Nonviolent Resistance

By Patryk Wasilewski and Gareth Jones

WARSAW (Reuters) - Poland spurned as insufficient on Friday a U.S. offer to boost its air defenses in return for basing anti-missile interceptors on its soil but said it remained open to talks with Washington.

The decision by Poland, a staunch NATO ally, is a setback for the Bush administration drive to counter perceived threats from what Washington calls "rogue states," particularly Iran.

"We have not reached a satisfactory result on the issue of increasing the level of Polish security," Prime Minister Donald Tusk told a news conference after studying the latest U.S. proposal.

"The aim of the negotiations, in my view, is to enhance the security of our country. We still agree that it is fundamental for us to maintain our alignment with the United States, which has been, is and will continue to be our strategic ally."

In Washington, the State Department said it was studying Tusk's remarks closely.

By Lee Carter, BBC News, Toronto

A Canadian court has ordered the country's refugee board to re-examine an American deserter's rejected attempt for asylum in Canada.

The court ruled that the board made mistakes when it turned down Joshua Key's claim for asylum.

Mr Key served in Iraq in 2003 before deserting to Canada with his family while on leave in the US.

The ruling could affect scores of other US soldiers sheltering in Canada who have refused to fight in Iraq.

Possible deportations

Joshua Key served in Iraq as a US combat engineer in Iraq in 2003.

He claims that he witnessed several cases of abusive acts against civilians and the killing of innocent people.

While on leave at home in Oklahoma, he decided that he would not return to duty and took his family to Canada where he applied for asylum.

In this time of all-too-real imperialistic intrigues and conspiracies, it is important to challenge some of the occasional false claims that make their way around progressive circles which can then be used to discredit the left in general, distract people from tackling the genuine threats and encourage divisiveness within the movement. In this case, there are some ideologues on the far left who (in the mirror image of the right during the Cold War who insisted that all leftist Third World revolutions were hatched in Moscow) are insisting that nonviolent democratic revolutions from Serbia to Burma are all hatched in Washington and are blaming an aging pacifist writer working out of his tiny home office as somehow being the ringleader of this elaborate conspiracy. Unfortunately, some of these claims are now making there way into some more mainstream progressive networks as well and they need to be exposed.

Please consider joining me, Noam Chomsky, Howard Zinn, Dan Ellsberg, Steve Shalom, Frida Berrigan, Paul Ortiz, Mary Bull, Greg Bates, Sandino Gomez, Matt Rothschild and scores of other anti-imperialist activists, scholars and cultural workers in signing this letter in support of Gene Sharp and strategic nonviolent action:
http://stephenzunes.org/petition

By Stephen Zunes, www.fpif.org

Gene Sharp, an 80-year-old scholar of strategic nonviolent action and veteran of radical pacifist causes, is under attack by a number of foreign governments that claim that he and his small research institute are key players in a Bush administration plot against them.

Though there is no truth to these charges, several leftist web sites and publications have been repeating such claims as fact. This raises disturbing questions regarding the ability of progressives challenging Bush foreign policy to distinguish between the very real manifestations of U.S. imperialism and conspiratorial fantasies. READ THE REST.

July 1 - An antiwar legal defense victory rally and press conference was held today outside of Washington DC Superior Court and was attended by US military veterans and peace activists from around the country. Paul “zool” Zulkowitz of Woodmere, NY, represented by antiwar attorney Ann Wilcox, won an agreement with the United States Government on June 30. Zool voiced opposition during the public hearing with General David Petraeus at the Senate Armed Services Committee chaired by Sen. Carl Levin (D-MI) on April 8, 2008. Zool stood and chanted “Bring them home, bring them home! . . . ,” was arrested and charged with one misdemeanor count of “disruption of Congress.” Rather than a jury trial and possible 6 months in jail, zool walked out of the courtroom with a diversion agreement and a dismissal of the stay-way order from Capitol Hill.

A unanimous verdict that freed six protesters of trespassing charges may show respect for dissent.
By Leigh Donaldson, Portland Press Herald (Maine)

In late April, six peace activists stood victorious in front of Maine’s Penobscot County Superior Court.

