Chicago - Dec 10 Human Rights Day Protest

On International Human Rights Day
Protest Human Rights Violations by U.S. Government!

Date/Time: Saturday, December 10 1:00 p.m.
Location: Federal Plaza (Dearborn & Adams) Chicago, with procession to Occupy Chicago, State Street shopping district, and Obama 2012 HQ
On Facebook: Please "join" on the FB event page ... and invite LOTS of friends!!

Saturday, December 10th, is International Human Rights Day. Chicago World Can't Wait will lead a group of individuals and organizations in dramatizing U.S. human rights violations and publicizing the upcoming worldwide protests of the 10th anniversary of the Guantanamo Bay Detention center on January 11th, 2012 (*See key links below).


Planned activities:

• meet at Federal Plaza at 1PM in orange jumpsuits and black hoods


• procession to LaSalle and Jackson for rally with Occupy Chicago about the Declaration of Human Rights and the sharp contrast with U.S. human rights violations


• procession on multiple paths, converging on State St. shopping district (State & Washington) (leafletting along the way)


• procession to Obama 2012 Headquarters (Michigan & Randolph) for "Nobel Revocation Ceremony"

The culmination of the action will take place at Obama 2012 Headquarters, where the "King of Norway" will revoke the Nobel Peace Prize that was awarded exactly two years previously (December 10, 2009) to Barack Obama, on account of his violations of human rights and crimes against peace, including:

• failure to close Guantanamo
  
• expansion of indefinite detention at Bagram and other detention centers throughout Afghanistan


• assassinations, including assassinations of U.S. citizens, among other violations of due process


• widening of the the war of terror into Pakistan, Yemen, Somalia


• arrogation of war power to himself in the NATO attack on Libya


• threats of war against Iran

Please join Chicago World Can't Wait and others in this very important demonstration of opposition to war crimes by the U.S. government as the U.S. continues to wage illegitimate wars and widen the so-called "war on terror" (war OF terror!).

Please "join" on the FB event page ... and invite LOTS of friends!!

Contact: Jill McLaughlin jilreb [at] yahoo.com


AND ... Sunday, December 11th, screening of "The Response" in Logan Square

Everyone is welcome to attend the free screening the next day at St. Luke's Logan Square of the award-winning film about Guantanamo, "The Response." Sunday, December 11th, noon, 2649 N. Francisco, Chicago.


*More information on January 11th, 2012 worldwide protests of Guantanamo Bay Detention Center anniversary:

• Coalition of nationwide groups led by Amnesty International, World Can't Wait, and Witness Against Torture to assemble 2,700 orange-jumpsuited protesters in Washington D.C.


• Parallel protests across USA, plus international protests (London, Paris, Finland, others)


• Chicago action being organized by Witness Against Torture Chicago and fully supported by Midwest Antiwar Mobilization
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Occupy the NDAA! Oppose Indefinite Detention!

Occupy Chicago has come out with a strong resolution against measures for indefinite detention in the pending National Defense Authorization Act:

Occupy Chicago opposes the language featured in the National Defense Authorization Act, which if passed would allow for the indefinite detention of American citizens by the military without charge or trail anywhere in the world. This expands and codifies tactics from the War on Terror of illegal detentions condemned by international law and our own constitution. We urge senators Durbin and Kirk to oppose this type of legislation in any form. (See original post at occupychi.org)


Occupy Wall Street also opposes this pending legislation.

This is also under discussion at Occupy Oakland, Occupy LA, and Occupy Seattle.

Occupy's in every city should resist this legislation, and antiwar people in every city should work with them to help spread that resistance and make it effective!

And EVERYONE should become part of the national mobilization in the days ahead to end indefinite detention and violations of human rights at US detention centers in Guantanamo, Bagram, the rest of Afghanistan, and throughout the world!

WWJD? Occupy!

[This turned out to be one of my favorite blog posts of 2011. Check out my other 2011 favorite "Scarry Thoughts" blog posts here!]

My friend had given me the floor and it was my chance to explain (within a reasonable amount of time) what I think is the essential meaning of the life of Christ, and the force underlying Christianity. As usual, what I always think of as something that is very clear in my mind got very muddy when I tried to share it with someone else.

On this particular day, I was hung up on the question, "So tell me again how Christ dying adds up to redemption for everyone else??"

A couple of days later, I picked up a copy of a recent book by Paul Johnson - an author I love on account of his wonderful explanations of the way the world changed in the years 1815 to 1830 in "The Birth of the Modern". The new book is "Jesus: A Biography from a Believer". I saw it and thought, "Johnson's pretty good; let's see what light he can shed on this topic . . . .


