tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-211181972023-11-16T11:26:37.014-05:00i<br><br><br><br><br><br>866-973-4463 / nyc@worldcantwait.orgNYC World Can't Waithttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03133078938662581680noreply@blogger.comBlogger87125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21118197.post-48193559056412925092009-02-02T21:30:00.001-05:002009-02-02T21:32:08.322-05:00Iraq anti-war vet Matthis Chiroux Hearing March 12 with/Army reactivation to Iraq<span><span style="font-weight: bold;font-size:130%;" >Statement from Matthis Chrioux</span><br /><br />February 2, 2009<br /><br />I have a date with the military.<br /><br />March 12, I'll attend a board hearing in St. Louis, Missouri, to determine what the nature of my discharge from the Individual Ready Reserve will be. The Army has alleged "misconduct" and they're shooting for a "general discharge," but I'm pushing for "honorable," as my refusal to deploy was not an act of misconduct.<br /><br />I will attend this hearing in uniform as ordered, but only for the purpose of these administrative proceedings. I'm not contesting the fact that I did not report as ordered to deploy to Iraq. However, I intend to paint a clear picture of my convictions to the military, and I seek to corroborate them with first hand accounts of occupation.<br /><br />No person is bound to act against the dictates of conscience, let alone their understanding of the law. I know the occupation of Iraq and further the Global War on Terror to be an illegitimate and ultimately murderous campaign waged for economic gain, fueled by misinformation and greed. I know it to be in violation of not only international law, but the U.S. Constitution. Far more importantly, it is against the dictates of my own conscience, and never again will I compromise my humanity to support or ignore the crimes of my government.<br /><br />I will be working closely with Iraq Veterans Against the War to plan what we hope will reflect a Winter Soldier event in the form of our members testifying under oath to the military about their experiences in the Global War on Terror.<br /><br />I seek only truth to be heard and considered by the military. If reconciliation is possible, I seek that, as well.<br /><br />If we are a democracy, than ultimately we the people are responsible for the actions of our government. When those actions bring about crimes against humanity in the forms of occupation, torture and war profiteering, it is our duty as people to resist.<br /><br />I stand for humanity, the rule of law and the rights of people, be they Arab or American, to cast off their oppressors, be they foreign or domestic...and even challenge them in court, which is what, in essence, I am doing. <br /><br />The Army in no way has forced this hearing upon me. I demanded this hearing from them to oppose the General Discharge, and I thank them for providing me due process. <br /><br />We are continuing to gather funds needed to cover travel expenses and accommodation for those who will be testifying. I hope anywhere from fifteen to thirty veterans, military family members, Iraqi civilians and constitutional experts will appear before my board. Please consider making a donation to my defense campaign either through my website, <a href="http://matthisresists.us/" target="_blank">matthisresists.us</a>, or through <a href="http://ivaw.org/" target="_blank">ivaw.org</a>.<br /><br />This information, when presented to the military, will provide a clear contrast to the official narrative of the Global War on Terror and establish a firm base for my actions in reality as recalled by those who lived it.<br /><br />As well, I have recently returned to New York from Washington D.C. where in addition to watching our new president be inaugurated and demanding our old one be prosecuted, I visited the offices of the Congressional Signatories to my support letter from last summer.<br /><br />As I write this, they are penning another letter of support which will be more widely circulated in Congress than the first to be sent to President Obama before my hearing. As well, several Members have expressed interest in appearing in person to voice support for me and troops like me in March.<br /><br />I will mobilize as much media as possible to put the critical issue of war resistence to the American people for judgment, but I need your help to get the word out. Please forward this information far and wide, especially in St. Louis, and contact me if you'd be interested in helping organize or participating in a national day of action to support war resisters on March 12. I'd like to make it a day to send a clear demand to President Obama that he halt the military from prosecuting troops refusing to participate in the Global War on Terror.<br /><br />In these most critical times for our service members and the people of Iraq, Afghanistan, Pakistan and others, I ask the American people to consider that change will not manifest itself in this country until society halts the unjust practices of the past, among them prosecuting Soldiers of conscience.<br /><br />We tried to bring this message to President Obama at the final presidential debate. Tragically, Joe the plumber took precedence that evening, and Nick Morgan the Iraq Vet was nearly crushed by a police horse during a violent crackdown on our peaceful demonstration.<br /><br />Hopefully, President Obama will hear our voices this time and understand that enough blood has been shed in Baghdad, Kabul, Waziristan and Hempstead alike. It is time for a just peace, at home and abroad.<br /><br />But for peace to exist, first must occur reconciliation, and for reconciliation to occur, first must exist truth.<br /><br />Truth is what led me to resist, and it is that truth now that leads me to St. Louis. Win or loose, my life WILL reflect truth and is dedicated to preserving human rights. The truth is, there is no other path I can walk. The Army proved that to me and now I'll prove it to them.<br /><br />More to follow on various fundraisers, events and our national day of action. As always, I am grateful to all for your interest, support and dedication to peace and justice. I look forward to the whirlwind of activism that will be the next 39 days.<br /><br />Peace and Solidarity,<br /><br />Matthis Chiroux<br /><a href="http://matthisresists.us/" target="_blank">matthisresists.us</a> <br /></span>NYC World Can't Waithttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00304710229566880554noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21118197.post-2853399103502616692009-02-02T21:29:00.001-05:002009-02-02T21:29:31.576-05:00Statement by Luis Barrios concerning sentencing for protest to Close the School of the Americas<span style="font-size:130%;"><span class="eacep1"><b>My Transgression Turns Me Into a Prisoner of Conscience</b></span></span> <p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;" align="center"><span class="eacep1"><b>Father Luis Barrios</b></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;" align="center"><span class="eacep1"><b><br /></b></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: right;" align="right"><span style="font-size:78%;"><span class="eacep1"><i>The hottest places in hell are reserved for those who, in times of<br />great moral crisis, maintain their neutrality. Dante (1265-1321)</i></span></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span class="eacep1"><b>A solidarity greeting and blessings</b></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span class="eacep1">On Monday, January 26, 2009, in the city of Columbus, Georgia, the Honorable Judge G. Mallon Faircloth, Federal Court, found me along with five others – Sister Diane T. Pinchot, Louis N. Wolf, Theresa Cusimano, Albert L. Simmon, and Krysten L. Holm - guilty of crossing and entering the gates of the military base Fort Benning which houses the School of the Américas. This SOA is the military school where Latin American soldiers are trained in torture, disappearance, and assassination techniques, to protect anti-democratic governments and, of course, the imperialist interests of the political, economic, and military hegemony of the US government in Latin America. </span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span class="eacep1">At the time of our arrest, due to the act of civil disobedience, our message was clear and precise: shut down the school of the assassins! I added to this process the element of being able to bring justice for my saint and spiritual guide, San Romero of The Américas <i>(San Romero de Las Américas)</i>, assassinated by graduates of the School of the Américas. This is my offering of gratefulness to him. </span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span class="eacep1">After the court hearing, four federal officials drove me to be finger-printed and photographed, and later to listen to other officials, who made sure to remind me on countless occasions that I now belong to the prison system. The sentence requires us to serve two months at a federal prison, the actual location to be selected by the prison system, and it will become effective in approximately three or four weeks. In the interim, I must report to an officer on a weekly basis so they can track my whereabouts and actions.</span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span class="eacep1"><b>Why, then, a prisoner of conscience?</b></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span class="eacep1">A prisoner of conscience (POC) is any person that has been imprisoned because of his race, religion, color of skin, language, sexual orientation, or creed, as long as the person has not committed or practiced violence. The term was created by the Association for the Defense of Human Rights Amnesty International, at the beginning of the 1960’s </span>(<span lang="ES"><a href="http://es.wikipedia.org/wiki/Preso_de_conciencia" target="_blank" rel="nofollow"><span lang="EN-US">http://es.wikipedia.org/wiki/Preso_de_conciencia</span></a></span>). </p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span class="eacep1">On this occasion, the action for which I am going to be imprisoned is of a social, political, moral, and spiritual character. This action was very well planed, within the context of non-violent, civil disobedience and resistance. I am not guilty of committing any crime against humanity. However, I recognize that I am guilty of being a transgressor of any “law” that pretends to justify oppression, exclusion, or assassination! I do it because these are not laws! </span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span class="eacep1"><b>What did I want to make clear to the Judge?</b></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span class="eacep1">First, that it is not correct when it is said that there are pre-established laws and that it is my duty to obey them. I told the judge very clearly that he was wrong, because unjust laws are not laws, thus it was not my duty to obey what is not just. Furthermore, I clarified that those were the exact reasons why Jesus disobeyed in Palestine, Mahatma Gandhi in India, Nelson Mandela in South Africa, Cesar Chávez and Rosa Park here in the United States, Luisa Capetillo in Puerto Rico, just to mention a few. However, I want to emphasize that I am not comparing myself to these teachers of justice, their shoes being too large for me. I was humbly looking for examples that could illustrate my actions. </span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span class="eacep1">Similarly, the message was clear when it was explained that it is not correct try to divorce US government foreign policy from the creation of the School of the Americas. Namely, it has become clear, since the implementation of the Monroe Doctrine in 1823 –which promotes the isolationism of the new continent and the veto of the European nations’ intentions to intervene in the Americas, that there is a project of dominance and control that corresponds to the colonialist and imperialists interests from this government. All of this taking place with the intention of maintaining the pattern of US intervention and dominance over the countries in Latin America. Hence this doctrine gave the US government the opportunity to expand greatly its territories. Obviously, there was the need for institutions that would secure that “order.” These institutions were to protect this expansionist ideology. This is the reality that has victimized my homeland, Puerto Rico, since 1898, having become a US colony. This reality emerged as well from the School of the Americas, located from 1946 to 1984 in Panama, and then relocated to the military base of Fort Benning, in Columbus, Georgia. </span></p> <p class="MsoNormal">Along the same line, I asked the Honorable Judge Faircloth, that if he truly believed in processes of justice, he could be of great help in achieving on one side that the International Penal Court conducts the hearings for the School of the Americas and those graduates who have committed the following crimes: Genocide, Crimes against Humanity and War Crimes. </p> <p class="MsoNormal"> <span class="eacep1"><b>When will be the time?</b></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span class="eacep1"><b> </b>For those that wrote or called to me with a melancholic and short-sighted message, saying that it was not the time for this type of action, I would like to respond to them that I very much appreciate their concern. Yet, only a single question emerges, which I am not sure that I could answer: when is the right time to fight for peace with justice to reign? If anybody knows the response, I kindly ask him or her to share it with me. Perhaps is that I am not up to date with all these affairs, which become pop culture references, and maybe I missed the recipe or season. </span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span class="eacep1"> Something that I have always believed in are issues related to revolutionary activism –including Christians, Marxists, and atheists, among others. This labor towards justice allows for no vacation, no fixed location, no concrete moment, or particular people. Furthermore, these are not temporary, fashionable businesses. You and I know very well that the most effective way of criticizing is by acting. Namely, show me what you are doing in favor of peace with justice, and that way I will learn. </span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span class="eacep1">That remains clear, I do not play the idiocies of being neither hero nor great less to looking for personal recognitions. I overcame many years ago, this stage of egoism, narcissism or individualism. It is for this that I realize well that the struggle for the peace with justice is not a goal, but rather it is a process it continued. The wealthy classes invented the opportunist style in order to justify their lack of involvement or their quietness, so that they could escape the personal sacrifice that was realized for the benefit of the community. That personal sacrifice they skip is done with the sole purpose of benefitting the community. This personal sacrifice must become a duty, and later a personal satisfaction. As we evolve socio-spiritually at this level, I want to explain that I am not against appreciation from the people, which often intends to bless us through the act of sharing. I am categorically criticizing those individuals who put public recognition as a pre-condition to their work in favor of peace with justice. In any case, as our brother Pablo Milanes says: <i>what shines with its own light, nobody will be able to shut down</i>. Therefore, do not put the shine aside and let your actions speak for themselves. </span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span class="eacep1">Let me put it in rice and beans, as my grandmother, Ms. Barbara, would say: while graduates from the School of the Americas continue harassing, torturing, disappearing, and/or killing rural workers, labor movement leaders, labor union leaders, students, journalists, communists, etc. in Colombia, Peru, Guatemala, the Dominican Republic, Honduras, and other places, the time for our actions to result in peace with justice is now. Period. </span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span class="eacep1">Once again, as a priest, my spiritual activism holds as the ultimate goal being able to organize the religiosity of the people, so they can reach their liberation. This does not need social recognition, economic compensation, or psychological gratifications in order to be fulfilled. This is my socio-political duty, to walk with the people and become a companion in their struggles. It is beautiful to learn to live without glory or personal recognition and we continue satisfying our corresponding duties, to build a world of peace with justice! Here, we could say that we reached the gates to immortality. This is my challenge each day, when I have the opportunity to open my eyes and thank God for still being alive in this world. This of course, at the same time has granted me the right to die in peace when the time comes, because I fulfilled my duty to our Goddess to build a better world. From this point on, this small sacrifice is a contribution to the struggle. </span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span class="eacep1"><b>What to do as a collectivity?