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Chicago Mayor Emanuel Causing Trouble Wherever He Goes
We are presently locked in a major legal and political battle with the City of Chicago for the simple right to march and rally on Sat., May 19 against the war and poverty agenda of the NATO/G8 summit meetings
planned for May 19-21.
We need your name, title, and generous financial contribution now to place the full-page advertisement that appears below in the Chicago Sun Times in the next few weeks.
Again, please send your contribution today and join us in this nationally coordinated effort to obtain formal permits to exercise our Constitutional right to free speech and assembly. We have no doubt that the six months of violence-baiting, threats of mass arrests, militarization of the Chicago Police Force and Chicago officials’ refusal to grant the Coalition Against NATO/G8 War and Poverty Agenda a simple permit has a single objective: to discourage the massive turnout that we are projecting in these times of never-ending wars and attacks on the very fabric of life of people across the globe.
We need to raise some $8,000 in a matter of weeks to cover the cost of the ad and related expenses. You can contribute online via the DONATE button at our website (UNACPeace.org) or send your check payable to United National Antiwar Coalition to UNAC, P.O. Box 123, Delmar, NY 12054. Click here to donate for the ad. Donations will go through our regular UNAC donation process: https://www.nationalpeaceconference.org/Donate.html
To add your name to this important ad as a signer, please respond to this email stating your wish to do so, with your full name, title (if appropriate), organizational affiliation (let us know if we may use this in the ad) and the amount that you can contribute toward the publication costs.
We need to raise some $8,000 in a matter of weeks to cover the cost of the ad and related expenses. You can contribute online via the DONATE button at our website (UNACPeace.org) or send your check payable to United National Antiwar Coalition to UNAC, P.O. Box 123, Delmar, NY 12054. Click here to donate for the ad. Donations will go through our regular UNAC donation process: https://www.nationalpeaceconference.org/Donate.html
To add your name to this important ad as a signer, please respond to this email stating your wish to do so, with your full name, title (if appropriate), organizational affiliation (let us know if we may use this in the ad) and the amount that you can contribute toward the publication costs.
In solidarity,
Joe Lombardo and Marilyn Levin, Co-National Coordinators
United National Antiwar Coalition
Joe Lombardo and Marilyn Levin, Co-National Coordinators
United National Antiwar Coalition
IN THE SPIRIT OF THE BILL OF RIGHTS...
FREE SPEECH AND ASSEMBLY MUST NOT BE DENIED IN CHICAGO
To: Mayor Rahm Emanuel and Police Superintendent Gary McCarthy
We the undersigned wish to express our deep concern regarding attempts by the City of Chicago to suppress peaceful protests during the May 19-21, 2012 NATO and G8 summit meetings. Specifically Saturday, May 19 is the date when sizable numbers are expected to gather in Chicago to exercise their democratic rights under the U.S. Constitution.
Following an extraordinary – possibly unprecedented – delay of 20 weeks in responding to a request for written permits for a demonstration at Daley Plaza (118 N. Clark St.) on this date, a denial was received. While we have subsequently been notified by the Chicago Public Building Commission that permits will be granted for Daley Plaza to still unspecified groups, the vague language of this response again raises serious questions as to the City's intentions and especially so since our original application was filed the day immediately following the public announcement of the NATO/G8 meetings – almost six months ago. This is, frankly, not acceptable.
Rather than repeat the City's past policies – which include the eviction of the celebrated Occupy Chicago encampment with numerous arrests – we would like the City to reverse course, welcome those attending protest events, and set a world standard for accountability, acceptance and respect for our guaranteed rights.
We greatly regret early positions reported in the Chicago Tribune on October 23, 2011 that the harsh crackdown on Occupy Chicago – in a clear violation of the constitutional right to free speech and peaceful assembly – was some sort of precedent for the City's planned behavior next May.
Designating the NATO/G8 summits as a National Special Security Event (NSSE) does not give city and federal authorities the right to suspend the U.S. Constitution. The First Amendment clearly protects the right to free speech and assembly.
Efforts to correct these wrongs should begin immediately by allowing Occupy Chicago to camp in a public area, followed by issuing the permits in a timely manner that will ensure an orderly, peaceful, family-friendly experience for the City of Chicago next May during the meetings of NATO and the G8.
In that spirit, we petition you to: cease and desist from all actions that limit the constitutional rights of protesters to free speech and assembly; grant the Coalition Against NATO/G-8 War and Poverty Agenda, without delay, permits for rallies and marches within sight and sound of the forthcoming summits; cease making veiled threats of harsh treatment and arrest of those who are planning protests and those who are considering participation.
We live in troubled times where fundamental incursions on the right to assemble and peacefully protest in Chicago are coupled with ominous threats to our constitutional rights in general. Perhaps the most disturbing is the National Defense Authorization Act, approved by Congress on Dec. 15, that grants the government the right to conduct secret and indefinite detentions without recourse to counsel and without charges presented in a court of law.
We look forward to a positive and specific response to this appeal. No one will benefit more than the City of Chicago itself. Once again, the whole world will be watching.
Noam Chomsky
Cynthia McKinney, former U.S. Congress member
Joe Lombardo & Marilyn Levin, Co-national coordinators, United National Antiwar Coalition
Jules Lobel, President, Center for Constitutional Rights
Michael Ratner, President Emeritus, Center for Constitutional Rights
Jan Sussler, People's Law Office, Chicago
Naomi Wolf, author
James Lafferty, Executive Director, National Lawyers Guild, Los Angeles;
Michael Stephen Smith Esq., Co-host, Law and Disorder Radio
Imam Abdul Malik Mujahid, Muslim Peace Coalition
Ramsey Clark, UN Peace Prize; Human Rights Attorney, Former US Attorney General
Kathy Kelly, Co-coordinator, Voices For Creative Nonviolence
Shahid Buttar, Executive Director, Bill of Rights Defense Committee
Gary L. Cozette, Program Dir, Chicago Religious Leadership Network on Latin America
Mike Ferner, Interim Executive Director, Veterans for Peace
Leah Bolger, Commander, U.S. Navy ret,; V.P. Veterans for Peace
Debra Sweet, Director, World Can't Wait
Sara Flounders, International Action Center
Lynne Stewart
Mark Johnson, Executive Director, Fellowship of Reconciliation
Imam A. Abdul Baqi, Islamic Leadership Council of Metro NY
Alejandro Luis Molina, Co-coordinator, National Boricua Human Rights Network
Bob Clarke, President, Chicago Committee to Defend the Bill of Rights
Patricia Hunt, Chicago Area CodePINK, Chicago Area Peace Action
Tom Burke, Committee to Stop FBI Repression
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