Feature Archives

8/3/2004: Jamie Spector and several organizations held a press conference at SFO upon her return to the Bay Area today.
7/23/04: Update about Detainees: Jamie Spector has been denied entry into Israel. She will return to California and appeal the decision from here. Ann Petter will be released on July 25th and allowed to enter Israel. Dutch teacher Christine Grefer will be told on the 25th whether or not she will be allowed to enter.
7/21/04: Update from July 21st-- no ruling in court hearing.
7/18/04: Jamie Spector is still being held by Israel, pending a July 21st court date. Jamie's report from 7/18
7/12/04: Jamie Spector, an activist and social worker from San Francisco, arrived in Israel on Sunday. She was detained for 9 hours at Ben Gurion Airport in Tel Aviv, interrogated for 1 hour, denied entry into the country, and is still being held. She is one of a dozen or more human rights advocates who have been stopped from entering Israel in the last month. It is believed that she and others have been targeted for deportation because of their membership in the International Solidarity Movement. She also works with Jews for a Free Palestine and the Brass Liberation Orchestra in the Bay Area. Brooke Atherton, who is also an ISM activist from the Bay Area, was refused entry into Israel in June.

Jamie Spector was planning to take part in non-violent demonstrations with Palestinians, Israelis, and other internationals against the "Apartheid Wall", the barrier Israel is building in the occupied West Bank. She says, "Jewish people have fought for social justice, in the communities where we live and in support of others. It is to this Jewish heritage that I am most connected. As a Jewish person of conscience, I see the illegal Apartheid Wall that is being built as a modern Warsaw Ghetto. As a Jewish person, it is my responsibility to do everything I can to oppose this wall, and the unjust occupation of Palestinians." Read Jamie's full statements from July 11th and 12th. Christine Grefer, an activist from Holland was also detained this weekend, while American Ann Petter has a hearing on Thursday July 15th. Letter from Jamie, Ann, and Christine to hunger strikers in A-Ram.
More info from the ISM | Corporate Media Reports about Jamie Spector.

Fahrenheit 9/11 turned on the box office heat in its first few day in theaters, breaking single-day records at the two New York City theaters where it opened and becoming the highest grossing documentary of all time in just its first weekend. The movie, which aims a critical eye at President Bush and his prosecution of the war in Iraq, sold $49,000 worth of tickets at the Loews Village 7 theater, beating the venue's single-day record of $43,435 held by 1997's "Men in Black," according to distributors Lions Gate Films and IFC Films.

Unfortunately, while the movie is spreading information about Bush and Co.'s war profiteering exploits, it is may also end up filling the pockets of the Carlyle Group, one of the most infamous war profiteers with direct links to the Bush family. On Tuesday June 21, the previous owners of Loews Theatres in the United States agreed to sell the theatres to Bain Capital, The Carlyle Group and Spectrum Equity Investors for $2.0 billion. It is currently believed that the deal for the Carlyle Group and others to buy Loews Theatres in the United States is not likely to be held up in the regulatory process, and that it will close during the third quarter. This would mean that any profits made during the summer through ticket sales at Loews Theatres for Fahrenheit 9/11 would eventually go towards actually filling the pockets of Bush and Co., and would be especially beneficial for the Carlyle Group in particular.
CorpWatch's War Profiteers Website | Search Results for Carlyle Group on CorpWatch's website | M27 Coalition's Carlyle Group Fact Sheet | M27 Coalition's Website | Direct Action to Stop the War's Website | Michael Moore's Official Website | Fahrenheit 9/11's Website | Flyers to Hand Out at Fahrenheit 9/11 Theatres
Video from Ronald Reagan Home for the Criminally Insane pretending to be part of the elite War Profiteers Club

6/25/2004: Around one hundred people gathered at Berkeley BART at 5PM to protest UCB professor John Yoo. Yoo was revealed to be the author of two Justice Department memos, one defining torture in a very restrictive fashion and one arguing against the rights of prisoners at Guantanamo. Yoo also argued that as Commander and Chief, Bush could legally violate international human rights laws. Photos: 1 | 2

The A.N.S.W.E.R. (Act Now to Stop War & End Racism) Coalition called for demonstrations on June 30th to "Say No to Fake Sovereignty, Bring the Troops Home Now!"
On Monday June 28th the US officially transferred power in Iraq from the CPA to the Interim Iraqi Government. More than 175,000 U.S. and U.S.-led troops continue to occupy Iraq. U.S. troop levels will be maintained at 138,000 until at least the end of 2005, and may be increased according to Bush and the generals. According to ANSWER, the occupying forces will continue to kill and die for the sake of a war based entirely on lies. ANSWER in San Francisco organized a demonstration in Union Square at 5pm on Wednesday, June 30th. Photos: 1 | 2 | 3 | 4
United for Peace and Justice is calling for an "unsilent majority" to write to President Bush and Senator John Kerry to demand that they bring the troops home now. UFPJ also called for for a weekend of actions from June 25th through 27th. More Events.