</b></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span class="eacep1">For those who have been in communication, and expressed interest in receiving suggestions about how they could be contributing, here are some ideas: </span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span class="eacep1">First, we need to morally, spiritually, economically, socially, and politically provide unconditional support to the work developed by SOA Watch (<a href="http://www.soaw.org/" target="_blank" rel="nofollow">www.soaw.org</a>). This is a serious struggle that challenges power structures. </span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span class="eacep1">Similarly, we need to begin a wide-range educational campaign, so that our communities here, in the United States, may comprehend the existence and modus operandi of the School of the Americas. Above all, we must spread the word so that everyone may be aware of the atrocities against civil and human rights committed by SOA’s graduates in our Latin American countries. </span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span class="eacep1">Also, the support of this framework must be geared towards all the prisoners of conscience. There were six of us being sentenced, and each person’s sacrifice must be recognized. </span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span class="eacep1">We ought to have the ability to connect in this campaign with the relationship that exists between our political prisoners and our prisoners of conscience, until we achieve their freedom. For instance, we must connect all struggles: the brothers and sisters, and <i>compañera/os</i> political prisoners from Puerto Rico (</span><strong><span style="font-weight: normal;font-family:'Calibri','sans-serif';" >Carlos Alberto Torres, Oscar López Rivera, Avelino González Claudio and Haydeé Beltrán); the five brothers and <i>compañeros </i>Cuban heroes </span></strong>(René González, Fernando González, Antonio Guerrero, Gerardo Hernández and Ramón Labañimo); our brother and <i>compañero</i> black political activist and US journalist, Mumia Abul-Jamal; and our brother and <i>compañero</i> from the Nations Anishinabe and Dakota/Lakota, Leonard Peltier; only to mention some names. Let’s remember that these struggles for peace with justice are not antagonistic, they complement. </p> <p class="MsoNormal">Last, but not least, use your creativity and come up with your own initiatives. <span class="eacep1">Please see the attached declaration of defense in front of the judge last Monday. Thank you so much for your attention to this matter. </span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span class="eacep1">In solidarity love, hugs, and blessings, </span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span class="eacep1"><i>Fr. Luis Barrios<br />St. Mary’s’ Episcopal Church<br /></i></span><i>January 27th of 2009<br />New York, New York<br /><span lang="ES-DO">Lbarrios@jjay.cuny.edu</span></i></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;" align="center"><span lang="ES-DO"> </span><span class="eacep1"><b><span lang="ES-DO">Mi trasgresión me convierte en un prisionero de conciencia</span></b></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;" align="center"><span class="eacep1"><b><span lang="ES-DO">Padre Luis Barrios</span></b></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: right;" align="right"><span class="eacep1"><b><span lang="ES-DO"> </span></b></span><span style="font-size:78%;"><b><i><span lang="ES-DO">Los lugares más calientes en el infierno están reservados </span></i></b><b><i><span lang="ES-DO">para aquellos/as<br />que, en tiempos de gran crisis moral, mantienen su neutralidad. <span class="eacep1">Dante (1265-1321)</span></span></i></b></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span class="eacep1"><b><span lang="ES-DO">Un saludo solidario y bendiciones.</span></b></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span class="eacep1"><span lang="ES-DO">Como ya es de conocimiento en algunos/as de ustedes, en el día de ayer –lunes, 26 de enero de 2009- en la ciudad de Columbus, Georgia el Juez G. Mallon Faircloth, Magistrado de la Corte Federal, en unión a otros/as cinco compañeros/as –Diane T. Pinchot, Louis N. Wolf, Theresa Cusimano, Albert L. Simmon, y Krysten L. Holm- me encontró culpable de cruzar los portones y entrar a la base militar Fort Benning, lugar donde protegen a la Escuela de Las Américas. Esta es la escuela militar donde entrenan a soldados latinoamericanos en tácticas de torturas, desapariciones y asesinatos, para que protejan a gobiernos antidemocráticos y por supuesto, asimismo los intereses imperialistas de la hegemonía política, económica y militar del gobierno estadounidense en América Latina. </span></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span class="eacep1"><span lang="ES-DO">Nuestro mensaje cuando nos arrestaron en nuestra acción de desobediencia civil el pasado 23 de noviembre de 2008 dentro de la base militar fue claro y preciso: ¡cierren ya esta escuela de asesinos! Yo le añadí a todo este proceso el poder traer justicia para mi guía espiritual y beato, San Romero de Las Américas, asesinado por graduados de la Escuela de Las Américas. Esta es mi ofrenda de agradecimiento para él. </span></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span class="eacep1"><span lang="ES-DO">Luego del juicio, cuatro oficiales federales me condujeron a tomar las huellas digitales y fotos y más adelante a escuchar la letanía de otros oficiales quienes se encargaron de recordarme no se cuantas veces que ahora yo le pertenezco al sistema de prisiones. La sentencia en el juicio de ayer son dos meses en una cárcel federal que el sistema de prisiones decidirá y la misma comenzará más o menos en tres o cuatro semanas. De todas maneras tengo que reportarme semanalmente para ellos saber lo que estoy haciendo con mi vida. </span></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span class="eacep1"><b><span lang="ES-DO">Ahora bien, ¿por qué digo un prisionero de conciencia?</span></b></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="ES-DO">Se dice que u</span><span lang="ES">n preso de conciencia o prisionero/a de conciencia (POC por sus siglas en inglés <i>Prisioner of conscience</i>) es cualquier persona encarcelada por su raza, religión, color de piel, idioma, orientación sexual o credo, mientras no haya defendido o practicado la violencia. El término fue creado por la asociación defensora de los derechos humanos Amnistía Internacional a principios de los años 60. </span><span lang="ES-DO">(</span><span lang="ES">http://es.wikipedia.org/wiki/Preso_de_conciencia). </span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span class="eacep1"><span lang="ES-DO">En esta ocasión la acción que me está llevando a la cárcel es una de carácter social, política, moral y espiritual. La misma se realizó muy bien calculada dentro del contexto de la resistencia de la desobediencia civil no violenta. Yo no soy culpable de cometer algún crimen contra la humanidad. Sin embargo, reconozco que soy culpable de ser un transgresor de cualquier "ley" que pretende justificar la injusticia de opresión, exclusión, o asesinato! ¡Lo hago porque éstas no son leyes!</span></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span class="eacep1"><b><span lang="ES-DO">¿Qué quise dejarle claro al Juez?</span></b></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span class="eacep1"><span lang="ES-DO">Primeramente, que no es correcto cuando se quiere decir que hay unas leyes establecidas y que mi deber es obedecerlas. Le dije claramente que estaba equivocado, porque las leyes injustas no son leyes, por lo tanto no tengo ningún deber de obedecer lo que no es justo. Asimismo le clarifiqué que esta son las razones por las cuales Jesús las desobedeció en Palestina, Mahatma Gandhi en la India, Nelson Mandela en Sur África, Cesar Chávez y Rosa Park aquí en Estados Unidos, Luisa Capetillo en Puerto Rico, por solo mencionar unos nombres. Eso si, que quede claro, yo no me estoy comparando con estos/as maestros/as de la justicia, sus zapatos me quedan muy grandes. Solo estaba humildemente buscando ejemplos para ilustrar mi acción. </span></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span class="eacep1"><span lang="ES-DO">Igualmente, el mensaje estuvo claro cuando se explicó que </span></span><span lang="ES-DO">n</span><span class="eacep1"><span lang="ES-DO">o es correcto tratar de divorciar la política exterior del gobierno de Estados Unidos de la creación de la Escuela de Las Américas. O sea, que desde la implementación de la Doctrina Monroe en el año 1823 -la cual consiste </span></span><span lang="ES-DO">básicamente en el aislacionismo del nuevo continente y un veto frente a las pretensiones de las naciones europeas de intervenir en las Américas- </span><span class="eacep1"><span lang="ES-DO">ha quedado claro que existe un proyecto de dominio y control que responde a los intereses colonialistas e imperialistas de este gobierno con la intención de mantener una intervención y dominio de los países de América Latina. De aquí el que esta doctrina le dio la oportunidad al gobierno de Estados Unidos de poder lograr mayor expansión territorial. Pero por supuesto, hacían falta instituciones del “orden” que pudiesen proteger esta ideología expansionista. De esta realidad desde 1898 sigue siendo víctima mi patria Puerto Rico, al ser una colonia de Estados Unidos. Asimismo de esta realidad surgió la Escuela de Las Américas </span></span><span lang="ES">situada desde 1946 a 1984 en Panamá y luego la mudaron a la base militar de Fort Benning en Columbus, Georgia. </span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span class="eacep1"><span lang="ES-DO">De la misma forma, se le pidió al juez</span></span><span lang="ES-DO">, que si en verdad cree en procesos de justicia, él podría ser de gran ayuda en lograr por un lado que la Corte Penal Internacional juzgue a la Escuela de Las Américas y a sus graduados que han cometido los siguientes crímenes: Crimen de Genocidio, Crímenes de Lesa Humanidad, y Crímenes de Guerra. </span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="ES-PR"> </span><span class="eacep1"><b><span lang="ES-DO">¿Cuándo es el tiempo?</span></b></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span class="eacep1"><span lang="ES-DO">Para quienes me escribieron o me llamaron con el mensaje melancólico desatinado que no era el tiempo para este tipo de acción quiero decirles que aprecio mucho su preocupación. Solo que me surge una pregunta que no se o no puedo contestar: ¿Cuándo es el tiempo para luchar por la justicia para que la paz reine? Si alguien sabe que me lo diga. Tal vez es que yo no estoy al día con todos estos asuntos que se ponen de moda y de aquí entonces me perdí la receta o la temporada.</span></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span class="eacep1"><span lang="ES-DO">Eso si, yo siempre he creído, que en asuntos de activismos revolucionarios –esto incluye a los/as cristianos/as, a las/os marxistas y a la gente atea, entre otras- este trabajo por la justicia no tiene vacaciones, no establece un lugar, no tiene un momento específico, ni mucho menos a unas personas. Aun más, no son asuntos de modas. Además usted y yo sabemos muy bien que la mejor manera de criticar es haciendo. O sea, enséñame lo que estas haciendo por la paz con justicia y así de esa manera yo aprendo. </span></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span class="eacep1"><span lang="ES-DO">Que quede claro, yo no juego a las necedades de ser héroe ni mucho menos a buscar reconocimientos personales. Esa etapa de egoísmo, narcisismo o individualismo yo la superé hace muchos años. Es por esto que tengo claro que la lucha por la paz con justicia no es una meta, sino más bien es un proceso continuo. El estilo oportunista se lo inventaron la gente acomodada para justificar su no envolvimiento o quietismo, y así de esa manera evadir el sacrifico personal que se realiza para beneficiar a la colectividad. Ese sacrifico personal por supuesto, debe de convertirse en un deber y ese deber en una satisfacción personal. Una vez evolucionamos socio-espiritualmente a este nivel, ya no son necesarios los reconocimientos y se puede disfrutar en paz y armonía, hasta lo que es clandestino o anónimo. Quiero aclarar que no estoy en contra de los agradecimientos del pueblo que muchas veces desea bendecir a alguien con el compartir de algo. Lo que estoy rígidamente criticando es a aquellas personas que condicionan su trabajo por la paz con justicia esperando estos halagos. De todas maneras ya lo dice muy bien nuestro hermano Pablo Milanes: <i>lo que brilla con luz propia, nadie lo puede apagar. </i>Por lo tanto, no pierda el brillo y deje que sus acciones hablen por usted. </span></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span class="eacep1"><span lang="ES-DO">Déjenme ponerlo en arroz y habichuelas como me decía mi abuela Doña Bárbara: Mientras los graduados de la Escuela de Las Américas sigan hostigando, torturando, desapareciendo, y/o matando campesinos/as, líderes obreras/os, sindicalistas, estudiantes, periodistas, comunistas, etc., en Colombia, Perú, Guatemala, República Dominicana, Honduras, y otros lugares, el tiempo para nuestra acción que deje como resultado la paz con justicia es ahora, punto. </span></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span class="eacep1"><span lang="ES-DO">De nuevo, como sacerdote mi activismo espiritual tiene como meta el poder organizar la religiosidad del pueblo para que alcance su liberación. Esto no necesita de reconocimientos sociales, compensaciones económicas o gratificaciones psicológicas para ser realizado. Es mi deber socio-político de caminar con el pueblo y acompañarle en sus luchas. ¡Qué hermoso es cuando se aprende a vivir sin glorias o reconocimientos personales y se continúa realizando el deber que nos corresponde para construir un mundo de paz con justicia! Aquí podemos decir que hemos llegado a las puertas de la inmortalidad. Este es mi reto cada día cuando tengo la oportunidad de abrir mis ojos y dar gracias a Dios de que todavía sigo con vida en este mundo. Y todo esto a su vez me otorga el derecho a morir en paz cuando me llegue mi momento porque cumplí con mi deber ante nuestra Diosa de construir un mundo mejor. De aquí el que este pequeño sacrificio es una aportación a toda esta lucha. </span></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span class="eacep1"><b><span lang="ES-DO">¿Qué hacer como colectividad?