SOLIDARITY WITH THE PEOPLE OF TURKEY
“We say in this nation that we are looking for people with honesty, integrity, drive and dedication, and then when we find such people, we take them out and whip them.” -anonymous whistleblower
FREEDOM OF THE PRESS FOUNDATION
You can now find transcripts for all five days of the Bradley Manning trial here: https://pressfreedomfoundation.org/bradley-manning-transcripts
“To see a wrong and not to expose it, is to become a silent partner to its continuance.”
-Dr. John Raymond Baker
I know where I’ll be June 1st! #FortMeade #MD #MilitaryBase #BradleyManning #ReleaseBradleyManning #WhistleBlower #AmericanHero #Wikileaks #FreeAssange
TAKE BACK PRIDE, HONOR BRADLEY MANNING
At the end of April, the San Francisco LGBT Pride Committee announced that Bradley Manning, a Nobel Peace Prize–nominated gay veteran and whistleblower currently languishing inside a military prison for releasing classified military documents to Wikileaks, would be a grand marshal at this year’s pride parade. But mere hours after the news broke, San Francisco LGBT Pride Celebration Committee President Lisa Williams released a statement rescinding the honor and calling the decision “a mistake that never should have been allowed to happen.”
The controversy has divided the LGBT military community and drawn significant attention to what some critics have seen as Pride’s backing away from contentious issues and embracing of corporate sponsors. As a long time queer youth and antiwar activist, I couldn’t keep silent.
Let’s start with William’s own words. Williams claims, “the hint of support for actions that placed in harm’s way the lives of our men and women in uniform…will not be tolerated by the leadership of San Francisco Pride. It…would be, an insult.” But contrary to William’s intentional misrepresentation of the facts, investigations have demonstrated that no military personal have been harmed as a result of Manning’s actions. Rather, Manning’s bravery has revealed to Americans the gruesome reality behind US wars and occupations abroad. The only people endangered by Manning’s actions are the politicians and military officials accountable for engineering, covering up and justifying the US war efforts.
Most glaring in William’s statement is her blatant disregard for the lives of LGBTQ people beyond the borders of American soil. What about the violence carried out by US military forces against the LGBTQ people of Iraq and Afghanistan? The death and destruction inflicted by military drones against the people of Pakistan and Yemen, plenty of them queer? Or the countless LGBTQ Palestinians forced to endure the trauma of living under Israeli apartheid and occupation in Gaza and the West Bank? Do the lives of Arab, Muslim and brown queer people, and what Bradley Manning’s actions have done to highlight the injustices carried out against them by our government, not matter to the San Francisco Pride Committee?
While the board feels it necessary to bar Manning from the post of grand marshal, they are more then willing to embrace a slew of corporate sponsors that commit enormous levels of economic violence on working-class and poor communities and violate countless laws and regulations in their pursuit for profit. Writing in The Guardian, a publication that picked Manning as its “Person of the Year” in 2012, blogger Glenn Greenwald highlighted how corporations like AT&T, Bank of America and Wells Fargo underwrite San Francisco Pride for their own marketing purposes.
Read more: http://www.thenation.com/blog/174305/take-back-pride-honor-bradley-manning#ixzz2TK5dzZF5
BRADLEY MANNING’S TRIAL BEGINS:
WAR PORN POSTER
Tuesday, 14 May 2013
June 1st is an International Day of Action to Support Bradley Manning. After 3 years imprisonment, his court martial/show trial begins June 3rd.
I’ll be posting flyers and posters with specific details of events in Australia tomorrow. Here’s an initial general poster advertising the day of action.
DOWNLOAD A PRINT READY PDF OF THE BRADLEY MANNING WAR PORN POSTER
Details for actions in Brisbane, Melbourne and Sydney are covered. Planning an action elsewhere? Drop me an email and I’ll pop a flyer and poster together for your event supporting Peace Hero Bradley.
http://somersetbean.blogspot.com.au/2013/05/bradley-mannings-trial-begins-war-porn.html
![OP-ED: BRADLEY MANNING AND QUEER COLLABORATION
Rescinding Bradley Manning’s invitation to be the grand marshal of San Francisco’s big gay celebration is not what pride is all about, says Victoria Brownworth.
Ask anyone, queer or straight, what they think the queerest city in America is and most will say San Francisco. The City by the Bay has been the locus of all things queer since before Stonewall.
It made perfect sense, then, that San Francisco Pride would choose as its 2013 grand marshal Bradley Manning, the former Army intelligence specialist who is currently being prosecuted by the Obama administration and the Army for leaking thousands of classified documents via WikiLeaks. Many of those documents have been published and discussed extensively by top-level newspapers, including The New York Times, The Washington Post, and The Guardian.
