Monday, May 05, 2014

Alfred,

Condoleezza Rice Backs Out of Commencement Speech at Rutgers
Sitting in
Sitting in at the Rutgers University President's office.
Months ago, almost 400 faculty at Rutgers said they were "outraged and offended" that Condoleezza Rice, former National Security Advisor and Secretary of State for the Bush Regime, was invited to give the commencement speech at Rutgers University in New Brunswick, NJ.  They cited Rice's role in distortions and lies justifying the US war on Iraq, and her support for so-called "enhanced" interrogation techniques, or torture.

Last Monday, 50 students sat in at the University President Barchi's office, demanding the cancelation of her speech and $35,000 fee. Friday, 100 students interrupted the University Senate meeting, with the same demands.

Saturday morning, Rice posted a statement on her Facebook page saying she will not speak.

In an open letter to Rutgers University President Barchi this weekend, the student activists said:
"Iraq is not a land confined within our imaginations, but a country of millions whose destruction came at the hands of the Bush administration and was enabled by our tax dollars. An estimated hundreds of thousands of lives were destroyed and 4.5 million children were orphaned. Rice signed off to give the CIA authority to conduct their torture tactics for gathering information from detainees as well. These are clearly human rights issues. By inviting her to speak and awarding her an honorary degree, we are encouraging and perpetuating a world that justifies torture and debases humanity. Yet, you insist on the arbitrary decision to invite Rice to speak and to alienate the countless students and faculty that have been affected by her policies and disagree with you. It is time for that to change."
NO War Criminals on Campus! #NoRice #CancelCondi were slogans as students with several groups including Students for Justice in Palestine, got involved in the struggle for principle.  Congratulations to all who achieved this victory!

Watch video from the protests - hear the students take on the administration with substance, morality and humor.

Now, let's watch out that another apologist for war crimes is not invited.  A group of students will meet with President Barchi on Monday; and a teach-in by faculty will go ahead on Tuesday.
Protesting Condi
Teach-In in protest against honoring Condoleezza Rice
Not only does the Board of Governors' decision amount to an erasure of history, but there is a widespread assumption, at Rutgers and elsewhere, that we do not or cannot really know what happened 11 or 12 years ago with respect to the Iraq war, the adoption of torture practices, and Dr. Rice's role in both. We are happy, therefore, to announce an educational teach-in about what is in fact known – and about what this knowledge implies, in our current predicament, for the Rutgers community.
5:30 - Keynote: Jumana Musa, Deputy Dir., Rights Working Group.  Introduced by Prof. Jackson Lears.
6:30-9:30 - Panels of professors on Torture, the Iraq War and on Academic Values.
With live music, food and beverages.
Followed by video clips and live commentary. The evening will end with the screening of “Taxi to the Dark Side.”

Student Activities Center 613 George St., New Brunswick btw. Bishop Pl./Stone St. & Huntington St. map

Find more public appearances of war criminals collected at WarCriminalsWatch.org. Contact War Criminals Watch to find out more.

John Yoo, war criminal
Protest Complicity in War Crimes
The University of California continues to employ torture advocate John Yoo to teach constitutional and international law courses. Failure to investigate charges of misconduct against the professor compels us to act on behalf of those who have suffered the consequence of Yoo's legal opinions.

John Yoo protestsAn ideology that justifies crimes of arbitrary detention and vast domestic surveillance has no place inside or outside Boalt Hall.

Berkeley Law Graduation 2014: End the Silence


Saturday morning May 10
Meet up at Kroeber Plaza fountain, Bancroft  & College Avenue, 7:30 am

Flyer Commencement guests, Hearst Greek Theatre, 8:00 - 9:00 am

Fire, Disbar, and Prosecute John Yoo and All the Torture Lawyers

Protesting Drones at the White House

Watch the video.

Brilliant sunny skies set the stage for CODEPINK’s All American Wedding at the White House, Sunday. Dressed for the occasion, activists dawned tuxedos, gowns of bright spring colors, hats and, of course, pink. Palpable energy emanated as the ceremony approached and was underway. Onlookers participated both as guests and an attracted crowd, as the ceremony was conducted by a Roman Catholic priest. About half way through the action Sunday, the buzzing noise, underlying throughout the matrimonial ceremony, was spotted by a guest, paired with a drone. A loud “BOOM!” was heard, whereupon many of the guests crashed to the ground, dead.

protesting drones Demonstrated by injury-painted sheets, CODEPINK took Sunday’s opportunity to educate White House tourists about Americas Drone Program. The secrecy of the Program, and the 2400 innocent lives it has killed, were some facts included. Sundays All American Wedding, was fueled specifically by a wedding in Yemen, last December. On December 13th, 2013, 17 civilians were killed and dozens injured, after leaving a wedding in their cars. The American Government has yet to compensate the victimsfamilies, much less recognize responsibility for this atrocity.

“Stop killer drones” was chanted at the end of the action, followed by activists coming together holding hands in a circle for a moment of silence for those whove been killed by the American Presidents order, since its inception. Nothing can justify the killing of innocent civilian lives. Purposely targeting weddings and funerals is horrendous. We must dutifully continue working for peace while taking action to stop killer drones!
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On May 15: Conversation with Carlos Warner, a federal defender and attorney for Guantanamo prisoners, as we prepare for protests May 23 to Close Guantanamo NOW.
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CALENDAR OF WAR CRIMINAL PROTESTS
Here's the list of war criminal appearances for the month of May.

There has been an uptick in protests of war criminals, esp. Condoleeza Rice at the Univ. of Minnesota, where over 250 people came out to protest, and at Rutgers in NJ - students sat in at the administration building earlier this week, a teach-in is taking place, petitions have been signed by large numbers of faculty.
For details, click here.

May 2014 War Criminal Appearances & Protests
George Bush
5/12/14 Toronto Canada

Protest Dick Cheney
5/16/14 Shreveport LA
5/19/14 Yorba Linda CA

David Petraeus
5/6/14 New York NY
Protest from 5:45 to 7 PM
Macaulay Honors College
35 West 67th St. [btw. Columbus Av. & CPW, nr. #1, A, B, C, D stops]


Condoleezza Rice
5/6/14 New Brunswick NJ Teach-in
5/18/14 Piscataway NJ - Protest (Victory! She canceled!)
5/21/14 Houston TX

Donald Rumsfeld
5/20/14 Dearborn MI

John Yoo
5/10/14 Berkeley CA - Protest (see details left column)
Debra Sweet, Director, The World Can't Wait

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