</span></b></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span class="eacep1"><span lang="ES-DO">Para quienes han estado comunicándose con la preocupación de qué hacer, aquí les van unas recomendaciones; </span></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span class="eacep1"><span lang="ES-DO">En primer lugar un respaldo incondicional moralmente, espiritualmente, económicamente, socialmente y políticamente a todo el trabajo que se realiza en SOA Watch (</span></span><span class="eacep1"><a href="http://www.soaw.org/" target="_blank" rel="nofollow"><span lang="ES-DO">www.soaw.org</span></a></span><span class="eacep1"><span lang="ES-DO">). Este es un trabajo serio que reta las estructuras de poder. </span></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span class="eacep1"><span lang="ES-DO">Asimismo, comenzar ampliamente la campaña educativa para que nuestros pueblos aquí en Estados Unidos puedan comprender sobre la existencia y operación de la Escuela de Las Américas. Sobre todo, que puedan concienciarse sobre las atrocidades contra los derechos humanos y civiles que se cometen por sus graduados en nuestros países latinoamericanos. </span></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span class="eacep1"><span lang="ES-DO">También, el apoyo dentro de este contexto debe dirigirse a todos/as los prisioneros/as de conciencia. Fuimos seis personas condenadas y su sacrificio debe de ser reconocido. </span></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span class="eacep1"><span lang="ES-DO">Igualmente tener la capacidad de poder conectar en esta campaña a todos/os nuestros/as prisioneros políticos con prisioneros/as de conciencia hasta lograr su excarcelación. Por ejemplo los/as hermanos/as y compañeros/as prisioneros/as políticos/os puertorriqueños/as (</span></span><strong><span style="font-weight: normal;font-family:'Calibri','sans-serif';" lang="ES">Carlos Alberto Torres, Oscar López Rivera, Avelino González Claudio y Haydeé Beltrán); los cinco hermano y compañeros héroes cubanos </span></strong><span lang="ES">(René González, Fernando González, Antonio Guerrero, Gerardo Hernández y Ramón Labañimo); el compañero y hermano periodista y activista político negro estadounidense, Mumia Abul-Jamal; el compañero y hermano de las naciones Anishinabe y Dakota/Lakota, Leonard Peltier; por solo mencionar algunos nombres. Recordemos que estas luchas por la paz con justicia no son antagónicas, sino más bien complementarias. </span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span class="eacep1"><span lang="ES-DO">Por último y no menos importante, use la creatividad e invéntese algo. </span></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span class="eacep1"><span lang="ES-DO">Adjunto les incluyo mi declaración de defensa ante el juez en el día de ayer. Muchas gracias por su atención. </span></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span class="eacep1"><span lang="ES-DO">En el amor solidario, abrazos y bendiciones,</span></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span class="eacep1"><i><span lang="ES-DO">P. Luis Barrios<br />Iglesia de Santa María<br /></span></i></span><i><span lang="ES-DO">27 de enero de 2009</span></i><i><span lang="ES-DO"><br />New York, New York<br />Lbarrios@jjay.cuny.edu</span></i></p>NYC World Can't Waithttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00304710229566880554noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21118197.post-50524713761136182262009-01-14T23:56:00.002-05:002009-02-02T23:06:29.049-05:00Thursday, January 15 - Day of Conscience to Act Against U.S. role in Supporting the War Crime going on in Gaza<span style="font-size:85%;"><span style="font-size:85%;"><span style="font-size:85%;"><div><span style="color: rgb(255, 0, 0);"><span style="font-size: large;"><b>Report from Jan. 15th NYC Day of Conscience:<br />Act Against U.S. Support of Israeli War Crimes</b></span></span><br /><p>From the Emergency Town Hall Meeting (see previous emails) a <b>DAY OF CONSCIENCE</b> Against the U.S. support for war crimes was called on two day's notice, of which World Can't Wait was an initiator and one of the organizers. Here is a brief report:</p> <p><span><span><span><span style="font-size:85%;"><span style="font-size:85%;"><span style="font-size:85%;"><img alt="" src="http://salsa.democracyinaction.org/o/1170/images/arrow.jpg" _fcksavedurl="http://salsa.democracyinaction.org/o/1170/images/arrow.jpg" width="40" align="left" height="19" /></span></span></span></span></span></span><span><span><span><span style="font-size:85%;"><span style="font-size:85%;"><span style="font-size:85%;"><span><span><span><span style="font-size:85%;"><span style="font-size:85%;"><span style="font-size:85%;"><img src="http://chapters.worldcantwait.org/nyc/Gaza-UN1.jpg" _fcksavedurl="http://chapters.worldcantwait.org/nyc/Gaza-UN1.jpg" alt="" vspace="5" width="160" align="right" height="177" hspace="5" /></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span>FIRST ACT: Noon In front of U.S. Consulate to the United Nations</p> <p> <fck:meta equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html; charset=utf-8"> <fck:meta name="ProgId" content="Word.Document"> <fck:meta name="Generator" content="Microsoft Word 9"> <fck:meta name="Originator" content="Microsoft Word 9"> 70 people turned out, the majority high-school students. This display of youthful defiance was very important and encouraging, and needs to multiply exponentially in the weeks and months to come! During a spirited rally in front of the Consulate, chants included "If you see something/say something/stop the war crimes now!" Some of us brought shoes, pacifie</span> <fck:meta equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html; charset=utf-8"> <fck:meta name="ProgId" content="Word.Document"> <fck:meta name="Generator" content="Microsoft Word 9"> <fck:meta name="Originator" content="Microsoft Word 9"><span>rs, and baby bottles and laid them on the street to symbolize Israel's horrific massacre of children in Gaza.</span> <span style="font-size:85%;"><br /></span><br /><img alt="" src="http://salsa.democracyinaction.org/o/1170/images/arrow.jpg" _fcksavedurl="http://salsa.democracyinaction.org/o/1170/images/arrow.jpg" width="40" align="left" height="19" />SECOND ACT: Grand Central Station </fck:meta></fck:meta></fck:meta></fck:meta></fck:meta></fck:meta></fck:meta></fck:meta></p> <p> <fck:meta equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html; charset=utf-8"> <fck:meta name="ProgId" content="Word.Document"> <fck:meta name="Generator" content="Microsoft Word 9"> <fck:meta name="Originator" content="Microsoft Word 9"> We saw a photo of the Samouni family, who had lost 30 members, including 3 infants, when the Israeli's bombed their homes during the assault on Gaza. The funeral procession photo became what we wanted to present to the public. Artists from PriceTagsArt helped design the action, which included dozens of people holding shrouds of infants. Others held signs.</p> <p><img alt="gaza-grand central photo" src="http://chapters.worldcantwait.org/nyc/Gaza-grandcentral4.jpg" _fcksavedurl="http://chapters.worldcantwait.org/nyc/Gaza-grandcentral4.jpg" vspace="7" width="200" align="left" height="165" hspace="7" />When we arrived, there were dozens of police. The commander told us we could not do the action, because people coming through the terminal were upset about the airplane that had landed that afternoon in the Hudson River. By that time all the passengers had been reported safe, but we knew that people in Gaza were not. We said we were going ahead, as there is the right to freedom of assembly and speech. People going by were mixed; this being New York, some called us names. Others said, thanks for doing this. </p> <p>After an hour, the police told us we had to finish up. But more people were arriving, including students from Hunter College, and the police backed off and didn't act to stop the protest, others joined back in, chanted some, and the whole thing went on, with more joining in, for two hours.</p> </div></span></span></span>NYC World Can't Waithttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00304710229566880554noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21118197.post-16263609487963238422009-01-11T01:10:00.000-05:002009-01-11T01:11:34.318-05:00Emergency Town Hall Meeting<span style="font-size:85%;"><p><span style="font-size: medium;"><strong><strong></strong></strong></span><span> <p style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><strong>Stop the Israeli Massacre in Gaza!</strong></span></p> </span><strong></strong><span style="font-size: larger;"><strong>A Call To Act: </strong></span></p> <p style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><strong> We Condemn the U.S. Role in this War Crime!</strong></span><strong> </strong></p> <div> <p><b><span style="font-size: larger;"><img alt="" src="http://revolutionbooksnyc.org/gazacasualty.jpg" vspace="5" hspace="5" /></span></b></p> <p><b><span style="font-size: larger;">Tuesday, January 13, 2009 7:00 PM </span></b><br /> <b>New York Society for Ethical Culture<br /> 2 West 64th Street </b><span style="font-size: smaller;">@ Central Park West NYC</span><br /> $10 admission<br /> <br /> <span> Speakers:<br /> <strong>Chris Hedges</strong><span style="font-size: smaller;"><strong>-</strong>Pulitzer prize winning journalist, former New York Times Mideast Bureau Chief, author of many books including <em>Collateral Damage: America's War Against Iraqi Civilians</em></span><br /> <br /> <strong>Cynthia McKinney</strong><span style="font-size: smaller;"><strong>-</strong>2008 presidential candidate, who was on a Free Gaza Movement boat bearing aid for Gaza that was fired upon by the Israeli Navy on December 29, 2008</span><br /> <br /> <strong>Alan Goodman</strong><span style="font-size: smaller;">-writer for <em>Revolution</em> newspaper who held a banner at the Holocaust Museum stating, "After the Holocaust, the worst thing that has happened to Jewish people is the state of Israel."</span><br /> <br /> <strong>Adam Shapiro</strong><span style="font-size: smaller;"><strong>-</strong>filmmaker, co-founder of the International Solidarity Movement</span><br /> <br /> <strong>Peter Weiss</strong><span style="font-size: smaller;">- Vice President, Center for Constitutional Rights<br /> </span><br /> <strong>Najla Said</strong><span style="font-size: smaller;">- playwright and actor, performing an excerpt from her play PALESTINE about a visit to Gaza in early 1980 with her father Edward Said and their family</span><br /> <span style="font-size: smaller;"><br /> Others to be announced...</span><br /> <br />A great crime is being committed. The horror of Israel's invasion of Gaza mounts daily. The 1.5 million people of Gaza - fenced in on all sides - are being subjected to a brutal military assault from land and air. Civilian casualties are in the thousands. Food, medicine, and fuel are blockaded. Israel has declared this to be a "war to the bitter end." The United States has backed Israel both with new, sophisticated military weaponry and with full diplomatic support.</span></p> </div> <span><span>We, living in this country have a great and urgent responsibility to act against what must be recognized as a War Crime by Israel with the full support of the United States. Too many who watch the assault on Gaza with horror and outrage, have remained silent. Too few have acted. This must, and can, change. On Tuesday January 13, 2009, at this Emergency Town Hall Meeting at Ethical Culture Society, we will carve open space for the truth to be spoken and we will call on people to act now to stop the massacre in Gaza.<br /> <br />Whether the world sees political protest and resistance, and mass outpourings of opposition and outrage in different forms in this country...or whether it sees continued support for and passive complicity with these attacks coming from the people here...all this will matter greatly, not only here in the US, but to people all over the world. </span></span><br /> <div> <div><span style="font-size: smaller;">Initiated by Revolution Books</span></div> </div> <div><span style="font-size: smaller;">Endorsed by: World Can't Wait; James Abourezk; Brooklyn Greens; Henry Chalfant; Kathleen Chalfant; Mitchell Cohen; Committee for Open Discussion of Zionism; Shreen Elkenani; Daniel Ellsberg; Nina Felshin; Dennis James; Joel Kovel; Adam Shapiro; Michael Steven Smith; Leonard Weinglass<br /> <br /> To help, and for more information, call 917-548-4853:</span></div></span>NYC World Can't Waithttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00304710229566880554noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21118197.post-66616803817745059982009-01-11T01:06:00.000-05:002009-01-11T01:09:55.428-05:00From Guantanamo to Gaza: Stop the U.S. War OF Terror and Torture!<b>January 21st - Marks the 7th Anniversary of the U.S. torture center at Guantanamo!</b></span></span></span><span style="font-size:85%;"><p><span style="font-size:85%;"> <p><b><i><span style="font-size:85%;">End to the U.S. torture state NOW!</span></i></b><span style="font-size:85%;"><br /></span></p> <div><span style="font-size: larger;"><b>January 21st - 700 Palestineans kills, thousands more wounded and Israel promising to further escalate.</b></span></div> <div><i><br /></i></div> <div><i><b>Stop the U.S.-backed Massacre in Gaza!</b></i></div> <div><span><b>March and Rally: Sunday, January 11th, 1:00 PM Times Square</b></span></div> <span style="color: rgb(255, 51, 0);"><span style="font-size: larger;"><b>Join</b> <b>the Orange Jumpsuit / World Can't Wait contingent</b></span></span><span style="font-size:85%;"> and declare: <div><span style="color: rgb(255, 51, 0);"><span style="font-size: larger;"><b>From Guantanamo to Gaza:</b><br /><b> Stop the U.S. War <u><i>OF</i></u> Terror and Torture!</b></span></span><span><br /></span></div> </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:85%;">Be part of a procession dressed as those tortured in Guantanamo have been forced to dress, in orange jum</span><span style="font-size:85%;">psuits </span><span style="font-size:85%;">and black hoods. Stand with those who have been torture</span><span style="font-size:85%;">d in our names, and demand an and the U.S. backed massacre in Gaza. </span><span style="font-size:85%;"> </span>Hook up at 12:30 PM in front of "Juan Valdez Coffee", 41st and Broadway. Volunteers needed: call 347-678-5905 or email: <a href="mailto:nyc@worldcantwait.org?subject=Volunteer%20for%20January%2010%20and%2011th">nyc@worldcantwait.org</a></p> <p>***********************************</p> <p><img alt="" src="http://chapters.worldcantwait.org/nyc/From%20Harlem%20to%20Gaza.jpg" vspace="5" width="300" height="217" hspace="5" /></p> <p> <p>(photo above:) In Harlem Saturday, a very diverse crowd braved the snow and freezing cold to denounce the U.S.- backed war crimes in Gaza. Demonstrators held signs reading "Trail of U.S. War Crimes: Iraq, Afghanistan, Gaza" and "From Guantanamo to Gaza: Stop the U.S. War OF Terror and Torture" Others carried images of Palestinians who have been massacred by Israel. Marching down 125th Street, energetic chants rang out: "From Harlem to Gaza/ We're All Palestinians"</p> <p><span>One particularly positive thing about the Harlem demonstration was that people of many different ethnic backgrounds joined together to denounce Israel's criminal assault on Gaza. This was great to see, because it is critical that the massacre of Gaza not be viewed simply as a "Palestinian issue" or an "Arab issue, " but rather as a </span><strong>human</strong><span> issue. People of all races and backgrounds share a moral responsibility to speak out against the crimes Israel is committing with full U.S. backing. </span></p></span>NYC World Can't Waithttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00304710229566880554noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21118197.post-68115697928339888942008-12-10T22:12:00.003-05:002008-12-10T22:19:13.520-05:00Hundreds of NYC youth engage with the "We Are Not Your Soldiers" anti-recruiter tour! Tour now extended a second week in NYCThe tour has been to classes and assemblies at City College and a number of high school classes.<br /><br />There has been intense discussion, about the war, the military and what can be done. In one school several students asked for passes so they could attend it again.<br /><br />This leg of the tour has featured two GI resisters:<br /><br />Carl Dix -- one of the "Fort Lewis 6" - Black soldiers who refused orders to go to Vietnam (<a href="http://www.wearenotyoursoldiers.org/?p=90">listen/view Carl's talk at City College</a>) and<br /><br />Matthis Chiroux who served 5 years in the Army, was honorably discharged, and then was called up again to go to Iraq, and has publicly refused those orders.<br /><br />An example of what happened in the classrooms: One high school student raised her hand after hearing their testimony and angrily declared, "but those are human beings over there [in Iraq and Afghanistan] just like us!", leading to some deep interplay between the students and the visiting speakers.<br /><br />Arrangements have been made for the tour to continue next week in NYC area. Already they are scheduled for five more classes.<br /><br />If you are a student or teacher and want to have the tour come to your school, contact us immediately.