Sunday March 20 - Callout for Solidarity with Bradley Manning - Quantico! London! Australia?

(for Bradley Manning)

By Steven Corseri

"In another world they do not put a man to death for asking questions: assuredly not. ...
When my sons grow up...,
O my friends...,
I would have you trouble them, as I have troubled you,
if they seem to care about riches,
or anything, more than about virtue;
or if they pretend to be something when they are really nothing. ..."
--Socrates (from Plato's Apologia)

For speaking truth to power... a cold cell.
Naked now..., and yet, they fear you!
You watch a spider weave, perhaps recall
The crime scene, viewed on a monitor:

Men like puppets dancing in the dust, fired
On by U.S. drones; and the button-pushers
Laughing, ten thousand miles away--life reduced
To video porn, sordid and crazily robotic.

The robots shop, vote, fuck, kill, do business,
Take meetings, squawk endlessly democracy,
Free markets; get replaced--interchangeable--
In the Machine... until a voice says "No."

And the house of cards collapses; the dream
Recedes; the dark, stark landscape, revealed:
A people bought for bread and circuses--
Mostly circuses--more silouettes than people.

But the voice remains: Socrates in the agora;
Christ among the Pharisees;
Galileo Galilei; Paine and Thoreau;
Gandhi and King--questioning, exposing.

Now in the shackled world, a moan goes up
From the well of our debasement: Cease
And desist: the depredations; soul-murdering;
Earth-murdering. ... The implacable voice arising.

Out of the chrysalis of what has been,
A global being struggles to be free:
To extricate its wings from the wax of retributions;
To save the dying planet; to balance and revere.

Shia, Sunni; Christian, Jew; Buddhist, Hindu, pagan;
Male and female--fledging to resurge anew:
Out of the yearning cauldron of suffering
And endurance--diamond-cut humanity.
_______

About author Gary Steven Corseri has published/posted work at hundreds of periodicals and websites worldwide, including, The Smirking Chimp, The New York Times, Dissident Voice, L.A. Progressive, Information Clearing House, CounterPunch, Global Research, and The Village Voice. His books include the novels, A Fine Excess and Holy Grail, Holy Grail. His dramas have appeared on Atlanta-PBS, and he has performed at the Carter Presidential Library.

THE CONCEPT OF SIMULTANEOUS EVENTS FOR MARCH 20 (and any other time!)

A mistake of the mainstream anti-war organisations is the "come to London or do nothing" maxim.
The idea that a "mass movement" has to be in one place at one time s a serious mistake.

This is how we simultaneously marked the 20th. anniversary of the start (Jan 15) of this now 20 year war on the people of Iraq...we marked it from the White House to London to Dublin to Wellington/NZ....
-scroll down the thread to see photos & reports of the J15 events
http://www.indymedia.ie/article/98666?search_text=iraq+...rsary

IF YA CAN'T MAKE IT TO LONDON MARCH 20 CONSIDER STAGING A VIGIL, PICKET, WHATEVER/ WHERE EVER YOU ARE!

The MAIN March 20 event will be at Quantico, in England it will be outsdie the U.S. embassy, Grosvenor Square, Sunday March 20 2pm (and if ya can travel to it, do travel to it!).........

if ya can't travel... any public solidarity action on March 20 (no matter how big or small) is valuable...be sure to take a photo to circulate globally post-event)

...such an event (& announcing it asap time/place/ reporting on/ circulating it) in Wales will carry special meaning to Bradley because of his background,

one in Dublin will carry special meaning to the Irish Americans heading to Quantico, ....another in Glasgow will likewise nourish the Scottish Americans heading to Quantico etc.

