Activists (our own Ellen!) Occupy National Museum of American History — Install Torture Exhibit to Mark Guantánamo Anniversary

  Vowing to “Make Guantanamo History,” human rights advocates from around the country marked the beginning of the thirteenth year of torture and indefinite detention at the prison camp with a dramatic protest at the National Museum of American History. 150 activists occupied the atrium of the crowded museum for more than two hours, speaking out against torture and calling for Guantanamo to close.

The activists hung banners, stood in stress positions in hoods and jumpsuits, spoke to the tourists, and with their bodies and voices revised the museum’s “Price of Freedom” exhibit to include twelve years of torture and indefinite detention as the bitter cost of the United States’ misguided pursuit of “national security.”

In a booming chorus, members of Witness Against Torture and other groups read from a statement that closed with the lines: “to honor freedom and justice and the struggles of Americans for these things, we must end torture, close the prison and make Guantanamo history.”

Chantal deAlcuaz, a Witness Against Torture activist from Anchorage, Alaska spent the two hours in an orange jumpsuit and black hood. She reflected that: “We came here today because we want to see Guantanamo relegated to a museum — to be shuttered and condemned, but also understood as an example of where fear, hatred and violence can take us.”

The museum protest followed a robust and spirited rally at the White House that featured speeches from grassroots activists, Guantanamo attorneys and representatives of national human rights organizations.

“It was so great to see the spirit of hope at the White House, in the streets of DC and at the museum,” said Chris Knestrick, a divinity student form Chicago. “We definitely moved closer to our goal of closing Guantanamo today. And the work will continue!!”

Since Monday, January 6, Witness Against Torture activists from throughout the country have gathered in Washington, D.C. to engage in street theater, demonstrations, fasting and direct action to demand that Guantanamo be closed immediately.  There were also anti-Guantanamo protests and vigils throughout the country, including in Los Angeles, CA, Boston MA, Chicago IL, Santa Monica, CA Erie, PA, and Cleveland, OH.

Witness Against Torture is a grassroots movement that came into being in December 2005 when 24 activists walked to Guantanamo to visit the prisoners and condemn torture policies. Since then, it has engaged in public education, community outreach, and non-violent direct action. January 2014 is the eighth year the group has gathered annually in Washington, DC to call for justice and accountability. To learn more, visit www.witnesstorture.org

Saturday, January 11, 2014: FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
PRESS CONTACTS:
Jeremy Varon, 732-979-3119, jvaron@ aol.com
Frida Berrigan, 860-389-8566, frida. berrigan@gmail.com

The “Grand Bargain”: Thanks But No Thanks!

The “Grand Bargain”: Thanks But No Thanks!

WHAT:            Press Conference

WHEN:           Thursday, November 29, 11:30 am

WHERE:        Old Federal Building, 1500 Main St.

WHO:              20 people including Union and Peace activists, green energy small business people, social service and medical providers, National Priorities Project, and religious leaders

President Obama and congressional Republicans are negotiating a “Grand Bargain”.  The danger is that such a bargain will undermine the economy and slash vital social programs instead of growing the economy and improving the quality of life for Americans.

“Reports indicate that a “Grand Bargain” may increase the Medicare eligibility age, switch to a ‘chained CPI’ to reduce future benefits for Social Security recipients, allow extended unemployment insurance to expire, or make similar cuts," said Susan Theberge of Fund Our Communities Not War.  “Any 'Grand Bargain' with further cuts beyond the $1.5 trillion already adopted by Congress should be rejected out of hand. In the spirit of this holiday season, ‘thanks but no thanks.’”

Adds Jon Weissman of Western Massachusetts Jobs with Justice, "We’re not broke! We need our Senators to heed the will of Massachusetts voters who overwhelmingly passed the Budget for All question, to oppose any 'deal' that would cut programs that benefit us all, and to invest in jobs instead.”

The "Budget for All" referendum question passed in all 91 cities and towns in which it was on the ballot by an average 3 to 1 margin. The referendum called on Congress and the President to prevent cuts to Social Security, Medicare, and Medicaid benefits and other vital safety net programs; stimulate the economy by creating and protecting jobs; raising revenues by closing corporate tax loopholes and raising taxes from the top 2% income earners; and redirecting military spending to domestic needs and ending the Afghanistan war now. 