<br /><br />If you are a student, and want to get involved in the tour and in organizing protests to stop these recruiters from spewing their poisonous lies unapposed, contact us.<br /><br />If you are a parent or anyone else who wants to support this tour, with a generous donation, or your time, contact us. <a href="https://hq-salsa.democracyinaction.org/dia/hq/email/edit.jsp?table=email_blast&key=1124400#">Donate on line</a>. <br /><br />nyc@worldcantwait.org or 347-678-5905 or 866-973-4463<br /><br />For more detail news and on-line discussion of the progress of the tour nationally: <a href="http://www.wearenotyoursoldiers.org">www.wearenotyoursoldiers.org </a>NYC World Can't Waithttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00304710229566880554noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21118197.post-67181800026371731572008-11-30T10:34:00.000-05:002008-11-30T10:38:06.059-05:00Bring "We are Not Your Soliders to your school!Bring the "We Are Not Your Soldiers" anti-recruiter Tour to your school!</span><br />Coming to NYC Area<br />December 8-12<br />Contact us NOW to help make this happen!</span></p> <p><span class="Apple-style-span" style="border-collapse: separate; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Verdana; font-size: 13px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: normal; orphans: 2; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px;"><img alt="" src="http://salsa.democracyinaction.org/o/1170/images/skaters_a_gray_med-res.jpg" width="330" align="middle" height="171" />v</span></p> <p><span style="font-family: Verdana;"> <!--[if gte mso 9]><xml> Normal 0 </xml><![endif]--><style type="text/css"> <!-- /* Style Definitions */ p.MsoNormal, li.MsoNormal, div.MsoNormal {mso-style-parent:""; margin:0in; margin-bottom:.0001pt; font-size:12.0pt;"Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-"Times New Roman";} @page Section1 {size:8.5in 11.0in; margin:1.0in 1.25in 1.0in 1.25in;} div.Section1 {page:Section1;} --> </style> <p>Barack Obama says he will increase the US military by 92,000. Where will all these troops come from? The military recruiters have a huge budget to recruit youth who are in high school now. They roam the hallways and lunch-rooms, call students at home, and set up at malls where kids hang out.</p> <p>The military cannot fight and cannot expand the "war on terror" in Afghanistan without this fresh infusion of cannon fodder. Military recruiters now have almost unlimited access to reach high school students because the "No Child Left Behind" law ties funding for schools to whether recruiters can get access to all the students.</p> <p>The tour will bring to students the desperately-missing truth of what the "war on terror" is all about, no matter who is president. The military is already selling the idea that Obama will "end the war in Iraq, so people who join now won't be sent to war at all." This is a lie! Many people don't know that Obama has plans to expand the unjust war on the people of Afghanistan, and also to attack Pakistan, and perhaps, Iran.</p> <p>The tour will explain, through the words of veterans themselves, how the US occupations in Iraq and Afghanistan have killed over a million people; displaced more than four million, and destroyed the infrastructure of both countries.</p> <p>When recruiters come into their schools, students need to know exactly what they are being recruited for. Not "freedom," not "democracy" and not better "career options." Most people dying in Iraq are civilians, not combatants. The US forces have detained tens of thousands in their own countries. Women in the US military report widespread sexual assault by their own peers.</p> <p>Speakers on the tour will give students reasons not to go into the military, and will help organize collective resistance to recruiters' lies. We think we can help create a situation where students and teachers are stepping out of their silent hatred for recruiters, and spreading visible mass resistance to joining this military as a big part of stopping this war of terror for empire. </p> <div>Classroom presentations will include:</div> <p>A short presentation by a World Can't Wait youth organizer and either an Iraq/Afghanistan war veteran or a military family member;</p> <ul><li>An open discussion;</li><li>A 10-minute video clip of testimony by Iraq veterans from the March 2008 Winter Soldier hearings about what they witnessed and perpetrated and footage of high school students protesting military recruiters, and;</li><li>A short survey that students will take to give us all a sense of what they think.</li></ul> <div> </div> <div><b>Speakers</b> for the NYC-area part of Tour will include:</div> <p><b><img src="http://ivaw.org/files/MatthispropertyoftheUSgovernment.jpg" alt="Matthis photo" vspace="5" width="70" align="left" height="94" hspace="5" />Matthis Chiroux. </b>Matthis is an Iraq/Afghanistan war veteran, honorably discharged after 5 years in the army. Subsequently, he received forced reactivation orders for Iraq, and has publicly refused those orders. Thus, he is now a military resister. Matthis organized the anti-war veterans' protest at the last presidential debate at Hofstra University and is a student at Brooklyn College.</p> <p><b><img alt="" src="http://revcom.us/a/carldix/wall2.jpg" vspace="4" width="57" align="left" height="100" hspace="4" />Carl Dix. </b>Carl was one of the "Fort Lewis 6", Black GI's who refused to go to Vietnam in 1970, and he did time at Fort Leavenworth Military Penitentiary for this "crime." A lifelong revolutionary, Carl is a representative of the Revolutionary Communist Party.</p><br /><p><b><img src="http://salsa.democracyinaction.org/o/1170/images/elaine%20bush%20step%20down%20photo.jpg" alt="Elaine Brower photo" vspace="4" width="60" align="left" height="68" hspace="4" />Elaine Brower.</b> Elaine is a leader of World Can't Wait and outspoken activist against the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. Her son is currently stationed in Iraq.</p><br /><p>Contact us as soon as possible to arrange for the tour to come to your school, for more information and to help organize:</p> </span></p> </span> <a href="mailto:nyc@worldcantwait.org?subject=We%20Are%20Not%20Your%20Soldiers%20-%20tour">nyc@worldcantwait.org</a> 347-678-5905 or 866-973-4463<br /><br />***<br /></span></span><span style="font-size:85%;"><span style="font-size: 10pt;"><p style="line-height: 14.4pt;"><span style="color: rgb(204, 51, 0);"><span style="font-size: medium;"><b>Come to next World Can't Wait meeting</b></span></span></p> <div><span style="color: rgb(204, 51, 0);"> </span><span style="font-size: medium;"><span style="color: rgb(204, 51, 0);"> <div><span style="font-size: large;"><b>Monday, Dec. 1st, 6:30 PM</b></span><b><br /> </b></div> </span></span></div> <div><span style="font-size: medium;"><span style="color: rgb(204, 51, 0);"><b>632 Broadway, 3rd Floor</b></span></span></div> <p>We will:</p> <ul><li><span style="font-size: larger;">Make plans for the "We Are Not Your Soldiers" tour (see above)<br /> </span></li><li><span style="font-size: larger;">Report back from national conference of World Can't Wait<br /> </span></li><li><span style="font-size: larger;">Make plans for "STOP Endless Wars for Empire" action in mid-December</span></li></ul></span></span><br /><span style="font-family: Verdana;"><span style="font-size:85%;"><br /></span></span>NYC World Can't Waithttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00304710229566880554noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21118197.post-68271685263828894842008-11-16T20:14:00.000-05:002008-11-16T20:18:23.347-05:00A message for our times/report from Nov. 11th forumTuesday's successful event in New York City, "The Change We're Fighting For: STOP the Endless Wars for Empire!" showed that there is widespread concern that the atrocities the U.S. is committing in the Middle East will continue even with Obama, and not Bush in the White House. <p></p> <p><span style="font-size:85%;">Almost 200 people attended this event, organized only one week after the election, and the speakers- Scott Ritter, Larry Everest and Elaine Brower- delivered critical, powerful and thought-provoking presentations, documenting the crimes now being committed by our government in our names, as well as Barack Obama's position on all this.</span></p> <p><span style="font-size:85%;">That so many attended and engaged in this intense discussion drove home the message that people don't think we should "wait and see" what Obama does, but rather see the need to act immediately to stop crimes committed in our name.</span></p> <p><span style="font-size:85%;">In building for this event, it was striking how both the flyer and press release spoke to a deeply-felt urgency not to wait, but to act now, particularly against the escalating war in Afghanistan. As that flyer, which was updated the day after the elections, put it:</span></p> <p style="margin-left: 40px;"><span style="font-size:85%;">"While people in the U.S. were voting for President Obama, a U.S. air strike on an Afghan wedding party killed 34 civilians. On November 5th, another killed 7 civilians. U.S. drones daily cross the border into Pakistan, where scores of civilians have been bombed. Obama, the 'anti-war' candidate wants to leave 50 to 80,000 troops in Iraq, and move more combat brigades to Afghanistan. He promises to increase the U.S. military by 92,000…"</span></p> <p><span style="font-size:85%;">One of several indications that the statements in this flyer spoke to what a lot of people are thinking in the aftermath of the election was the front-page news story in the <i>Metro, </i>a widely-distributed newspaper, on Friday November 7: The article noted that, "One anti-war group has already protested against Obama - three months before he assumes control" and then extensively quoted Elaine Brower, speaking on behalf of World Can't Wait.</span></p> <p><span style="font-size:85%;">Some highlights from among the speakers many important points:</span></p> <ul><span style="font-size:85%;"> <li>Larry Everest spoke extensively about why the war in Afghanistan is not a "good war", but --like the war in Iraq-- is an unjust war for empire. "There's nothing good about this so-called 'war on terror.'" Everest said. "It's a war for greater empire." Everest added: "Those who, through their conscience and beliefs find these wars intolerable, need to be coming together." </li> </span></ul> <ul><span style="font-size:85%;"> <li>As part of exposing the lies and preparations for a U.S. attack on Iran, Scott Ritter responded to Obama's recent statement on Iran, saying Obama made the same unsubstantiated charges that Bush & Company have been making for several years. "What evidence does Obama have that Iran has nukes? There is no evidence that Iran is pursuing nukes."</li> </span></ul> <ul><span style="font-size:85%;"> <li>Elaine Brower spoke from the heart on her conflicting emotions on election night - happiness that a Black person had finally become president, yet dismayed and depressed at the recognition that what Obama had been chosen for was commander-in-chief of the U.S. empire.</li> </span></ul> <div><span style="font-size:85%;">The audience at the event was diverse, with a broad range of views on the past election - many had voted for Obama, while others had voted for the Green Party or Nader or don't advocate voting at all. And there was sharp debate on some issues, which reflects the intensity and complexity of the times. Yet there was a general sense that it is up to the people not to sit back and wait, but to act now to fight to do what this government is not doing and will not do - end these endless wars for empire.</span></div> <p><span style="font-size:85%;">The program did not sufficiently address one of its stated objectives, to "begin making plans immediately to build a movement" of powerful resistance that is urgently needed. But these will be addressed this week: WCW has a national meeting planned for Nov 22-23 in Chicago (<a href="http://salsa.democracyinaction.org/o/1170/t/5806/event/index.jsp?event_KEY=46404">click here for more information and to register</a>) to further analyze this new political situation we're in and to decide what role WCW needs to play within that. Some plans are in the process of being developed and others must be made, including:</span></p> <ul><span style="font-size:85%;"> <li>The "We Are Not Your Soldiers" national tour with Iraq war vets to high school students in their classrooms, to get on MTV, creating an atmosphere in the national culture, which would effect youth not to join the military. The tour is coming to NYC in January.</li> </span></ul> <ul><span style="font-size:85%;"> <li>Proposals for creative protest action in early December against the wars.</li> </span></ul> <div><span style="font-size:85%;"> </span></div> <div><span style="font-size:85%;"><b>Come to this NYC planning meeting!</b></span></div> <div><span style="font-size:85%;"><b>Monday, Nov. 17th, 6:30 PM</b></span></div> <div><span style="font-size:85%;"><b>632 Broadway, 3rd Floor (near Bleecker St)</b></span></div> <div><span style="font-size:85%;"> </span></div> <p><span style="font-size:85%;">We urge all those who came on Tuesday, and many more, to come Monday to this meeting and to work together to make this all happen. The future is unwritten. Join us. Forward this email to your e-lists. </span></p> <p><span style="font-size:85%;">Three separate crews video taped the event, one for public access in NYC, one for NYU, and one for anti-recruiter organizing in New Jersey, and we hope to have the presentations available on the internet for those who missed it.</span></p>NYC World Can't Waithttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00304710229566880554noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21118197.post-12483879935590378342008-10-24T16:20:00.007-04:002008-11-09T22:23:02.015-05:00The Change We’re Fighting For:<span style="font-size:130%;"><span style="font-weight: bold;"><span style="font-size:180%;">STOP the Endless Wars for Empire!</span><br /><br />Tuesday November 11 (Veterans’ Day), 7:00 pm</span></span> <p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-weight: bold;"><span style="font-size:130%;">Judson Memorial Church, 55 Washington Square South, NYC</span></p><p class="MsoNormal">Speakers: </p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-weight: bold;">Scott Ritter</span>, former US weapons inspector, author of Waging Peace: The Art of War for the Antiwar Movement and Target Iran: The Truth About the White House’s Plans for Regime Change</p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-weight: bold;">Larry Everest</span>, writer for Revolution newspaper, author of Oil, Power and Empire: Iraq and the U.S. Agenda</p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-weight: bold;">Jeremy Scahill</span>, correspondent for Democracy Now, author of Blackwater: The Rise of the World’s Most Powerful Mercenary Army</p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-weight: bold;">Elaine Brower, </span>military family member and leader of The World Can’t Wait</p>While people in the US were voting for President Obama, a US air strike on an Afghan wedding party killed 34 civilians. On November 5, another killed 7 civilians. US drones daily cross the border into Pakistan, where scores of civilians have been bombed.<br /><br />Obama, the “anti-war” candidate wants to leave 50 to 80,000 troops in Iraq, and move more combat brigades to Afghanistan. He promises to increase the US military by 92,000, ready to project American empire further on the lives of kids in high school now. Obama proposed sending drones and special forces into Pakistan - a sovereign country - and the Bush regime secretly began attacks on Pakistan in July, which have killed scores of civilians, as part of the Bush doctrine of pre-emptive war.<br /><br />Participate in an intensive look at what to expect under Obama, what must be yet stopped under Bush, and begin making plans immediately to build a movement to stop the crimes done by our government in our name.<br /><br />Tickets: $10 / $5 students/low-income / $60 sustainer (includes 5:30 reception & front-row seating, information below). To ensure a seat, purchase in advance.<br /><br /><a href="http://chapters.worldcantwait.org/nyc/November11Tickets.html"><strong>Purchase tickets on line.</strong></a><br /><small><br />Those who prefer to pay via check or cash can call 866-973-4463 to arrange in-person purchase/pick-up of tickets.