Oliver Stone, Maggie Gyllenhall, Russell Brand, & others in video for Bradley Manning
By the Bradley Manning Support Network. June 19, 2013.
While Pfc. Bradley Manning stands trial at Ft. Meade, MD, pop-culture celebrities declare their support for the Army whistleblower, in a five-minute advocacy video released late yesterday. More than 20 Hollywood actors, musicians, and other well-known leaders appear in the new video, titled “I am Bradley Manning.”
Filmmaker Oliver Stone; actors Russell Brand, Maggie Gyllenhaal, Wallace Shawn, Peter Sarsgaard; musicians Moby, Tom Morello, and Pink Floyd’s Roger Waters; writers Matt Taibbi, Alice Walker, Chris Hedges; and activists Lt. Dan Choi and Angela Davis, and others speak out in the short film, explaining that Manning sought to expose war crimes and inspire debate and reforms. They condemn the “aiding the enemy” charge with which the military wants to imprison him for life, arguing it criminalizes what should be recognized as whistleblowing.
Russell Brand said Manning “was motivated out of a different kind of patriotism: a genuine love of the people of this country and concern for the people,” in an interview published in Gawker at the time of the video’s release.
Brand continued, “[H]e’s brought palpable, tangible evidence of mendacious…conduct apparently for the protection or for the furtherment of the American people.”
In the video, each participant holds a sign of solidarity, which read, “I am Bradley Manning.”
Manning faces a potential life sentence for passing hundreds of thousands of classified documents, including war reports from Iraq and Afghanistan and State Department diplomatic cables, to the transparency website WikiLeaks. He said he’d hoped to “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.”
Visit the “I am Bradley Manning” website and submit a photo in support of the heroic whistleblower.
Bradley Manning is American and people hero for democrasy
It’s inspiring to see some powerful celebrities come out in support Bradley. May some more could put on fundraiser at Madison Square Garden to raise consciousness about this injustice, not to mention money for his defense fund. The rank and file American is just finding out about this secret injustice and are beginning to sympathize with the cause.
Thank goodness for standing up for more than silliness and distraction.
I support Bradley Manning
Éste jovencito Bradley Mainning tiene más testículos que el que más se ufane de hombría!!! Esta pagando un precio altísimo como lo es su propia seguridad personal, y su libertad para “provocar un debate nacional sobre el papel de la nuestra política exterior y militar en general, así como lo relacionado con Irak y Afganistán”… y la iniciativa de TOOODOS los que nos identificamos con su causa ha sido fructífera en el sentido de “sumar” causas, razones… éste video en el Nombre de Dios amén espero que haga su “efecto”… xq no es el pueblo estadounidense, es la política de gobierno de ése pueblo… su política militar exterior, la que los esta “hundiendo”…
Bradley Manning did the job that American journalists should have been doing! I stand with Bradley and am ashamed that I cant do more to help this brave young man!
The fight for freedom costs us, in some form of payment, time, money, and sometimes even our life, it’s worth it. I would rather fight for freedom and truth and go without the comforts of life, than live a life of pleasure of wealth and never helped anyone know the truth. Go Bradley!
I am still shocked by all of this. I went to school with Bradley and from what I remember he would never do anything malicious!!!!! I think he is a hero and should not be punished for standing up for what he believe’s is right. After all are we not told we have freedom of speech????? Free Bradley!!!!!
This made me cry not only because of what Bradley is going through, but because our very right of freedom of speech is being directly attacked. Bradley saw horrible things and because his heart and natural instincts of humanity told him this was WRONG, he’s being punished. May even face death. But also, because how inspirational this is that celebrities that have the voice to reach tens of thousands of people are standing up. Knowledge can’t be unlearned. But it can be shared. Tell yoiur friends and tell those friends to tell their friends.