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A "Free Bradley Manning" protest was held in front of the county courthouse in Santa Cruz on February 23 to coincide with Manning's arraignment in military court in Maryland on charges stemming from the accusation that he provided thousands of classified defense department documents to Wikileaks. Approximately two dozen community members participated in the demonstration, which was located at the courthouse general assembly location of Occupy Santa Cruz on Water Street.
In a statement released before the demonstration, community members stated, "Bradley Manning's case should serve as a wake up call for everyone in the USA and, indeed, the world. As a Whistle blower/ Conscientious Objector - Manning allegedly gave information to Wikileaks about War Crimes committed by the USA in the names of the 99%. We must stand up for what is right! Manning has been tortured, denied due process, persecuted, and even deemed "guilty" before a trial by President Obama."
 Read more and view photos | Previous coverage: Protest for Bradley Manning and WikiLeaks in Santa Cruz || Rally in Santa Cruz on Eighth Anniversary of the Invasion and Occupation of Iraq
In San Francisco on Jan. 15th, WikiLeaks supporters held a media intervention at the TransAmerica Pyramid and New York Times office; art supplies were on hand for participants to contribute to the Cablegate Coloring Book. Photos
Also on Jan. 15th in San Francisco, at 11am, a demonstration in solidarity with the Tunisian revolt will be held at the Tunisian consulate. The revolt is said to have been sparked in part by revelations about the Tunisian regime published by WikiLeaks.
On Jan. 12th, a procession and rally was held in Berkeley to close Guantánamo and support WikiLeaks and Bradley Manning. Photos
Dozens of people came together in Santa Cruz on January 8th to rally at the clock tower and march down Pacific Avenue in solidarity with WikiLeaks, Julian Assange, and Bradley Manning. Protesters lined Mission Street with homemade signs in defense of free speech and calling for the prosecution of U.S. government war crimes. Photos
WikiLeaks, founded by Julian Assange, is an international non-profit organization that publishes submissions of private, secret, and classified media from anonymous sources and whistleblowers. WikiLeaks is receiving significant persecution from the US government and transnational corporations for releasing information the government finds embarrassing for the world to know.
WL Central |
Previous coverage:
Protest for Bradley Manning and WikiLeaks in Santa Cruz |
Protests to Support Bradley Manning and WikiLeaks Founder Julian Assange
Eighteen months after he was first detained on accusations of revealing information to WikiLeaks, PFC Bradley Manning appeared before an Article 32 investigating officer for a pre-trial hearing on December 16th at Fort Meade in Maryland. Supporters began gathering outside the gates of Fort Meade to call for Manning's freedom and denounce the proceedings as unjust. Inside the tightly-controlled military court room, lead defense counsel David Coombs challenged the investigating officer, Army Lt. Col. Paul Almanza, to recuse himself due to conflicts of interest.
"Military officials have begun conducting their star chamber prosecution after abusing Bradley Manning of his rights for eighteen months," said Jeff Paterson, an organizer with the Bradley Manning Support Network, who was speaking from the vigil at Fort Meade. "The investigating officer is not only biased to produce an outcome that is favorable to his employer at the Justice Department -- he's under pressure from his Commander-in-Chief, who has already inappropriately weighed-in on this case."
Supporters have long argued that PFC Manning could not receive a fair hearing due to unlawful command influence from President Obama, who publicly declared in April that the former Army intelligence analyst "broke the law."
A bus carrying over 50 supporters from Occupy Wall Street arrived shortly after 9:00 AM as the media blackout began inside the courtroom. Former Army linguist Lt. Dan Choi, who was a prominent activist in the effort to repeal "Don't Ask, Don't Tell," greeted the new arrivals and spoke out in support of Manning.
Read More | Occupy Wall Street In Solidarity with Bradley Manning at NSA
Previous Related Indybay Feature: SF Rally and March for Accused WikiLeaker Bradley Manning
On November 21st, the United States Army scheduled an Article 32 pretrial hearing for PFC Bradley Manning, the Army intelligence specialist accused of releasing classified material to WikiLeaks. The pretrial hearing will commence on December 16th at Fort Meade, Maryland. This will be PFC Manning’s first appearance before a court and the first time he will face his accusers after 560 days (17 months) of pretrial confinement, including 250 days spent in solitary conditions. A rally and march in solidarity with Bradley Manning takes place on Tuesday, November 22nd, starting at 5pm at Market & Powell Streets in San Francisco.
Bradley Manning, a 23-year-old, openly gay, US Army intelligence analyst is facing life in prison. He is accused of sharing the following with WikiLeaks: a video of the killing of civilians by a US helicopter in Iraq, the Guantanamo Files, the Afghan War Diary, the Iraq War Logs and revealing US diplomatic cables. In short, he's been charged with telling the truth about controversial wars, foreign policies and corporate and government corruption and tyranny.
