizer or part of the planning process for the January 20, 2012, “Occupy the Courts” movement. Federal Protective Service representatives reached out to you before hand to attempt to assist in your planning of the event and facilitate any permitting required and coordinate and provide information regarding any additional entities you might have had to contact.
As this event is now over, we are always trying to improve in our outreach program. I am asking that by the close of business, January 25, 2012, you provide me with any feedback you can as well as answer the few questions posed below.
Question 1:
Were you satisfied in the information that was provided to you during the initial contact by Federal Protective Service representatives?
Question 2:
Was the Federal Protective Service able to assist you in your planning process?
Question 3:
On the day of your event, were the Federal Protective Service Officers courteous, respectful and helpful?
Question 4:
In your opinion, is there anything we could have done better?
I thank you for your time and the Federal Protective Service looks forward to working with you again.
Ed Ryan
Special Agent
U.S. Department of Homeland Security
Federal Protective Service
(215) 521-2146 Office
(215) 521-2169 Fax
edryan@dhs.gov
The event in question was held, as planned and publicly announced, on a street corner in front of a federal court house. The same location has been used for a peace rally every Thursday afternoon for many years without incident or interference. During the event, four uniformed "officers" of some sort were visible inside the glass front of the building, watching us. To my knowledge, they never emerged, and we never entered. Whether they had any colleagues there without uniforms I couldn't say for sure.
Erin has expressed her concern thus:
"If the stated mission of ICE is to 'uphold public safety by enforcing immigration and customs laws,' what does ICE have to do with us, a group of legal American citizens peacefully assembling in our home town? Doesn't that seem weird? I mean, I realize ICE is under the umbrella of Homeland Security -- although I think even the overlap between these two is strange. However, if these two departments have something in common, it is that they were both set up to deal with foreign and covert threats. Homeland Security was ostensibly set up to counteract terrorism. Terrorists do not announce their protests by posting flyers all over town. Terrorists do not wave colorful signs to get attention. Just how are two government departments, which were supposedly set up to deal with foreign, covert threats, now concerning themselves with we, the people?"
These seemed like reasonable questions, so I phoned up Ed Ryan to ask him. I left a voice message at 11:50 a.m. on Wednesday. I'm still waiting for his helpful call.
The event in Charlottesville was one of dozens all over the country on January 20th organized by MovetoAmend.org, and reports from elsewhere are that the Department of Homeland Security and Federal Marshalls were very eager to "facilitate" rallies planned in front of court houses. Concerns about this that have been communicated to me include that it helps to habituate us to accepting official and authoritarian intrusion, inspection, and approval of our decisions to exercise our First Amendment rights, and that it intimidates some people who then choose not to take part in public events at all. I've seen both of those reactions first-hand.
We're spending $75 billion a year above and beyond the wars and above and beyond the "Defense Department" in order to establish a department focused on "the Homeland," since the "Defense Department" is obviously defending something else entirely. The result has not just been grotesque profiteering, guarding cows, arming police for war, harassing minorities, and so forth. It has also been employing people like Ed Ryan to make sure that my friends know Big Brother is watching them when they dare to hold up a poster proclaiming the rights of people over those of corporations.
Does this seem like good money spent to you? What if the Homeland really was insecure? I'm still waiting for the relevant bureaucracy to return my call.
Stay warm this winter in a black hooded sweatshirt. Order one. Order them by the dozen and donate them to occupations!