<br /><br /><span style="font-size:100%;"><strong>Time is short. </strong></span><a href="http://chapters.worldcantwait.org/nyc/StopEndlessWar-v3.pdf"><span style="font-size:100%;"><strong>Download the flyer and spread the word.</strong></span></a><br /><br /></small><span style="font-family: Verdana;"><span style="font-size:130%;"><b>Please Join us at a special "Meet the Speakers" Reception:</b></span><br /><br /></span><a href="http://salsa.democracyinaction.org/dia/track.jsp?v=2&c=k0XUeqq5RQtMJ3cvzR6D1aZFmCQc6289" target="_blank" rel="nofollow"><span style="font-family: Verdana;"><b>Apple Restaurant</b></span></a><span style="font-family: Verdana;"><br />17 Waverly Place, across Washington Sqare Park from Judson Church <br /><br />$60 per person includes front row seat at Judson, reception at <span class="yshortcuts" id="lw_1226287011_1" style="border-bottom: 1px dashed rgb(0, 102, 204);">Apple</span>, and gift bag <br /><br /><a href="http://salsa.democracyinaction.org/dia/track.jsp?v=2&c=%2Fh1dRE6ztDiEX3ySD3yyi6ZFmCQc6289" target="_blank" rel="nofollow"><span class="yshortcuts" id="lw_1226287011_2">Purchase tickets online</span> </a><br /><br />Those wanting to purchase tickets in advance but who would prefer to pay by check or cash, call <span class="yshortcuts" id="lw_1226287011_3" style="border-bottom: 1px dashed rgb(0, 102, 204);">866-973-4463</span>.<br /><br />IF you cannot attend, please make a <a href="http://salsa.democracyinaction.org/dia/track.jsp?v=2&c=q09KSrxUqoI0FYijQpUJiqZFmCQc6289" target="_blank" rel="nofollow"><span class="yshortcuts" id="lw_1226287011_4">donation</span></a> to World <span class="yshortcuts" id="lw_1226287011_5" style="border-bottom: 1px dashed rgb(0, 102, 204);">Can't Wait</span> to cover the expenses of immediate organizing in the wake of the election. </span>NYC World Can't Waithttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00304710229566880554noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21118197.post-27235717560363347042008-10-10T23:59:00.000-04:002008-10-11T00:07:25.846-04:00Are we a people at peace with being at war? Speak out when the candidates appear in NYC!George Bush & Co. remain unrelenting and self-assured that they can drive the savageness of their program of expanding endless war, spying on people in the U.S. and torture abroad into the next administration. U.S. military moves and diplomatic maneuvering have not let up. A campaign of lies similar to those leading to the attack on Iraq are being put out to justify an attack on Iran. Bush, McCain and Obama have all refused to rule out the use of NUCLEAR weapons in an attack on Iran. All three call for an escalation - more troops and more money – for the war in Afghanistan. The Presidential debates have become an ugly contest over who can call for the more aggressive policy – now expanding the war with attacks into Pakistan is “on the table”. <span style="font-size:130%;"><span style="font-weight: bold;">Who will speak up? Who will stop this?</span></span><br /><br /><span style="font-size:180%;"><span style="font-weight: bold;">It is up to us.</span></span> People of conscience take responsibility for what their own governments do. People of conscience should not allow themselves to be demobilized by the political and moral terms of an election that calls for “national unity” while carrying out and expanding unjust wars for empire.<br /><br />Will there be a pole of opposition that inspires with its moral clarity and fearless truth-telling that people can join with until this whole criminal program is brought to a halt? Join us.<br /><br />Join Iraq Veterans Against the War, World Can’t Wait, Long Island Alliance & more:<br /><span style="font-size:180%;"><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">Demonstrate at final debate:</span><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">Wednesday, October 15 Hempstead, Long Island</span></span><br /><br />2:00 PM Rally at Hempstead LIRR, 4:30 proceed to Hofstra University, followed by actions there. (See http://nyc.worldcantwait.org or call 866-973-4463 for directions and details. )<br /><br /><br />Also <span style="font-weight: bold;">demonstrate when Obama & McCain will speak at the Al Smith Dinner</span>, a fundraiser for the Catholic Charities, at Waldorf Astoria. <span style="font-weight: bold;">Thursday, Oct. 16, 5:00 - 7:00 PM</span>, Park Ave & 49th St.NYC World Can't Waithttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00304710229566880554noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21118197.post-33207115887839396422008-10-10T13:29:00.004-04:002008-10-10T23:44:26.767-04:00Directions/details for October 15th Protest at Hempstead/Hofstra Presidential Debate2:00 PM:<span style=""> </span>Rally in parking lot of Hempstead LIRR Station sponsored by Iraq Veterans Against the War (IVAW) & Long Island Alliance for Peaceful Tomorrows. Take the train from Penn Station in NYC to Hempstead. The train ride is approximately 45-50 minutes from NYC. On the train platform, you will be greeted and directed to the rally point.<p></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family:arial;">4:15 PM:<span style=""> </span>Proceed in mass to protest along Hempstead Turnpike located by Hofstra University (bring your signs, whistles, flashlights for later).</p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family:arial;">5:15 – 6:30 PM:<span style=""> </span>Join protests sponsored by Long Island Alliance inside campus of Hofstra University authorized "free speech" zone.<br /></p> <p style="font-family: arial;" class="MsoNormal">6:30 PM to 10:00 PM – There will be continued "Speak Outs" in "free speech" area by protesters</p> <p style="font-family: arial;" class="MsoNormal">7:00 PM -- Action by Iraq Veterans Against the War & designated allies (further information on this below)</p><p style="font-family: arial;" class="MsoNormal">Organizers tell us that there will be a shuttle bus and/or escorts to assist people in getting back to the Hempstead LIRR station after the protests.</p><p style="font-family: arial;" class="MsoNormal"><br />World Can't Wait, Code-PINK, Workplace Project, UFPJ, Peace Action NYS, and a number of other organizations support and are participating in these actions.<span style=""> </span><br /><span style="font-style: italic;"><br /><br />There has been some confusion about the details of the protest at Hempstead and Hofstra. To clarify matters and to answer questions, we are printing here sections of a letter from Long Island Iraq Veterans Against the War member Kris Goldsmith. Parts in quotation marks are taken exactly from Kris' letter. Other parts are summary for brevity. Hope this is helpful and many will come out!</span><br />-- NYC World Can't Wait.<br /><span style="font-size:180%;"><br /></span><span style="font-size:130%;"><span style="font-size:180%;">"We the People, will have our voices be heard!"<br />"We the People, Do Not Want War!!</span>"</span><br /><br /><span style="font-size:130%;"><span style="font-weight: bold;">Rally Starting at 2:00 PM:</span></span><br />Rally sponsored by Iraqi Veterans Against the War and the "We the People movement" (coalition formed in Long Island). The permitted area will be a parking lot close to the Hempstead Train/Bus Station off the Long Island Rail Road.<br /><br />After rally "we will walk- un-permitted and on the sidewalk (completely legal here) to the debate. We remain committed to non-violence, and non-aggression during this walk. Notice I'm not calling it a 'march' because we aren't taking over the streets at this point."<br /><br />"Walking approximately 1.2 miles east of the Hempstead train station along Hempstead Turnpike, we will arrive at the Hofstra University Campus. There we will converge with the main body of the Long Island Alliance. We expect at least 500 people to be waiting for us there.<br />At this location/time there will be a multitude of groups there... including those outside of the Long Island Alliance like the Gathering of Eagles [reactionary pro-war grouping], so be mentally prepared for idiots screaming- and remain non-violent! "<br /><br />"At 6:30pm the Long Island Alliance led action is scheduled to come to a close, and this is the time when IVAW will announce it's intent to change the tone a bit- and prepare for Civil Disobedience and a possibly arrestable action." [see separate entry below for details on their possible civil disobedience action]</p>NYC World Can't Waithttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00304710229566880554noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21118197.post-73181320011784796152008-10-10T13:09:00.000-04:002008-10-10T13:25:57.511-04:00Iraqi Veterans Against the War - Plans/statement for action at Oct. 15 debate at HofstraHEMPSTEAD, N.Y. -- Iraq Veterans Against the War (IVAW) will lead non-violent demonstrations at Hofstra University prior to the final presidential debate Oct. 15 to demand two IVAW members be allowed to ask each candidate one question.<br /><br />Should IVAW's demands not be met in full by 7 p.m., members of the organization are willing to risk arrest by entering the debate to have their voices heard by the candidates.<br /><br />IVAW intends to "force the issue" that service members and veterans are not being heard or cared for by our leaders. The next president should make caring for our wounded military a top domestic priority, in addition to ending the war in Iraq.<br /><br />"Right now there are veterans of Iraq and Afghanistan going homeless, hungry, into debt and contemplating suicide," said Matthis Chiroux, an IVAW member from Brooklyn. "But the government says we don't have the money to care for those war heroes, so the V.A. continues its mission underfunded and understaffed. But now we've found almost a trillion to bail out banks? Where's the humanity in this?"<br /><br />IVAW is currently working to contact debate moderator Bob Schieffer to make its demands known.<br /><br />"I watched the first debate the other night, for which the topic was supposed to be 'foreign policy', yet it took 34 minutes before the words 'Iraq' or 'Veteran' left either candidates' mouths," said Kris Goldsmith, an IVAW member from Long Island. "I'm not convinced that either Obama or McCain care about what is most important to today's military and veterans. IVAW is committed to changing that."<br /><br />Participants should begin assembling at the Hempstead Long Island Railroad station at 2:30 p.m. At five, we will "walk" to Hempstead University for further demonstrations.<br /><br />IVAW was founded by Iraq war veterans in July 2004 to allow servicemen and women from all branches of the military a chance to come together and speak out against an unjust, unwinnable and illegal occupation. Today, IVAW has over 1,300 members in 49 states, Washington, D.C. and Canada, and on military bases in the U.S. and overseas, including Iraq.NYC World Can't Waithttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00304710229566880554noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21118197.post-90903198836753248682008-10-09T22:12:00.000-04:002008-10-13T22:16:04.073-04:00What is the Sarah Palin Candidacy About?<span style="font-size:larger;"><span style="color: rgb(255, 51, 0);">What are the implications of the 2008 election on reproductive rights?</span></span><o:p></o:p><!--[if !supportEmptyParas]--><!--[endif]--><o:p></o:p><span style="font-size:85%;"> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:larger;"><span style="font-family:Arial;">A discussion sponsored by World Can't Wait </span></span><o:p></o:p><span style="font-size:larger;"><span style="font-family:Arial;">with writers who dig deeply into Christian fundamentalism, reproductive rights</span></span><o:p></o:p><span style="font-size:larger;"><span style="font-family:Arial;"> and sex education.<!--[if !supportEmptyParas]--><!--[endif]--></span></span><o:p></o:p></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:larger;"><span style="font-family:Arial;">Presenters: </span></span><o:p></o:p></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:larger;"><b><span style="font-family:Arial;">Esther Kaplan</span></b><span style="font-family:Arial;">, author of <i>With God on Their Side: George Bush and the Christian Right</i>. </span></span><span style="font-size:larger;"><span style="font-family:Arial;"><!--[endif]--></span></span><o:p></o:p></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:larger;"><b><span style="font-family:Arial;">Sunsara Taylor</span></b><span style="font-family:Arial;">, writer for <i>Revolution</i>, currently on national speaking tour on </span><i><span style="font-family:Arial;">Away with All Gods; Unchaining the Mind & Radically Changing the World</span></i></span><o:p></o:p><span style="font-size:larger;"><span style="font-family:Arial;"><!--[if !supportEmptyParas]--><!--[endif]--></span></span><o:p></o:p></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:large;"><b><span style="font-family:Arial;">Monday October 20<br /> 7:00 pm</span></b></span><o:p></o:p></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:large;"><b><span style="font-family:Arial;">THINK Coffee<br /> 250 Mercer Street</span></b></span><o:p></o:p></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:larger;"><span style="font-family:Arial;">@ 3rd Street NYC</span></span><span style="font-size:larger;"><span style="font-family:Arial;"><!--[if !supportEmptyParas]--></span></span><span style="font-size:smaller;"><span style="font-family:Arial;"><!--[endif]--></span></span><o:p></o:p></p> <span style="font-size:smaller;"><span style="font-family:Arial;"> $5.00 donation</span></span> <p>This is an extremely timely event. Volunteers are urgently needed to help organize and publicize this event: Call 866-973-4463 or email <a href="mailto:nyc@worldcantwait.org?subject=Palin%20forum%20%40%20Think%20Coffee">nyc@worldcantwait.org</a> to volunteer.</p> <p><span style="font-size:smaller;"><span style="font-family:Arial;">Spread the word, </span></span><span style="font-size:larger;"><span style="font-family:Arial;"><a href="http://chapters.worldcantwait.org/nyc/SarahPalin4in1.pdf"><span style="font-size:smaller;">download 4-to-a-page flyer</span></a></span></span></p></span>NYC World Can't Waithttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00304710229566880554noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21118197.post-29991137468748256012008-10-02T12:57:00.000-04:002008-10-02T12:59:38.681-04:00Are we a people at peace with being at war?<span style="color: rgb(255, 102, 0);font-size:130%;" ><span style="font-weight: bold;font-family:verdana;" >No government should be allowed to do what the Bush regime has done the past 7 years!</span></span><br />With no regard for human cost or conscience the Bush regime pushes expanding endless war, spies on people here, and tortures abroad. Only you – and not your government – can bring this all to a halt. The World Can’t Wait.<br />Yet George Bush remains unrelenting and self-assured that he can drive the savageness of his agenda into the next administration. U.S. military moves and diplomatic maneuvering have not let up. A campaign of lies similar to those leading to the attack on Iraq are being put out to justify an attack on Iran. Bush, McCain and Obama have all refused to rule out the use of NUCLEAR weapons in an attack on Iran. All three call for an escalation - more troops and more money – for the war in Afghanistan. Last Friday’s Presidential debate became a contest of who can call for the more aggressive policy – now expanding the war with attacks into Pakistan is “on the table”. Who will speak up? Who will stop this?<br /><span style="color: rgb(255, 102, 0);font-size:130%;" ><span style="font-weight: bold;font-family:verdana;" >It is up to us. </span></span>People of conscience take responsibility for what their own governments do. People of conscience should not allow themselves to be demobilized by the political and moral terms of an election that calls for “national unity” while carrying out and expanding unjust wars for empire.<br />Will there be a pole of opposition that inspires with its moral clarity and fearless truth-telling? An increasingly visible independent political force of resistance, protest, and acts of conscience that people can join with and persevere with until this whole criminal program is brought to a halt? <span style="font-weight: bold;">Join us.