The principles of the Declaration of Independence became the foundation of the U.S. political philosophy and American democracy. Today, however, this democracy is missing two important principles: truth and transparency. As the Declaration states, ” all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.” And yet Bradley Manning is punished for bringing back the core principles of a functioning democracy and that are important to achieving the goals of life, liberty and pursuit of happiness.

Angel Versetti writes for PolicyMic:

Not only does the U.S. give a chilling warning signal to any would-be whistle-blowers to remain silent, not only does the U.S. seem to believe that “all men are created equal” only as long as they are not Afghans, Iraqis or whatever other nation “potentially harboring terrorists,” not only has the U.S. violated national pre-trial procedures and international detainment conventions by keeping Bradley Manning in what the UN torture chief described as “cruel, inhumane and degrading” conditions — it has clearly shown its belief that the international law only matters for the U.S. so long as it is convenient and beneficial for its foreign policy. On other instances, such as the case of Bradley Manning, the USA, the self-appointed leader of the democratic world clearly tells the world:

There is a democracy the U.S. advertises, and there is a democracy the U.S. practices.

To learn more about this story, please click here

Conservative or liberal, supporting Bradley Manning is the right thing to do!

In the light of the recent violation of journalists privacy of both Associated Press and Fox News, along with the recent scandals that are surrounding the Obama administration, maybe it is about time for the conservatives in this country to reconsider how they view Bradley Manning from a traitor to a truth-seeker.

Matt Lewis writes for The Week:

My question is whether recent events might have changed the context of how Manning is perceived. Should intellectually honest conservatives have voiced more outrage over the way our government reportedly kept him in “inhuman conditions“?

And might they now support a softer sentence for him? Perhaps the Obama administration’s increasingly problematic heavy-handedness with its foes in the media will create new sympathy for another person the White House has been very, very tough on.

To read more on this story, please click here.

Be one of many and stand in solidarity with Bradley Manning!

As the trial of Bradley manning nears, thousands of supporters in the US and around the world are gathering to protest and take part in actions of solidarity with Bradley Manning. Supporters from Kabul to San Francisco all stand unanimously in support of Bradley requesting his immediate release as his heroic actions helped bring light to the darkness tht was cloaking the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.

To read more on why you should stand for brad, click here

To learn more about places and times of solidarity actions, click here

When a democratic state becomes a surveillance state!

When the democracy of the US was first established, it recognized the freedom of speech and the right for people to be informed as one of its many core principles. But when the state becomes paranoid and starts questioning the motives and the actions of its people, then democracy is demoted to a bottom level!

US writer and activist Chris Hedges said in an interview with Democracy Now! that the attacks on Manning and Assange are part of a troubling pattern of increasing repression.

Transparency promotes criminal justice when it reveals individual wrongdoing, but it also promotes social justice: the sort of justice that comes from a shift in the balance of power from the 1% to a better-informed 99%.

To read more on this story, please click here

People will start heading to the gates at 8 am for the start of the proceedings.

Join us at Fort Meade. June 1, 2013

June 1st will mark the beginning of Bradley Manning’s fourth year in prison and the start of his trial. The June 1st Ft. Meade protest for Bradley Manning will be the largest action of our campaign! People across the nation (and the globe) will converge on Ft. Meade to stand up for the Army whistle-blower who risked everything to give the public real facts about our government’s wars in the Middle East and foreign policy worldwide.

Join Pentagon Papers whistle-blower Daniel Ellsberg, LGBT activist US Army Lt. Dan Choi, former US diplomat US Army Col. Ann Wright (ret.), and former soldier Ethan McCord–who rescued the wounded children in the van in the Collateral Murder video—and hundreds of our supporters of heroic WikiLeaks whistle-blower Bradley Manning at Ft. Meade. Together we’ll make history.

Visit our new guide to transportation & lodging near Ft. Meade for help planning your trip.

For those unable to travel to Ft. Meade, Veterans for Peace, Iraq Veterans Against the War, and the Bradley Manning Support Network, are also calling for solidarity actions from June 1st-June 8th worldwide. 

Daniel Ellsberg speaking out for Bradley Manning

June 2nd. Panel on Manning and the Media. Pentagon Papers whistle-blower Daniel Ellsberg, Government Accountability Project director and DOJ whistle-blower Jesselyn Radack, Center for Constitutional Rights president emeritus Michael Ratner , and former State Department employee Peter Van Buren will discuss how WikiLeaks and the Bradley Manning trial have impacted journalism. The panelists will examine how the information released by Bradley Manning helped shaped the public’s understanding of war, diplomacy, and government secrecy, and the way the press reports on each. They’ll explore how the government’s unprecedentedly broad interpretation of “aiding the enemy” in prosecuting Bradley Manning gravely threatens press freedoms in the United States.