With my recent discussions in mind, I decided to dip right into the chapter near the end, "Jesus's Trial and Crucifixion." As usual, Johnson took facts that we all know -- or think we know -- and put a rather fine point on them. In describing how Jesus was viewed by the authorities like the high priest Caiaphas in Jerusalem, Johnson writes:

A Jewish popular preacher whom he [Caiaphas] did not control was a threat to his authority, and if his teaching turned out to be revolutionary, there could be a tumult, for which he would be blamed. As Jesus's fame spread, and the number of people he could attract increased, so the threat appeared to grow. News that he had persuaded more than five thousand people to ascend a mountain and hear him preach there, and then by a "miracle" fed them heartily with fishes and loaves, filled the ruling priests with terror. What if he did this in a city? Could he not then take it over by force? What if he did it in Jerusalem itself? Then he could occupy it, proclaim himself another King David, and become priest-king. The Romans would then pull out, except from the Antonia fortress, return with reinforcements from Syria in massive strength, take the city, massacre all its Jewish inhabitants, including and especially the priests, and raze it to the ground. (Jesus: A Biography from a Believer, p. 180-1)

This passage helped me get a concrete fix on what Jesus found himself in the middle of. The last thing this fellow who was saying "render unto Caesar what is Caesar's and render unto God what is God's" wanted was to have a power confrontation with worldly authority -- he was seeking a much more global conversation. And yet he had to admit to himself that he was sure starting to look like a threat to temporal power.

And so he found himself praying in the garden: "Can't I just walk away from this? Save this confrontation for another day? Why not just slip out of Jerusalem? Do I really have to step up to the plate?"

With hindsight it is so easy to propose that coming into Jerusalem was somehow qualitatively different -- a "different" type of activity, something that Jesus could have re-defined for himself as off limits, "too political." But are those lines really so easy to draw, especially in the moment? Are those lines really real at all?

What I have come to understand is that the answer -- "Yes, you really have to step up to the plate!" -- was part and parcel of the larger meaning of Christ's life: "Yes, you really are part of this human mix and it always comes with death at the end and along the way you are just going to be crossing the line every day and never really knowing whether this is the day when 'you've gone too far' ...."

So I understand how Christ ended up on the cross: not by crossing the line one time too many, but by the fundamental decision to say "yes" to living and crossing the line every day.

Johnson describes Jesus as having a "unique combination of authority and gentleness." This simple description helped me envision a person who was crossing the line -- threatening the status quo -- with every move he made. Not taking the place by storm; just riding in on a donkey, in communion with the ordinary people and their palm "banners."

Faced with chorus of voices saying, "Isn't it time for you to tone it down? Can't you be more reasonable? What is it you want, anyway?" Jesus kept right on doing what he was doing. And that was a sign to us about how to live our lives, a reminder that our lives are not "lived" as a single block whose perfection can be sought in the impossible hope of not dying, but rather in the crossing of those lines moment by moment by moment . . . .

Does that reminder constitute "redemption"? It does for me

What would Jesus do? Occupy . . . !

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Where will YOU be on April 1, 2012? Occupy Palm Sunday!
In Chicago: Occupy Palm Sunday! Logan Square

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RELATED LINKS:
Alan Minsky, Would Jesus Occupy?
The Messenger: Hosanna! We are Marching in the Light of God on Palm Sunday in Logan Square!
Scarry Thoughts: Occupy Food Justice!

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#AfghanistanTuesday - Top Tweets - Nov 22

As in other weeks,we had a very busy day on #AfghanistanTuesday! Although it was Thanksgiving week, with all the distractions of the holidays upon us, we still had a lot of participation!

(And we got a start on a new weekly activity, taking place every Wednesday: tweeting about the upcoming Guantanamo mobilization in January!)

These are some of the #AfghanistanTuesday tweets from Tuesday, November 22, 2011, that were most highly retweeted:


End U.S. Wars!
From @ShaggyBull : #AfghanistanTuesday Here's to 10 years in an unconquered land. American lives wasted on toothless, warmongers folly. When will we learn?

From @katpen6 : Reverse the Tide. Say NO to Global Warfare/US out of #Afghanistan now! #AfghanistanTuesday http://t.co/xF5MEksn

From @JanetRWeil : On this #AfghanistanTuesday let's remember US govt propaganda against #Iran: http://j.mp/uRRpnH As if we didn't have enough to worry abt!

