WE ARE ALL BRADLEY MANNING

On Saturday 1 June 2013, just 2 days before Bradley Manning's trial at Fort Meade, Maryland, USA, was due to start, there were support demonstrations in many cities around the world, and one of these was in Melbourne.

Here are some of the photos taken by Ken Lovett at that demonstration:

Celebrities declare "I am Bradley" in new video

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. Produced by the Bradley Manning Support Network, 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 whistle-blowing.

WIKILEAKS PARTY LOOKING FOR MEMBERS

The Wikileaks Party web site is as follows:

WIKILEAKS PARTY WEB SITE

This is a new party and it needs at least 500 members in order to register as a political party in Australia.

The current members of the federal party of most of the current parties have done the voters of this country the greatest of disservice in the way they have behaved in the 5-year period since Labor was elected to government.

Some of the most disgraceful episodes in the history of Australia relate to the responses of the politicians and main stream media - which now includes the Australian Broadcasting Corporation - to the asylum seekers who risk their lives in order to get as far away from the countries they have lived in, been persecuted in and whose countries have been decimated by the USA, UK, Australia and many other allied nations.

Whistleblowers in Australia have usually been treated like pariahs and of course this too is not unique to Australia, but the problem at the moment is that our politicans have demonised Julian Assange because he has exposed the lies and subterfuge employed by those who are in our parliaments, and they are quite willing to assist the USA in getting him sent there so that they can try him and send him to prison for life or pass the death sentence on him for exposing their dirty lies and filthy wars.

Bradley Manning's treatment at the hands of his government is just a foretaste of what awaits Assange - and worse - if he ever gets delivered to the USA.

This has got to be prevented by all the means at our disposal, and one of those means is to help establish a political party which exposes the lies and deceit which are part of our daily lives.

OBAMA TORTURES TORTURE WHISTLEBLOWER - DIDN'T HE DENOUNCE TORTURE? - HAS HE CLOSED GUANTANAMO?

This post was received by email and it is of urgency and importance to all of us who believe that our governments have gone too far and need to be constantly reminded that we are watching them! PLEASE SUPPORT THIS PETITION TO LET OBAMA KNOW THAT HIS SECOND TERM NEEDS TO FULFIL THE PROMISES HE MADE WHEN FIRST ELECTED 4 YEARS AGO!

Tell Obama: Pardon CIA whistleblower John Kiriakou

SIGN THE PETITION

Dear Everybody,

President Obama has opposed waterboarding as torture since the 2008 campaign - so why is he sending the man who helped end that practice to prison?

Former CIA officer John Kiriakou, who helped expose the Bush administration's torture program, recently plead guilty to sharing the name of a colleague to journalists to use as a source. He is expected to receive a sentence of 30 months in prison.(1)

It's a cruel irony that the first agent connected to the CIA torture program to go to prison is the whistleblower who spoke out against the heinous practices of our government.(2)

From Bradley Manning to Aaron Swartz to John Kiriakou, the government's pattern of overzealously prosecuting activists and whistleblowers has ruined too many lives already. If President Obama wants to show he opposes torture and supports government transparency he should pardon Kiriakou immediately.

Tell President Obama to pardon CIA whistleblower John Kiriakou.

Click here to read and sign the petition: http://action.firedoglake.com/page/s/pardon-kiriakou

In fact, the Justice Department has refused to pursue any of the people who sanctioned and carried out the torture Kiriakou helped expose. Yet they have gone after whistleblowers and activists with a zeal unmatched by any administration in history. Bradley Manning faces life in prison. Aaron Swartz took his life to avoid prosecution. Thomas Drake, Shamai Leibowitz, the list goes on and on.

Kiriakou is the sixth person to be indicted under the Espionage Act by the Obama administration.(3)

It's time the president end this war on whistleblowers. He can start by pardoning John Kiriakou.

Sign our petition demanding President Obama pardon CIA whistleblower John Kiriakou.

Kiriakou served his country in the CIA for over 15 years, risking his life as an undercover agent chasing Al-Qaeda overseas — he does not deserve this treatment. Kiriakou says he engaged in rendition that resulted in the torture of detainees. He did not personally carry out torture. His leak was not even made public and presented no harm the country.

Compare this to the reckless and very public outing of Valerie Plame — a case that resulted in four felony convictions for Scooter Libby, but not a single day in jail. It is unconscionable that Libby could avoid punishment, while Kiriakou must face years in prison for exposing the illegal and inhumane actions of the government — actions the Obama administration claims to oppose.

President Obama should not punish, but pardon John Kiriakou for his exceptional patriotism in speaking out against torture.

Sign our petition demanding President Obama pardon CIA whistleblower John Kiriakou.

