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Occupy London gathers today for Bradley Manning and this Sunday walks for peace

 

A day after accused WikiLeaks whistleblower Bradley Manning’s pre-trial hearing began in the US, Occupy London, UK Friends of Bradley Manning, Veterans for Peace, London Catholic Workers and others will meet today for a gathering outside the US Embassy at 2pm. 17 December marks Bradley Manning’s 24th birthday, the second that he has spent in detention.

Naomi Colvin, a supporter of Occupy London and organiser with the Bradley Manning Support Network said: “Bradley Manning is a nominee for the Nobel Peace Prize yet his pretrial hearing is only starting now, some 19 months after he was first arrested in Iraq.

“The conditions of his detention continue to be the subject of an official UN investigation and his lawyer has expressed doubt about whether he can receive a fair trial.  We do not know who was responsible for the disclosures of military and diplomatic information released into the world by WikiLeaks, but whoever it was deserves our support as a whistleblower and a hero.”

Occupy London supporters will walk for peace

Tomorrow Sunday 18 December, peace groups of all faiths and none, will walk from Occupy London’s occupation beside St Paul’s Cathedral to the peace camp at Parliament Square – the longest continuous peace protest in the country. During the walk they will deliver an invoice for the cost of recent wars, to the War Cabinet in Whitehall.

12pm The Bank of Ideas

2:30pm The War Cabinet

3pm Parliament Square

Hundreds of people are expected to join in the walk, expressing their opposition to UK government’s policies overseas, especially in Afghanistan. They will also be voicing their concern at all future threats of war, particularly towards Iran.

Organisers of the peace walk said: “After 10 years,  the war in Afghanistan is at its bloodiest yet. Far from winding down as politicians claim, the violence is increasing. The recent attack that killed 24 Pakistani soldiers shows the dangerous potential for escalation. Nearly 400 British soliders have been killed and at the current rate it will not be surprising if that tragic figure is reached by New Year. Meanwhile tens of thousands of Afghan civilians have been killed, more than anyone bothers to count.

“Now the government, together with the US, is threatening a new war on Iran. This is despite the fact that the recent IAEA report contained no new evidence that Iran is developing nuclear weapons. The western powers seem to be doing everything possible to increase tension with Iran. The expulsion of Iranian diplomats in response to protests at the British Embassy in Tehran closes down one of the last channels for negotiation. This kind of brinkmanship can only antagonise the Iranian regime. Any attack on Iran would have unimaginable consequences.

“These wars are not only unjust, they also cost billions of pounds. To take just one example, the war in Afghanistan costs £4.5bn a year, the same amount being cut from public sector pensions. These wars are waged only in the interest   of the 1% – a government cabinet of millionaires and their friends in the oil and arms companies.

“We the 99% demand peace. We stand for a world free from austerity, corporate corruption and war. This is the kind of world that Occupy London and other occupations worldwide represent, from Cairo to Barcelona to Oakland. To this end we will be handing in an invoice for the wars of the past ten  years to the War Cabinet on Whitehall at 2.30-3pm.

“Join with us on Sunday 18 December 18 to say no to the continued war in Afghanistan, no to any future attack on Iran, yes to world peace and peace in the city of London.”

 

5 Responses to “Occupy London gathers today for Bradley Manning and this Sunday walks for peace”

  1. There is so much oppression in the West dressed up as Justice through the Courts.

    Just imagine if, at Chinese Riot Police request, a Chinese Judge issuing an Order, demanding western journalists for BBC/Channel 4 etc to hand over the footages they have taken in Wukan village in China so the footages can be used to identify the protestors. All of us will be outraged.

    Yet, Essex police has applied to the Court for a production order demanding from BBC, ITN and Sky News, all footages taken during 2 days eviction at Dale Farm.

    This is a truly oppressive use of the laws.. But if the dirty oppression is put through the machine of our Judiciary, suddenly, they become something dressed in the cloak of democracy, looking like a shinning example of the law and order.

    However, Oppression is oppression, Judges wigs and fancy costumes may fool some of us some of the time, but not all of us all of the time.

    Let’s wait and find out if our Judges are the dogs of the State just like the Judges in those dictator states that have been toppled one by one.

    Bradley Manning is a history changing true hero. The Judge at his trial is a puppet of the State. They may very well put the Judge’s gown on a monkey. Bradley Manning will always be remembered. Nobody will remember the monkey at this trail.

     
  2. I am the 1%. Yes, I was one of those evil hedge fund managers. Yup. Every day, I awoke at dawn, put on my evil outfit of heels and stockings, left my evil lair before my children awakened, and trounced over pensioners and school children to obtain my evil spot on the tube to get to my evil place of business. Once there, I cackled evilly all day whilst I made investment decisions which returned good, not great, but consistent, low-risk returns for my investors. I took long lunches, bolting down yoghurt pots while attending my daughter’s dance recitals. I give my evil money to charitable organisations, but not as some kind of tax-evasion loophole. I would’t know a loophole if one met me on the street and handed me a small vial which said “Drink Me.” I donate my evil time to a human rights organisation. And I vote for, and donate money to, politicians who promise to raise my taxes and bring peace. WHICH BRINGS ME TO THIS ARTICLE AND IS WHERE I GET TWEEKED!

    Up until reading this entry about your walk for peace in Sunday, I have admired your cause, your efforts, your passion. I have ignored your stereotyping, painting all bankers with the same brush. I have forgiven your hypocrisy (where’s your rhetoric against the 1% who are Facebook inventors, iPhone designers, footballers, entertainers, artists and Simon Cowell? Is their wealth less evil than mine? Did they work harder for it, make more sacrifices for it?) I will overlook this. But when you say, “these wars are waged only in the interest of the 1% – a government cabinet of millionaires and their friends in the oil and arms companies,” I’m sorry, I have to object. You’ve really gone too far.

    You don’t get to co-opt peace and pretend that it is embraced by all of the 99% and spit-upon by the 1%. You don’t get to blame our involvement in Iraq and Afghanistan on the 1% whilst implying that everyone in the 99% was dead-set against us joining the war. At least not without looking stupid.

    So carry on – your work is admirable. But please don’t paint me as a war monger. When you stretch your rhetoric to the breaking point it merely weekend your argument.

     
  3. Irrespective of the views of particular individuals who may work in the banking industry, the system that enriches them is at the root of the credit crisis and the whole economic catastrophe that ordinary people are now facing. The wars in Afghanistan and Iraq were an integral part of that. One very important fact is that enormous efforts were made by central banks in the early 2000s to prevent an ordinary cyclical capitalist recession from taking place.

    Why? The clue is to be found in the existence of a body called the ‘Project for a New American Century’, which sought to use the events of 9/11 to embark on a major program of war and conquest in the Middle East. This was not some fringe body, but a key component of the Bush administration, with fervent support for many of its aims from the most devoted servanst of Anglo-US capital on both sides of the pond, as well as in the US. It also linked the aims of British and US capital with those of Israel, which also for perhaps more local reasons wanted the US to destroy some of its enemies that it was too weak to deal with itself.

    The economic bubbles that were allowed to inflate, which led to the current economic catastrophe, were allowed to happen to fulfil one simple imperative – that it is much easier to garner popular support, or at least acquisence, in an aggressive war programme if there is some semblance of prosperity at home, than if there is a recession and people are hurting economically. The recent wars and the credit crunch/crisis are linked and inseparable in real life, whatever some individual in the banking industry may think about it one way or another is hardly the point.

     
  4. I think I’m banned.

     
    • Hah! Evidently not!

       

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