Manning has been deemed a prisoner of conscience by Amnesty International and other human rights groups. In March, Manning was short-listed for the Nobel Peace Prize with support from people as diverse as Republican congressman Ron Paul of Texas and Pentagon Papers leaker Daniel Ellsberg. The Guardian, a U.K. newspaper, chose Manning as its Person of the Year 2012. His case has been a cause célèbre throughout Europe.
But within hours of the announcement Friday that Manning would be the grand marshal, and subsequent notification of Manning himself through Courage to Resist, which raises money to support his defense, Lisa L. Williams, San Francisco Pride board president, issued a disturbing press release. Williams stated emphatically that Manning’s nomination was “a mistake and never should have been allowed to happen.” Williams also blamed a rogue member of the committee that chooses the marshals and said he “had been disciplined.”
Disciplined — perhaps like Manning himself has been by the Obama administration, which has invoked the nearly century-old Espionage Act to prosecute Manning (but not any of the news outlets that have repeatedly published the documents he released) and other whistle-blowers.
The S.F. Pride board allegedly received numerous complaints from gay and lesbian service members about the choice of Manning and so withdrew it, blaming an unnamed board member.
Craven.
The text of Williams’s press release reads like an indictment of Manning and his supporters rather than a simple “oops — we got our signals crossed.” The use of the term “disciplined” seems decidedly nonconsensual and very Bush-era.
On Monday longtime San Francisco activists Tommi Avicolli Mecca, Michael Petrelis and Lisa Gedulgig held what they termed a social justice protest outside the San Francisco Pride office. Protesters wore Bradley Manning masks and carried signs saying “I Am Bradley Manning.” Daniel Ellsberg attended the protest.
The Pride committee’s decision to dishonor Manning wasn’t just craven, it was — and is —reprehensible. It is absolutely anathema to what any Pride event is supposed be about, which is support for the diversity among and courage of LGBT people.
The ease with which the committee backed off the choice of Manning should unnerve every single queer in America. This is what collaboration looks like.
When I first read Williams’s press release, I was dumbfounded. I have been writing about Manning’s case since his arrest in May 2010. I detailed his torture at the hands of the Obama administration. I tweeted regularly how long he’d been held without charge as weeks turned to months. I elucidated the reasons why he should be given a presidential pardon and the precedent for it.
But Williams, even as she allows that Manning will get his day in court, cites as fact that Manning’s actions were dangerous and asserts, “Even the hint of support for actions which placed in harms [sic] way the lives of our men and women in uniform, and countless others, military and civilian alike, will not be tolerated by the leadership of San Francisco Pride.”
As Williams, speaking for the S.F. Pride committee in toto, presents it, Manning is tantamount to a terrorist, equivalent to the Tsarnaev brothers, putting the lives of countless people, military and civilian alike, at risk …
Continued at http://www.advocate.com/commentary/2013/05/01/op-ed-bradley-manning-and-queer-collaboration](http://24.media.tumblr.com/38e775259f84bc72229c6fb0e7533ac9/tumblr_mmdx7zbIUl1r7c9sgo1_500.jpg)
OP-ED: BRADLEY MANNING AND QUEER COLLABORATION
Rescinding Bradley Manning’s invitation to be the grand marshal of San Francisco’s big gay celebration is not what pride is all about, says Victoria Brownworth.
Ask anyone, queer or straight, what they think the queerest city in America is and most will say San Francisco. The City by the Bay has been the locus of all things queer since before Stonewall.
It made perfect sense, then, that San Francisco Pride would choose as its 2013 grand marshal Bradley Manning, the former Army intelligence specialist who is currently being prosecuted by the Obama administration and the Army for leaking thousands of classified documents via WikiLeaks. Many of those documents have been published and discussed extensively by top-level newspapers, including The New York Times, The Washington Post, and The Guardian.
Manning has been deemed a prisoner of conscience by Amnesty International and other human rights groups. In March, Manning was short-listed for the Nobel Peace Prize with support from people as diverse as Republican congressman Ron Paul of Texas and Pentagon Papers leaker Daniel Ellsberg. The Guardian, a U.K. newspaper, chose Manning as its Person of the Year 2012. His case has been a cause célèbre throughout Europe.
But within hours of the announcement Friday that Manning would be the grand marshal, and subsequent notification of Manning himself through Courage to Resist, which raises money to support his defense, Lisa L. Williams, San Francisco Pride board president, issued a disturbing press release. Williams stated emphatically that Manning’s nomination was “a mistake and never should have been allowed to happen.” Williams also blamed a rogue member of the committee that chooses the marshals and said he “had been disciplined.”
Disciplined — perhaps like Manning himself has been by the Obama administration, which has invoked the nearly century-old Espionage Act to prosecute Manning (but not any of the news outlets that have repeatedly published the documents he released) and other whistle-blowers.
