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Coming to Los Angeles starting January 15
The Close Guantánamo NOW Campus/Community
Speaking Tour January 9-17
If, as Obama says, "the war on terror" is winding down, why will this
government not close Guantánamo? Five years after Obama's first promise to close
Guantánamo, it remains open. Now the prisoners are so desperate, they would
rather starve themselves on a hunger strike than "live" in the torture of
indefinite detention. What is our responsibility to see that this immoral prison
closes once and for all?
With expert testimony from UK journalist Andy Worthington and challenging
analysis from Debra Sweet, director of World Can't Wait, the tour will begin in
New York City and go to Washington DC to join in protests at the White House
demanding the immediate closure of Guantánamo. From there it will go on to the
San Francisco Bay Area and southern California. The tour will hit key college
campuses, reaching law students and a whole generation of young people who have
never heard the stories of the Guantánamo prisoners.
Click here to
read more
Sustainer Drive
July 9-31 we are on a campaign to increase our
sustainer community by 40 individuals so that we can ready our people,
materials, and organization for the fall and beyond, when people really
need to hear our message that "Humanity and the Planet Come First - Stop
the Crimes of Your Government." Find
out more and get involved!
World Can't Wait strongly endorses:
Wednesday June 20th protest against Judge Bybee and defend 1st Amendment
right to free speech, 9th Circuit Court, 9:30 a.m. 125 South Grand Avenue,
Pasadena. Silent protest due to gag order. Mouths will be taped and tape
provided.
Please contact Sharon or Susan below:
Thank you!
Sharon Tipton,CodePink OC/LA
949 653-1097
Susan Harman,
CodePink SF
510 866-6743
TORTURE JUDGE GUILTY!
Jay Bybee, a judge on the US 9th Circuit Court of Appeals, the second highest
court in the land, was found guilty of war crimes by the Kuala Lumpur War Crimes
Commission, May 11, 2012.
https://www.commondreams.org/headline/2012/05/13
http://www.andyworthington.co.uk/2012/05/15/war-crimes-tribunal-in-malaysia-finds-bush-cheney-rumsfeld-guilty-of-torture-in-guantanamo-and-iraq/
Click here to
read more
Report on Orange County CA Yoo
Protest
By Sharon Tipton
April 10, 2012
On April 6, 2012, at a luncheon hosted by The Federalist Society of Orange
County, John Yoo spoke to a room of about twenty people at Gulliver's Restaurant
in Irvine, CA, about his new book on globalization. Outside protesters from
World Can't Wait, War Criminals Watch, Code Pink, Military Families Speak Out,
Occupy Orange County, Orange County Peace Coalition and Friends of KPFK wore
orange jumpsuits and held large signs educating passersby about the crimes of
Yoo. Inside, the crowd included two Code Pink protesters who, while blending in,
were getting ready to issue an arrest warrant to Yoo. The protesters' chants
outside were heard inside: "Arrest John Yoo!" and "John Yoo is a War
Criminal!"
Click here to
read more
Los Angeles World Can't Wait Protests John
Yoo
April 6, 2012
John Yoo wrote the torture memo, August 2002 that set up the waterboarding
and other methods of "enhanced interrogation" that the Bush regime used on
thousands. But Obama doesn't want to "look backward." We are fortunate that
there are people who don't forget the crimes.
Click here to
read more
John Yoo gave "legal" Cover for Torture and Other
War Crimes.
International Law Cannot Be Ignored
John Yoo argues that "everything is permitted" to the national security state
(read U.S. President). Laws, treaties, moral principles, nothing can stand in
the way! His legal memos provided not just the "legal cover" for totrue, but
also indefinite incarcerations without trial, rendition, massive spying, and
agressive war.
John Yoo is unrepentant for his part in justifying immoral and illegitimate
war on Iraq and boldly advocates for expansion of American imperialism in the
Middle East, urging Republican presidential candidates to "begin preparing
the case for a military strike to destry Iran's nuclear program." National
sovereignty by damned!