From @LibertyWebA : haven't enough died from all sides? #AfghanistanTuesday

Bread and Circus
From @ChristinaDLC : Beyonce's pregnancy gets more coverage than the progress of the overseas troops. Problem. #AfghanistanTuesday

From @MidwestAntiwar : "Black Friday" ? We're not in charge of our own days in America. EVERY day is a #WAR day! Today is just another #WarDay: #AfghanistanTuesday

From @MidwestAntiwar : Who among us will have courage on Thurs to say "I am #UNthankful that US continues killing innocents in #Afghanistan"? #AfghanistanTuesday

#freeBradley
From @jilreb : @midwestantiwar Don't Let U. S. Convict Manning 4 Allegedly Exposing U. S. Crimes. On 12/16 Pretrial Demand He B Freed #afghanistantuesday

Veterans
From @JanetRWeil : #AfghanistanTuesday @MFSpeakOut How Can We Prevent Military Suicides http://t.co/I3Z3C4HO

Prosecute War Crimes
From @futureup2us :
BushBlair guilty of Iraq war crimes http://bit.ly/tTAvq1 Not like at #GitmoFail. When does trial 4 Afghanistan start? #AfghanistanTuesday

PLUS . . . Check out the master list of #AfghanistanTuesday blog posts!

#PeaceDecember

We've been having a lot of success with #AfghanistanTuesday -- a weekly conversation on Twitter about getting the U.S. military out of Afghanistan.

Now Wednesdays are devoted to raising awareness of U.S. detention practices in Guantanamo, Bagram, and other places, and publicizing the national mobilization to protest the 10th anniversary of the Guantanamo Bay Detention Center on January 11, 2012: see #closeGITMO.


There is rapidly growing concern about U.S. saber-rattling about Iran, and so Fridays have now been devoted to figuring out how to head off the rush into another U.S. war: #NoIranWar.


December is a time when we talk a lot about "Peace on Earth." Let's do a little less shopping and little more tweeting. And organizing. And protesting!

#PeaceDecember

Chicago: All Signs Point to Revolution

I really, really, really don't understand why the mayors of U.S. cities and the federal government are so hell-bent on preventing the assembly of Occupy groups. What are they afraid of? Do they think that the prospect of sitting in a tent in a park in Chicago (or New York or Oakland or ... ) all winter will be so attractive that people will abandon their homes and families and society as we know it will fall apart? Is it really possible that they can't tolerate the idea of people spending time together and talking about how to bring about a better future?

I can't help thinking that a lot of people who otherwise wouldn't be giving too much thought to the Occupy movement are now attracted to it principally because of the way the government is trying to repress it. "An encampment is so intolerable ...? Hmmm ... maybe I need to give this another look ...!"


And so, because they couldn't tolerate an encampment, they are getting something much bigger ....

The picture above is of a sign that I made for the Occupy Chicago visit to the office of the Chicago mayor to deliver petitions demanding assembly rights. A lot of people commented on it, and the media even ran some clips of it on TV. Thinking about the idea embodied in the sign, and making and showing the sign itself, has helped me get a better understanding of a basic idea of society and politics: one thing leads to another ... things happen for a reason ... expect consequences ....

Where did this sign come from? It wouldn't have happened without the friend who said to me, "It's good to go demonstrate, but it would be even better to have a sign." And from another friend who said, "That thing about 'don't like encampment?' - that's got a beat - put that on a sign!" And even the friend who, years ago, said, "Your artwork doesn't have to be perfect -- people like seeing another person's hand in a sign!"

But most of all, it came from the mayors who got on the phone together and coordinated raids against Occupy groups in New York, Oakland, and other cities. It came from the police in Davis who pepper-sprayed protesters. It came from the Chicago mayor who is spending millions to assemble NATO war-makers and G8 plutocrats in OUR city but thinks he can prevent US from assembling and formulating our own future!

That's right: Most of all, it came from YOU, Mayor Emanuel. It came from you ....

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Check out more Scarry signs!
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Seven Little Words in Kuwait

[This turned out to be one of my favorite blog posts of 2011. Check out my other 2011 favorite "Scarry Thoughts" blog posts here!]

I've been working with the film about Guantanamo, "The Response," for over two years now.

By now I know the dialog by heart; sometimes I recite it as if I wrote it myself. And it has always seemed to me as if everyone else should be thinking about that dialog, too.

But I never thought I'd see the day that the dialog from "The Response" was being adopted by activists in countries as far away as Kuwait to challenge U.S. detention practices.


The message above came in the context of a public information campaign in Kuwait to push for the liberation of two Kuwaitis who are still held in Guantanamo: Fahiz Al-Kandari and Fawzi Al-Odah. It recites the central challenge of "The Response": "the response matters; our response defines us."

(See additional coverage at Arab Times Online.)


