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!

• Iran: May and November
• Colombia: July
• Palestine (arts delegation): June or September
• Palestine and Israel: July and October
  

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.

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.

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

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.

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.

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.

We would meet at the site every Sunday at 4:00PM.

The theme of our last installment seems pointedly prescient now; “A Country At War With Its Own People”.

Most of these events were teach-ins, at which I would read prepared opening and closing remarks.

Usually, we featured extemporaneous presentations by author Sandy Davies.

Other contributors included Vietnam war veteran Chip Sullivan, Iraq war combat veteran and war resister Camilo Mejia, and Sandy’s son Jag, a noted anti-Drug War activist.

In my opening statement, noting the militarization of local police, I said: “The purpose of municipal police—to keep the peace and enforce the law for the benefit of the local citizenry, now decayed to the “kill the enemy” mentality of the soldier.”

Having read the notification of the previous day’s General Assembly posted on the Occupy Miami facebook page, it was clear the encampment’s days were numbered.

But the tone of the message would lead one to expect an uneventful dissolution. Not a stark demonstration of my “…decay…to the “kill the enemy” mentality of the soldier.”

By Tuesday morning, it was clear this would be eviction day. 5PM was the expected deadline.

At a quarter past four, police began to arrive.

But a 7:05PM posting reports “Well past the deadline, and still no arrests as of yet… Police have said they are waiting to move in after the 200+ crowd disperses.”

On the scene to observe, I’m there around 6PM, surprised to see little happening, save the movement of tents and belongings by the occupiers.

Some mainstream media reports made much of riot police later removing tents and other materials, but they worked from a minuscule supply.

I ask numerous people what might happen next, but no one seems to know the reason for the delay…

By 7:15PM, a group of five or six had resolved to peacefully resist the eviction by sitting in a circle, arm-in-arm in the middle of the now nearly empty lot, requiring police to physically remove them.

Make-shift barricades were erected around the group. As the crowd is ordered to disperse, supporters form a hand-in-hand circle around the resisters.

Sympathetic, I’m tempted to join, but resolve to remain an outside observer, to the extent that I could.

I notice that there seemed to be no one watching from the north side, as a group of observers on the south are moved behind a fence on the south side of the lawn. So from there, I watched the main event unfold.

As I stood alone, along the north side of the lawn and adjoining fountain, I was told at least twice by police to move back.

Clearly a gratuitous exercise of authority, It occurred to me I was fortunate they settled for immediate compliance. Reading the experiences of journalist Carlos Miller the next day confirmed my suspicions…

An uneventful span is broken by what an 8:18PM Occupy facebook posting describes as “Nearly 100 police in riot gear have been dispatched to confront 6 peaceful protestors practicing civil disobedience.”

It was quite an imposing sight; police running in single file along the north side of the field, gathering in precise formation.

But “…dispatched to confront 6 peaceful protestors…” would prove a grave misapprehension.

For the focus of this mass of riot police was not the little handful of resisters, but their small crowd of supporters.

The ensuing events have been chronicled in detail by members of the crowd, my view of them largely blocked by the main body of county riot police.

As the main county police contingent pushed the demonstrators back in stages to the west sidewalk, where I stood, I looked to my left. At the N.W. 2nd street and 2nd Avenue traffic light, just north of the line of confrontation, a group of at least twenty city of Miami riot police gathered in tight formation.

Two county riot police officers shortly arrived for consultations.

The purpose of this odd over-staffing began to crystallize…

The city and county forces would work in concert to force the crowd down to the corner, N.W.1st street, and west, towards the the bridge across the river, about two blocks down…

As they reached the middle of the block, I had ridden my bicycle around to the west (back) of the crowd.

I heard an announcement: “Everyone here is under arrest!”.

Finally, what remained of the demonstrators dispersed. I turned and crossed the river, intent on going one block down, to the next bridge and re-entering downtown.

As I turned the corner of S.W. 2nd Avenue, on to S.W. 1st Street, an unexpected sight…

Three or four of the little circle of six resistors walked the street, unfettered.

Before I left my northern vantage point, I noticed about three of the riot police standing over the the resistors, still seated behind their ramparts. I assumed the three were charged with their arrest.

But the resistors complained of being “ignored”; of feeling they were being “held hostage” in lieu of being arrested.

What had become clear to them was that rather than play their role in the resistor’s heroically symbolic act, the authorities would spoil it by simply waiting them out.

Seeing the futility, they wisely walked away.

And while it’s been suggested that this event was intended as a practice run for the Republican convention in Tampa at the end of August, and may very well serve that purpose, the broader and more sinister underlying purpose becomes clear.

