June 1 rally was the largest demonstration of support for Bradley Manning yet
June 1 rally at Fort Meade. Photo by Jenna Pope.
Nearly a thousand people came out to Fort Meade today for a mass rally in support of Bradley Manning. The demonstration brought together a wonderfully diverse group of supporters, and cheers, chants, speakers and hundreds of smiling faces energized the group prior to one of the most important trials in American history. Several high-profile speakers (see below) discussed the significance of Bradley’s actions for America, and for the world. Ralliers marched from the Reece Road main gate to the Llewelyn gate, honoring the heroic whistleblower.
Some key issues discussed by the speakers included how Bradley Manning took great personal risk to reveal the truth of unjust wars, how he exposed the truth of Guantanamo prison, how the US has the highest number of prisoners in solitary confinement and about how solitary confinement is a means to break prisoners down, and how the chilling effect of Obama’s war on whistleblowers has made it difficult for those who witness war crimes to expose them.
Supporters came from all across the country and around the world, with some coming from as far as Mexico and Canada. A dozen buses brought activists from eight cities in the US.
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The rally was held with the assistance of many national organizations including Veterans for Peace, Iraq Veterans Against the War, CODEPINK Women for Peace, World Can’t Wait, Civilian-Soldier Alliance, and Courage to Resist. With their support this rally was the most significant mobilization of public support for Bradley Manning yet.
Complete list of speakers:
Kevin Zeese, Bradley Manning Support Network
Bob Meola, Bradley Manning Support Network
Gerry Condon, Bradley Manning Support Network
Jeff Paterson, Bradley Manning Support Network
Ward Reilly, Veterans for Peace
Heather Linebaugh, Former Intelligence Analyst
Dooler, Queer activist
Debra Sweet, World Can’t Wait
Medea Benjamin, Nancy Mancias, Rooj from Codepink
Jonathan Stribling-Uss
Farah Muhsin
Col. Ann Wright (ret.)
Jacob David George
Sarah Shourd
Lt. Dan Choi
Daniel Ellsberg, Pentagon Papers whistleblower
Blowing the whistle on war crimes is not a crime! Free Bradley Manning!
A great event! Great job in pulling it together!
I’m proud to see the Veterans for Peace colors flying in this march.
10 USC § 904 – Art. 104. Aiding the enemy
(1) is the equivalent of all things ~tangible~.
(2) is the equivalent of having a direct-intent-of established relationship with the enemy regardless of the daisy chain of association.
wonderful to be there. The energy was great! Will try to post a couple of photos
10 USC § 904 – Art. 104 Aiding the enemy
ANY PERSON WHO—
(1) aids, or attempts to aid, the enemy with arms, ammunition, supplies, money, or other things; or
(2)WITHOUT PROPER AUTHORITY, knowingly harbors or protects or GIVES INTELLIGENCE TO, or communicates or corresponds with or holds any intercourse with THE ENEMY, either directly or INDIRECTLY;
It is damming and should be exclusively taught with at least 8 hours of classroom instruction
What is your point? The prosecution is already having difficulty proving this because it was NOT Manning’s intent. The enemy of the American military is and will be themselves.
Private First Class Bradley Manning should not stand ground for telling the truth! What an American Patriot? He exposed the dirt under the finger nails of the U.S. government. Why try to make (WikiLeak’s) Julian Assange as foreign enemy? Just because they recognized the untruthful and unjust intervention of the U.S. foreign wars? They told the truth! It’s the U.S. government that can’t handle the truth. The new Roman Empire is losing its grip on the dying “Petro-dollar” status. Why are we there in the first place? More and more American’s are starting to wake-up, that the true facts of 9/11 have not been told. “The 9/11 Drug It Wear Off”! You cannot always maintain dirty hands, at some time you must wash them. A new investigation of 9/11 must be undertaken by private citizens and independent scientific investigators. “Iraq was not a war; it was a business proposition..!”
Major General (USMC) Smedley Butler (1881-1940), an outspoken critic of the U.S. Military Industrial Complex. Remember the book he authored; “War Is A Racket”. Major General Smedley Butler would have been proud of Private First Class Bradley Manning. The true American Patriot. America is facing a national deficit of seventeen trillion dollars. This nation has mortgaged away its sovereignty to international debt. But yet we maintain a military force, greater than “all” notions combine. Smedley Butler would not have been proud of that! Had Butler lived in this err, the Defense Department would have tried to silence him. “Only In America”!!! Carl Sagan (Nova) once said quote: “Humanity is a micro-organism of one, and any organism that is at war with itself…is…Doom!”.
There’re not going to release Manning. What he did was not right. He broke an oath and a trust and deserves to pay for it.
I believe his oath to humanity is stronger than any other oath out there.
The military-friendly city of San Diego had a demonstration June 1:
http://www.sandiegoreader.com/news/2013/jun/02/stringers-protest-bradley-manning-/
A most inspiring response to those, the rich and the powerful, who want, who need, to criminalise Brsdley ,as they, over the centuries, have demonised and criminalised all those who have stood against them for freedom and justice.
We are a long way away, but our hearts and minds go out to you, our comrades in arms.
John Tilbury
England
I wish I could be there to support my hero.
I told this now many times. The lawyer of Bradley Manning shall show the analytic truth in this case. Bradley Manning and Julian Assange and Mr. Snowden and the others are the “real enemy” of the “islamists”, when the US millitary is the “collaborator” and supporter of “Islamists”. To understand that, you shall see “egypt”, this are modern people, who wants democracy, and a modern human rights politic. But the US Gouvernements first interrests is “oil”, so they support full, Saudi Arabia, where wahabism is state doctrin. So the Al Kaida conspiracy comes directly from the US Gouvernement and is aktiv until today. Why the US millitary is fighting Al Kaida, when it supports its root ? Bring theese facts in analysis and make a accusation in Den Haag, against the “supporter” of Al Kaida, which is not Bradley Manning, its Obama and Bush.
He should be given the u.s. congretional medal of honour. NOT JAIL. Bradley is being made a scapegoat out of because his bosses are embarrassed to hell and they have to make out that they (the generals) were not to blame. Exactly like our British government was with the “great train robbers” back in the early 60s.