The “Deal for All” resolution, H. Res. 733, makes similar proposals as the “Budget for All”. It is cosponsored by 41 members of Congress, including Massachusetts Reps. Capuano, Frank, Markey, McGovern, and Olver.

Join us for a press conference calling on the President and Congress to heed the will of Massachusetts voters, fiscal responsibility and the social conscience in the imminent budget deal.

Standing up for what you believe in

Ellen Graves will be missing a few days of work at Arise next week-- she and five other members of the Shut It Down Affinity Group will be going to trial for a protest at Vermont Yankee in August.

Here's a link about the trial.  There a chance that she and others will be serving some time and we'll have to get by without her for a while, which won't be easy.  But whatever happens, we know Ellen and her affinity group are acting on behalf of us all.

What if everyone were willing to stand up, lie down, sing, chant, link arms and say, "Enough is enough!"

“One has a moral responsibility to disobey unjust laws.”
― Martin Luther King Jr.

“Protest beyond the law is not a departure from democracy; it is absolutely essential to it.”
― Howard Zinn

“Colorful demonstrations and weekend marches are vital but alone are not powerful enough to stop wars. Wars will be stopped only when soldiers refuse to fight, when workers refuse to load weapons onto ships and aircraft, when people boycott the economic outposts of Empire that are strung across the globe. ”
― Arundhati Roy, Public Power in the Age of Empire  



 

Life in Gaza

1 in 5 U,S. combat deaths in Afghanistan caused by Afghan security forces

 it's the war that keeps on taking...U.S. lives, Afghan lives...and that we barely notice anymore.  Come on, do something.  From United for Peace and Justice.

One in five U.S. combat deaths in Afghanistan this year were caused by Afghan security forces who turned their American-provided weapons on their U.S. “allies”.  The recently publicized horrors in Afghanistan committed by U.S. soldiers are not exceptions but sadly reflect the cumulative effect of war and occupation.   

The situation is so bad that we now fear that the Afghan security forces, our supposed partners, will kill U.S. soldiers while they sleep. In order to protect the troops from their Afghan colleagues who live and work on their bases, Gen. John Allen has assigned U.S. soldiers, called “guardian angels,” to guard sleeping troops.  What more needs to be said?  This insanity must end now.  

Americans are overwhelmingly against the war in Afghanistan – a recent CBS poll shows a record 69% of Americans think the U.S. should not be involved in Afghanistan.   Click Here to tell President Obama, your Senators and House Representative to listen to the American people - we want our troops home now.  

In good conscience, how can anyone ask the troops, who we are told are fighting for us, to continue to risk their lives, limbs and emotional well being for this endless, futile war?  The troops don’t get to choose the wars they fight.  We must not expect them to sacrifice for no good reason.  It is our responsibility and duty to demand our politicians end this war.  Silence is an affirmation for continued war.  

Click Here to tell President Obama, your Senators and House Representative that we want our troops home now!  Ask them to co-sponsor HR 780 in the House, and introduce parallel legislation in the Senate.  HR. 780, the Responsible End to the War in Afghanistan Act, would end combat operations in Afghanistan and limit funding to the safe and orderly withdrawal of all U.S. troops and military contractors.  Or call your member of Congress toll-free at 877-429-0678.

The military strategy has failed.  The illusion that there can be a military victory in Afghanistan has prevented the vital diplomacy necessary to bring about a regional solution in Afghanistan while decimating our economy.  Everybody is losing.      

We need to keep the pressure on our president & elected officials – they need to listen to the American people.   The vast majority of Americans want:   

· a safe and swift troop withdrawal

· a diplomatic surge bringing stability to Afghanistan and the region

· take warlords, drug lords and the Taliban off US payrolls

Coming home from Iraq: Give Peace a Chance - John Lennon & Yoko Ono

OK, I don't. care why we're leaving Iraq.  Soldiers home for the holidays and the New Year; Iraqis finally left to figure it out for themselves-- sounds good to me..

Activism makes a difference.  We shortened the war in Vietnam.  This time, it's been harder.   But here's a dose of the culture and the activism that existed in the Sixties-- the way it was.  And what comes next?

GET OUT OF AFGHANISTAN!

