Urgent! Protest at the Egyptian Embassy on March 6 at noon/On March 7 Silent vigil/potluck/viewing of THE CAMDEN 28

Dear CODEPINK DCer,

We need you to join us at an urgent protest tomorrow, March 6, at the Egyptian Embassy (3521 International Ct NW, Washington, DC 20008) at noon to demand justice for Medea Benjamin and the delegation to Gaza!
On her way to join a 100-woman international delegation to Gaza for International Women’s Day, CODEPINK co-founder Medea Benjamin didn’t expect what was about to happen when she landed at the Cairo airport in Egypt. The authorities detained her, held her overnight in a cell, and in the morning beat her to the point that it broke her arm, then violently deported her to Turkey. A few hours later, Nobel Peace Prize winner Mairead MaGuire and her colleague Ann Patterson, also with the delegation, were deported from the Cairo airport with no explanation.
Now the Egyptian authorities are blocking most of the remaining delegates from entering Egypt and traveling to Gaza. Around 40 French women and 6 members of the American delegation (including one of our CODEPINK DC interns!) have been stuck in limbo for hours at the Cairo airport, stripped of their passports and denied any food or explanation for their situation. Some have been threatened with deportation.
Why are the Egyptians detaining and deporting peaceful activists trying to stand in solidarity with the women of Gaza?? Our heart goes out to all of the activists and journalists who languish indefinitely in Egyptian prisons for speaking out against the new government!
Join CODEPINK DC at the Egyptian embassy (3521 International Ct NW, Washington, DC 20008) tomorrow, March 6, 2014, at noon, as we demand justice for Medea Benjamin and an end to the detention and deportation of peaceful activists!

We hope to see you there,

Alli and the CODEPINK DC team

There is a silent peace vigil on Fri., Mar. 7 from 5 to 6 PM outside the Cathedral of the Incarnation, University Parkway and St. Paul St. The vigil, sponsored by Homewood Friends and Stony Run Meetings, will remind us that War Is Not the Answer. Stop torture.

Since this is a First Friday, on Feb. 7 at 6:30 PM there will be a potluck dinner at Homewood Friends Meetinghouse, 3107 N. Charles St., Baltimore 21218 after the vigil. Then there will be a film screening. The Hiroshima-Nagasaki Commemoration Committee and others are continuing the FILM & SOCIAL CONSCIOUSNESS DVD SERIES. The DVDs will be shown at Homewood Friends Meetinghouse on the First Friday. At 7: 15 PM, a DVD will be shown with a discussion to follow. There is no charge, and refreshments will be available.

See THE CAMDEN 28 [USA, 2007], a documentary by Anthony Giacchino is about one of most important draft board raids. On Aug. 22, 1971, then-FBI director J. Edgar Hoover and Nixon Attorney General John Mitchell announced that 20 antiwar activists had been arrested the previous night attempting to break in and vandalize a Camden, New Jersey draft board office. Five days later, eight more plotters were indicted. Charged with conspiracy to remove and destroy files from draft, FBI and Army intelligence offices, destruction of government property and interfering with the Selective Service system, members of the "Camden 28" faced up to 47 years in federal prison. Included in the group were four Catholic priests, a Lutheran minister and 23 members of the "Catholic Left."

The Camden 28 held strong religious motives, and the FBI recognized their sway on public opinion. The film illustrates how far the government was prepared to go after the Catholic Left. This draft board raid is a prominent part of Betty Medsger’s new book THE BURGLARY, which is the “never-before-told full story of the history-changing break-in at the FBI office in Media, Pennsylvania . Contact Max at 410-366-1637 or mobuszewski at Verizon.net

Donations can be sent to the Baltimore Nonviolence Center, 325 E. 25th St., Baltimore, MD 21218. Ph: 410-366-1637; Email: mobuszewski [at] verizon.net. Go to http://baltimorenonviolencecenter.blogspot.com/

"The master class has always declared the wars; the subject class has always fought the battles. The master class has had all to gain and nothing to lose, while the subject class has had nothing to gain and everything to lose--especially their lives." Eugene Victor Debs