IN CLASSROOMS DURING EARLY 2023
We Are Not Your Soldiers started out 2023 with two visits to a NYC alternative high school special education class: the January visit featured presentations by Vietnam veterans Joe Urgo and Miguel Gabriel Velazquez while Miles Megaciph performed and spoke during the February visit. January related to Martin Luther King’s speech about the U.S. war on Vietnam and February to Black History Month.
In February, Joy Damiani addressed several classes at a NYC middle school which had been studying both how propaganda is transmitted through such media as comics and how to be an upstander.
Global Monthly Protests April 5
Debra Sweet | March 28,2023With the release from Guantánamo three weeks ago of the Saudi citizen Ghassan al-Sharbi, the prison now holds just 31 men, out of the 779 held by the U.S. military since it first opened over 21 years ago.
Seventeen of these 31 men have been approved for release, and yet there is no way of knowing when, if ever, they will be because they did not have their release ordered by a court but recommended by administrative review processes and, as a result, they cannot appeal to a judge to order their release if, as is the case, the government shows no sense of urgency when it comes to freeing them.... More at CloseGuantanamo.org
Wednesday April 5 vigils for the closure of Guantánamo followed by Wednesdays May 3 and June 7
London 1-3 pm GMT: In Parliament Square, opposite the Houses of Parliament, London SW1.
Washington, DC Noon-1 pm ET: On the corner of Independence Ave & New Jersey Avenue SE
New York City 5-6 pm ET: Steps of the New York Public Library, 5th Avenue & 42nd Street
Mexico City 10am-11 am CST: Plancha del Zócalo (Plaza de la Constitución), 06010 Ciudad de México
Los Angeles Noon-1 pm PT: Downtown LA Federal Building, 300 N Los Angeles Street
Cobleskill NY 7-7.30 pm ET: 514 W Main Street
Raleigh NC Noon Federal Building, 300 Fayetteville Street
Want to hold your own vigil? Get in touch and we will help: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. .
Two pieces of interest from The New York Times
Everyone knows I don't love the Times, but I read it to know what those who run this country are saying, and sometimes I find enlightening info and opinions. See:
1. Friday's interview with Daniel Ellsberg, The Man Who Leaked the Pentagon Papers is Scared, who is also featured in the film The Movement and the Madman, above. He continues to show great courage in exposing the crimes of the government, even as he has announced he has only months to live due to pancreatic cancer. The interviewer asked, "Why haven't we seen nuclear weapons used since 1945?" Dan's answer:
Wake Up Call – NO to Nuclear WW3
Thank you to all who registered for and attended the World Can't Wait Zoom discussion on March 20, marking the 20th anniversary of the U.S. attack on Iraq. See the report back here. Most present had been in the streets in 2002/03 attempting to stop Bush/Cheney from launching that unjust, illegitimate, immoral attack on Iraq's people. But the first question was what are we going to do now?
In the last week, the global situation re the U.S. has gotten more dangerous in three ways:
World Can't Wait Marks 20th Anniversary of US Attack on Iraq by Asking "How do we change peoples' thinking and act to stop these war crimes?"
Most people on the call had been actively involved in trying to stop the U.S. invasion in 2003; a few got active during and after that time. I spoke to how illegitimate (based on lies), immoral and unjust the occupation of Iraq remains, and how the U.S. war of aggression was responsible for the deaths of hundreds of thousands, and the displacement of millions.
The war on the people there destroyed Iraq's infrastructure, economy, and opened the door for sectarian fundamentalist forces to destroy it further, as the U.S. continues fighting in Syria and backs the Saudi war on Yemen. Our interests are with global humanity, not with the crimes of our government.
Shooter Nation: Reading a Pathological Memoir 20 Years After the Invasion of Iraq
Dear readers: a Sunday instead of Monday piece this week because I want this to go up on March 19, the exact 20-year anniversay of the criminal US invasion and occupation of Iraq.
Sweet child in time
You'll see the line
The line that's drawn between
Good and bad
See the blind man
Shooting at the world
Bullets flying
Oh, taking toll
If you've been bad
Oh, Lord, I bet you have
And you've not been hit
Oh, by flying lead
You'd better close your eyes
Oh
Bow your head
Wait for the ricochet
- Deep Purple, Child in Time
"The Human Values of Comradeship and Love"
Recently in the used book section of the local Mennonite thrift store, as the 20th anniversary of the United States (US) invasion and occupation of Iraq drew near, I ran across a paperback that reminded me of what a twisted imperialist shithole of a mass-murderous nation I've inhabited all my life: Shooter: The Autobiography of the Top-Ranked Marine Sniper (New York: St. Martin's Press, 2005), by Gunnery Sgt. Jack Coughlin.