So much is happening right now that I find myself fighting mad.  I'll write more about much of this later, but last night I caught a very small headline in the New York Times:  Nine Afghan Boys Collecting Firewood Killed by NATO Helicopters.  Of course, it wasn't the helicopters that killed those children, but the men in them, the governments that sent them, the contractors who built them, and every citizen of every nation who has stopped speaking out about this endless, senseless, murderous war.

General Petraeus apologized, but what good is an apology if you turn right around and do it again?  That's the nature of this war and all wars-- noncombatants die, including children who are poor and cold and who are gathering firewood to try to stay warm.

For what it's worth, here's the White House comment line, where you can leave a message for the President.

Photo of an Afghan child killed in a 2008 U.S. attack from RAWA.

We can't let ourselves be intimidated

Here's the email from Sally Weiss that got folks together yesterday...

There's a CALL FOR SOLIDARITY with the anti-war activists who must appear before a Grand Jury in Chicago early next week.  Let's answer this call and assemble at 4:00 this Tuesday (Jan. 25) in downtown Springfield in front of the FBI office,  which is in the downtown TD Building right in the heart of downtown Springfield.

Carpool from the North at the Gazette Parking Lot on Conz Street,  Northampton, at 3:25.

Ellen Graves and I put together a Stop the FBI Raids demonstration in front of the FBI office (downtown TD Bank Bldg) in Springfield shortly after we heard about the raids in Minneapolis and Chicago on Sept. 24, 2010.  We had a good response, a very good crowd of protestors.  Emma Roderick of BORDC (Northampton) spoke and was our interface to the TV media.  Atty. John Thompson explained our rights as protestors to us and helped us interface with the Springfield police. Carl Moos wrote us up a good explanatory flyer to hand out to citizens; those passerbys seemed quite interested. We chanted,  led by Ellen and by Malcolm Chu of Justice for Jason and No One Leaves.  We certainly got each other energized.

Fast Forward to December.  Marilyn Levin from Boston contacted several members of the Alliance for Peace and Justice of W-MA that one of the people subpoened on Sept. 24 in Minneapolis was available to speak in Northampton.  We jumped at the opportunity.  The very committed activist Meredith Aby gave us a rousing account of what happened to her and what the National Lawyers Guild is doing in building the defense of these activists.  Bruce Miller, professor of Constituational Law at Western New England College,  was our M.C.  Bill Newman of the ACLU and Nick Camerota of IAC-International Action Center provided us with materials,  especially the CCR's "When the FBI Knocks".  Now we knew a lot and were better prepared to protect ourselves and our friends.

IT LOOKS LIKE WE NEED TO EXERCISE OUR FREEDOM OF ASSEMBLY and OUR FREEDOM OF SPEECH ONCE MORE.  Down below please read a call relayed by PDA's Tim Carpenter for SOLIDARITY PROTESTS ON JANUARY 25 -- this coming Tuesday.  My buddy Ellen Graves is in D.C. fasting and protesting No More Guantanamos and the treatment of Bradley Manning.  So this Sat. morning at 6:15 I am issuing the call,  based on what went well earlier.

Let's meet up at 4:00 this Tuesday (Jan. 25) in downtown Springfield in front of the FBI office,  which is in the downtown TD Building right in the heart of downtown.  There is a little brick plaza there -- just built for a good protest.  It's right on Main Street at 1441 Main.   If you're coming from I-91,  it's just one block from the ramp at Exit 7 (coming from the North).  It is in the general area of the Sheraton Hotel and Tower Square.  There is some parking on the street and in the huge parking area a block away under I-91.

ARISE FOR SOCIAL JUSTICE made signs for the earlier demonstration so we're all set there.  We'll try to stay awhile until about 5:30 or so, so that demonstrators can get there after work too.  We did find that there is good passerby traffic at 4:00;  it's a good time for TV coverage;  so let's stick to that starting time.  Checking the weather forecast,  Tuesday will be slightly warmer than Sunday, with some possibility of snow.  (Watch your email for any changes in schedule due to the weather, but it looks ok right now.)

In Northampton we are used to carpooling from the Gazette Parking Lot.  So let's say -- Carpool at 3:25.

Maybe I can rig up a way to fill AFSC's big water jug with some Hot Chocolate to keep us going. 