 SF Rally and March for Accused WikiLeaker Bradley Manning! | Bradley Manning Support Network
Previous Related Indybay Feature: SF Pride Contingent for Bradley Manning
UPDATE: The trial has been delayed. More details will be forthcoming.
On November 17th, a Jerusalem civil court will convene regarding the case of Tristan Anderson, an international solidarity activist from Oakland, California, wounded in March 2009 when he was shot in the head by Israeli border police in Ni'ilin, Palestine. He survived the attack on his life, but has been left paralyzed on one side of his body and with significant damage to his brain. In the weeks following his shooting, the family of Tristan Anderson initiated legal action against the Israeli military in both criminal and civil court. As is the pattern, the police investigation into its own conduct yielded no criminal convictions against any of the officers or military personnel involved in the shooting. The investigation has been widely criticized as a sham. To date, no one has been charged with any crime whatsoever related to the shooting of Tristan Anderson. The police, instead, chose to focus much of the attention of their so-called investigation on attempts at information gathering against activists.
Supporters write: "We demand that the State answer for the unprovoked attack on our friend, and we maintain that Tristan's shooting was not an isolated incident but part of a pattern of deadly and illegal violence being used against protesters in Palestine."
On November 17th at 6:30pm, there will also be an event in Berkeley in solidarity with the trial featuring Tristan, an update from court from Gabby, and a discussion as well as music.
Read more |
Solidarity with Tristan Anderson event announcement |
Al Jazeera article about Tristan’s civil suit
Previous related Indybay feature:
Ni'lin Demo in Solidarity with Tristan Anderson and Rachel Corrie
On October 29, the 18th Annual Peace & Unity March was held in Watsonville. The march was organized to honor victims of gang-related violence in Watsonville and to push for an end to the violence in the community. Sandino Gómez, historian for the Watsonville Brown Berets, recounted how the march began in 1994 to honor Jessica and Jorge Cortéz, 16 and 9 years old, who were gunned down because they had witnessed a gang–related crime. Gómez emphasized that “violence is not the solution” and that everyone present “must be part of the solution”.
The Sacred Sites Peacewalk for a Nuclear Free World departed from San Luis Obispo on October 22nd and arrives in Watsonville on Thursday, October 27th. Marchers are staying in Santa Cruz county through Saturday before heading north to San Jose on Sunday. A schedule of planned Santa Cruz County Peacewalk public happenings has been made available, and community members are encouraged to come out and support the walkers.
The Peacewalkers write, "With the tragedy of Fukushima in our hearts, we will walk 15-18 miles a day looking into the safety of land and people along our route, the still-present danger of nuclear weapons, the poisonous nuclear fuel cycle and how to end the nuclear nightmare in California and worldwide.
Local Schedule and More Information | 18th Annual Watsonville Peace and Unity March | Sacred Sites Peacewalk For A Nuclear Free World Comes To The Bay Area
A Bradley Manning Pride Contingent joined the San Francisco Pride parade on Sunday, June 26th.
Dedicated to equal human rights, Army Private Bradley Manning stood openly
against Don't Ask Don't Tell, and now is imprisoned as the alleged
WikiLeaks whistle-blower. Bradley faces life in prison, and even the death
penalty, for sharing the "Collateral Murder" video and files pertaining to the
Iraq War, Afghanistan War, and Guantánamo.
Peter Tatchell, a British activist well-known for his work with LGBT social movements, has heralded Bradley Manning as a " gay hero."
Photos |
 Video |
Event Details
See Also:
San Francisco Pride Parade Vegetarian Outreach |
 4th Annual Watsonville Pride March, August 28th 2011
Previous Related Indybay Feature: Rally to Oppose FBI and Grand Jury Political Attacks
Dozens of Bay Area activists rallied on June 16th in front of the Federal Building in downtown Oakland to “resist government attacks against activists”. Activists picketed against what they called a “bogus witch hunt of intimidation and harassment” by the FBI. Protesters claimed the FBI began targeting social justice, international solidarity, and anti-war activists in September 2010, by raiding the homes of seven Chicago and Minneapolis activists and the offices of the Minneapolis-St. Paul Anti-War Committee. The FBI issued subpoenas to a total of 14 activists to appear before a Grand Jury.
On May 17, 2011 the SWAT Team of the Los Angeles Sheriff’s Department and members of the FBI raided the home of Carlos Montes, a long time Chicano activist and active member of the Committee to Stop FBI Repression. Carlos was scheduled to appear in court on June 16th. Courage to Resist activists joined the rally to also support Bradley Manning Support Network organizer David House who refused to answer questions from a Grand Jury in Virginia seeking information about WikiLeaks, Julian Assange, and Bradley Manning on June 15th.