Global reckoning with U.S. war crimes: March 20, 2023
March 20 2023: 20 Years Since the U.S. launched "shock & awe" on the people of Iraq
There is no way to exaggerate how profoundly the U.S. destroyed Iraqi society, killed its people and drove them to flee; fired up sectarian violence, grew the outmoded Islamic fundamentalists and ISIS; flooded the land with toxic chemicals and weapons while taking oil; and left a poverty rate in Iraq of over 30%.
The U.S. presence in the region was the central cause of 20 years of violence, based on lies. Did anyone know in 2002-2003 that Iraq had no weapons of mass destruction? As a new anti-war activist said then, "I was sitting on my couch eating Cheetos and even I knew Bush and Powell were lying." Massive lies - regime change would bring "democracy" - and outright deceit fueled this crime against humanity.
Global Vigils to Demand Cleared Guantanamo Prisoners be Released Immediately
Debra Sweet | March 10, 2023Each first Wednesday of the month, vigils will be held globally to demand the U.S. release the (now) 17 prisoners who have been cleared. On March 8, vigils were held in London, Mexico City, Washington, and NYC. An activist in Mexico City explains why she participated.
Mexico City Guantánamo Vigil
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Natalia Rivera Scott, from Mexico4Julian, holding a sign, “In solidarity from Mexico, Close Guantánamo,” outside the US embassy in Mexico City as part of the global vigils. |
Today coordinated vigils took place: in London (the UK Guantánamo Network), Washington DC (Close Guantánamo), New York (World Can’t Wait) and Mexico City (Mexico4Julian and Amnesty International) with a beautiful surprise solidarity vigil by the Free Assange Belgium Committee.
Here in Mexico City, we stood in front of the U.S. embassy, Alli and Mary (Amnesty International activists living in this city) and me, a longtime activist and supporter of the closure of the torture facility in Guantánamo Bay.
I think most people here don’t understand my passion for this cause or how important and close to my heart it is, mainly because they don’t think it’s relevant to Mexicans or because this is happening very far away, or, as I’ve been told, “There are more important things to worry about.” But I can’t close my eyes to this. I can’t pretend the prison and the men don’t exist. I want the world to see that Mexico is present in this difficult, long and slow path towards justice and freedom. I want the men inside and outside of Guantánamo to know we won’t quit and won’t stop until that place is closed and empty.
Campaigners hold coordinated global vigilsfor the closure of Guantánamo on March 8
PRESS RELEASE
MARCH 6, 2023: FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
On March 8 (international Women’s Day), campaigners in the UK, the US andMexico are holding coordinated vigils calling for the release of 18 men stillheld at the prison at Guantánamo Bay (out of 32 in total) who have beenapproved for release, and for the closure of the prison.
For International Women’s Day, they will also be highlighting the sufferingcaused to prisoners’ female relatives — their mothers, wives and daughters —through their long and inexcusable imprisonment without charge or trial.
The campaigners are from organizations including Amnesty International,Close Guantánamo, Witness Against Torture and the World Can’t Wait. Via thecoordinated vigils, which will take place on the first Wednesday of everymonth from now on, they hope in particular to raise awareness of the plight ofthese 18 men, who were never charged with a crime.
Although these men have been unanimously approved for release by high-level government review processes, they continue to be held because theseprocesses were purely administrative, and have no legal weight. Their casesstand in marked contrast to the case of Majid Khan, who was recentlyreleased from Guantánamo after serving a terrorism-related sentence,because he was able to ask a court to order his release when the governmentfailed to promptly release him at the end of his sentence.
Ordinance banning nuclear weapons
Tom Charles | March 5, 2023
My name is Tom Charles and I am a member of Veterans For Peace, Chapter #35, here in Spokane, WA. On Nov. 7, 2022, our City Council passed an Ordinance that made our city nuclear-free and prevented our city from doing business with the nuclear weapons industry. That Ordinance became official on Dec. 21, 2022. We worked with our City Council members, and this Ordinance was a three year effort. Our City Council President, a lawyer named Breean Beggs, wrote the Ordinance and it has passed legal muster. We are hoping to share copies of our Ordinance with any other cities or entities, whether here or abroad, interested in similar goals. Our hope is that if enough of us pass similar legislation, it will send a strong message to our federal and state governments that we demand action in the effort to rid our world of nuclear weapons. As a result, we would appreciate advertisement of our Ordinance in any appropriate publications that you have at your disposal. I have included a copy of our Ordinance:
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