Try to be there !  Spread the word !  This is our chance to support the brave activists in the Midwest,  our chance to support Meredith Aby, who we know.

First hand from Gaza

The Strongest Weapon of All
By Kathy Kelly, Co-Coordinator of Voices for Creative Nonviolence
January 19, 2009

Dr. Atallah Tarazi, a General Surgeon at Gaza City's Shifaa Hospital, invited us to meet him in his home, in Gaza City, just a few blocks away from the Shifaa Hospital.

Early this morning, he and his family returned to their home after having fled five days earlier when the bombing attacks on Gaza City had become so fierce that they feared for their lives. "Believe me, when I would drive from the hospital to the place where my family was staying, I prayed all the way," said Dr. Tarazi, "because the Israelis would shoot anyone on the roads at night."

Dr. Tarzi has been practicing medicine as a General Surgeon all of his adult life. Now, at age 61, he says he has never seen such terrible and ugly wounds as he saw during the past three weeks when he and a surgical team tried to help numerous patients with broken limbs, shrapnel wounds, and severe burns. Neurosurgeons, vascular surgeons, orthopedic and general surgeons worked together on patients, as a team, trying to save them, but there were many whose lives they couldn't save. He described patients with shrapnel wounds in their eyes, faces, chests, and abdomens, patients whose legs were amputated above the lower limbs. Most, he said, were civilians.

"These are strange ways of destroying the human body," said Dr. Tarazi. "Please, come tomorrow to the Burn Unit, and you will see patients suffering from the use of white phosphorous."

Dr. Tarazi said that he began to understand the extent of the trauma and danger by listening to the stories of wounded and injured patients.

"Some were sitting in their houses when a tank bomb hit them. They didn't know what happened to them," said Dr. Attalah. "Survivors would reach the hospital after many of their relatives had been killed."

Patients from Beit Lahia told him that in one home, an extended family of 25 people had been attacked while inside their home. When relatives came to help them, Israeli snipers shot eight of them. Many of the wounded were left to die. Ambulances and Red Cross relief workers weren't allowed to enter the area.

At one point, Israel announced a lull in the fighting, but then bombed the Palestine Square, near the municipal offices. Four people came to the hospital, severely injured. "We couldn't save them," said Dr. Tarazi. "Seven others were injured, and they survived."

"In Gaza City, all of the important buildings necessary for maintaining a city have been bombed," said Dr. Tarazi. "From ministries to civilian police stations, all have been destroyed. Some were Hamas buildings, but not all."
We had just walked through the area where the buildings housing ministries of justice, education, and culture were completely destroyed. Driving into Gaza City we saw mosques, factories, houses and schools reduced to rubble. We asked Dr. Tarazi to tell us why, in his opinion, the Israelis had attacked Gaza so fiercely.

He believes that the attacks are essentially irrational but that a main cause for the timing and the magnitude of these attacks is that certain Israeli candidates for upcoming elections want to assure the Israeli public that they are willing to use military force to insure security for Israelis. "Palestinians all the time pay the taxes in blood," said Dr. Tarazi.

"One of the worst aspects of this war," says Dr. Tarazi, "is the lack of respect for the UN. Three United Nations Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA) schools were bombed. In Jabaliyah, more than 45 people were killed at a UN school; F16s bombed UNRWA supplies and stores."

"In Shifaa Hospital, we saw plumes of smoke for day and night. All Gaza, every day, was covered with smoke and chemicals. We don't know how it affects the health."

"Yes, 'rocklets' did go out," says Dr. Tarazi, referring to Hamas rockets fired into Israeli towns, "and we felt sympathy for any Israelis hurt by the rocklets. But, if someone hurts you with a pin, you don't cut off his head. You ask WHY the person tried to prick you with a pin. Consider that people here are trapped in a prison and there is a shortage of everything. No one can repair anything. People wanted borders opened so that goods could come and go. After six months of closed borders, people are frustrated. Now, one side declares a cease fire, they say nothing about opening the borders, nothing about withdrawal, and yet they want NATO to help tighten the siege."

"I hope President Obama will be much better than George Bush concerning these things," said Dr. Tarazi. "Human beings that have such a strong army should be civilized and not behave like a terrorist group. Fanatics can be expected to use terror, but a democratic state shouldn't use fallacious statements as an excuse for massive killing. A state which does this should be brought before an International Court of Justice."