We are all learning in real time about how politics is conducted in the Mideast. In recent months, the words "Tahrir Square" have fundamentally changed our understanding of politics everywhere. (See: "the Occupy movement.")

And now add one more concept to the list: diwan. "Diwan" and "diwaniya" are the places that people in Kuwait gather to discuss and debate current affairs. (What they do after they meet in the diwan/diwaniya depends on circumstances .... )

Diwan + film + Twitter = ?

It's a new world.

People in Kuwait Raising Their Voices Against Guantanamo

The defense team for the Guantanamo detainee Fayiz al Kandari was in Kuwait this week, publicizing the case and encouraging people there to demand that the United States government release the two Kuwaitis held at Guantanamo.

As part of the information campaign, "The Response" was broadcast twice on the Kuwait network Al Rai, and Al Rai followed up with a 90-minute interview segment including attorneys and members of the team that made "The Response."


The next day -- just hours ago -- a crowd estimated at between 1,000 and 1,500 gathered in front of the U.S. Embassy in Kuwait City. They called on Barack Obama to keep his promise to close Guantanamo, and demanded that the U.S. government to free Fayiz al Kandari and the other Kuwaiti detainee.

Below are additional images from that protest.

#gitmoFAIL!

January 11, 2012, marks the 10th anniversary of the Guantanamo Bay detention facility ("Gitmo").

People from across the country will converge on Washington, D.C., to protest U.S. detention policies and its abandonment of due process. Actions will take place locally in Chicago and many, many other cities.

Between now and then, we'll be getting the message out:


Because Gitmo represents all the ways the U.S. government commits human rights violations and commits war crimes with impunity.


Because Gitmo stands for the cynical exploitation of islamophobia to pit us against each other.


Because Gitmo symbolizes all the failures of the current administration.

Because ....

#gitmoFAIL!

Join us!

Can the People Stop the Wars?

Today is a National Day of Action.

By coincidence, there was a nationally-coordinated effort to shut down the Occupy movement in the past few days.

Today, massive protests are expected in cities across the country.


What does all this mean for people who have been earnestly trying to end U.S. wars in Afghanistan and other places?

When we raise our voices again next Tuesday on #AfghanistanTuesday, what will be different?

Are we getting any closer? Are we learning anything?

How do we get results? Can we stop settling for anything less than an end to all this war-making?

#AfghanistanTuesday - Top Tweets - Nov 8

As in other weeks,we had a very busy day on #AfghanistanTuesday! Tomorrow is a Veteran's Day with somewhat mystic connotations ... 11.11.11 ... and the war continues.

@susanhogarth made my day with her tweet: Dear Obama, please use the money you stole from me to GTFO of Afghanistan. Buy some transport 'copters. Ktxbye. #AfghanistanTuesday


These are some of the #AfghanistanTuesday tweets from Tuesday, November 8, 2011, that were most highly retweeted:

VETERANS DAY
From @llambertschmidt : #AfghanistanTuesday 1831 US military dead, 18 vet suicides/day, uncounted wounded: Afghanistan. Chicago's Vietnam Memorial 11/11/11 at 11.

AFGHANISTAN FOREVER
From @Antiwar2 : Think all the troops will be out of #Afghanistan by 2015? Think again. #AfghanistanTuesday

From @info_from_vcnv : US to Have Military Presence Well Past 2014 #AfghanistanTuesday http://bit.ly/uQ6x8b #Afghanistan

From @MidwestAntiwar : V @info_from_vcnv @antiwarcom @antiwar2 http://bit.ly/uQ6x8b The "Forever Plan" for #Afghanistan - and it is disgusting. #AfghanistanTuesday

A CRIMINAL WAR-AND-POLICE STATE
From @amadorlicea : #AfghanistanTuesday whether War on Terror, preventive wars started with Clinton or Bush; It's still unconstitutionally alive.

From @EvanTKelly : How the #WarOnTerror (#WarOfTerror) has #Militarized the #Police - http://bit.ly/vC2zY8 via @TheAtlantic #AfghanistanTuesday

From @amadorlicea : It's #AfghanistanTuesday I invite you to the conversation. #Guantanamo and detention Centers will be our priority. #HumanRights

From @nat_riverascott : #AfghanistanTuesday Gov should go after the ones who commit #Warcrimes #NoMeVengasConChingaderas #Peace

OUR MORAL FAILURE
From @VoiceOf1776 : "All tyranny needs to gain a foothold is for people of good conscience to remain silent." -Thomas Jefferson #ows #afghanistantuesday

VICTIMS OF WAR
From @Antiwar2 : "We have shot an amazing number of people, but none has ever proven to be a threat" Gen. McChrystal #AfghanistanTuesday

From @Zwicky3 : Danger Room: CIA Drones Kill Large Groups Without Knowing Who They Are http://alturl.com/sed8f #AfghanistanTuesday #drones #war #Endwar

CUT MILITARY SPENDING
From @Antiwar2 : "End the wars when we already said, save $200 billion against what the Pentagon wants to do." #AfghanistanTuesday

From @peoplematterint : #AfghanistanTuesday Stop the wars NOW! Stop the greed that leads to wars! Stop the war in Afghanistan, Iraq. Peace Now! @MidwestAntiwar

Thanks to these tweeps, and here's to all of our #Tuesdayistas! THANK YOU!