Thank you for standing up for transparency and fighting to protect whistleblowers.

In Solidarity,
Brian Sonenstein
Campaign Director,
Firedoglake.com
Sources:
(1.) Pardon John Kiriakou, CIA Whistleblower Convicted of Classified Leak, Kevin Gosztola, The Dissenter, 1/15/2013.

http://dissenter.firedoglake.com/2013/01/15/pardon-john-kiriakou-cia-whistleblower-convicted-of-classified-leak/

(2.) The Only CIA Officer Scheduled to Go to Jail Over Torture Never Tortured Anybody, Kevin Gosztola, The Dissenter, 1/6/2013.

http://dissenter.firedoglake.com/2013/01/06/the-only-cia-officer-scheduled-to-go-to-jail-over-torture-never-tortured-anybody/

(3.) Obama’s War on Whistleblowing: Ex-CIA Agent Indicted Under Espionage Act, Kevin Gosztola, The Dissenter, 4/6/2012.

http://dissenter.firedoglake.com/2012/04/06/obamas-war-on-whistleblowing-ex-cia-agent-indicted-under-espionage-act/

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OBAMA CONTINUES TORTURE OF BRADLEY MANNING - IMPRISONED 3 YEARS WITHOUT TRIAL!

Protest Bradley's 1,000th day in prison!

On February 23, the Bradley Manning Support Network is calling for supporters to take action internationally. Bradley has been denied his right to a speedy trial. This day will mark his 1,000th day imprisoned without trial. Enough is enough. Please register events here, and contact emma@bradleymanning.org for assistance.

Soldiers have the right to a speedy trial under the Uniform Code of Military Justice and the Constitution. Judge Lind will rule on the motion to dismiss the charges against Bradley days after he will have spent 1,000 days imprisoned without trial.

For following his conscience and standing up for Americans' right to know what our government is doing with our tax dollars, young whistle-blower Bradley Manning has spent three birthdays in prison. His excellent legal defense continues to fight hard against a government prosecution that hinders attempts to access important evidence at every turn.

In addition to aggressively persecuting Bradley with the Espionage Act and an egregious “aiding the enemy” charge, the military subjected him to unlawful pretrial punishment and have denied him his Constitutionally-mandated right to a speedy trial. Bradley's pretrial treatment has been wholly un-American. It's up to us as fellow citizens to see that our Constitutional rights are upheld and to ensure that the military isn’t given a free pass for their mistreatment of Bradley.

Join us on Saturday, February 23, in protesting Bradley's 1,000th day in prison. We welcome protests at military recruiting centers and other locations of high visibility, as well as teach-ins at community centers in preparation for larger protests during the court martial.

Find events in your area, and/or register your own!

Reach out to Campaign Organizer Emma Cape for handouts, posters, and assistance in working with the media.

Please e-mail emma@bradleymanning.org if you plan to organize an event. We will help!

Transparency isn’t treason: New York Times journalists criticize “aiding the enemy” charge

Pressure is mounting on the government to drop the unprecedenteded and dangerous charges that have been laid by overzealous prosecutors. Both the LA Times and NYT journalists argue the government is being unreasonable, and that the charges seriously threaten the freedom of the press.

Unprecedented charges that have been laid against Bradley Manning threaten the freedom of the press.

Last week in Fort Meade, MD, government prosecutors said that if PFC Bradley Manning had released documents to the New York Times instead of WikiLeaks, they would still charge him with indirectly ‘aiding the enemy,’ which carries a life sentence.

This would be unprecedented: never before has a soldier been sent to jail for ‘aiding the enemy’ as a result of giving information to a news outlet. Government prosecutors argue that Manning needn’t have intended to aid the enemy; merely that he knew Al Qaeda could use the information is enough. This would turn all government whistle-blowing into treason: a grave threat to both potential sources and American journalism.

Following this contention in court, the Los Angeles Times called on the government to drop the ‘aiding the enemy’ charge, writing in an editorial, “That charge strikes us as excessive in the absence of evidence that Manning consciously colluded with hostile nations or terrorists.”

Since then, even higher-profile media members have condemned the military’s pernicious claim and the precedent it would set. In an email in which she explained she couldn’t speak on behalf of her newspaper but could comment as a lifelong journalist and a former newspaper editor, New York Times public editor Margaret Sullivan said, “The implications for press freedom in the Bradley Manning prosecution trouble me, as does the federal government’s unprecedented targeting, in recent years, of whistleblowers and those who leak to the press. The issues certainly aren’t black and white, but if the public expects the press to do its crucial job in our democracy, people ought to be more worried than they apparently are. And I agree with the Los Angeles Times editorial that the “aiding the enemy” charge, which could result in a life sentence, is excessive.”

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