UC Berkely Law Professor John Yoo and Julian Ku, Professor of Law at Hofstra
Law School are in Southern California discussing their new book Taming
Globalization: International Law, the U.S. Constitution, and the New World
Order
Click here to
read more
Save our kids from the Military Industrial Complex
NO!!! You Can't Have Our Kids...
Join us weekly M-W-F 2:30pm-4:30pm
SHUT DOWN THE DOWNEY MILITARY CAREER CENTER
MAP
OF DOWNEY RECRUITING CENTER directly across the street from Downey High School
The Michael Slate Show
May 14 2010
Topics: Rendition, Obama, Marriage Equality
Steven Watt and Jennifer Turner of the ACLU, on the request by a Spanish
prosecutor for authorization to arrest 13 CIA agents for "extraordinary
rendition." Ray McGovern, former CIA analyst and a signer of "Crimes
Are Crimes, No Matter Who Does Them," a statement initiated by The World
Can't Wait. Rick Jacobs of the Courage Campaign supporting same sex marriage on
their "Testimony: Equality on Trial," project.
Click here to listen to the interviews
We Are Not Your Soldiers hits the ground running in San Leandro and Los Angeles...
San Leandro:
Robin Long, another Iraq veteran against the war who recently spent a year in
prison for refusing to fight in Iraq joined in, saying a few things about his
experience - going to Canada, getting deported, getting court martialed. It
made a big impression the students and the teachers. When they were
brainstorming about things that the students could do, some people raised
questions about whether there would be repercussions- would they get in
trouble? Other people pointed out that Robin Long had been in prison for a year
and this put the potential repercussions the students might face into
perspective.
read more...
Los Angeles:
As they watched the video, Matthis continued to talk to the students, asking
questions like, "does this guy look like a terrorist?" The students
saw a cameraman walking down the street, so they answered, "no." Then
the video shows this man getting shot from a helicopter. The students said
things like, "Oh my god, why did they do that!?" When the video
showed an injured man struggling to crawl away, the soldiers say things like,
"c'mon, pick just pick up a weapon," so that they could have
clearance to kill him. Matthis asked if it sounded like the soldiers
wanted to shoot the guy on the ground. Are these soldiers protecting freedom?
Is this soldier a hero? The answer from the students was a resounding NO!
read more...
Friday, the tour will be in Santa Barbara. You
can tune into KPFK online and listen live at 10am Pacific to Matthis Chiroux,
one of the We Are Not Your Soldiers
speakers (and an Iraq War resister), interviewed on the Michael Slate show.
Click here to listen to the interview
Bush Deserves Prison, Not a “Pro-Life”
Award
07 February 2010
We received this from War Criminals Watch
Honoring George Bush with a “Pro Life Award” is something like honoring an
iceberg for sinking the Titanic--although the cost in human life totals hundreds
of thousands, not hundreds. This is to say nothing of the millions of lives
disrupted, families broken, and horrendous injuries, both physical and
mental.
WAR IS NOT PRO LIFE! BUSH DESERVES PRISON, NOT A PRO LIFE AWARD for
Illegal Wars causing the death of over a million people, including thousands
of US deaths, sanctioning Torture, violating our Constitution, and smashing any
hopes for world peace into the foreseeable future.
Bush received this award from the Catholic group Legatus at its annual
Summit, Feb. 4-6, in Dana Point, Calif. In one of his of his last acts as
president, Bush declared Jan. 18, 2009, as “National Sanctity of Human Life
Day.” Incongruously for one who declared not one but two illegal and immoral
wars, he stated that “the most basic duty of government is to protect the life
of the innocent.”
