This space is dedicated to the proposition that we need to know the history of the struggles on the left and of earlier progressive movements here and world-wide. If we can learn from the mistakes made in the past (as well as what went right) we can move forward in the future to create a more just and equitable society. We will be reviewing books, CDs, and movies we believe everyone needs to read, hear and look at as well as making commentary from time to time. Greg Green, site manager
Tuesday, December 17, 2013
Donations
matched one to one for the month of December!
Today, December 17th, is Army
whistleblower Chelsea Manning's fourth birthday behind bars. Last weekend,
Courage to Resist and the Private Manning Support Network sponsored three
exclusive events in Los Angeles, Oakland, CA, and Seattle, WA, featuring
presentations from Chelsea’s attorney, David Coombs. Drawing hundreds in
attendance, these events provided supporters with a personal, in-depth report
back of this past summer’s historic trial as well as a look forward to the next
phase in the fight to win justice for Manning.
He spoke on the problem of government overclassification:
“We have a complete section of our government — that is funded by us
— that’s classified… That is a lot of information that is kept out of our public
debate. And when you see that you have that lack of transparency in a democratic
government that prides itself on being the beacon of democracy for the entire
world, you have to ask yourself what’s wrong with that picture.”
On Manning’s intelligence and understanding of Iraq:
“She became kind of the go-to person for the unit, prior to their
deployment, if you wanted to know something about Iraq, if you wanted to know
something about the area they were going to. This young specialist — actually at
the time a PFC, she got promoted when she was deployed — knew more than her
superiors, her officers, about where they were going”
“The things she was struggling with was having a
conscience.”
Help us continue to cover 100% of Pvt.
Manning's legal fees! Donations matched one to one throughout the month of
December. Donate
today.
On wartime secrecy:
“...one thing that Chelsea has shown is that we need whistleblowers
like her to ensure that when we do commit our nation’s resources, we do so
knowing all the facts, we do so knowing true information… Because 7,678 human
lives — and that’s just American soldiers — is too much to lose over lies, over
incomplete truths.”
Finally, he thanked Courage to Resist and the Private Manning Support Network
for standing behind Chelsea and himself for three long years, and he challenged
the public to stay engaged moving forward:
“...she released that information because she was hoping that it
would spark debates, it would spark worldwide reforms. And now our challenge
here today is, ‘Is her hope going to come to fruition? Are we going to have
public debates? Are we going to demand accountability? Are going to demand
transparency in our government?’ I hope the answer to that is yes.”
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