</span>NYC World Can't Waithttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00304710229566880554noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21118197.post-11463551442667858982008-09-18T22:41:00.001-04:002008-09-18T22:44:25.870-04:00Tuesday, Sept. 23rd: War Criminal George W. Bush will be at UN<span style="font-size:85%;"><h2>Tuesday morning, September 23rd:</h2> <h1><span style="color: rgb(255, 51, 0);">War Criminal George W. Bush<br />will be speaking at the U.N.</span></h1> <h3>Rally & other creative actions (<span style="color: rgb(255, 0, 255);">PINK POLICE SQUAD ON HAND TO ARREST THE WORLD'S #1 WAR CRIMINAL</span>, and <span style="color: rgb(255, 51, 0);">ORANGE JUMPSUIT</span> contingent and Water Boarding demonstration anti-torture actions, and more) -- all to tell the world that we demand:</h3> <h2><span style="color: rgb(255, 51, 0);">U.S. Out of Iraq & Afghanistan!<br />NO ATTACK ON IRAN!</span></h2> <h2><span style="color: rgb(255, 51, 0);">Bush & Cheney must be held<br />accountable for their crimes!</span></h2> <p>Bush & Cheney should be indicted, arrested and tried before U.S. and international courts for their crimes, including: <b>Wars of aggression, torture!</b></p> <h2>Converge at: 8:30 AM<br />Dag Hammarskjöld Plaza</h2> <p>(E. 47th St,, between 1st and 2nd Ave.)</p> <p>Further details & plans will be posted at</p> <p>Sponsors include: World Can't Wait - Drive Out the Bush Regime, Code Pink-NYC, Troops Out Now Coalition, Grandmothers Against the War, International Action Center and Military Families Speak Out-NYC, MDS-SI, and Granny Peace Brigade <span style="font-size:x-small;"> [Additional organizations: email us to add your name to final press release.]</span></p> <h2><img src="http://www.worldcantwait.net/images/un9-25-07/johnjay.jpg" alt="Photo: demo Sept 2007 when Bush came to UN" vspace="5" width="325" height="216" hspace="5" /></h2> <h2><span style="color: rgb(255, 51, 0);">Grito de Lares - A cry for justice!</span></h2> <p>Bush's speaks to the U.N. on "Grito de Lares", exactly three years after FBI stormtroopers in Puerto Rico, on orders from Washington, surrounded and fired into the home of Puerto Rican activist, Filiberto Ojeda Rios. Despite the cries for help from his wife, the FBI prevented access by medical team for several hours, causing Filiberto to bleed to death. <span style="color: rgb(255, 51, 0);"><b>For this cold-blooded political assassination, the Bush regime must also be held accountable. </b></span>There will be a gathering marking Grito de Lares and exposing the FBI assassination of Filiberto on Tuesday evening, Sept. 23 at 6:30 PM, at St. Mary's Episcopal Church, 521 West 126th Street (between Amsterdam & Broadway). For more information, <a href="http://wcw-nyc.blogspot.com/2008/09/grito-de-lares-cry-for-justice.html">http://wcw-nyc.blogspot.com/2008/09/grito-de-lares-cry-for-justice.html</a>.</p></span>NYC World Can't Waithttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00304710229566880554noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21118197.post-84696094895418055402008-09-18T14:09:00.001-04:002008-09-18T14:14:32.012-04:00Grito de Lares - A cry for justice! - September 23<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://www.lifeinlegacy.com/2005/0924/OjedaRiosFiliberto.jpg"><img style="margin: 0pt 0pt 10px 10px; float: right; cursor: pointer; width: 200px;" src="http://www.lifeinlegacy.com/2005/0924/OjedaRiosFiliberto.jpg" alt="" border="0" /></a>Bush's speech to the U.N. is occurring on "Grito de Lares", exactly three years after FBI stormtroopers in Puerto Rico, on orders from Washington, surrounded and fired into the home of Puerto Rican activist, Filiberto Ojeda Rios, the longtime leader of the Ejercito Popular Boricua-Los Macheteros, a Puerto Rican independence organization. <p style="margin-bottom: 0in;">For years he has been known to his supporters through tape-recorded speeches played at rallies and gatherings on the island. In fact, the very same afternoon that federal sharpshooters were closing in, Filiberto Ojeda’s recorded speech was echoing through the nearby town of Lares --where hundreds of people had rallied for the anniversary of the “Grito de Lares,” the 1868 uprising celebrated as a symbol of Puerto Rican nationhood and independence.</p> <p style="margin-bottom: 0in;">Despite the cries for help from his wife, the FBI prevented access by medical team for several hours, causing Filiberto to bleed to death. For this cold-blooded political assassination, the Bush regime must also be held accountable.</p> <p style="margin-bottom: 0in;">There will be a gathering marking Grito de Lares and exposing the FBI assassination of Filiberto on Tuesday evening, Sept. 23 at 6:30 PM, at St. Mary's Episcopal Church, 521 West 126th Street (between Amsterdam and Broadway). For more information on the event, contact Luis Barrios at (212) 237-8747 or <a href="mailto:lbarrios@jjay.cuny.edu">lbarrios@jjay.cuny.edu</a>. </p> <p style="margin-bottom: 0in;">Below is reprinted the announcement for the event:</p> <p style="margin-bottom: 0in; font-family: verdana; font-weight: bold;font-family:arial;"><span style="font-size:130%;">LARES EN CONTEXTO INTERNACIONAL:<br />EN CONTRA DE LA CRIMINALIZACIÓN DE LA SOLIDARIDAD INTERNACIONAL CON LOS MOVIMIENTOS SOCIALES EN NUESTRA AMERICA</span></p> El próximo 23 de septiembre, al cumplirse 140 años de la gesta anti-colonialista e independentista conocida como el Grito de Lares, personalidades de la comunidad dominicana, puertorriqueña, colombiana, chilena, mexicana, guatemalteca, salvadoreña y otras nacionalidades, representadas en diversas entidades comunitarias, políticas, religiosas, y culturales de la comunidad latinoamericana de Nueva York, se han unido para la celebración de esta fecha histórica del pueblo puertorriqueño; ubicándola en el contexto internacional de las luchas aún inconclusas por la Independencia de las Antillas y del resto de toda nuestra América. De igual forma esta commemoración será un acto de apoyo a favor de aquellos/as que sufren persecución, opresión o exclusión por ejercer su solidaridad con los movimientos y resistencias sociales que persiguen la liberación de los pueblos.<br />El Grito de Lares como grito por la libertad, la dignidad y contra la exclusión, la esclavitud y el colonialismo, mantiene su vigencia continental y en ese grito libertario se ver reflejados todos los pueblos de Nuestra América. Esa misma noche del 23 de septiembre se cumple el tercer aniversario del asesinato de Filiberto Ojeda Ríos, símbolo de la resistencia descolonizadora e independentista puertorriqueña, a quien se le rinderá tributo.Lares en el contexto internacional será una noche de arte, música y pensamiento para la solidaridad. En ella se dará a conocer un manifiesto de respaldo hacia la española Remedio García Abert; los dominicanos Narciso Isa Conde y Alfredo Pierre; el italiano Ramón Montaveani y Carlos Cosolo; el venezolano Amilcar Figueroa; las/os colombianas/os Piedad Córdoba, Gloria Inés Ramírez, Carlos Lozano, Wilson Borja y William Parra; el chileno Victor Toro; los/as puertorriqueños/as Carlos Alberto Torres, Haydee Beltrán Torres, Oscar López Rivera, Avelino Gonzalez Claudio, Tania Frontera, Christopher Torres y Elliot Monteverde; los cubanos Gerardo Hernández, Ramón Labañino, Antonio Guerrero, Fernando González and René González; los estadounidenses Leonard Peltier y Mumia Abu-Jamal; entre muchos/as otros/as. Asimismo Lares en este contexto también es un rechazo y condena a todo lo que atenta contra la paz con justicia: clasismo, sexismo, homofobia/heterosexismo, xenofobia, racismo, etnocentrismo, brutalidad/corrupción policía, adultocentrismo, etc.<br /><br />Criminalizando las acciones de solidaridad se estarían acertando un duro golpe a los diversos procesos de cambio que están en marcha en nuestra América y a escala internacional, por constituir esta una de las claves fundamentales para su consolidación y avances; por eso una celebración del Grito de Lares no puede ser indiferente a estas realidades, como de igual manera la vive el movimiento independentista puertorriqueño, cuya hostigamiento y persecución se ha acrecentado desde el asesinato de Feliberto Ojeda Ríos. <p style="margin-bottom: 0in;">Este evento de unidad y solidaridad latinoamerica se llevará a cabo el próximo martes, 23 de septiembre, a partir de la 6:30 PM, en la Iglesia Episcopal Santa Maria, ubicada en el 521 al oeste de la calle 126, entre las avenida Amsterdam y Broadway, en Manhattan.</p> <p style="margin-bottom: 0in;">En el programa de la noche el Abogado Salvador Tio, de la Coordinadora Continental Bolivariana-PR, disertará sobre el 140 aniversario de la gesta patriótica del Grito de Lares y del 3er. Aniversario del asesinato de Filiberto Ojeda Ríos; el Abogado Álvaro Tobón, de la Universidad Libre de Colombia, hablará sobre la persecución política en Colombia y el Padre Luis Barrios, de la Iglesia Episcopal Santa María, reflexionará sobre la construcción social del crimen en el contexto del libro Crimen y poder: Reinado de la impunidad (de Narciso Isa Conde, 2008). También habrá un reconocimiento al incansable luchador chileno Víctor Toro, quien con una gran trayectoria de servicio comunitario actualmente esta enjuiciado con amenaza de deportación por su enérgica oposición a las leyes inmigratorias. Además estará abierta la Exhibición Fotográfica de Isaías Amaro, Imágenes de la Frontera Dominicano-Haitiana, junto con otras participaciones artísticas.</p> <p style="margin-bottom: 0in;">La música estará a cargo del grupo de hip-hop Rebel Diaz y de plena el Grupo Quenepas (con la participación de Luisito Ayala, Sammy Tanco y Franky Vélez, entre otras/os).</p><p style="margin-bottom: 0in;">Este evento es un producto solidario organizado por la Iglesia Episcopal de Santa María, el proyecto Nueva Izquierda-Círculos Campañistas y la Coordinadora Continental Bolivariana-Capítulo Puerto Rico, y cuenta con el auspicio solidario de La Campaña ProLibertad, El Proyecto de Educación Popular para Liberar los Cinco Cubanos, El Frente Socialista de Puerto Rico-Comité de Nueva York, Partido Nacionalista de Puerto Rico-Junta de Nueva York, Fuerza de la Revolución, Fundación Minerva Mirabal, Movimiento Revolucionario Nueva Patria, Nueva Alternativa, PTD (ML), Iglesia San Romero de Las Américas y La Red 27 de Octubre.</p>NYC World Can't Waithttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00304710229566880554noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21118197.post-70195575386951636652008-09-11T13:40:00.002-04:002008-09-11T13:48:53.261-04:00Thurs.-9-11 - Obama & McCain at Columbia University - NO to war in Iraq and Afghanistan!<b><span style="font-size:100%;"> <p style="margin-bottom: 0in;">Amidst reports of U.S. military massacre of civilians in Afghanistan, what are both Obama and McCain calling for?</p></span></b> <p style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-weight: bold;">– An ESCALATION of war in Afghanistan! </span>(see facts below)</p> <p style="margin-bottom: 0in; font-weight: bold;"><span style="font-size:130%;">We must say: No to the atrocities, no to the massacres!</span></p> <p style="margin-bottom: 0in; font-weight: bold;"><span style="font-size:130%;">End the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan Now!</span></p><p style="margin-bottom: 0in; font-weight: bold;"><span style="font-size:130%;"><span style="color: rgb(255, 0, 0);">Meet up at 5:00 PM at 116th and Broadway</span><br /></span></p> <p style="margin-bottom: 0in;">Today, on September 11, Barack Obama and John McCain are speaking at Columbia about “service” in a “Post -9/11 world”. The outrage of 9-11 has often been twisted in “service” of justifying endless and expanding U.S. wars for empire. Our grief is NOT a cry for war!</p> <p style="margin-bottom: 0in;">• On August 22nd, according to the United Nations and even the U.S.-installed Afghanistan government, U.S. airstrikes on the village of Azizabad in Afghanistan killed 90 civilians, including 60 children. The New York Times later reported: “Accounts from survivors, including three people wounded in the bombing, described repeated strikes on houses where dozens of children were sleeping, grandparents and uncles and aunts huddled inside with them.”</p> <p style="margin-bottom: 0in;">• George W. Bush’s response? He has announced sending thousands more troops to Afghanistan in the next several months! McCain chimed in: “It is clear that we need additional forces in Afghanistan, and I support the new deployments.” Obama expressed being “glad that the president is moving in the direction of the policy that I have advocated for years.” Obama criticized Bush for not being harsh enough: “His plan comes up short -- it is not enough troops, and not enough resources, with not enough urgency.”</p> <p style="margin-bottom: 0in;">If you are opposed to our government launching immoral and illegal wars, killing innocent civilians for oil and empire, it is time to realize: neither Barack Obama nor John McCain wants what you want.</p> <p style="margin-bottom: 0in;">It is up to us. The only chance of stopping these atrocities and these wars is a movement of mass independent political action demanding these atrocities and wars stop! Join us.</p> <span style=";font-family:Arial Black,Arial Black;font-size:100%;" ><b><i><b><span style=";font-family:Arial,Arial;font-size:85%;" ><div class="yui-t1" id="doc3"><div id="bd"><table border="0" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" width="100%"><tbody><tr valign="top"><td id="content"><br /></td></tr></tbody></table></div></div></span></b></i></b></span>NYC World Can't Waithttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00304710229566880554noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21118197.post-1431260516061808472008-08-19T17:14:00.000-04:002008-08-19T17:18:17.538-04:00NYC debut screening: IRAN (Is Not the Problem) - Thursday, Sept 4th<h2><span style="font-size:85%;">NYC Debut screening:</span></h2> <h1><span style="font-size:85%;">IRAN (Is Not the Problem)</span></h1> <p><span style="font-size:85%;"><img alt="Iran is not the problem graphic" src="http://iranisnottheproblem.org/yahoo_site_admin/assets/images/bully_promo.226155701_std.jpg" height="233" vspace="5" width="350" /></span></p> <h2>Thursday, Sept. 4th @ 6:30 PM<br /><span style="font-size:12;"></span></h2><h2><span style="font-size:12;"><span style="font-size:85%;"> MLK Labor Center/1199,<br />310 West 43rd Street</span></span></h2> <p><span style="font-size:12;"><span style="font-size:85%;">(between 8th and 9th)</span></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:12;"> <p><span style="font-size:85%;"><span style="font-size:100%;">IRAN (is not the problem) is a new feature film responding to the failure of the American mass media to provide the public with accurate information about the standoff between the US and Iran, as happened before with the lead up to the invasion of Iraq. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:85%;"><span style="font-size:100%;">We have heard that Iran is a nuclear menace in defiance of the international community, bent on "wiping Israel off the map", supporting terrorism, and unwilling to negotiate. This documentary disputes these claims and puts them in the context of present and historical US imperialism and hypocrisy with respect to Iran. </span></span></p> <div><span style="font-size:85%;"><span style="font-size:100%;">It looks at the struggle for a more just society inside Iran, the consequences of the current escalation and the potential US and/or Israeli attack, and suggests some alternatives to consider. </span></span></div> <div><span style="font-size:85%;"> </span></div> <span style="font-size:85%;">This 79 minute documentary features Antonia Juhasz (<i>The Bu$h Agenda</i>), Larry Everest (<i>Oil, Power, and Empire</i>), and other activists and Iranian-Americans.<span style="font-size:100%;"> </span></span></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:85%;">***</span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:85%;">After the screening, people are encouraged to stay for discussion, inclouding organizing many more screenings around the NYC-NJ-Long Island-Westchester County area, future "Freeze" actions, and other ideas about mobilizing to stop a U.S. attack on Iran.</span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:85%;">Copies of the DVD will also be available for $15.00. Teachers and students, especially, should know that the DVD also contains a 20-minute preview version, ideal for showings in classrooms. Please contact us about organizing shows in high schools and colleges around the area.