Click here to
read more
Beneath The Surface with Michael Slate KPFK 90.7FM
Tuesday, October 13, 2009
Larry Everest on eight years of unjust war and occupation in
Afghanistan - a war that has fueled the Taliban, and killed thousands upon
thousands of Afghans. President Obama and his generals are mired in debate over
the hell of leaving and the hell of staying. Meanwhile, some in the progressive
movements in the US talk about a "reasonable rate of withdrawal."
We'll be talking about all this with Larry Everest, a reporter for Revolution
newspaper and author of Oil, Power and Empire, Iraq and the US Global Agenda.
Click Here to listen.
What kind of surge do you want?
Bombs and troops?
Or righteous resistance?
On Saturday night, WCW National Coordinator Debra Sweet was out on the Ellipse with the Eyes Wide Open exhibit, originally put together by the American Friends Service Committee to commemorate, with
empty boots, the US military lives lost in Iraq,
and Iraqi civilians killed there as well. For the first time, the display
was just the 870 military killed since 2001 in Afghanistan. To the side was a spiral of shoes of all kinds and
sizes, down to infant socks, commemorating the Afghani civilians, number
unknown, who have died in the occupation. Thousands of people came by,
and hundreds walked among the boots, including active duty military and
soldiers and Marine who had been in Afghanistan. They indicated a lot of questioning in the military right now.
Today, the first Monday in October, the Supreme Court's new session begins,
and World Can't Wait will be there protesting torture. Then, the protest
moves to McPherson Square, and a march to the White House. President Obama is holding an
outdoor press conference around 11:00 am, I hear, so perhaps we'll get there in
time to bring our loud anti-war message and make the news. World Can't
Wait will be displaying the Museum of U.S. Torture.
Many of you have seen parts of Rethink Afghanistan,
the new film by Robert Greenwald. Listen to the
voices of people trying to survive in Afghanistan after 8 years of bombing,
occupation, and relentless war, and tell me to "give Obama's surge a
chance!"
One father points to his 3 year old daughter standing in the mud with no shoes on and says:
"For God's sake, ...I want to sell this child, but nobody wants her. What can I do? I have nothing. I am
poor. I don't have any blankets, I don't have any shawls, I don't have any
clothes. There is no food that I can put in her mouth."
Watch this, and share it with others. YOU
can be part of the 48-hour surge of resistance, helping to provide World Can't
Wait with funds to run our National Office for the rest of the year, joining in
from anywhere. One of the protesters expecting to be arrested tomorrow in
non-violent civil resistance against the 8 years
of occupation of Afghanistan, messaged me that she wants to donate, but is not
sure she'll be out of jail by Tuesday. She, and you, can go right now to
give the virtual fund raiser an early bump!
THANKS FROM:
L.A. Chapter The World Can't Wait
P.S. Within the next weeks, President Obama will announce up to 20,000 more troops will deploy to
Afghanistan in addition to replacing up to 14,000 support troops with
"trigger-pullers." This will only mean increasing the death and
destruction brought to the Afghan people. And U.S. involvement in Iraq is not
only not over, but is becoming a permanent occupation.
Beneath The Surface with Michael Slate KPFK 90.7FM
August 18th 2009
Guests: Dr. Leroy Carhart, Debra Sweet
Topic: Defending abortion rights
Dr. Leroy Carhart is one of the only remaining providers of late
abortions in the U.S. Operation Rescue is going to Dr. Carhart's clinic the
weekend of August 28 and 29. Debra Sweet of World Can't Wait talks of protests
to defend this brave doctor.
Click Here to listen.
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Tortured past
Protesters hound federal judge who crafted torture memos for Bush
Pasadena Weekly
By André
Coleman , Megan
Sebestyen 07/09/2009
US Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals Judge Jay Bybee had just finished hearing
oral arguments in the case of Sprint v. Palos Verdes on Monday when Susan Harmon
stood up and asked a question.
“We’re here to ask you when you’re going to resign,” said Harmon, a Bay Area
member of the group Progressive Democrats of America, as she stared defiantly at
the judge. Bybee did not respond while guards dressed in blue blazers removed
Harmon and two other women from the courthouse.
