July 2013 Archives
Hands off Edward Snowden and Julian Assange, Free Bradley Manning
Thanks to Army PFC Bradley Manning and press coverage of the court martial trial he has endured, we've witnessed the great lengths President Obama will go to silence the truth about U.S.-sanctioned murder across the globe.
Yesterday a crowd gathered at Powell/Market plaza to respond to the military verdict handed down earlier earlier in the day, rallying public support for reduced or suspended sentencing (Bradley is facing 130 years in prison if prosecutors get their way). New friends joined the Bradley Manning support network for a march around Union Square, taking it to the streets and disrupting cable car service for a brief period. Tourists and shoppers joined in chants of "Hey Bradley, we got your back!" and "Whistleblowing is not a crime... Bradley Manning is a Hero."
That same day, European Parliamentarians called on President Obama to free Manning:
"As Members of the European Parliament, who were elected to represent our constituents throughout Europe, we are writing to express our concerns about the ongoing persecution of Bradley Manning, the young U.S. soldier who released classified information revealing evidence of human rights abuses and apparent war crimes in Iraq and Afghanistan... Army prosecutors closed their arguments in the case without having provided any real evidence that Bradley Manning aided the enemy."
It takes courage to expose the crimes of our government. The stakes, life imprisonment or death, couldn't be higher. Stand in support of those who have taken the leap.
More photos here.
The word "Guantanamo" came to mean torture & injustice. One of Obama's first acts as president in 2008 was an order to close Guantanamo within one year, leading most people to think the terrible violation of peoples' rights by indefinite detention without trial is over. But it isn't.
166 men remain imprisoned at Guantanamo Bay, most having never been charged with a crime.
Guantanamo hunger strikers are determined to free themselves from America's death camp -- one way or another. Lives are on the line.
Prisoner lawyers describe worsening conditions, religious provocation, and the crushing reality of 11 years of indefinite detention. Forced feeding employed to keep the prisoners alive, to save face for the government, is itself a form of torture condemned by the United Nations Human Rights Commission.Guantanamo: how will WE be judged?
Our government has done it's best to hide the torture practiced at the experimental prison camp of Guantanamo, and forestall any attempts at accountability for the perpetrators and enablers of those crimes. But thanks to the courageous actions of the prisoners held there we now know more details of continuing brutality and excuses of ignorance about what is transpiring, short of deliberate head-turning, are no longer plausible.
The U.S. engaged in torture and it is up to us to demand closure of the death camp and repudiation of the lawlessness exhibited there. The hunger strike by the Guantánamo prisoners is their cry to the world, which we must hear and support. Right now, today -- our voices and our actions can make a difference.
Don't let Obama get away with murder by attrition
There are moments in history that require a truly heroic transformation of consciousness. The prisoners' hunger strike represents a ghastly humanitarian crisis; but also presents an opportunity to raise the volume of resistance.
Anti-torture activists know that it will take a massive demonstration of support to stop the suffering and to save the lives of those who have not yet crossed the threshold beyond recovery (the body starts shutting down after 40 days of starvation; some of these men have denied food since early February).
As it stands now, the only way out of their hell-on-earth is in a coffin.
The Guantanamo hunger strikers are literally starving for your attention
Murder by neglect... is this the end of the line? Will Americans accept this version of history? Or will we step up to the task at hand and close down Guantanamo once and for all? When ignore -ance = death, silence is not an option.
From the policies of the U.S. government to the acts of a brutal vigilante, callous disregard for human life is a crime.