PLUS . . . Check out the master list of #AfghanistanTuesday blog posts!

Chicago Justice: Connecting the Dots

Wednesday was a day of juxtapositions. It was a day where I saw incredible courage, incredible thinking, and incredible sadness.

IT TAKES A PROTEST
At 1:30, I was in Daley Plaza as the parents of Flint Farmer, a young man killed by a Chicago police officer, held a press conference demanding that State's Attorney Anita Alvarez prosecute the shooter for murder. Farmer was shot in the back three times as he lay face down on the ground. Video from a police car dash cam caught the flashes from the shots.


Surprisingly, major media in Chicago turned out to cover the event. All the cameras and microphones and reporters made an impression on me - their appearance suggested to me that it does make a difference to take a stand for justice. And maybe the fact that some of us thought this was important enough to come out, hold signs, chant, and march, helped back up that message.

My mind reeled as I watched Emmett Farmer, Flint's father, dealing with the press. What courage it must take to suppress the pain of losing one's son in order to do the work that it takes to get justice!


IT TAKES EDUCATION
At 3 o'clock, I was at LaSalle and Jackson, where Occupy Chicago held a teach-in on "How Are Prisoners Part of the 99%?" The focus was the Prison Industrial Complex (PIC) -- "the overlapping interests of government and industry that use surveillance, policing, and imprisonment as solutions to what are, in actuality, economic, social, and political problems."

Participants each studied a specific demand by advocates for prisoners and ex-prisoners, and then engaged in conversation to understand each other's demands. Learning happened.

A major source of information was Critical Resistance - a national grassroots organization committed to ending society's use of prisons and policing as an answer to social problems.

A key take-away for me was that groups of people who have formerly been isolated and suffered persecution in isolation -- people of color, immigrants, LGBT, women, the young, the old -- are recognizing that they can fight persecution and injustice together. Overcoming the divide takes work, and at Occupy Chicago you can see people doing that work before your eyes.

IT TAKES PRAYER
At 5:30 I was back up at Daley Plaza, this time in a service at the Chicago Temple as part of "Urban Dolorosa" - Healing Youth Violence in the Sorrowing City - a series of prayer vigils to try to address the problem of Chicago youth who have died in recent years in neighborhood violence.

It was painful to sit still as name after name after name of Chicago youth who have died in neighborhood violence was solemnly read. And it was moving to hear the chorus swell over and over with this refrain:

Pour out your heart like water
For the lives of your children
Let justice roll down like waters
Righteousness like an ever flowing stream

Most of all, it was eerie to participate in a candlelight procession back out onto Daley Plaza, where I had begun the day. I was struck by the disconnect between the two groups that gathered in Daley Plaza that day: one was massive, well-dressed, polite, and deeply meditative; one was sparse, scraggly, insistent, and angry. One found hope in the exposure of unfairness, the assertion of justice, and the active pursuit of a truly changed world; the other found hope in the bonds of community, in the healing power of art, and of prayer, and in the assertion of the will to just go on living. Between the two events at which these two disparate groups assembled was the educational event, at which a third group -- a group of seekers -- tried to understand the root causes of the breakdown in our justice system.

What will it take to bring these groups -- and aims, and means -- together?

Prosecute U.S. War Crimes

I've talked elsewhere about the huge backlog of unprosecuted U.S. war crimes.

It's time to prosecute U.S. war crimes.

How about starting right here in Chicago? How about in May, 2012, when many of the war criminals will gather in Chicago for the NATO/G8 meeting?

I can't think of a more fitting welcome mat to put out for them . . . .

A new post on the Wisconsin Network for Peace & Justice blog stresses the idea that even if U.S. troops are withdrawn as promised from Iraq at the end of 2011, our involvement in Iraq isn't over until we prosecute those responsible for U.S. war crimes. Perhaps that can provide guidance for how the 9th anniversary of the start of the Iraq war is recognized in March, 2012: let's mark it with a war crimes tribunal . . . .