To intimidate, stifle and thwart descent.

Why else ignore the resistors? Why else focus on their supporters?

This entire drama stretched out over more than five hours.

In retrospect, the small contingent of regular police officers on the scene from the beginning could have managed the matter on their own, without on-site riot police. Off-site alert and preparation may have been sufficient prudence…

A crowd this size and emotional bent may have become agitated and loud, but once the resistors were taken away, it would have dispersed, deflated.

I personally know enough of the six resistors and many of their supporters well enough to be convinced of their peaceful intent. From the heart, a frequent chant that night: “there’s no violence here take off that stupid riot gear.”

But this was taken as an opportunity to show that even peaceful descent carries risk. That in the face of public opposition, authority will have it’s way.

Many times I pointed to the riot police and told bystanders, “these are not police officers, these are soldiers!”

Miami may be a long way from Cairo, but are we not clearly on that path?

—The Bikemessenger

LISTEN

U.S. Pursues War, Chaos in Middle East and North Africa

“If there is a substantial military strike on Iran, it is going to create mayhem in the region,” said Dr. Vijay Preshad, director of International Studies at Trinity College, in Hartford, Connecticut. “And that is precisely what the Gulf Arabs and the United States would like to see. The last thing they want is a proper Arab Spring germinate into new, democratic regimes in North Africa and Est Asia.”

McKinney: America Guilty of “Sociocide”

The U.S. is engaged in “sociocide” – the “wholesale destruction of entire societies,” said Cynthia McKinney, the former Georgia congresswoman and Green Party presidential candidate. “One can honestly say that sociocide has occurred in Iraq and Libya,” she said. “This is purposeful behavior, to go into these countries and destroy all aspects of the infrastructure.”

Obama Outdoes Bush in Power-Grab

“Obama has claimed vastly more power than Bush did,” said peace activist David Swanson, publisher of the influential web site WarIsACrime.org. “He has gone to great lengths to protect and cover up and provide immunity to his predecessors and, in doing so, claimed greater powers of secrecy than his predecessor ever claimed.” Of 35 article of impeachment drawn up by Rep. Dennis Kucinich against President George Bush, in 2008, 27 would also apply to Obama, said Swanson. “Many of these are offenses that a great many people would be outraged about – if Obama were a Republican.”

DemoPublicans Speak with Forked Tongue

Organizers of the Occupy encampment at Freedom Plaza in Washington, DC, expect large numbers of protesters to gather for month-long activities in April, including direct actions. In addition to protests, said Dr. Margaret Flowers, “we also need to build something that will replace the power structure.” The Democratic and Republican electoral rhetoric amounts to “a false conversation that’s limited by their corporate funders. The real conversation will be happening in the Occupy movement.”

Stop Stop-and-Frisk

“Spying on communities has got to go, stop-and-frisk has got to go,” shouted Kalfani Nkrumah, leading the chants at a Bronx, New York, demonstration by Stop Stop-and-Frisk. “If our elected officials refuse to stand up for us, then they have to go to, too.”

Michelle Authenticates Obama

Attendees at a recent conference on “African Identities in the Age of Obama,” at Virginia’s George Mason University, “were outright frank about why they voted for Obama, in 2008: “because he was married to a ‘sister.’” Conference organizer and professor of history Benedict Carton said President Obama “didn’t come from a historical trajectory of slavery in Ameriva and post-slavery dynamics.” African Americans “needed to root him through his wife.”

In the Spirit of Lumumba

The election of Patrice Lumumba as prime minister of newly independent Congo, in 1960, was that country’s first and last free election, said Luwezi Kinshasa, secretary general of the African Socialist International and a Congolese. In the spirit of Lumumba, Africans must “struggle to overturn all compromises made with imperialism,” and take ownership of the continent’s resources.

Lynn Stewart’s Appeal

On February 29, imprisoned movement lawyer Lynn Stewart appeals her 10 year sentence on charges of aiding “terrorists” – in her defense of “blind sheik” Obama Abdel Rahman, convicted in the 1993 bombing of the World Trade Center. “If there were the rule of law” in the United States,” said Stewart’s husband, Ralph Poynter, “Lynn would not be in jail.”

LISTEN

Black Agenda Radio on the Progressive Radio Network is hosted by Glen Ford and Nellie Bailey. A new edition of the program airs every Tuesday at 4:00pm ET on PRN. Length: One hour.

By Dave Lindorff

Something very small and yet enormous happened this past week.

