Alfred,
Condoleezza Rice Backs Out
of Commencement Speech at Rutgers
Sitting in at the
Rutgers University President's office.
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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.
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.
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.
 An
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.
 Demonstrated
by injury-painted sheets, CODEPINK took Sunday’s opportunity to educate
White House tourists about America’s Drone Program. The secrecy of
the Program, and the 2400 innocent lives it has killed, were some facts
included. Sunday’s 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 victims’
families, 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 who’ve been killed by the American
President’s 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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World Can't Wait Conversations:
 10pm Eastern / 7pm
Pacific
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.
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) |
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