Date: Tue, 10 Jan 2012 11:07:17 -0500
From: unacpeace@gmail.com
To: unac@lists.riseup.net
Subject: [unac] Please SIGN to support the right to protest at NATO & G8 Meetings in Chicago
| (please forward widely) Dear Friends, We are presently locked in a major legal and political battle with the City of Chicago and the federal government for the simple right to march and rally on Saturday, May 19, against the war and poverty agenda of the NATO/G8 summit meetings planned for May 19-21.
We need your name and generous financial contribution now to place the full-page advertisement that appears below in the Chicago Sun Times in the next few weeks. Below the ad is also a list of initial Signers. While any financial contribution that you are able to make now is appreciated, we hope that you can manage a contribution in the range of $25 - $100 to help pay for the ad.
Again, please send your contribution today and join us in this nationally coordinated effort to obtain formal permits to exercise our Constitutional right to free speech and assembly. We have no doubt that the six months of violence-baiting, threats of mass arrests, militarization of the Chicago Police Force and Chicago officials' refusal to grant the Coalition Against NATO/G8 War and Poverty Agenda a simple permit has a single objective: to discourage the massive turnout that we are projecting in these times of never-ending wars and attacks on the very fabric of life of people across the globe.
We need to raise around $8,000 in a matter of weeks to cover the cost of the ad and related expenses. You can contribute online via the DONATE button at our website (UNACPeace.org) or by clicking the link below or you can send your check payable to the United National Antiwar Coalition to UNAC, P.O. Box 123, Delmar, NY 12054. Click here to donate for the ad. Donations will go through our regular UNAC donation process: https://www.nationalpeaceconference.org/Donate.html To ad your name to the Sun Times Ad, please click here: https://nationalpeaceconference.org/SunTimes.html Or please respond to this UNACpeace@gmail.com stating your wish to sign the letter, with your full name, title (if appropriate), organizational affiliation (let us know if we may use the organization name as a signer of the ad) and the amount that you can contribute toward the publication costs. Click here for a statement by Occupy Chicago on the Chicago anti-protest ordinance. http://www.commondreams.org/headline/2012/01/09-3 In solidarity, Joe Lombardo and Marilyn Levin, Co-National Coordinators United National Antiwar Coalition
IN THE SPIRIT OF THE BILL OF RIGHTS... FREE SPEECH AND ASSEMBLY MUST NOT BE DENIED IN CHICAGO
To: Mayor Rahm Emanuel and Police Superintendent Gary McCarthy
We the undersigned wish to express our deep concern regarding attempts by the City of Chicago to suppress peaceful protests during the May 19-21, 2012 NATO and G8 summit meetings. Specifically Saturday, May 19 is the date when sizable numbers are expected to gather in Chicago to exercise their democratic rights under the U.S. Constitution.
Following an extraordinary – possibly unprecedented – delay of 20 weeks in responding to a request for written permits for a demonstration at Daley Plaza (118 N. Clark St.) on this date, a denial was received. While we have subsequently been notified by the Chicago Public Building Commission that permits will be granted for Daley Plaza to still unspecified groups, the vague language of this response again raises serious questions as to the City's intentions and especially so since our original application was filed the day immediately following the public announcement of the NATO/G8 meetings – almost six months ago. This is, frankly, not acceptable. Rather than repeat the City's past policies – which include the eviction of the celebrated Occupy Chicago encampment with numerous arrests – we would like the City to reverse course, welcome those attending protest events, and set a world standard for accountability, acceptance and respect for our guaranteed rights. We greatly regret early positions reported in the Chicago Tribune on October 23, 2011 that the harsh crackdown on Occupy Chicago – in a clear violation of the constitutional right to free speech and peaceful assembly – was some sort of precedent for the City's planned behavior next May.
Designating the NATO/G8 summits as a National Special Security Event (NSSE) does not give city and federal authorities the right to suspend the U.S. Constitution. The First Amendment clearly protects the right to free speech and assembly.
Efforts to correct these wrongs should begin immediately by allowing Occupy Chicago to camp in a public area, followed by issuing the permits in a timely manner that will ensure an orderly, peaceful, family-friendly experience for the City of Chicago next May during the meetings of NATO and the G8.