When: June 2, 2013 – 5:00-7:00
Where: All Soul’s Church, 1500 Harvard Street NW, Washington DC, 20009

RSVP to the event on Facebook here.

If you have planned an event or action, please register it on our website so we can promote it to other supporters in your area. Interested in organizing something but want some ideas, materials, or help contacting other activists in your area? Contact farah@bradleymanning.org for assistance
!

Vivienne Westwood supporting Bradley Manning at the 2013 Met Ball.

Vivienne Westwood was cut off by her Vogue interviewer at the Met Ball when she spoke out on behalf of Bradley Manning. New York magazine “The Cut” reports:

Monday night at the Met Gala, Vivienne Westwood took her turn on the Vogue livestream and wouldn’t answer Billy Norwich’s question about what designer she was wearing. Instead, she wanted to talk about her jewelry: A laminated photo of the Wikileaks revolutionary Bradley Manning, attached by safety pins to her pastel robes. “When I did punk all those years ago, [it was about the same thing]: Justice and [trying to] have a better world,” she explained. “I’ve got different methods nowadays.” Then she wanted to keep going – “I’ve got one more thing to say,” she added, gesturing to the guy beside her – before she got cut-off/interrupted… 

Vivienne Westwood is a famous fashion designer credited with building on punk fashion. She is a long time social activist. Read her blog here. 

The day that I left  Iraq, I vowed to dedicate my life to telling the story of my home, my people and how this preemptive war destroyed my country. I left Iraq in May 2003, shortly after the invasion, and my family and I moved to Damascus, Syria, where we sought refuge for more than four years. I remember following the news on Iraq and gathering whatever stories I could get from family or friends who came to visit us in our one-bedroom apartment in Jaramana. It has been more than ten years since I left , but Iraq has never left me, even when I decided to come to the United States, the same country that invaded mine and resulted in me having to leave my home. Living here I became more determined to represent my country at every chance I could, and later I found that not many people in the United States know anything about Iraq beyond what the mainstream media tells them to believe. A lot of people believed that Iraq was all desert, that Iraqis don’t speak English, all women wear the hijab, and some even believed that the invasion was the right decision to make to liberate Iraqis from the claws of Saddam’s dictatorship.

Several myths were cultivated around my home country, the birthplace of the first and most ancient civilization in the world, where language was first written and documented on clay boards, and where one of the early codes of law was written by its ancient King Hammurabi. Many people didn’t know that Iraq has two rivers, Tigris and Euphrates, flowing from north to south, feeding its valleys and plains, and that some of its city Baghdad was the capital of the Muslim Empire during the Middle Ages.  

And though Iraq endured dark and harsh years before the invasion, Iraqis today are living in even worse conditions; the sectarian divide is stronger than ever, especially with the current Prime Minister’s ill leadership, which Iran has encouraged to favor the Shia at the expense of the Sunni and other religious minorities. Women’s rights continue to be violated and stripped as the new constitution prevents women from inheriting or owning property, while militias that have strong authority in the majority of neighborhoods and provinces in Iraq dictate how women should dress and where and when they are allowed to leave their homes. The educational system has deteriorated and fallen behind at least thirty years in comparison with where it was before the invasion because of the assassination of many professors and educators, and even more fleeing the country out of fear for their life.

It is precisely for these reasons that I chose to become an activist for peace and an advocate for Iraq and the Iraqi people. I found myself given an opportunity to teach and be taught. One of the opportunities that I received as an activist was speaking in front of members of Iraq Veterans Against the War, where I was asked to tell my personal story in a room full of veterans who served in Iraq. I might have been on the same street with one or two of them in Baghdad and we never knew it. This opportunity opened my eyes and heart to a new reality that was not visible to me as an Iraqi; this reality changed my perspective and fueled my determination to work more for Iraq. I found a large group of men and women who served in a war that they didn’t expect to fight, who had to follow rules that seemed to go against the nature of the noble purpose they were told they’d be serving. They decided to stand up, speak the truth and advocate for peace. The uniforms that I judged them for were stripped away and instead I saw the human beings underneath. I now found myself in a room full of allies that I once saw as enemies.