</span></p>NYC World Can't Waithttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00304710229566880554noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21118197.post-90998064877808241052008-08-15T14:54:00.001-04:002008-08-15T15:04:55.975-04:00Basic Facts about Waterboarding1) Waterboarding is NOT an “enhanced interrogation technique.” It is torture. It is not a slick way to beguile people into talking. It is the application of unbearable physical suffering and terrifying panic to compel a desired behavior.<br /><br />2) Waterboarding is NOT “simulated drowning.” It IS drowning. Water is forced into the lungs and breathing made impossible in a controlled manner, producing a slow motion suffocation. That is not simulation. News media that perpetuate the description “simu-lated drowning” are accomplices after the fact.<br /><br />3) Waterboarding IS illegal under U.S. and international law, and no quantity of Presidential signing statements or memoranda from the Office of Legal Counsel can change that fact. Following World War II the United States prosecuted as war criminals the Japanese officers responsible for waterboarding captured U.S. servicemen.<br /><br />4) Waterboarding has the “advantage” of leaving no physical scars. It is part of an arsenal of U.S. psychological torture methods that include sensory deprivation, stress positions, extreme cold, loud incessant music, sleep deprivation, and disorientation through the manipulation of meal times, light, and lack of human contact.<br /><br />5) The excuse has been offered that if Judge Mukasey were to admit that waterboarding is torture, then U.S. operatives might be subject to criminal or civil penalties. If U.S. operatives have committed acts of torture, then they SHOULD be subject to criminal and civil penalties. After World War II, were war criminals granted retroactive immunity?<br /><br />6) All students at the Navy’s Survival, Evasion, Resistance and Escape School (SERE) in San Diego are required to undergo waterboarding and become completely familiar with this technique. This school is used by Navy SEALS and other special forces.<br /><br />WHAT IS WATERBOARDING?<br /><br />Waterboarding is a form of torture that our government has admitted authorizing for use on military detainees. The practice involves tying a person down to a board, covering their face with a cloth, and pouring water into their nose and mouth, causing suffocation as the victim’s lungs fill with water. It leaves no physical scars, which is one reason why governments and militaries throughout history –including ours—have employed it.<br /><br />Malcolm Nance, a former U.S. Navy instructor who witnessed, supervised, and led waterboarding hundreds of times as part of a naval training program, has said:<br /><br />“In the media, waterboarding is called ‘simulated drowning,’ but that's a misnomer. It does not simulate drowning, as the lungs are actually filling with water. There is no way to simulate that. The victim is drowning….Unless you have been strapped down to the board, have endured the agonizing feeling of the water overpowering your gag reflex, and then feel your throat open and allow pint after pint of water to involuntarily fill your lungs, you will not know the meaning of the word.”<br />[NY DAILY NEWS, Oct 31, 2007]<span style="text-decoration: underline;"> </span><a href="http://www.nydailynews.com/opinions/2007/10/31/2007-10-31_i_know_waterboarding_is_torture__because.html">http://www.nydailynews.com/opinions/2007/10/31/2007-10-31_i_know_waterboarding_is_torture__because.html</a><br />WHAT ARE THE ORIGINS OF WATERBOARDING?<br />The history of waterboarding is long and brutal. University of Pennsylvania historian Ed Peters has said the practice was used to extract confessions as far back as the 1300s. In any event, over the centuries, the use of waterboarding has been documented: Against accused “heretics” during the Spanish Inquisition ; at the turn of the 19th century, by the U.S. military in its war against the Phillipines; in the 1960s, again by the U.S. military, this time during the Vietnam War; under the Pinochet Regime in Chile; and in 1983, by Texas Sheriff James Parker, who sought to force confessions from prisoners.<br />Following World War II, the United States filed war crimes charges against a Japanese officer, accusing him of waterboarding a U.S. civilian. The officer, Yukio Asano, was convicted and received a 15-year-sentence.<br />[NPR] <a href="http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=15886834">http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=15886834</a><br /><br />THE BUSH REGIME HAS ADMITTED TO AUTHORIZING WATERBOARDING-- AND THEREFORE TO COMMITTING WAR CRIMES<br />While the use of waterboarding dates back centuries, a government openly acknowledging authorizing it is a new phenomenon. But that is exactly what the Bush Regime has done.<br />*On February 5, 2008, CIA Director Michael Hayden stood before Congress and admitted CIA officers waterboarded three detainees: Khalid Sheik Mohammed, Abu Zubaydah and Abd al-Rahim Nashiri.<br /><a href="http://abcnews.go.com/Blotter/TheLaw/story?id=4244423&page=1">http://abcnews.go.com/Blotter/TheLaw/story?id=4244423&page=1</a><br /><br />*On April 9, 2008, ABC News reported that Dick Cheney, Donald Rumsfeld, Condoleeza Rice, John Ashcroft, Colin Powell, and George Tenet met regularly in the White House to discuss and approve various forms of torture—including waterboarding—for use on detainees.<br /><a href="http://abcnews.go.com/TheLaw/LawPolitics/story?id=4583256&page=1">http://abcnews.go.com/TheLaw/LawPolitics/story?id=4583256&page=1</a><br /><br />*On April 11, 2008, President George W. Bush himself admitted approving these meetings, saying: “And yes, I'm aware our national security team met on this issue. And I approved.”<br /><a href="http://abcnews.go.com/TheLaw/LawPolitics/story?id=4583256&page=1">http://abcnews.go.com/TheLaw/LawPolitics/story?id=4583256&page=1</a><br /><br />Under international law, waterboarding is torture – and thus a war crime:<br />*Article 1 of The United Nations Convention Against Torture –which the United States ratified in 1994- defines torture as: “Any act by which severe pain or suffering, whether physical or mental, is intentionally inflicted on a person for such purposes as obtaining from him or a third person information or a confession, punishing him for an act he or a third person has committed or is suspected of having committed, or intimidating or coercing him or a third person, or for any reason based on discrimination of any kind, when such pain or suffering is inflicted by or at the instigation of or with the consent or acquiescence of a public official or other person acting in an official capacity.”<br /><a href="http://www.hrweb.org/legal/cat.html">http://www.hrweb.org/legal/cat.html</a><br /><br />There is zero doubt that waterboarding carried out by our government constitutes excruciating mental and physical pain intentionally inflicted in order to intimidate and gain information. Therefore, it is clearly torture.<br /><br />The Convention Against Torture also makes clear that there are no exceptions – “whether a state of war or a threat or war, internal political instability or any other public emergency” in which a country may practice torture (Article 2) and that it is illegal for an individual nation to pass laws legalizing torture (Article 4).<br /><br />*But if there were somehow any doubt… On February 7, 2008 UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Louise Arbour officially declared that waterboarding is torture. She added that those who violate the UN Convention Against Torture should be prosecuted as war criminals.<br /><a href="http://uk.reuters.com/article/topNews/idUKN0852061620080208">http://uk.reuters.com/article/topNews/idUKN0852061620080208</a><br /><br />WE WILL NOT LIVE IN A TORTURE STATE: DRIVE OUT THE BUSH REGIME!<br />While a particularly brutal and sickening practice, waterboarding is only one part of an entire package of torture and illegal detention polices approved at the highest levels of our government, and carried out systematically:<br /><br />*As of December 2007, the U.S. was known to be holding 275 detainees in Guantanamo Bay, (“Gitmo” )Cuba. All but a handful of these detainees have never been charged, and have never received trial. The vast majority of these detainees were turned over to the U.S. by warlords – not captured in battlefield.<br /><br />The U.S. military only characterizes 8 percent of these detainees as Al-Qaeda fighters.<br /><a href="http://www.amnestyusa.org/86_Days/Guantanamo_Fact_Sheet/page.do?id=1051177&n1=3&n2=38&n3=1447">http://www.amnestyusa.org/86_Days/Guantanamo_Fact_Sheet/page.do?id=1051177&n1=3&n2=38&n3=1447</a><br /><br />*As shown in the Oscar-winning documentary “Taxi to the Dark Side”, detainees at Guantanamo, Iraq, and Afghanistan are routinely subjected to forms of torture including extreme sensory deprivation, isolation, attacks with dogs, and vicious physical and sexual abuse. All of which is sanctioned by the highest levels of our government.<br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">Conclusions:</span><br />Waterboarding is torture.<br />Torture is a war crime and crime against humanity.<br />It must be brought to a halt, and those responsible held accountable as war criminals.<br />We won’t live in a torture state.NYC World Can't Waithttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00304710229566880554noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21118197.post-56754466433876397002008-08-01T00:37:00.000-04:002008-08-01T00:39:23.354-04:00"Freeze" Action on Aug 6th/Hiroshima Day @ Staten Island Ferry Terminal<h2><span style="font-size:85%;">"FREEZE" action at the Staten Island Ferry Terminal:</span></h2> <h1><span style="font-size:85%;"><img alt="Penn Station freeze photo" src="http://chapters.worldcantwait.org/nyc/pennstation3-Garry%20Rissman%29.jpg" align="right" height="211" hspace="3" vspace="3" width="150" /></span></h1> <h2><span style="font-weight: bold;"><span style="font-size:85%;">"No Attack on Iran!"</span></span></h2> <h3><span style="font-weight: bold;"><span style="font-size:85%;">Part of nation-wide "freeze" actions on "Hiroshima Day":<br />Wednesday, August 6th</span></span></h3> <p style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-size:85%;"><b>Meet at 5:00 PM lower Manhattan</b>, under Staten Island Ferry blue sign outside terminal. Take #1 Train to South Ferry. "Freeze" at precisely 5:30.</span></p> <div style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-size:85%;"><b>Our message: NO ATTACK ON IRAN!</b><br />U.S. military moves and diplomatic maneuvering have not let up. A campaign of charges and lies reminiscent of the run-up to Iraq war continues. Lies similar to those leading to the attack on Iraq are being put out to convince people in this country that an attack on Iran would be justified.</span></div> <p style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-size:85%;">Why should proven liars on Iraq now be trusted around Iran? Massive new crimes against humanity are in preparation, all as the carnage continues in Iraq and Afghanistan. We must act now to stop it.</span></p> <p style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-size:85%;">"Freeze" actions at Grand Central and Penn Station drew the creativity of 100-200 participants, and was seen directly by thousands, and on You-Tube throughout the world, including Iran. Building on that, on Hiroshima Day - August 6th, we will be part of a national day of "freeze" actions around the country, at the Staten Island Ferry Terminal, Manhattan.</span></p> <p><span style="font-size:85%;"><a href="http://chapters.worldcantwait.org/nyc/BushMushroomCloud.jpg"><img alt="Bush mushroom cloud graphic" src="http://chapters.worldcantwait.org/nyc/BushMushroomCloud.jpg" align="left" border="0" height="145" hspace="10" width="115" /></a><b>Who is the real nuclear threat in the world today? </b></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:85%;">On the anniversary of the U.S. dropping the atom bomb on the Japanese city of Hiroshima, killing over a hundred thousand civilians -- we will hold another freeze action - against a possible attack on Iran. Bush, McCain and Obama have all refused to rule out the use of NUCLEAR weapons in such an attack.</span></p> <h3><span style="font-size:85%;">Our plan for "freeze" action at<br />Staten Island Ferry terminal:</span></h3> <p style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-size:85%;"><img src="http://chapters.worldcantwait.org/nyc/penn%20Station2-Garry%20Rissman%29.jpg" alt="Penn Station freeze photo" align="left" height="226" hspace="5" vspace="5" width="150" />We cannot carry signs in the terminal, but your shirts will be carrying the message of "No Attack on Iran!" and passersby will see it and witness you standing frozen. The point is to act as if you are a mannequin. This is not an illegal action, and will only be 5 minutes, but we will make an impact. Afterwards, gather nearby at Battery Park. Join us!</span></p> <p style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-size:85%;">We don't want to lose the effect of the "silent protest" - key is all of us acting together with precision. That is why we need to gather outside 30 minutes before the action, to prepare and "synchronize our watches" so that at exactly 5:30 PM inside, everyone will stop exactly where they are and freeze what they were doing and hold that pose for 5 MINUTES. To participate, email: wcwfreeze@gmail.com. Hope you can make it! This will be determined, but fun.</span></p> <p style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-size: smaller;"><span style="font-size:85%;">[photos courtesy of Garry Rissman]</span></span></p> <p style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-size:85%;">***</span></p> <h3><span style="font-size:85%;">Join World Can't Wait Saturday, August 2nd<br />March & Rally: No Attack On Iran</span></h3> <p style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-size:85%;">beginning at 12:00 pm at Times Square, 43rd Street & Broadway<br />**</span></p> <p><span style="font-size:85%;">Volunteers are needed to help make all this happen, as well for organizing <b>"premier" showings throughout the area of the new film "Iran is not the problem"</b> (dates and times to be announced soon) and developing a rapid response textmail network to swifly respond to any major moves towards an attack on Iran. Interested volunteers should email <a href="mailto:nyc@worldcantwait.org">nyc@worldcantwait.org</a>, and please include your telephone or cell number with your message so we can quickly pull organizing teams together.</span></p>NYC World Can't Waithttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00304710229566880554noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21118197.post-75564429436405635312008-07-31T00:40:00.000-04:002008-08-01T00:42:42.241-04:00New Movie: Stealing America - Vote by Vote<span style="font-size:85%;"><p style="margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: left;">Over the last decade, millions of votes have disappeared. A nation can be stolen without guns or tanks. A nation can be stolen vote by vote.</p> <p style="margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: left;">Direct Cinema Limited presents a Concentric Media Film:</p> <p><img src="http://www.directcinema.com/images/StealAm_webposter.jpg" alt="Stealing America film graphic" /></p> <div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">A new feature length documentary film</div> <div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">.</div> <div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">Narrated by PETER COYOTE</div> <div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">Original music LAURENCE ROSENTHAL</div> <div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">Produced and Directed by Oscar-nominated, Emmy-winning Filmmaker DOROTHY FADIMAN</div> <div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">August 1st thru 7th at the Quad Cinema</div> <div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">34 West 13th St.