Read More with Photos:
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www.stopfbi.net |
www.bradleymanning.org
Previous Related Indybay Features:
FBI Targets Anti-War Activists for Alleged Support of Hezbollah, PLFP, and FARC |
WikiLeaks Solidarity in SF, Berkeley, Santa Cruz: "Exposing the Truth Is Not a Crime"
May 15th marked 63 years since the Palestinian Nakba (catastrophe). In 1948, more than 750,000 Palestinians were permanently displaced, with more than 500 Palestinian villages depopulated and destroyed. In San Francisco, Lebanon, Egypt, Syria, and across the globe, Palestinians and solidarity activists commemorated the Nakba. In the West Bank and Gaza, thousands took to the streets to demand an end the occupation. Israeli forces responded with live gunfire killing at least 16 protesters and injuring hundreds.
Livermore Lab was founded to develop the hydrogen bomb, and new weapons of mass destruction are still designed there. For more than 25 years, people of faith and others concerned about the proliferation of nuclear weapons have gathered on Good Friday outside the Livermore Laboratory. This year Good Friday and Earth Day coincided.
To protest the continued development of nuclear weapons in the Bay Area and the United States, a demonstration called "For the Beauty of the Earth: Good Friday, Earth Day & The Bomb, The Cross in the Midst of Creation" was held at Livermore Nuclear Lab in Livermore on April 22nd. At dawn, an interfaith prayer service was followed by Stations of the Cross. The demonstration ended at the front gate with the mass arrest of approximately two dozen protesters who refused to stop blocking the entrance when ordered to by police.
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Event Announcement |
Ecumenical Peace Institute
An anti-war rally and march was held in San Francisco on April 10th in Dolores Park. For approximately two hours speakers from the stage spoke out against war and related political problems. Speakers included Afghan MP Malalai Joya, who was suspended from the Parliament of Afghanistan for denouncing the warlords and the US/NATO war and occupation. After the rally, protesters went on a mile-long march through the Mission, followed by a shorter group of speakers back in Dolores Park. Their message was clear: stop all the wars, bring all the troops home now; stop the attacks on workers; use the war money for human needs at home such as healthcare, housing, education, and jobs; stop the U.S. government's interference in other country's affairs, especially in the Middle East; and free political prisoners. The rally was sponsored by the United Antiwar Committee (UNAC) and endorsed by hundreds of social justice organizations.
Patricia Jackson writes: We keep marching, maintaining our energy, and building on resistance born in the Middle East and Wisconsin. At the well-organized rally and march Sunday, April 10, we heard from speakers about brothers and sisters involved in social justice around the globe. We learned that ILWU Local 10 workers who shut down the ports here in solidarity with the April 4 We Are One march are under attack for their actions and need our support. We heard a messages from political prisoners Mumia Abu Jamal and Lynne Stewart. We heard another side of the "humanitarian" efforts in Libya. Calls for boycotting all GE products; makers of nuclear weapons and nuclear power plants; calls to support the Irvine 11 students now threatened with jail time for merely protesting a talk on their campus by the Israeli Ambassador; that activists in Chicago are facing a Grand Jury for anti-war activism, and we demanded to know what the military is doing to Bradley Manning. As we marched from Dolores Park through the Mission, people on the sidewalks cheered and drivers honked horns in support.
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United Antiwar Committee
On Saturday, April 2nd, Dr. Mazin Qumsiheh, a Palestinian author and activist, will speak about militant nonviolence and the Palestinian struggle at three events in Santa Cruz. Viewpoints will galvanize around the following topic of discussion: "Given the current turmoil in Egypt, the impasse in making progress towards a resolution of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, and the prominent role that the U.S. government plays in the Middle East region, what should be the priorities of U.S. Middle East policy and why?”
Professor Mazin Qumsiyeh teaches and does research at Bethlehem and Birzeit Universities in Israeli occupied Palestine. He previously served on the faculties of the University of Tennessee, Duke and Yale Universities. Qumsiyeh is president of the Palestinian Center for Rapprochement Between People and coordinator of the Popular Committee against the Wall and Settlements in Beit Sahour. His most acclaimed book is Sharing the Land of Canaan: human rights and the Israeli/Palestinian Struggle.
He published an activism handbook on his website qumsiyeh.org. Qumsiyeh’s main interest is media activism and public education. He also regularly lectures on issues of human rights and international law. His new book Popular Resistance in Palestine reviews Palestinian nonviolent civilian resistance to displacement and occupation dating back to the beginning of the 19th century until today.
The events are sponsored by the Middle East Program of Resource Center for Nonviolence and the Palestine Israel Action Committee.
More Information: 12 and 7pm | 2:30pm
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