*Detail on event at Quantico
http://www.bradleymanning.org/16125/rally-for-bradley-q...h-20/

**Other March 20 confirmed events to coincide with return to Quantico

Fort Snelling
The Hague / Den Haag
London
Montreal
Natchez
Phoenix
Portland
Quantico Marine Base/Triangle ** FEATURED EVENT!**
San Diego
Toronto
Vancouver
Vienna
Washington DC
More detail on these individual events here.....
http://www.bradleymanning.org/events/

*** Suggestions on how to stage a Bradley Manning solidarity event
http://www.bradleymanning.org/16362/how-to-have-an-even...nnin/

Peter Tatchell has confirmed he will speak in support of Bradley Manning outside U.S. Embassy/London on Sunday March 20th. 2 pm
http://petertatchell.net/
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Peter_Tatchell

March 20-Global Bradley Manning Action Days-Support Accused WikiLeaks Whistleblower

Media Contact:
Jeff Paterson

Global Bradley Manning Action Days in Support of Accused WikiLeaks Whistleblower

Individuals and activists plan events around the world to show support for the accused WikiLeaks whistleblower on March 19-20.

Washington DC, March 14, 2011 — On March 19-20, 2011, activist organizations and individuals will take to the streets to protest the U.S. government’s treatment of accused WikiLeaks whistleblower Army Private First Class Bradley Manning. Manning, 23, has been held in isolation for nearly 300 days, charged with releasing classified documents, including a video that shows American troops shooting and killing 11 people, including two Reuters employees, in 2007.

Organizers are calling on supporters around the world to take public action to protest Manning’s inhumane treatment at the Quantico brig, which P.J. Crowley, Secretary of State Hilary Clinton’s former assistant for public affairs, declaimed last week as "ridiculous and counterproductive and stupid."

The primary rally will take place outside the brig in Quantico where Manning is being held. In addition to the Quantico rally, the Bradley Manning Support Network is pleased to announce events in cities around the world, including Minneapolis, London, Montreal, The Hague, Phoenix, San Diego, and Vienna.

“On March 2nd, Manning was stripped of his clothing and forced to spend the night naked, then stand for inspection the next morning without his clothes. This happened again the following night, and we don’t know how long this will keep going,” said Jeff Paterson, steering committee member of the Bradley Manning Support Network and project director of Courage to Resist. “This pre-trial punishment is inhumane and un-American.”

Despite the recommendations of three forensic military psychiatrists, the MCB Quantico Commander refuses to lift PFC Manning's Prevention of Injury (POI) status and change his confinement classification from MAX to Medium Custody In (MDI).

Manning’s imprisonment has resulted in an international outcry, and his conditions are the subject of an investigation by the UN special rapporteur on torture and a recent campaign by Amnesty International. Famed Pentagon Papers whistleblower Daniel Ellsberg, who will be speaking at a rally in Quantico on the 20th, has called Mr. Manning “a new hero of mine.”

More Information:
• See currently scheduled list of events: http://www.bradleymanning.org/events
• Details about the Quantico rally: http://www.bradleymanning.org/16125/rally-for-bradley-q...h-20/
• Details are also cross-posted at WLCentral http://wlcentral.org/node/1461
• Learn how to host a rally for Bradley Manning: http://www.bradleymanning.org/16362/how-to-have-an-even...ning/

# # #

The Bradley Manning Support Network is a grassroots, nonpartisan organization which works to:
• Stop the extreme, inhumane and illegal pre-trial punishment of Bradley Manning
• Ensure that Bradley Manning receives top-notch legal representation from the lawyer of his choice
• Stop any effort by the United States government to hold a secret court martial trial, unchecked by public and media oversight
• Free Bradley Manning!

Washington (CNN) -- Protesters -- some of them virtually naked on a breezy 50-degree March afternoon -- noisily demonstrated outside the State Department and marched to the White House Monday, calling for the release of WikiLeaks suspect Pfc. Bradley Manning.

Manning's case, and details of his detention at the Marine Corps Base in Quantico, Virginia, have drawn new attention in the aftermath of comments by State Department Spokesman, P.J. Crowley, and Crowley's sudden weekend resignation.

Amidst reports that Manning had been forced to sleep without clothing and confined to his cell 23-hours a day, Crowley had criticized how Manning was held at Quantico, calling it "ridiculous and counterproductive and stupid," according to news reports. Crowley was the face and voice of the Obama administration on the full-range of diplomatic issues and is a former Air Force colonel.

Photo/article continued.....
http://edition.cnn.com/2011/US/03/14/manning.protest/in...earch