Farah with Col. Ann Wright and the Iraq Veterans Against the War

While working with my new allies I became aware of the pain and challenges that they all go through during their time of service and even after. After speaking in front of the veterans, I became more connected with them and worked on several projects to tell the story of Iraq from both soldiers’ eyes and Iraqi eyes. One of the crucial things that I learned from this particular experience is how much we all have in common as humans and how politics often tries to separate us by creating imaginary borders, waging wars, and establishing the rhetoric of “us” vs. “them.” The dehumanization of “them” was definitely one of the factors that motivated Bradley Manning to blow the whistle on what he witnessed while he was in Iraq. His realization came after discovering that the war on Iraq was based on a myth and the cost of war was higher than numbers can count in money and human lives. With this understanding, I became more interested in learning more about Bradley, and I read the logs that he uncovered.

Bradley Manning to me is definitely an ally. He is an ally because he witnessed the wrongdoing of the military that was sent to liberate people from the grips of an unjust regime and an oppressive society, yet he saw, as the world saw thanks to him, that innocents were killed for no good reason, and that innocents were called names, and accused of being members of terrorist groups that they despised. What Bradley Manning did was deliver the transparency this democracy lacked in a time when it was desperately needed. People around the world began to question the real reasons behind the invasion.  While the White House was on the one hand excusing its stay in Iraq as a matter of necessity for the Iraqi people and their newly installed democracy, and on the other hand trying to leave Iraq as soon as possible, giving to the people only a pile of destruction and a corrupt government, Bradley Manning exposed the truth as it is.  Bradley followed his conscience in a time when the cries for help from Iraq were quickly forgotten, and because of that, because of his stand against injustice and his efforts to inform the world, and particularly his people. . . the American people, he is a living symbol of truth… and we all would be fools to not stand in support of him and demand his release.

Our new Assistant Campaign Organizer, Farah, was born and raised in Iraq. She has been living in the United States since 2008. Farah joined the Iraqi Student Project in 2007 and is a member of the Civilian Soldier Alliance. This year she is the recipient of the Martin Luther King Junior award presented by the Human Rights Commission in Marin County, California. Farah recently graduated with a degree in Political Science from Dominican University, Marin County, California. She volunteers as a website developer for the Arab American Cultural Center in Silicon Valley translating interviews of Iraqi refugees.

The rest of the staff at the Bradley Manning Support Network is excited to welcome Farah to our team!

ASSISTANT CAMPAIGN ORGANIZER – Oakland, CA

Courage to Resist, in collaboration with the Bradley Manning Support Network, is seeking applicants for an Assistant Campaign Organizer based in Oakland, California. The starting salary for this full time position is $12/hour (approx. $2,100/month), plus some benefits. The position is expected to end October 2013. This is an immediate opening.

ORGANIZATIONAL BACKGROUND
Courage to Resist (www.couragetoresist.org) supports military service persons who object to illegal war and occupation and the policies of empire. Courage to Resist is a 7-year-old program of the Alliance for Global Justice (AfGJ), a nonprofit organization under Section 501(c)(3) of the IRS Code, and hosts the Bradley Manning Defense Fund in collaboration with the Bradley Manning Support Network (bradleymanning.org).

PURPOSE OF THE POSITION
Our campaign aims to promote and demonstrate public support for Army whistleblower and prisoner of conscience, PFC Bradley E Manning. Our new Assistant Campaign Organizer position exists to support the lead campaign organizer in all manner of duties related to coordinating public outreach and actions.

DUTIES
* Working with diverse groups of volunteers to organize rallies, protests, vigils and speaking events in Ft. Meade, MD and elsewhere around the country
* Coordinating outreach events and social media actions with the goal of growing our base of volunteers and public support for our campaign
* Giving presentations to community groups about the issue
* Recruiting new spokespeople/celebrities to show public support for Bradley
* Building and cultivating relationships with organizations and activist leaders through events, conference calls and one-on-one meetings
* Performing both online research and interviews to compile information/strengthen messages regarding the positive impacts of the material released by Bradley
* Assisting in creation of flyers and visual material for events
* Assisting with the facilitation of staff and organizer meetings, including secretarial duties
* Clerical support as needed

This position functions under the immediate direction of the Lead Campaign Organizer, and the Courage to Resist Project Director, with the input of the Bradley Manning Support Network Steering and Organizing Committees. This position functions alongside media, online, and regional organizing staff.

