Chicagoans will show their support for wikileaks whistle-blower Pvt. Bradley Manning at 5:30 pm. tonight at Buckingham Fountain in Grant Park (350 S. Columbus Drive) as part of more than three dozen protests across the country and seven other nations. The protest is timed to coincide with the start of Manning’s trial for leaking the greatest number of government documents in history, including video showing the U.S. killing of several civilians in Baghdad, including two Reuters journalists.
The protest will also coincide with the arrival of renowned peace activist Cindy Sheehan and her cross-country “Tour de Peace” bike caravan to protest the continuing U.S. war in Afghanistan and drone wars in Pakistan, Yemen and Somalia, and threats of military action against Syria and Iran.
Besides the infamous “collateral murder” video which, until Manning leaked it, the Obama administration successfully covered up despite legal action by Reuters, Manning is credited with a number of other human rights accomplishments:
*** Publicizing the invading governments’ determination to keep troops in Iraq, despite their public pronouncements. The leak embarrassed the al-Maliki government into insisting that foreign troops leave;
*** Helping spur the “Arab Spring” of rebellions across North Africa, according to World Affairs Journal, by exposing the alliances of the Bush and Obama administrations with dictators and oligarchies in the region;
*** Showing that the Obama administration knew of the impending coup against Honduras’s elected government [2] in 2009, yet did nothing to stop it, let alone the wave of violence initiated by the coup regime once it took over.
If convicted, Manning faces a potential life sentence, yet none of the soldiers involved in the “collateral murder” video were ever charged, let alone convicted of any crime. The Obama administration has prosecuted more whistle blowers than every previous U.S. president combined.
Cindy Sheehan is widely credited for helping spark a rebirth of the anti-war movement in the United States with her “Camp Casey” protest in President George W. Bush’s hometown of Crawford, TX, which helped turn U.S. public opinion against the Iraq war, ultimately helping force the withdrawal of U.S. troops from the country.
Today’s protest is co-sponsored Gay Liberation Network, Chicago World Can’t Wait, Northwest Indiana Veterans for Peace, Chicago Area Peace Action and The Anti-War Committee.
For more information, contact the Gay Liberation Network at 773.209.1187 or email LGBTliberation@aol.com