In that spirit, we petition you to: cease and desist from all actions that limit the constitutional rights of protesters to free speech and assembly; grant the Coalition Against NATO/G-8 War and Poverty Agenda, without delay, permits for rallies and marches within sight and sound of the forthcoming summits; cease making veiled threats of harsh treatment and arrest of those who are planning protests and those who are considering participation.
We live in troubled times where fundamental incursions on the right to assemble and peacefully protest in Chicago are coupled with ominous threats to our constitutional rights in general. Perhaps the most disturbing is the National Defense Authorization Act, approved by Congress on Dec. 15, that grants the government the right to conduct secret and indefinite detentions without recourse to counsel and without charges presented in a court of law. We look forward to a positive and specific response to this appeal. No one will benefit more than the City of Chicago itself. Once again, the whole world will be watching.
Noam Chomsky Ramsey Clark, Human Rights Attorney, former U.S. Attorney General Medea Benjamin, Founder CodePink Mark Johnson, Executive Director, Fellowship of Reconciliation Dr. Margaret Flowers, Congressional Fellow, Physicians for a National Health Program Tom Hayden, Political activist Bill Quigley, law professor Loyola University New Orleans Kathy Kelly, Co-coordinator, Voices for Creative Nonviolence Joe Lombardo and Marilyn Levin, Co-coordinators, United National Antiwar Coalition Jules Lobel, President, Center for Constitutional Rights Cynthia McKinney, Former U.S. Congress member Imam Abdul Malik Mujahid, Muslim Peace Coalition Imam A. Abdul Baqui, Islamic Leadership Council of Metro N.Y. Mike Ferner, Interim Executive director, Veterans for Peace Coleen Rowley, Peace activists, former FBI agent and whistleblower Michael Ratner, President Emeritus, Center for Constitutional Rights Dr. Agha Saed, National Chair, American Muslim Alliance Lynne Stewart, Human Rights Attorney and Political Prisoner Debra Sweet, Director, World Can't Wait Naomi Wolf, author Ann Wright, Retired U.S. Colonel and Diplomat Kevin Zeese, Antiwar leader David Swanson, Author and founder of WarIsaCrime.org Sara Flounders, Co-Director, International Action Center Leah Bolger, Commander, U.S. Navy ret., Vice President, Veterans for Peace Tom Burke, Committee to Stop FBI Repression Steve Downs, Director & Co-founder, Project Salam Shahid Buttar, Executive Director, Bill of Rights Defense Committee Peter Erlinder, Chairperson, National Coalition to Protect Civil Freedoms Alejandro Luis Molina, Co-coordinator, National Boricua Human Rights Network Jan Susler, People's Law Office, Chicago Dave Zirin, Author People's History of Sports in the U.S.
Anthony Arnove, author of Iraq: the Logic of Withdrawal and co-editor Voices of a People's History of the United States Jean Athey, Coordinator, Peace Action Montgomery MD Nellie Hester Bailey, Co-Convenor, Occupy Harlem Elaine Brower, National Steering Committee, World Can't Wait Bob Clarke, President, Chicago Committee to Defend the Bill of Rights David Cobb, Political Activist Gary L. Cozette, Program Director, Chicago Religious Leadership Network on Latin America Jim Ferlo, State Senator, PA, 38th District Paul George, Director, Peninsula Peace and Justice Center, CA Rick Greenblatt, San Diego Coalition for Peace and Justice Teresa Gutierrez, Coordinator, May 1 Worker & Immigrant Rights Coalition Larry Holmes, Coordinator, Bail Out the People Movement Patricia Hunt, Chicago CodePINK, Chicago Area Peace Action John Kirkland, Philly Against War James Lafferty, Executive Director, Nationa Lawyers Guild, LA Paul LeBlanc, Professor of History, La Roche College Jeff Mackler, Director, Mobilization to Free Mumia Abu-Jamal Ben Manski, Executive Director, Liberty Tree Foundation Suren Moodliar, Coordinator, Massachusetts Global Action Lucy Pagoada, Honduras Resistencia USA Trudy Quaif, Bethlehem Neighbors for Peace Sergio Reyes, Boston May Day Committee Simin Royanian, Solidarity with Iran Conrade Shahid, Secretary General, Pakistan USA Freedom Forum Michael Stephen Smith Esq. Co-host, Law and Disorder Radio Jill Stein, Green Party candidate for President of the U.S. Sue Udry, Executive Director, Defending Dissent Foundation Mel Underbakke, Ph. D., Director, Friends of Human Rights (list in formation)
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