REQUIRED SKILLS AND QUALIFICATIONS
* Passionate about social justice, freedom of information, and freeing Army whistle-blower Bradley Manning. Prior knowledge of military issues a plus
* Commitment to grassroots organizing and non-violent direct action as a means of affecting positive social change
* Strong written and verbal communication skills with the ability to communicate effectively to a variety of audiences
* Team-oriented, strategic and creative thinker
* Well-organized and reliable
* Demonstrated ability building relationships and cultivating commitments with a range of activists, volunteers, and partners.
* Self-driven, with the ability to find solutions to challenges as they arise in a fast-paced, often shifting campaign with many moving pieces
* Flexibility and willingness to travel
* Comfortable using Facebook, Twitter. Some knowledge of website content management systems (WordPress) desired.

CAMPAIGN BACKGROUND
Twenty-five year old Private First Class Bradley Manning, while yet to be tried, has been imprisoned for over three years for releasing the Iraq and Afghanistan War Logs, Collateral Murder video, Guantanamo Case Files, and US Diplomatic Cables through the whistle-blower website WikiLeaks. As Bradley explained prior to his arrest, and again in an official court statement on February 28, 2013, he released these documents as an act of conscience, because he believed the American people had a right to know the whole truth about actions performed in our name in Iraq, Afghanistan, and around the world.

These documents have played a crucial role in allowing the public to address unpunished war crimes, violations of the UN Convention Against Torture, and corrupt U.S.-supported regimes. Some of the released cables have contributed to pro-democratic uprisings, in particular the revolution in Tunisia.

While Bradley has been nominated three times for the Nobel Peace Prize for his bravery, and is considered a hero by many people around the world, the U.S. military is pursuing an unprecedented and politically-motivated “Aiding the enemy” charge for making classified information available on the internet. If they succeed, Bradley may be sentenced to life in prison, and would-be military whistle-blowers everywhere will be scared into silence.

Like Bradley, Courage to Resist believes that truth and government accountability are the foundations of democracy. Our aim is to spread public awareness about Bradley Manning’s case and build visible public support for him so as to pressure the military and the government to cease his inhumane prison treatment and free him of major charges.

TIME AND COMPENSATION
Full time, averaging 40 hours per week. The starting salary for this position is $12/hour (approx. $2,100/month). Benefits include a $300 health care contribution upon proof of health care coverage, paid vacation/sick days, and paid holidays. This position is expected to end October 2013.

This position will require irregular work hours, to include work on weekends and holidays, when necessary.

APPLICATION INFORMATION
Courage to Resist/AfGJ does not discriminate on the basis of race, ethnicity, age, religion, gender, sexual orientation or military discharge classification.

Send cover letter and resume explaining experience and your interest in the position to: emma(at)bradleymanning(dot)org

In addition to making the nomination online, call the Whitehouse directly. Comment line: 202-456-1111. Switchboard: 202-456-1414.

The White House is giving U.S. citizens until March 31 to nominate someone for the 2013 Citizen Medal, which will “recognize ‘citizens of the United States of America who have performed exemplary deeds of service for their country or their fellow citizens.’ Executive Order 11494 (Nov. 13, 1969). It is generally recognized as the second highest civilian award of our Government.”

Who is more worthy to receive the award this year than our whistle-blowing hero Bradley Manning, who informed the public about actions performed in our name in Iraq, Afghanistan, and around the world?

Bradley Manning has been nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize for his actions, yet a U.S. military prosecution threatens him with life in prison. It will be a shameful day in American history if Bradley Manning is convicted of “aiding the enemy,” when the group he aided the most was the American public. Therefore, we are calling upon President Obama to uphold campaign promises with regards to creating the most transparent government in history, and to protecting whistle-blowers, by awarding the Citizens Medal to our hero Bradley Manning.

Nominate Bradley Manning for the 2013 Citizen Award Medal

To nominate Bradley for the award you will need to visit the nomination webpage (link above) and fill out a form.
Bradley Manning is 25 years old, and he is being held at Ft. Leavenworth, KS (use this as his address). Check “Yes” on the box saying his service was “performed outside of his or her regular job.”

Then answer the following questions. We’ve included responses that incorporate points we feel justify Bradley’s nomination:

Nominate Bradley Manning for the 2013 Citizen Award Medal

In addition to nominating Bradley for the Citizens Medal online, we encourage you to call the White House directly. Let President Obama know that in revealing facts about Iraq, Afghanistan, Guantanamo Bay, and foreign diplomacy worldwide, Bradley Manning has aided the American public. Please award him the U.S. Citizens Medal for his bravery. Please free Bradley now!

Call the President

Comments: 202-456-1111
Switchboard: 202-456-1414

Help us continue to cover 100%
of Bradley’s legal fees! Donate today.