6/18/04: At a hearing yesterday, a judge upheld Israel's denial of Brooke Atherton's entry into Israel and she was sent to Italy. She says: "Ultimately, Israel's denial of my entry to the country as someone who is in solidarity with the Palestnian struggle is just a shadow of its much greater oppression of Palestinians, both through Israel's denial of over 5 million Palestinian refugees right to return to their homeland and Israel's harsh repression of Palestinian resistance to Israel's illegal operation. But as always the struggle goes on, while we were in the detention center, each night on the Israeli news, we were inspired by footage from Palestinian demonstrations against the razing of Palestinian farmland for the construction of Israel's Annexation Wall." 6/17/04: Update: Israeli authorities attempted 3 times today to get Brooke to get into airplanes, but she resisted. If she is made to get on a plane, her current plan is to travel to Italy to await her trial.
June 16th: Bay Area resident Brooke Atherton is being held by Israeli authorities. She is enrolled in an Arabic language class that is offered by Holy Land Trust in Bethlehem but is being denied permission to attend the course. Israeli authorities have refused to give any reason for her deportation and Israeli courts have refused to issue an injunction to allow her to remain in the country pending a court hearing, according to her lawyer, Yael Berga. As of 11:45pm on Wednesday June 16th, Brooke had not been put on a plane out of Israel. However, supporters said that at that time they were unable to contact her or to find out what the Israeli authorities planned to do with her. List of US and Israeli authorities whom concerned people can call to find out more info or pressure for her release.
Brooke Atherton's previous reports from occupied Palestine: 1 | 2 | 3 | 4
Other writings about Palestine by Brooke Atherton: Palestine Will Be Free | Nablus Web

Bring The War Home is a non-violent direct action campaign, centered around independent autonomous actions by related and unrelated affinity groups. According to the callout, it is an idea that has been germinating for a few years as its organizers have "become more and more frustrated by the arrogance and hostility of those who claim to represent us, and less and less able to ignore our hopes for the changes we wish to see in the world." Bring the War Home was originally intended to take place from June 27th through July 4th, 2004, and to encompass independent direct action to stop the war machine and war profiteers, a breakaway rally & march, street theatrics, anti war-profiteering actions, art attacks, air raids, martial law, military occupation, music, celebration, and resistance; its organizers hope that it will: "go well beyond the usual protests. Beyond street blockades and breakaway marches. Well beyond art attacks, symbolic protest, and street theater..." However, at the beginning of the week it was announced that BTWH organizers have changed their plans. BTWH is now envisioned to be: continued and on-going resistance through the summer, guerilla outbreaks of street theater and independent direct action to increase the costs to the war machine and war profiteers. An October concentrated week of action before the election is currently being planned.Read more on Bring the War Home's Website

On the 21st of May, Sergeant Camilo Mejía was found guilty of desertion and sentenced to one year in prison. During the trial his lawyers were not permitted to present arguments relating to his conscientious objection, including describing the abuse he witnessed while he was in Iraq. Mejía had served three years in the Army and almost five in Florida's National Guard when he was deployed to Iraq in April 2003. In his job as an enforcer of the US war and occupation, Camilo witnessed—and sometimes even caused—many deaths, including deaths of children, political protesters, and other civilians. He went to the U.S. on what was supposed to be a two-week furlough to deal with his immigration status in October 2003 but did not report back to the military until March 2004. In mid-march, Sgt. Mejia spoke at a public rally/press conference at the Peace Abbey, near Boston, MA and then surrendered to military authorities. At that time he announced that he would apply for conscientious objector status. Amnesty International considers Camilo Mejia to be a prisoner of conscience because his application shows that he is a "genuine conscientious objector whose objection to war evolved in response to witnessing human rights violations in Iraq."
A few days after the trial Camilo Mejía was sent to Fort Sill, Oklahoma- to serve his sentence thousands of miles from his young daughter, his family, his lawyers, and the peace organizations and friends that support him. Mejía is a citizen of Costa Rica, and as such, his mother and other supporters say, the US should follow the treaty that clearly establishes that a Costa Rican citizen cannot be forced to extend his military service. The case of Camilo Mejía, who is better known as a Nicaraguan immigrant with U.S. residency, has helped to draw attention to the plight of the 37,000 other people in the US armed forces who are non-US citizens.
More about Camilo Mejía: Not in Our Name | Common Dreams | Citizen Soldier | The Peace Abbey | Petition Online | SNAFU | Some ways you can help