</div> <p style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-size:smaller;">"Compelling, meticulously accurate, poignant"</span></p> <p style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-size:smaller;">First-person stories from the election trenches paint a chilling picture of problems affecting election outcomes, "glitches" and "irregularities" which cannot be explained away as random errors.</span></p></span>NYC World Can't Waithttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00304710229566880554noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21118197.post-66443089680563901282008-07-13T09:35:00.003-04:002008-07-15T22:50:33.725-04:00Successful Freeze Action at Grand Central Station:<span style=";font-family:Arial Black;font-size:130%;" >175+ declare "No Attack on Iran!"</span> <p style="line-height: 150%; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"><span style=";font-family:Arial Black;font-size:100%;" >Next freeze action: Monday, July 21st - Penn Station</span></p> <p style="line-height: 150%; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;">(details and other plans below)</p> <p><img src="http://chapters.worldcantwait.org/nyc/Freeze-Deann3.jpg" align="left" border="0" height="234" hspace="20" width="350" /></p> <p> </p> <p> </p> <p> </p> <p> </p> <p> </p> <p> </p> <p>At 5:00 pm on Thursday, July 10th, people started to gather on the corner of 42nd Street and Lexington Avenue. We each put a sign or large sticker saying, "No Attack on Iran!" on our clothing, even if we were already wearing T-shirts calling for impeachment or an end to the war in Iraq. Excitement mounted as more and more people arrived and passersby looked, stopped, asked questions and, in some cases, joined in to go inside to freeze. At 5:25, we entered Grand Central Station. Over 175 of us walked around the main concourse. Then at exactly 5:40, as marked by the clocks in the center of the station, we froze, like statues, wherever we were. We stayed that way, completely frozen, until 5:45. People in the station stopped and stared and took pictures. Some tried to talk to us. At exactly 5:45 we broke into a loud, echoing, and long chant of "No Attack on Iran!" A significant number of the commuters clapped and joined in the chant. We left with a surge of enthusiasm that many agreed hadn't been felt at a demonstration for a long time.</p><p> </p><p> </p> <p><img src="http://chapters.worldcantwait.org/nyc/Freeze-TG2.jpg" align="left" border="0" height="247" hspace="10" width="330" />This successful action, initiated by World Can't Wait, became a joint effort of many organizations with Activist Response Team (ART), United for Peace and Justice, Code Pink, Brooklyn For Peace, and members of Peace Action joined, playing important roles in mobilizing for this. Granny Peace Brigade, StopWarOnIran.org and Theater Against War were there. In fact, we are still learning of groups that spread the word to their email lists and came.</p> <p>Laura Flanders sent her GRIT TV crew who interviewed several people, and will be airing the footage on her show on www.airamerica.com this weekend.</p> <p><a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iGyfX0TxcgU">Watch a video of the Freeze action</a></p> <p style="line-height: 150%; word-spacing: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"><a _fcksavedurl="http://buckfush2.blogspot.com/2008/07/blog-post.html" href="http://buckfush2.blogspot.com/2008/07/blog-post.html">Slide show</a><br /></p><p>For most who came, this was their first taste of such creative "theatrical" political action, but won't be their last. Many expressed hope that this action would spark many more types of creative and determined actions against a possible attack on Iran. In that spirit, plans were announced at the end of the action to do this creative and thrilling action again:</p> <p><span style=";font-family:Arial Black;font-size:130%;" >Another "FREEZE" Action: No Attack on Iran </span></p> <p><span style=";font-family:Arial Black;font-size:130%;" >Monday, July 21st at Penn Station </span><span style=";font-family:Arial;font-size:130%;" >(and more)</span></p> <p>Meet up at 5:00 PM at 32nd and 7th Avenue, "Freeze" at 5:30 pm.</p> <p>Those who want to participate should email wcwfreeze@gmail.com to sign up.</p><p>Volunteers are needed to help make this happen, as well for organizing <b>"premier" showings throughout the area of the new film "Iran is not the problem"</b>, mobilizing for <b>"No Attack on Iran" contingents at demonstrations on August 2nd</b>, and developing a rapid response textmail network to swifly respond to any major moves towards an attack on Iran. Interested volunteers should email <a href="mailto:nyc@worldcantwait.org">nyc@worldcantwait.org</a>, and please include your telephone or cell number with your message so we can quickly pull organizing teams together.</p><br /><a href="http://chapters.worldcantwait.org/nyc/Freeze-NoAttackonIran7-21.pdf">download flyer for July 21 action</a>NYC World Can't Waithttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00304710229566880554noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21118197.post-44418623034278659102008-07-12T09:45:00.000-04:002008-07-13T09:48:37.248-04:00Come to Denver August 25-28 when Democrats meet<span style="font-size:85%;"> </span> <p style="line-height: 150%; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"><span style="font-family:Arial Black;font-size:100%;"><small></small><i>Be there to make your sentiments loud and visible: </i></span></p> <span style="font-size:85%;"> </span><p style="font-family: arial;"><span style="font-size:100%;"> If you think no government should be allowed to do what the Bush regime has done the past 7 years, come to Denver and join others building a movement to that end. </span></p><span style="font-family: arial;font-size:100%;" > </span><ul style="font-family: arial;"><span style="font-size:100%;"> <li> <p style="line-height: 100%; margin-top: 1px; margin-bottom: 6px;">If you are sickened by your government waging an endless, illegitimate, immoral war and occupation in Iraq, with ominous and immediate threats on Iran, and demand that U.S. aggression in the Middle East be stopped now, come to Denver and say it loudly to the world press. </p></li><li> <p style="line-height: 100%; margin-top: 1px; margin-bottom: 6px;">If you don't buy the justification of your government spying on private calls and mail, no matter which party makes it, come to Denver to repudiate the new FISA law. . If you're tired of politics as usual selling “change”; while Obama refines the Bush program from “faith-based” initiatives to 80,000 troops “stabilizing” Iraq, and refuse to settle for less and less, come to Denver make a moral and political declaration. </p></li><li> <p style="line-height: 100%; margin-top: 1px; margin-bottom: 6px;">If you know it's up to the people to take responsibility for the future we want, </p></li><li> <p style="line-height: 100%; margin-top: 1px; margin-bottom: 6px;">Then join with all of us in Denver to politically fight for it. </p></li></span></ul> <span style="font-family: arial;font-size:100%;" > </span><p style="font-family: arial;"><span style="font-size:100%;">World Can't Wait, other national organizations, and thousands of Denver activists will march against the war & torture, attacks on immigrants & women's rights; gather in parks with permits, drop banners, and be in front of DNC delegates and world press with our demand to bring the Bush program to a halt, no matter who is president.</span></p> <span style="font-family: arial;font-size:100%;" > </span><p style="font-family: arial;"><span style="font-size:100%;">Sign up & coordinate: <a href="mailto:bob@worldcantwait.org">bob@worldcantwait.org</a> / 866-973-4463. </span></p><p style="font-family: arial;"><span style="font-size:100%;">****</span> </p><p style="line-height: 150%; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"><span style="font-family:Arial Black;font-size:100%;">Bush May Be on His Way Out, But the Nightmare is Not Over! <br /></span></p><p style="line-height: 150%; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"><span style="font-family:Arial Black;font-size:100%;">We Need a Movement to Bring All This to A Halt!</span><span style="font-size:85%;"> </span></p><p><span style="font-size:85%;"><a href="http://www.worldcantwait.net/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=4801&Itemid=220"><small>Check out new World Can't Wait program/plan</small></a></span></p>NYC World Can't Waithttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00304710229566880554noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21118197.post-51516859909033225582008-07-11T09:49:00.000-04:002008-07-13T09:50:33.965-04:00Attention Rebel Youth: The "Warped Tour" is coming!<p style="font-family:arial;"><span style="font-size:100%;"> The Warped Tour is bringing alternative and rebel music, all across the country. [go to <a href="http://warpedtour.com/">warpedtour.com</a> for more information on bands and details.] Be part of World Can't Wait team at each stop in our area:</span></p><p style="font-family:arial;"><span style="font-size:100%;">July 26th- Uniondale NY<br /> July 27th- Scranton PA<br /> July 28th -Englishtown NJ</span></p><p><span style="font-size:100%;"><span style="font-family:arial;">To volunteer, call: Sharon at 866-973-4463 or email: </span><a style="font-family: arial;" href="mailto:nyc@worldcantwait.org">nyc@worldcantwait.org</a><span style="font-family:arial;"> </span> </span> </p>NYC World Can't Waithttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00304710229566880554noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21118197.post-6015790763637673512008-06-22T09:29:00.001-04:002008-06-22T09:31:18.668-04:00June 26: Emergency Forum: The danger of a U.S. attack on Iran is real and growing - We must act now!<big><big><span style="font-weight: bold;font-family:Helvetica,Arial,sans-serif;" >Emergency Forum: </span><br /><br /> </big></big><span style="font-weight: bold;font-family:Helvetica,Arial,sans-serif;" ><span style="font-size:180%;">The danger of a U.S. attack on Iran is real and growing <span style="font-weight: bold;font-family:Helvetica,Arial,sans-serif;" > – </span></span></span> <p> <span style="font-weight: bold;font-family:Helvetica,Arial,sans-serif;" ><i><span style="font-size:180%;">We must act now!</span></i> <big><big> <big><br /><a href="http://chapters.worldcantwait.org/nyc/farsoFlier%202headline.jpg"> <img style="cursor: -moz-zoom-in;" alt="Same headline, but in Farsi/persian" src="http://chapters.worldcantwait.org/nyc/farsoFlier%202headline.jpg" hspace="10" vspace="10" width="600" /></a></big></big></big></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:100%;"><b><span style="font-family:Helvetica,Arial,sans-serif;"><span style="font-weight: bold;"><big face="Helvetica,Arial,sans-serif">6:30 pm Thursday June 26</big></span></span></b></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:100%;"><b><span style="font-family:Helvetica,Arial,sans-serif;"><big style="font-family: Helvetica,Arial,sans-serif;"><span style="font-weight: bold;">1199/MLK </span> </big> <span style="font-weight: bold;"> <big style="font-family: Helvetica,Arial,sans-serif; font-weight: bold;">L</big><big style="font-family: Helvetica,Arial,sans-serif;">abor Center Auditorium, 310 West 43rd Street</big></span></span></b></span></p> <p><span style="font-family:Helvetica,Arial,sans-serif;">(between 8th & 9th Avenue) (A,E, C to 42nd St. / 1,2,3, N, R, Q to Times Sq.)</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family:Helvetica,Arial,sans-serif;">U.S. military moves and diplomatic maneuvering are escalating. A campaign of charges and lies reminiscent of the run-up to Iraq is being ramped up. Leading political figures – from President Bush to John McCain and Barack Obama – threaten Iran that “all options are on the table.” Israel threatens to attack Iran and its Deputy Prime Minister Mofaz calls war “unavoidable”.<br /><br /><a href="http://salsa.democracyinaction.org/o/1170/images/children-thumb.jpg"><img src="http://salsa.democracyinaction.org/o/1170/images/children-thumb.jpg" alt="Picture - Iranian children" align="left" border="0" height="238" hspace="10" vspace="10" width="170" /></a> Why should proven liars on Iraq now be trusted around Iran? Massive new crimes against humanity are in preparation, all as the carnage continues in Iraq and Afghanistan.<br /><br />If you are outraged by all this, and NOT willing to accept it, then join with us on June 26. This emergency meeting aims to raise awareness of the rapidly escalating danger of a possible U.S. attack on Iran – perhaps before Bush leaves office – and to organize mass opposition to any U.S. military action against Iran.<br /><br />Come hear deep, cutting-edge analysis. Speakers will detail the escalation of military and diplomatic moves and the campaign of charges and lies about Iran’s nuclear capabilities and role in Iraq. They’ll challenge notions that U.S. threats have been simply “sabre-rattling” or that an attack can’t happen because Bush is a “lame duck” and/or the U.S. is too bogged down in Iraq.<br /><br />Speakers will stress our urgent responsibility to act. World Can’t Wait and others will detail plans to step up resistance. A short preview of forthcoming movie <span style="font-style: italic;">Iran is not the problem</span> will be shown.<br /><br />Speakers will include:</span><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;font-family:Helvetica,Arial,sans-serif;" >Ervand Abrahamian</span><br /><span style="font-family:Helvetica,Arial,sans-serif;">Distinguished Prof. of History at CUNY and author of many books on Iran including <span style="font-style: italic;">A Modern History of Iran</span>.<br /><br /></span><span style="font-weight: bold;font-family:Helvetica,Arial,sans-serif;" >Larry Everest </span><br /><span style="font-family:Helvetica,Arial,sans-serif;"><span style="font-style: italic;">Revolution</span> newspaper correspondent and author of <span style="font-style: italic;">Oil, Power & Empire -- Iraq and the U.S. Global Agenda</span>. </span><br /><span style="font-family:Helvetica,Arial,sans-serif;"><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">Gareth Porter </span></span><br /><span style="font-family:Helvetica,Arial,sans-serif;">Author of <span style="font-style: italic;">Perils of Dominance: Imbalance of Power and the Road to War in Vietnam </span>who has written extensively on Iraq and Iran for Inter Press Service<span style="font-style: italic;">, The American Prospect, The Nation¸ The Huffington Post and Salon.com</span>.<br /><br /></span><span style="font-weight: bold;font-family:Helvetica,Arial,sans-serif;" >Debra Sweet</span><br /><span style="font-family:Helvetica,Arial,sans-serif;">National Director, World Can’t Wait – Drive Out the Bush Regime<br /><br />Suggested donation: $10 (plus fund-raising refreshments will be available) </span><br /><span style="font-family:Helvetica,Arial,sans-serif;"><br />Sponsored by World Can’t Wait. </span><br /> <span style="font-family:Helvetica,Arial,sans-serif;">Co-sponsored by Peace Action – NYS, Grandmothers Against the War and Granny Peace Brigade [List of co-sponsors in formation].</span> </p> <p>*** </p> <p style="margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: left;">Time is short and the word must spread very broadly. Volunteers needed: for publicity, fundraising, phone banking, spreading the word at the Human Rights Film Festival and Hudson River Clearwater Revival, and much more. <span style="font-family:Helvetica,Arial,sans-serif;">To pick up flyers or volunteer, or for more information, contact 347-678-5905 or 866-973-4463, <a href="mailto:nyc@worldcantwait.org">nyc@worldcantwait.org</a></span> </p> <p>Download flyers and widely distribute them:</p> <p><a href="http://chapters.worldcantwait.org/nyc/June26-2topage.pdf">Two-to-a-page, one sided flyer</a></p> <p><a href="http://chapters.worldcantwait.org/nyc/June26-IranForum.pdf">Full page, one sided flyer for posting </a></p> <p><a href="http://chapters.worldcantwait.org/nyc/June26-2topage-withFarsi.pdf">Full page, one sided flyer with bi-lingual English/Farsi headline</a> for posting and use in areas where there will be significant Iranian and/or Afghani people.</p> <p><a href="http://chapters.worldcantwait.org/nyc/No%20Attack%20on%20Iran%20-%20June.pdf">Growing-Danger-of-Attack-on-Iran Factsheet</a> (adaptation of previous flyer) for giving people further information. Can be printed on back of flyer.</p>NYC World Can't Waithttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00304710229566880554noreply@blogger.com0