• Organize a bus with 40 or more people to attend the event on June 1st, and we’ll subsidize the trip in the amount of $500.

• Organize a van of 10 or more people, and we’ll subsidize the trip in the amount of $150.

You can find information on chartering buses on this website, though some local companies may be willing to offer better deals to non-profit causes.  There are a number of online crowdfunding websites which could help in selling tickets, but most of them charge a small fee for their services.  Asking local organizations to co-sponsor the bus may be a helpful option for funding the bus and/or selling tickets.  (Here are a few organizations you can ask.)

Once a commitment has been made to booking a vehicle and a driver, we’ll do what we can to promote the details to other Bradley Manning supporters in your area so they’ll be able to join your “Bus for Bradley.”  Please contact emma@bradleymanning.org with additional questions or if you intend to organize a group to come join us in June.

Thank you for supporting Bradley Manning!

Our current campaign t-shirt, which is available for purchase at https://bradleymanning.org/shop

We have entered a new, exciting and crucial phase of the campaign to support Bradley Manning.  Following Bradley’s statement to the court on Feb 28, 2013, his cause is receiving more attention worldwide than ever before.  Bradley courageously provided the public with a detailed account of how he came to be disturbed by evidence of war crimes and corruption in the government documents, and how he released them through the whistleblowing website WikiLeaks:

I believed that if the general public, especially the American public, had access to the information… it could spark a domestic debate on the role of the military and our foreign policy in general as it related to Iraq and Afghanistan…

While Bradley is swiftly becoming a worldwide symbol of international human rights and the best in American ideals, we want to help his supporters spread his message in every way we can.  We are looking for new t-shirt designs and other graphics which can be reprinted.

At the end of March, we’ll send our favorite t-shirt design submissions to the printer, to print 50 of each, which will be offered for sale on the Bradley Manning Support Network website.  The one(s) that sell the best will become our new campaign t-shirt.  Designs not printed on shirts will still be made available on our website for other activists to download and use on campaign material.  Credit will be given to artists for their designs.

Thank you for supporting Bradley Manning!

Call in and protest! Demand General Linnington drop the charges against Bradley Manning.

“I believe that if the general public, especially the American public, had access to the information contained within [the releases] this could spark a domestic debate on the role of the military and our foreign policy in general as well as it related to Iraq and Afghanistan.” – Bradley Manning, February 28, 2013.

Last week, Pfc. Bradley Manning delivered a historic, personal testimony to his motivation behind passing diplomatic cables and battlefield data to Wikileaks.

Manning explained that he had become deeply troubled by the reality of our asymmetric warfare in Iraq and Afghanistan, as well as the cover-up of horrific battlefield crimes; he felt similar events could only be prevented by vigorous public debate.

It is more clear than ever that Bradley Manning was aiding Americans, not the enemy.

Maj. General Linnington is the presiding authority who will be asked to approve the outcome of Bradley’s trial.

Call Maj. Gen. Linnington and tell him the “aiding the enemy” charge is an outrage and Bradley deserves to be free!

Maj. Gen. Michael Linnington 202-685-2807

Maj. Gen. Linnington:
202-685-2807

Once Maj. Gen. Linnington’s voicemail box is full – you can also leave a message at the DOD: (703) 571-3343 – press “5″ to leave a comment.

*If this mailbox is also full, leave the Department of Defense a written message.

One of the most moving aspect of Manning’s testimony was his explanation as to why he released the so-called “Collateral Murder” video, which shows the gunning down of two Reuters journalists and bystanders by apparently bloodthirsty and remorseless American soldiers in a US aircraft.

Manning described being deeply troubled by the video, especially the crew’s “lack of concern for human life” and lack of “concern for injured children at the scene.” Manning directly stated that he wanted the American public “to know that not all people were targets that needed to be neutralized” but “people living in the pressure cooker environment of asymmetrical warfare.”

Statements like these solidify what many of us had assumed for some time now: Pfc. Bradley Manning is an American hero who wanted to aid the public, not a traitor looking to ‘aid the enemy.’ That he risked his life to courageously expose this information and provoke a public debate to bring greater transparency to our foreign policy actions makes the insinuation that he ‘aided the enemy’ all the more absurd.

Please call Maj. General Linnington now!
202-685-2807

It is clear that Pfc. Manning exposed these documents at great personal risk for our benefit. The least we can do is continue to support him in any way we can. Thank you for continuing to do so.

Help us continue to cover 100%
of Bradley’s legal fees! Donate today.