The S.F. Pride board allegedly received numerous complaints from gay and lesbian service members about the choice of Manning and so withdrew it, blaming an unnamed board member.
Craven.
The text of Williams’s press release reads like an indictment of Manning and his supporters rather than a simple “oops — we got our signals crossed.” The use of the term “disciplined” seems decidedly nonconsensual and very Bush-era.
On Monday longtime San Francisco activists Tommi Avicolli Mecca, Michael Petrelis and Lisa Gedulgig held what they termed a social justice protest outside the San Francisco Pride office. Protesters wore Bradley Manning masks and carried signs saying “I Am Bradley Manning.” Daniel Ellsberg attended the protest.
The Pride committee’s decision to dishonor Manning wasn’t just craven, it was — and is —reprehensible. It is absolutely anathema to what any Pride event is supposed be about, which is support for the diversity among and courage of LGBT people.
The ease with which the committee backed off the choice of Manning should unnerve every single queer in America. This is what collaboration looks like.
When I first read Williams’s press release, I was dumbfounded. I have been writing about Manning’s case since his arrest in May 2010. I detailed his torture at the hands of the Obama administration. I tweeted regularly how long he’d been held without charge as weeks turned to months. I elucidated the reasons why he should be given a presidential pardon and the precedent for it.
But Williams, even as she allows that Manning will get his day in court, cites as fact that Manning’s actions were dangerous and asserts, “Even the hint of support for actions which placed in harms [sic] way the lives of our men and women in uniform, and countless others, military and civilian alike, will not be tolerated by the leadership of San Francisco Pride.”
As Williams, speaking for the S.F. Pride committee in toto, presents it, Manning is tantamount to a terrorist, equivalent to the Tsarnaev brothers, putting the lives of countless people, military and civilian alike, at risk …
Continued at http://www.advocate.com/commentary/2013/05/01/op-ed-bradley-manning-and-queer-collaboration
TWEETS FOR BRAD
Invisibility Cloak Free Brad
#FreeBrad #InvisibilityCloak
Count-Down to #FreeBrad #BradleyManning trial 28 days. International actions #June1 for Solidarity + #FreeMedia reporting Lift #InvisibilityCloak
28 days ‘til #BradleyManning trial June3rd. Let news agencies know you want reporters to cover proceedings in full. #FreeBrad #InvisibleManning
Why do Governments/ Military drape themselves with an InvisibilityCloak? To CoverUp their #WarCrimes. #FreeBrad InvisibilityCloak
Governments that limit reporting on #BradleyManning trial are abusing their Power using an InvisibilityCloak to hide their WarCrimes FreeBrad
It will take public outcry to remove the #InvisibilityCloak on #BradelyManning’s upcoming trail June3. #FreeBrad #InvisibleManning
How heavy is the #InvisibilityCloak on the BradleyManning trail? As heavy as Death. WarCrimes. Torture. #FreeBrad InvisibleManning Islam
BradleyManning broke the “See no evil, hear no evil, speak of no evil” paradigm of CoverUp that’s why there’s InvisibilityCloak on his trial.
Journalism basics: If you don’t report it, it didn’t happen right? FreeBrad BradleyManning
#InvisibilityCloak #InvisibleManning #WikiLeaks
The unprecedented Secrecy around #BradleyManning’s trial Jun3 should alarm NatSec reporters around Globe #cdnpoli #auspol @cbc @globeandmail
“Fear is the foundation of most governments.” -John Adams
“Do you want to know who you are? Don’t ask. Act! Action will delineate and define you.” -Thomas Jefferson
BRADLEY MANNING’S STATEMENTS AT HIS COURT MARTIAL - FULL LEAKED AUDIO
By Ian Crossland Mar 12, 2013
This is the first time Bradley’s voice has been heard by the public since his arrest in 2010, smuggled out of the court room by an unknown person.
Download the audio at http://www.minds.com/archive/show/44744
Spread it around. This material is public domain and can be used any way possible.
The audio was originally released on Monday, March 11, 2013 by The Freedom of Press Foundation
———————————————————————————————————————————————-
Bradley Edward Manning (born December 17, 1987) is a United States Army soldier who was arrested in May 2010 in Iraq on suspicion of having passed classified material to the website WikiLeaks. He was charged with a number of offenses, including communicating national defense information to an unauthorized source and aiding the enemy, a capital offense, though prosecutors said they would not seek the death penalty. He was arraigned in February 2012 at Fort Meade, Maryland, where he declined to enter a plea.
On February 28, 2013, Manning plead guilty to 10 of the 22 charges against him, which could carry a sentence of up to 20 years. One notable charge he did not enter a plea for is the charge of “aiding the enemy”, which could carry a life sentence. The judge must choose if she will accept the pleas; prosecutors will pursue a court martial on the remaining charges.