A jury had acquitted them on criminal trespass charges for failing to obey a police request that they end their sit-in protest at the closing of U.S. Sen. Susan Collins’ office in the Margaret Chase Smith Federal Building.

It should be noted that six other protestors also had been arrested, but pleaded no contest, paid fines and were released.

These men, dubbed the “Bangor Six,” believed that the Constitution was being violated by the Bush administration’s involvement in Iraq and sought redress of their grievances as provided by the First Amendment.

Antiwar Press Conference and Victory Rally
Tuesday, July 1, 8:00 A.M.
DC Superior Court, 500 Indiana Ave., NW

June 30 - Paul “zool” Zulkowitz of Woodmere, NY, represented by antiwar attorney Ann Wilcox, won an agreement with the United States Government today. Zool voiced opposition during the public hearing with General David Petraeus at the Senate Armed Services Committee chaired by Sen. Carl Levin (D-MI), on April 8, 2008. Zool stood and chanted “Bring them home, bring them home! . . . ,” was arrested and charged with one misdemeanor count of “disruption of Congress.” Rather than a jury trial and possible 6 months in jail, Zool walked out of the courtroom with a diversion agreement and a dismissal of the stay-way order from Capitol Hill.

By Stephanie Westbrook, U.S. Citizens for Peace & Justice - Rome

On Friday, June 20, just days before the area known as Dal Molin was to be turned over to the U.S. military as the site for a second base in Vicenza, Italy, the administrative court of the Veneto region ruled to suspend all work. In the case filed by Codacons, a consumer and environmental advocacy group, the court’s findings included failure to consult the local population with regard to the decision for the new base, as required by a Memorandum of Understanding between Italy and the U.S. The court further ruled the apparent “verbal” approval of the project – no formal act has ever been presented – by the former Prodi government to be extra ordinem and “absolutely incompatible in view of the importance of the matter and the traditional principals of administrative law.”

US BASE IN VICENZA: CODACONS, VENETIAN COURT ADMITS APPEAL
By AGI

Jan Tamas and Jan Bednar, after 21 days, suspended their hunger strike
on the 2nd June but it continues in relay form in the Czech Republic
with the participation of politicians, scientists and artists, etc.

Here is the video message by Jan Tamas:
http://nenasili.cz/en/1527_video-message-from-jan-tamas-lets-expand-our-...

To give even more force to this great nonviolent protest, we are
launching a Worldwide 1-Day Hunger Strike on June 22nd proposing to
everyone a simple but significant gesture: let’s not eat for one day to
oppose Star Wars and say to the world powers: “Stop feeding the war
machine and start feeding the people!”

It’s scandalous that one thousand million dollars are destined to
military spending, when with different choices this money could solve
the problems of hunger, lack of education and the environment.

In the site:
http://nenasili.cz/en/1494_worldwide-hunger-strike-22th-june-2008

By AFP

A month after US army reservist Matthis Chiroux publicly refused to deploy to Iraq, the former sergeant on Sunday set himself up for possible prosecution by failing to report for active duty with his unit in South Carolina.

"Tonight at midnight, I may face further action from the army for refusing to reactivate to participate in the Iraq occupation," Chiroux told reporters in Washington.

"I stand here today in defense of those who have been stripped of their voices in this occupation, the warriors of this nation...", Chiroux read from a statement as his father Rob, who had travelled to Washington from Alabama to support his son on Father's Day, stood beside him.

Last month, Chiroux rejected an order calling him back to active duty in Iraq, saying he considers the war "illegal and unconstitutional."

Chiroux served five years in the army, with tours in Afghanistan, Japan, Germany and the Philippines.

Arcata, California

Arcata Youth Protection Act qualifies for November Ballot.

On Wednesday June 11, the Arcata City Clerk issued a Certificate of Sufficiency for the voter initiative petition to place the Arcata Youth Protection Act on the November 2008 ballot. The proposed ordinance will prohibit military recruiting of any person under the age of eighteen within the City of Arcata.

