Update 4/2/12: David House on stifling dissent, a PFC Manning legal factsheet, and Bradley Manning and a moral awakening
David House discusses his lawsuit proceeding against the United States. Arguing that the US government seized and searched his laptop for his political affiliations, interrogating him solely on his association with the Bradley Manning Support Network, House is suing the United States. A federal judge recently announced that his lawsuit will be allowed to proceed, because while the government doesn’t need a warrant to search at the border, it cannot search someone for his or her political activism. House discussed his own case, the lack of transparency in Bradley’s trial, and the government’s broader efforts to stifle political dissent:
WikiLeaks Press creates factsheet for Bradley Manning’s legal proceedings. The factsheet includes a timeline, links to transcripts and news articles, and basic facts for PFC Manning’s pretrial hearing, arraignment, and motion hearing. WL Press has created a useful chronicle of the case so far, for reference and for background. (Read more…)
“From Social Media to Moral Awakening; Bradley Manning and the Age of Conscience.” WL Central contributor ‘BeyondBorders’ writes about how WikiLeaks’ outpouring of information in the pursuit of transparency and truth has helped bring about an international moral awakening. Drawing connections between WikiLeaks’ releases in 2010 with the Arab uprisings of early 2011, BeyondBorders lauds accused whistle-blower Bradley Manning:
Alleged leaker Bradley Manning began to see the everyday reality in Iraq from the perspective of the other and he felt the suffering of people not unlike himself in the scenes of those war crimes enacted in New Baghdad and all around the Middle East. Perhaps in that moment, he began knowing with and seeing with those he had been trained to see as the other, those who have been methodically demonized by a corporate state war of terror. If he was the source of those documents, his act of whistle-blowing was truly a deed of conscience. He was willing to risk death to reach out from this place of his shared humanity.
The essay continues, with video of Ethan McCord’s praise for PFC Manning and Egyptian activist’s call to arms. It concludes:
Bradley Manning may have been just one person, a single spark in history. His fire of conscience might be fragile and appear erasable. Yet, the flame has already spread. His moral courage was like a tiny light in the darkness before the dawn. People around the world are uniting. Each person’s conscience is becoming a torch that shines into and transforms the darkness. The true battle is here. No entrenched power can win this because the most powerful force of all is finally awakening.
This is why PFC Manning has been nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize. If he did what he stands trial for, he’s helped inspire the moral awakening of a generation. (Read more…)
We need Bradley Manning and David House both in congress.These to guys are incredible individuals.
The most important conversation to create is the one between the military men who are genuinely able to understand their position in protecting our constitution and the rest of the population who also want to believe in the rule of law as set down by our founding fathers.