On Feb. 2, two women who have been fighting for the freedom of Mumia Abu-Jamal, filmmaker/professor Johanna Fernandez and National Lawyers Guild Heidi  Boghosian, executive director of the National Lawyers Guild, visited Abu-Jamal, as each has done in the past, but this time, because he has been moved off of death row, for the first time since 1995, he was able to greet them with a hug--free of leg shackles and handcuffs.

For the first time too, since 1995, there is a photo to record that seemingly mundane and ordinary event.

WNRN Wake-Up Call: Charlottesville Center for Peace and Justice

CvillePodcast

Rick’s guests this week were Brandon Collins and David Swanson with Charlottesville’s Center for Peace & Justice.

LISTEN.

Citizens Leading the Way to Peace and Development in Iraq
 
 
A Conversation with Iraqi Civil Society Leaders
 
February 6th, 2012
6:00pm – 8:00pm
Busboys & Poets - 5th & K
1025 5th Street, NW
Washington, DC 20001
 
 
Come to Busboys & Poets (5th & K, NW) on February 6th from 6pm – 8pm to hear four prominent leaders of Iraq’s growing citizen sector speak about the current challenges and opportunities for long-term transformation following the U.S. troop withdrawal. The speakers are deeply-rooted in the complex struggles and fears still weighing heavily on Iraqi communities, and are working through Iraqi nonprofit service organizations to prevent bloodshed and help their country forge a brighter future. This is an opportunity for people who support Iraqis in their search for peace to engage Iraqi citizen leaders in informal conversation.  

An opportunity to meet four extraordinary activists with extensive knowledge of the current Iraqi situation.
Ms. Hanaa Edwar is the secretary general of one of Iraq’s largest and oldest NGO’s, the Iraqi Al-Amal Association, founded in 1992. She has been a Human Rights,

Ms Hanaa Edwar

woman’s rights, and democracy activist for more than 40 years. In 2011 she was awarded the Sean MacBride Peace Prize by the International Peace Bureau for her contribution "to the advancement of democracy and human rights,” and her "firm stand against violence and war.” Hanaa has led campaigns in Iraq for women’s equality, enhancing women’s role in decision-making positions and in the constitutional process. She was a founder of the "Civil Initiative to Preserve the Constitution,” which won an Iraqi Supreme Court lawsuit that forced the Iraqi Parliament to convene in late 2010. Hanaa holds a law degree from Baghdad University.
 
Mr. Hashim al-Assaf heads the Iraq office of the NGOs Coordination Committee for Iraq (NCCI), the main umbrella organization for Iraqi NGOs working in the country. As Iraq Coordinator of NCCI, Hashim works to enhance cooperation among NGOs and to strengthen civil society participation in public policy-making in Iraq. He and his staff at NCCI work to facilitate NGO relations with the Government of Iraq and are advocates for humanitarian work and the protection of human rights. Hashim has designed and implemented training sessions for Iraqi NGO staff on human rights, non-profit management, monitoring and evaluation, conflict resolution, and other topics.
 
Mr. Abdulsatar Younis is the coordinator of the Iraqi Kurdistan NGOs Network (IKNN), the voluntary association established as an umbrella network to support Kurdish and Arab NGOs registered with the Kurdish Regional Government (KRG). IKNN has helped shape the new KRG law regulating NGOs in the region. Abdulsatar is also the Erbil coordinator of the Iraq-wide "La Onf” (Non-Violence) network. He was the principle organizer of the October 2011 "First Iraqi International Marathon in Erbil for Peace and Nonviolence” sponsored by La Onf, which attracted hundreds of runners and received extensive coverage in the local media. During his five-year tenure at the head of IKNN Abdulsatar has also played a key role in election monitoring in Erbil.
 

Ms. Noof Assi

Ms. Noof Assi is a Baghdad activist who last year monitored and reported on the Arab Uprisings demonstrations in Baghdad. She has conducted human rights, citizenship, and conflict management training for Iraqi youth and women and taken part in advocacy activities on the problems facing Iraqi youth. Over the past four years Noof has participated in numerous training sessions offered by the National Democratic Institute in Iraq and other groups. She is also a former blogger and radio program presenter and has participated in the youth programs of the Beirut-based Arab Thought Foundation. Noof is currently working with Iraqi Al-Amal Association, one of Iraq’s largest and oldest NGOs.

See Salon.

