Update 9/7/12: Report from NYC action
Supporters march in Manhattan
Report from New York City’s Bradley Manning Support Rally – 9/6
By William J. Gilson, USN veteran. September 7, 2012.
Obama Campaign Office staff of a mid-Manhattan building may have heard the cries of “Free Bradley Manning” that came from the curb 20 floors below. Almost 75 people gathered to protest loudly the persecution, torture and detainment of Manning for allegedly leaking information to Wikileaks.
Some signs were hand-lettered and defended the right to blow the whistle on war crimes. A large banner read “Free Bradley Manning, Stop the Wars, Expose the Lies” with VfP logos. Chants were punctuated by a tambourine and whistles.
Bill Gilson and George McAnanama, Veterans for Peace, attempted to deliver a letter to the campaign staff addressed to President Obama. They were blocked at the lobby security desk and told that the staff had left instructions that no one was to be allowed up. Gilson and McAnanama then asked if the staff would be willing to come downstairs to accept the letter in the lobby. A phone call was unanswered and no one came down. Therefore, the letter was left with security to hand deliver.
Gilson spoke to the crowd on leaving the lobby, assuring them that the letter had already been posted to the White House because “I have more faith in the post office than in Obama Hq.”
A TV crew from Ecuador interviewed a number of participants, including Fran Korotzer who told of a warm reception at the Ecuadorian Consulate in NY when she and others arrived there to express their gratitude to Ecuador for its granting asylum to Julian Assange.
Gilson spoke of his anger at the inhumane treatment of Manning and his disappointment in the US President.
The crowd remained until 6:30 pm. All in all, it was a good day for Bradley.
The contents of the letter are below:
The original was mailed to the White House as well.
From: Veterans for Peace Chapter 34 NYC
JAF Sta. PO Box 8150
NY, NY 10116To: The White House
1600 Pennsylvania Avenue NW
Washington, DC, USA 20500Dear Mr. President:
As you are in the midst of your reelection campaign, I would like to
remind you of words you stated In May 2011: “In the 21st Century,
information is power; the truth cannot be hidden; and the legitimacy
of governments will ultimately depend on active and informed citizens.”Army PFC Bradley Manning was arrested in May 2010 for allegedly
sharing the “Collateral Murder” video and other evidence of war crimes
and government corruption with the whistle-blower website WikiLeaks.
He should be supported for his alleged actions rather than prosecuted.
We are active and informed citizens asking “Why hasn’t President
Obama supported Bradley?”We call on you to free Bradley Manning, since he has already endured
more than 800 days of pretrial confinement including 9 months of
treatment called “inhuman and degrading” by the United Nations
Rapporteur on Torture.
Yours truly,
(signed)William J. Gilson, USN veteran
1954-58, Veterans for Peace Chapter
34 NYC on behalf of the supporters
of PFC Bradley Manning in New York
City.
Thanks to all who attended, as my heart was warmed and my fire, fueled.
“I have more faith in the post office than in Obama Hq.”
It’s sort of funny, when Obama took office I wrote a number of emails through the Whitehouse.gov website. Many were about Brad Manning. The response was the same.
It makes me so happy to see these good people coming out to stand up and represent for Bradley Manning…..even if there are no answers forthcoming at least the question is being asked….now where are the media…are they covering any of this?
“Where are the media?”
Unfortunately, the mere mention of the word WikiLeaks is embarrassing and humiliating to the Main Stream Media (MSM), a.k.a. lamestream media, who are toothless lapdogs and not watchdogs of freedom, democracy and justice. The establishment media is media, but more importantly, it is establishment. MSM is the servant of the powers that be, as explained in The Power Elite, the classic 1956 book by C. Wright Mills, sociologist.
The alternative media and independent media, as championed and exemplified by the WikiLeaks media organization, has evolved from the broadsides and pamphlets of the Founding Fathers and Mothers to Internet-based websites, blogs, vlogs, and social media networks that are more difficult to control and regulate.
Peace.
Thank you to all of you who were there and did something positive to raise the level of awareness of Bradley’s situation with the american people.
I wish I could have been there with you, but Europe is a long way away.
This young man’s case should be on the front pages of the whole world press, not hidden away in the back pages, or only dealt with the minority press and those few bloggers who have not lost their values.