More than 2100 Arcata voters signed the petition. Volunteers with North Coast United to Protect Youth have been waiting six weeks for confirmation that they had enough signatures to fulfill the requirement to place an initiative on the ballot. To qualify for the ballot, 1023 valid signatures were required, which is ten percent of the registered voters in Arcata.

By Ondřej Bouda, The Prague Post Online

Greenpeace activists who declared an independent state called Peaceland at the site of the planned U.S. radar base at the Brdy military area were detained June 9 when military police cleared the area of their encampment.

By press time, five demonstrators had been taken to the police station in Příbram. Some were removed from trees, where they had been manning surveillance platforms.

The activists had occupied the location since April 28 to protest the proposed base. On June 2, they’d decided that a declaration establishing an independent state would be their next attempt to get the attention of government officials.

On June 11, 2008, members of the Veterans for Peace (VFP) organization held a press conference, at 1 PM, on Capitol Hill, demanding the impeachment of President George W. Bush. The event took place in room 1629 of the Longworth House Office building. Later in the day, the activists planned to meet with House Judiciary Chairman, Rep. John Conyers (D-MI), to personally deliver to him their “Petition for Impeachment” which, according to VFP’s President, Elliott Adams, contains “over 22,000 signatures.” Please check the VFP’s web site, at:
http://www.veteransforpeace.org for the result of that session and for future updates. The VFP was founded in 1985. It now has 7,000 members and 120 chapters around the country. This video contains excerpts from the press conference. A longer version of it will appear on Google later tonight.

By Jonathan Hutto, Sr., The Nation Institute
http://www.alternet.org/story/87757

The following is an excerpt from Anti-War Soldier: How to Dissent Within the Ranks of the Military, from Nation Books.

On November 9, 1969, the New York Times published an open appeal by 1,365 active-duty service members calling for an end to the Vietnam War and for no punishment for participating in the historic Vietnam Moratorium march. The petition of these soldiers, representing 80 bases and ships throughout the world, had a huge impact and helped establish the (limited) civil liberties and rights GIs have today. The members of the GI Movement risked their careers and personal security by signing this petition and participating in subsequent actions.

Will you join in a day of fasting in opposition to imposing a U.S. military base on the people of the Czech Republic?

Look who's fasting:
List to date

Beth Adams (Greenfield, Massachusetts)
Bob Anderson (Albuquerque, New Mexico)
Dennis Apel (Guadalupe, California)
Ivan Braun (New York, New York)
Sally Breen (Windham, Maine)
Kelli Brew (Gainesville, Florida)
Anna Maria Caldara (Bangor, Pennsylvania)
Maxine Caron (Byron Bay, Australia)
David W. Chipman (Harpswell, Maine)
Kathe Chipman (Harpswell, Maine)
Sung-Hee Choi (New York, New York)
Michael Connelly (Rochester, New York)
William Coop (Brunswick, Maine)
Jeremy Corbyn, MP (London, England)
Frank Cordaro (Des Moines, Iowa)
Robert Daniels II (Bethlehem, Pennsylvania)
Lynn DeFilippo (Nome, Alaska)
Christine DeTroy (Brunswick, Maine)
Aurel Duta (Bucharest, Romania)

Members of Veterans for Peace will deliver 22,000 signatures to Conyers’ office and sit-in until he agrees to meet

Visuals include:

* 5 x 2-foot banner, “IMPEACHMENT: IT’S THE LAW!” and oath of office excerpt;
* 30 x 40-inch poster enlargement of laws and treaties violated by Bush administration;
* VFP members wearing red, white and blue “Veterans For Peace” garrison caps.

MADISON, WI – On March 19, 2008, five years after the war and occupation of Iraq began Bonnie Block, David Nordstrom, and Joy First were arrested at a military recruiting station in Madison, WI. While other activists read names of the war dead on the sidewalk outside the recruiting station, the three activists went inside to talk to recruiters. They were arrested and charged with trespassing, which carried a $424 fine.

On June 9, the three activists were to appear before Judge Dan Koval in Madison Municipal Court. However, charges against the three were dismissed by Madison City Attorney Marcie Paulson when the military officer who had been subpoenaed for the trial failed to appear.