Well almost standing together.  The Worcester Telegram and Gazette reported that Occupy Wall Streeters in Worcester, MA "mostly occupied the north end of the small Federal Plaza Park and Tea Partiers mostly the south" last Friday on Nationwide NDAA 2012 Congressional Protest Day.  The protest has been expanded to fall on the first Friday and Saturday of every month at congressional offices across the country. They gathered to protest the National Defense Authorization Act of 2012, which strips US citizens of their right to a jury trial when the government asserts that they are suspected of "support" for "forces" which are "associated" with Al Qaeda.  The NDAA allows the US military to detain citizens without charges, counsel, or any contact with the outside world, for life.

https://www.facebook.com/events/302074323174775/?context=create

We will gather together on Freedom Plaza in DC tonight 8:30 p.m. and leave at 9:15 pm to walk to Luther Place Church at 14th and Vermont NW.

Go here.

Yemeni Americans to Protest Ali Saleh’s Visit to U.S. and Call for His Prosecution

New York – On Sunday, February 5 and Friday, February 10, the Yemeni-American community will demonstrate against the visit to the U.S. of Dictator Ali Abdullah Saleh of Yemen and to demand accountability for crimes against the people of Yemen.

The first event, this Sunday, will be held outside the Ritz-Carlton Hotel on Central Park South in New York City, where Saleh is reportedly staying while in the U.S.

WHAT: Rally 

WHEN: Sunday, February 5, 2012, 2pm  

WHERE: Ritz-Carlton Hotel, 50 Central Park S, New York, NY 10019, where Saleh is reportedly staying during his visit.

WHO: The Yemeni American community, the Yemeni American Coalition for Change (YACC), communities in support of the people of Yemen, solidarity and rights groups, and invited speakers.

-------------

WHAT: March/Protest 

WHEN: Friday, February 10, 2012, 1:15pm  

WHERE: Demonstrators will gather at the front of Al-Farooq Mosque at 1pm (Atlantic Ave. b/w 3rd & 4th Ave in Brooklyn) and march to New York City Hall via the Brooklyn Bridge.

 WHO: The Yemeni American community, the Yemeni American Coalition for Change (YACC), communities in support of the people of Yemen, solidarity and rights groups, and invited speakers.

Each year, the Fellowship of Reconciliation awards three peace prizes -- international, national, and local -- to individuals or organizations whose commitment to peace, justice, and reconciliation is recognized as extraordinary.

We need your help in making these awards. Please nominate your favorite individual or organization working for peace by Friday, March 2.

Make a nomination for the FOR Peace Awards today!

Awards are made in three categories:

• International Pfeffer Peace Prize: Honoring those around the world working for peace and justice. Established in 1989 by Leo and Freda Pfeffer.
• Martin Luther King Jr. Award: Recognizing those working in the United States in the tradition of Dr. King, furthering his nonviolent approach to transforming racial, social and economic injustice. Established by FOR in 1979.
• Nyack-Area Peace Prize: Recognizing unheralded local groups and individuals in the Nyack, NY area, where FOR is headquartered. Established by FOR in 2006.
• Browse the list of past winners of the FOR peace awards

Make your nominations now, before March 2!

There is no requirement that you or the nominee have any affiliation with the Fellowship of Reconciliation, so please share this announcement with your networks of peace and justice advocates!

New York – On Thursday, February 2, the Yemeni-American community will hold a press conference to condemn the visit to the U.S. of embattled outgoing Yemeni President Ali Abdullah Saleh and to demand accountability for crimes against his own people.

WHAT: Press Conference 

WHEN: Thursday, February 2nd, 2012, 11am  

WHERE: Ritz-Carlton Hotel, 50 Central Park S, New York, NY 10019, where Saleh is reportedly staying during his visit.

WHO: The Yemeni American community, the Yemeni American Coalition for Change (YACC), the Popular Support Committee for the Youth Revolution in Yemen (PSCYRY), and invited speakers.

From Political Analysis on the Progressive Radio Network.

LISTEN: mp3.

Camp Douglas, WI – Twenty-four Wisconsin citizen activists vigiled outside the gates of Camp Williams/Volk Field on Monday January 31, 2012, calling for an end to drone warfare.  People were there from Milwaukee, Afton, Madison, Monona, Ontario, Mauston, and Portage.  Camp Williams/Volk Field is a National Guard facility where testing and training for the RQ-7 Shadow 200 drones is conducted.

A week prior to the action, the group mailed a letter to Colonel Gary Ebben, Commander, asking for a meeting to discuss their grave and urgent concerns regarding drone warfare.  The letter states in part, “The United States carried out drone attacks inside Pakistani territory during 2011 killing 609 people, and only eight could even possibly be considered to be a threat to the safety of the United States.”  They did not receive a response from Colonel Ebben.