Global justice actions in NYC for March
Debra Sweet | March 1, 2023
Calling your attention, friends, to street actions this month in NYC:
Wednesday March 8, Global Action to Free Guantanamo Prisoners
4:30 - 5:30 pm, NY Public Library steps, 5th Avenue & 42nd Street
>> Facebook event
On March 8, 2023 there will be coordinated vigils and protests around the world to demand the release of the remaining 18 prisoners currently being held at Guantanamo -- despite being cleared for release. Join us!
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Where is all this going?
Yesterday I was listening to Brian Lehrer's politics show on WNYC, the NPR station, on the year anniversay of Russia's invasion of Ukraine. The guest was Ishaan Tharoor, a foreign affairs columnist for The Washington Post. I didn't hear much from him that didn't assume as true all the arguments of the U.S. in its proxy war with Russia over Ukraine, and I see very little in U.S. media today that isn't designed to keep people living here in support of U.S. aims.
This is such a bitter contrast with 20 years ago when we never saw Iraqi civilians portrayed with sympathy as the "shock and awe" hit them, nor the people of Afghanistan, Syria, Libya or Yemen who suffered from unjustified U.S. occupation.
Questioning assumptions about the war over Ukraine
Debra Sweet | Feburary 14, 2023
Readers of this message are uniformly horrified at the suffering of the Ukrainian people over the last year in what I believe is a proxy war between Russia and the U.S. that has killed and harmed so many. I've heard from some of you who say we have no choice but to support any/all actions the U.S. takes to stop Russia in hopes that the U.S. can be a force for good in this case; others are not only opposed to this war, but to all wars. Many are deeply conflicted over the possibility of this conflict going global/nuclear in scope, to the point of feeling paralyzed, particularly as the prospect of the U.S. colliding with China looms.
Justice for the 20 men already cleared for release from Guantanamo
Washington DC protest Wednesday February 15: Support the Men in Guantanamo Who Have Been Cleared for Release
12:00 noon - New Jersey Avenue & Independence Ave SE across from Longworth & Cannon House buildings
This action will take place at about the same time as a vigil in London, in front of Parliament House in London. Organizer Steve Lane says "We will have signs, but if you can bring your own orange jumpsuit it would be helpful."
State of the union is based on global war
Based on what Biden said in his State of the Union address last night, one would not learn basic features of how this Union functions, or even of huge recent events:
- The domestic prosperity Biden glorified is only possible because the U.S. is a global imperial empire exploiting the labor and resources of humanity.
- "Spreading democracy" is not what the global "war on terror," operating under the 2001 authorization in Africa and the Middle East, with troops in 800+ military bases does; it has killed millions in enforcing U.S. military supremacy to keep that global empire.
- Joe "we will never separate families" Biden continues to enforce denial of rights of asylum seekers and non-white immigrants, accepting that some children won't be found.
- The dangerous proxy war the U.S. pursues with Russia over Ukraine is neither about saving Ukrainians nor bringing peace; both Russia and the U.S. are out for dominance.
- Biden, prodded by the "freedom" fascist caucus, shot down a surveillance balloon similar to those with which the U.S. surrounds China - in addition to the placement of new bases in the Philippines and Guam, all part of increased military threats to China.
Majid Khan Released from Guantanamo
One of the few Guantanamo prisoners criminally charged, who plead guilty years ago and finished his sentence more than a year ago, Majid Khan was finally released and sent to the former British colony of Belize (British Honduras) this month. There are now 34 prisoners remaining in the U.S. torture camp. See, for example, What the C.I.A.’s Torture Program Looked Like to the Tortured.
Crossing 'red' lines
Since we live in the U.S., our concern must be over the dangerous, reckless actions this government is taking in its proxy war with Russia over Ukraine. There have been repeated claims by the U.S. that the more than $45 billion in "aid" to Ukraine is only defensive, and not aimed at Russia.
The U.S. sent huge amounts of missiles and ammunition including 34 long-range HIMARS missile systems, enabling attacks into Russia. It sent Patriot missiles, and announced after holding off for months, that it will send M1 Abrams tanks, as Germany has agreed to send Leopard tanks to arm Ukraine.
Pentagon/White House spokespeople explain this is all to defend the people of Ukraine, who are being sacrificed in the interests of imperialist powers. But the steady, if measured, crossing of "red" lines towards direct confrontation with Russia is extremely dangerous in its unpredictability.
Close Guantanamo NOW Global Rallies
New York City NY
World Can't Wait initiated the rally in which we gathered outside the main branch of the NY Public Library on Fifth Avenue and 42nd Street on January 11. The open violations of human and legal rights of those detained – secret “renditions,” torture by third country allies, “enhanced interrogation" via the CIA – shocked the world. And yet, the U.S. has upgraded Guantanamo. The demands of the rally were:
- Close Guantanamo Now
- End indefinite detention without trial, allow prisoners to defend themselves
- Immediate release and repatriation to join their families for 21 men who have been “cleared” for years
- Health care and financial support for those men who have been “freed” but unjustly denied years of their lives through detention outside the law
Co-sponsoring with World Can't Wait were: Witness Against Torture, NYC War Resisters League, Peace Action NY State, Veterans for Peace NYC Chapter 34, Brooklyn For Peace, Pax Christi NYS, NYC Democratic Socialists of America (The Anti-War Working Group Organizing Committee), Veterans For Peace Chapter 113-Hawaii, World Beyond War, Raging Grannies, Granny Peace Brigade NYC, Veterans For Peace Chapter 90, Broome County Peace Action, September Eleventh Families For Peaceful Tomorrows, Uptown Progressive Action and Code Pink.
January 11, Protests to Close Guantanamo NOW!
The Bush regime set up a detention camp on Guantanamo in January 2002, designed deliberately to be out of reach of U.S. and international laws, as part of its “war on terror." 779 Muslim men were detained, almost all held for years with no charges. Nine died there; 735 have been released without apology or reparations. 21 of the remaining have been “cleared” for release, many of those when Obama was president. Three of the remaining are called “forever” prisoners whom the government will never charge nor release because to do so would reveal the torture methods the government developed on them. Very few were ever found guilty of a crime and none received legal due process.
The open violations of human and legal rights of those detained — secret “renditions,” torture by third country allies, “enhanced interrogation," via the CIA — shocked the world. And yet, the U.S. has upgraded Guantanamo.
Download: Poster and GITMO-Clock
We gather on the 21st anniversary of this torture camp to say:
Congress as a War Prop
Last week, Medea Benjamin and Nicolas J.S. Davies discussed their book, War in Ukraine: Making Sense of a Senseless Conflict, here in NYC. This week, things further worsened as the U.S. moves more and more into direct conflict.
This past week, Jens Stoltenberg, Secretary General of NATO (the U.S.-led military coalition) warned that the war in Ukraine could at any moment "become a full-fledged war that spreads into a major war between NATO and Russia."
From our roster to you
Debra Sweet | December, 19 2022
Read messages from the veterans who do We Are Not Your Soldiers presentations:John Burns
One of the most telling quotes I remember being told when I first joined was “You get to travel to distant and exotic places, meet interesting and exciting people, and then kill them.” It goes without saying this shouldn’t be something we aspire to. Since I have been alive, we have never not been in a war. Is this what progress looks like?
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