"And yet," he said, "we must experiment with ways of love. We are trying, with Jewish people…by feelings and actions. We need to succeed. We need to live together. We are trying to be in good relations with all the partners, all the views."

"The strongest weapon all over the world is love," says Dr. Tarazi, adding that he has always believed this and has said this to his colleagues, whether Muslim, Christian or Jewish, throughout his career. He recalled declaring this same belief at the Eretz border crossing, shortly after the Israelis launched "Operation Cast Lead." He had been among the 200 Christians who were chosen (800 had applied) to cross the border and celebrate the Orthodox Christmas holiday with family members in the West Bank. When the attacks began, he ended his holiday and hurried to the border, knowing he must return to his work and his family. At the border crossing, he greeted soldiers, "Merry Christmas." Soldiers answered, "Do you have weapons?" "Yes," Dr. Tarazi replied, "I have the strongest weapon of all, the weapon of love."


Worse Than an Earthquake
by Kathy Kelly
January 21, 2009--Gaza--Traffic on Sea Street, a major thoroughfare alongside Gaza's coastline, includes horses, donkeys pulling carts, cyclists, pedestrians, trucks and cars, mostly older models. Overhead, in stark contrast to the street below, Israel's ultra modern unmanned surveillance planes criss-cross the skies. F16s and helicopters can also be heard. Remnants of their deliveries, the casings of missiles, bombs and shells used during the past three weeks of Israeli attacks, are scattered on the ground.
Workers have cleared most of the roads. Now, they are removing massive piles of wreckage and debris, much as people do following an earthquake. "Yet, all the world helps after an earthquake," said a doctor at the Shifaa hospital in Gaza. "We feel very frustrated," he continued. "The West, Europe and the U.S., watched this killing go on for 22 days, as though they were watching a movie, watching the killing of women and children without doing anything to stop it. I was expecting to die at any moment. I held my babies and expected to die. There was no safe place in Gaza."
He and his colleagues are visibly exhausted, following weeks of work in the Intensive Care and Emergency Room departments at a hospital that received many more patients than they could help. "Patients died on the floor of the operating room because we had only six operating rooms," said Dr. Saeed Abuhassan, M.D, an ICU doctor who grew up in Chicago. "And really we don't know enough about the kinds of weapons that have been used against Gaza."
In 15 years of practice, Dr. Abuhassan says he never saw burns like those he saw here. The burns, blackish in color, reached deep into the muscles and bones. Even after treatment was begun, the blackish color returned.
Two of the patients were sent to Egypt because they were in such critical condition. They died in Egypt. But when autopsies were done, reports showed that the cause of death was poisoning from elements of white phosphorous that had entered their systems, causing cardiac arrests.
In Gaza City, The Burn Unit's harried director, a plastic surgeon and an expert in treating burns, told us that after encountering cases they'd never seen before, doctors at the center performed a biopsy on a patient they believed may have suffered chemical burns and sent the sample to a lab in Egypt. The results showed elements of white phosphorous in the tissue.
The doctor was interrupted by a phone call from a farmer who wanted to know whether it was safe to eat the oranges he was collecting from groves that had been uprooted and bombed during the Israeli invasion. The caller said the oranges had an offensive odor and that when the workers picked them up their hands became itchy.
Audrey Stewart had just spent the morning with Gazan farmers in Tufaa, a village near the border between Gaza and Israel. Israeli soldiers had first evacuated people, then dynamited the houses, then used bulldozers to clear the land, uprooting the orange tree groves. Many people, including children, were picking through the rubble, salvaging belongings and trying to collect oranges. At one point, people began shouting at Audrey, warning her that she was standing next to an unexploded rocket.
The doctor put his head in his hands, after listening to Audrey's report. "I told them to wash everything very carefully. But these are new situations. Really, I don't know how to respond," he said.
Yet he spoke passionately about what he knew regarding families that had been burned or crushed to death when their homes were bombed. "Were their babies a danger to anyone?" he asked us.
"They are lying to us about democracy and Western values," he continued, his voice shaking. "If we were sheep and goats, they would be more willing to help us."
Dr. Saeed Abuhassan was bidding farewell to the doctors he'd worked with in Gaza. He was returning to his work in the United Arab Emirates. But before leaving, he paused to give us a word of advice. "You know, the most important thing you can tell people in your country is that U.S. people paid for many of the weapons used to kill people in Gaza," said Dr. Saeed Abuhassan. "And this, also, is why it's worse than an earthquake."
Kathy Kelly (kath@vcnv.or) is a co-coordinator of Voices for Creative Nonviolence (www.vcnv.org http://www.vcnv.org/> ) She and Audrey Stewart have been in Gaza for the past six days.