“We will follow you,” Harmon vowed before being escorted out of the stately
West Pasadena courtroom and rejoining a dozen protesters standing in front of
the building.
Joining Harmon Monday were members of her organization and the anti-war
groups Code Pink and the World Can’t Wait, all of which have been calling for
Bybee’s resignation or impeachment since April, when President Obama
declassified documents showing Bybee was an architect of former President George
W. Bush’s torture policies.
Click here to
read more
Standing Against the Murder
of Abortion Provider Dr. George Tiller!
Speak-Out in Los Angeles
On Saturday, June 6th, 80 people gathered at a busy corner on the outdoor
Santa Monica Promenade to “Speak Your Rage” to honor Dr. George Tiller and to
resolve to keep abortion doctors safe. It was initiated by World Can’t Wait-LA,
Libros Revolucion bookstore and the Revolution Club-LA, and quickly gathered
endorsements from several NOW chapters, a student group, representatives from
Planned Parenthood Pasadena and the Women’s Reproductive Rights Assistance
Project, and UCLA Law Professor Frances Olsen, an international feminist legal
scholar.
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Rev. Ignacio Castueras, National Chaplain of Planned
Parenthood |
For almost two hours, in front of an attentive crowd, a variety of people
stepped forward to speak, from students to long-time veterans in the struggle
for a woman’s right to choose. There were 20 speakers, including Planned
Parenthood’s National Chaplain Rev. Ignacio Castuera (who travelled two hours
each way to participate) and 3 NOW chapter presidents, one of whom is also a
West Hollywood councilmember. An attorney read the powerful statement that
lawyer Gloria Allred sent from Wichita (see below).
Carol Downer who co-founded the Feminist
Women’s Health Centers is organizing women to publicly tell their stories, as
part of creating an atmosphere in society where women feel no shame for having
abortions. People brought to life how Dr. Tiller bravely and compassionately
saved the lives of women, and even young girls, who came to his clinic when
there was no else who would or could help. A number of defiant young women (as
well as men) spoke, including a high school student who came with her mom; a
student from the Feminist Alliance of Santa Monica College; a young religious
Black woman who decided at the end to speak and directed her story about having
two abortions at the anti-abortionists standing around; 2 volunteers from Libros
Revolucion who spoke to the dangerous “common ground” that Obama is calling for;
and 3 members of the Revolution Club-LA shared the mike and told about the
controversy in a class of pregnant teen-aged moms who had never seen anything
like the photo display “A Fetus is Not a Child” from Revolution
newspaper. Several anti-war groups were represented including Veterans for Peace
and the Topanga Peace Alliance.
Click here to
read more
World Can't Wait protest outside Obama fundraiser in Beverly Hills
30 people gathered at the very busy intersection in Beverly
Hills with a 20' orange banner that read "Release the Torture
Photos! Prosecute the War Criminals! worldcantwait.org".
Orange-jumpsuited "detainees" and people with white masks and orange
ponchos saying "No Torture" and "Prosecute War Criminals"
stood next to the new large WCW posters across from the Beverly Hilton
where Obama spoke at a fundraiser. Unlike the coverage of our press
conference last Thursday at West Hollywood City Hall (next to Beverly Hills),
all the local TV news, both English and Spanish-language, covered the
protest, as well as several radio stations, AP, UPI, and Getty Photos.
Click here to
read more
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Beneath the Surface with Michael Slate KPFK 90.7FM
May 26th 2009
Guest: Mark Ruffalo, actor and director, spoke at a press
conference in West Hollywood last week on torture. He talked about why people
need to demand that torture end, and that those responsible must be prosecuted.
Click Here to listen.