Arise member fasting, protesting with with Code Pink in D.C.

Arise office manager and peace organizer extraordinaire Ellen Graves is Washington, D.C. right now with Code Pink, , participating in a ten day fast and walking the freezing streets so that the voices of peace can be heard.

Here is an email message from Ellen and also a story of a mother and daughter in Bahrain that shows how far a good message can carry.

Dear Friends,

It is now Saturday night, ending the 7th day of the fast. Except for the bitter cold everything is going very well.. .

DC is bitter, bitter with a cold cold wind. We are outside most of the day and no matter how many clothes I have on the cold still manage to come in.. We are staying in a Buddhist Center.. which is kept very chilly ( we don't have to put the juicces in the fridge at night cause the rooms are very cold).

We have had a very busy week and have had some great news and tv coverage, as we are seen in different locations around the city. ... We make a very impressive statement, as we walk single file in our orange jump suits and black hoods around DC...There are around 30 of us in procession...

We have stood many days in front of the White House and in front of The Capital in a line in silence.... Tuesday , we were standing across the street from the trans. office.. knowing that the press van was there as well as 2 black limos... so we know Obama was there.... but the police came just as he was coming out and made us move.. so we went down the street. .. and pretty soon he came driving by..( We made CNN and the Washington Post that day) .

We also went to both days of the Eric Holder Hearings,, It was very interesting.. If you saw any of the news coverage you most likely saw the orange jump suits...and the little signs saying No torture and Torture is a crime... It is going to be interesting to see if he is confirmed and if so if he does all the things he said he thought was correct.

Today we started out with mass in the house of the Catholic Workers at 7am and didn't get back until 7pm tonight, and some of the things today included the usual walks though the streets standing in front of the White House , joining with a group of young children in a big peace parade... Which we took to Union Station and waited for Obama arrival plus meeting and reflexions.. Another Busy Day!!

It is time for me to close.. Peace and Hugs to All.. Ellen



Women Launch Flower Power Drive
By TOM HANRATTY, Gulf Daily News

TWO Bahrain women have launched their own international 'flower power' campaign for a halt to the Israeli onslaught in Gaza. Christine Hasan and her daughter Moona Fairooz are urging women in Bahrain to send white flowers to US Ambassador Adam Ereli, with a message urging a halt to the killing.

They have also e-mailed peace groups around the world, including Iraq, the UK and Australia, urging women there to send flowers to their respective US embassies.

Ms Hasan, a veteran educationalist and peace campaigner, believes that small gestures can make a big difference, if they come from enough people.

"People are saying it will make no difference, but small things can always make a big difference," the Muharraq resident said yesterday. "This is an ongoing campaign and we are asking women to take part at any time they can.

"Even a weekly e-mail to the embassy will be much appreciated."

The move comes in the wake of a decision by US-based Code Pink, the international anti-war organisation, to send white flowers to the office of US President-elect, Barack Obama, in protest against the attack on Gaza.

Code Pink was started in November 2002 by a group of American women campaigning to stop the US invading of Iraq and has since grown into a global peace organisation.

Ms Hasan says the flowers may be real or synthetic and accompanied by the following message:

"60 years of aggression have not worked. We have to try to find another solution. Please do not be silent. The children of Gaza need your help."

Ms Hasan adapted the message being used by Code Pink, saying she felt it necessary to detail how long the aggression against the Palestinian people had been going on.

Messages may be faxed to the US Embassy on 17270547 or e-mailed to Elmawieh@state.gov

Women in Bahrain are also being asked to make a longer lasting statement by wearing a white flowers on their clothing, on their handbags, or in their hair, as a mark of solidarity.

Photos: Holly, Liz, Ron and Ellen at a 'Vote No on Question One" rally, Bahrain women organizing from the Gulf Daily News.