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LA Marathon - May 25, 2009
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City of West Hollywood and World Can't Wait Hold Joint Press Conference:
"No Torture" Banner at West Hollywood City Hall
May 21—The large orange banner hung down from near the ceiling in the lobby
of West Hollywood, California, City Hall read: "No Torture." The City of West
Hollywood, a community between Los Angeles and Beverly Hills, had taken a stand.
And in that lobby, an important press conference was held: "A Call to President
Barack Obama urging him to release torture-related photos and prosecute war
criminals, ex-top officials of the Bush Administration." The press conference
was called by the City of West Hollywood and The World Can't Wait.
City Council Member and long-time defender of human rights, John J. Duran
said, "President Obama must do what is right for our country's future and shed
light on the last eight years of the Bush administration's half-truths, abuse of
power and human rights both abroad and here at home. We will never be able to
put this behind us if the truth is not fully revealed and if we don't atone for
the way our country behaved." He was joined by: Debra Sweet, national director
of The World Can't Wait, the MC for the event; Mark Rapkin, a Los Angeles
attorney who represented a prisoner unjustly locked up at Guantánamo and has
continued to speak out against the continuing torture and imprisonment at that
prison; actor John Heard; director and writer Paul Haggis, whose films include
Crash and In the Valley of Elah; and actor and director Mark
Ruffalo.
Click here to
read more
Also:
Here's a front-page article re West Hollywood
press conference that came out May 28th edition of the weekly
Beverly Press: http://www.parklabreanewsbeverlypress.com/pdf/5.28%20issue.pdf
NO TORTURE:
Paul Haggis - Guantanamo - America's Shame
More videos from the West Hollywood press conference
Michael Rapkin: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BBoNZenOQX8&feature=channel
Mark Ruffalo: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tyX3mP0dcRA&feature=related
Mark Ruffalo: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DGIDXRh6dHo
April 23,2009
When the LA chapter of World Can't Wait joined others at Chapman
University last Tuesday (April 21st) to protest Torture Lawyer John Yoo, hundreds of
thousands saw photos of protesters in orange jumpsuits the following day, in
the LA Times and the OC Register (see video here). Reports of our
Teach-In Against Torture on Saturday even ran in the Chinese press!
Chapman Teach-In Against Torture
Teach-In Against Torture at Chapman University
School of Law, April 18, 2009. Torture professor John Yoo is currently teaching
at Chapman
Larry Everest
Larry Everest is autor of "Oil, Power and
Empire" and writes for Revolution Newspaper.
Part 1
Part 2
Part 3
Katherine Darmer
Catherine Darmer teaches at Chapman University School of Law
Part 1
Part 2
Michael Slate
Michael Slate is host of the Tuesday evening edition of
Beneath the Surface on KPFK 90.7, and writes for Revolution Newspaper.
Watch here
"We Won't Live in a Torture State!"
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The Church at Ocean Park,
Santa Monica
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Social Public Arts Resource Center (SPARC)
a non-profit art gallery and community
space - located in Venice, CA
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At a private home in Santa Monica
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Donate!
Donate via PayPal at worldcantwait_la@yahoo.com
Or send a check to:
World Can’t Wait
305 W. Broadway,
#185
NYC, NY
10013
Now is the time to donate – You are one of millions
of people who hate this regime and what it is doing.
Your financial support can make a huge difference
in the chances of driving this regime out.
We urgently need money to pay for more ads
to break into the media and reach the homes and
hearts of millions across the country who are looking
for a way to act, to support our volunteers working
full-time in our National Office and in DC, to supply
millions of pieces of materials and much more. We
need you to dig deep, but more than that to reach
out to many others (friends, family, colleagues)
who also dream of a very different world, and ask
them also to give as if the future depends
on it...because it does.
Donations over $100 are tax-deductible, and
those checks must be made out to the Alliance
for Global Justice and earmarked for WCW.
E-mail: worldcantwait_la@yahoo.com
Local
website: www.worldcantwait-la.com
National website: www.worldcantwait.org
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