Tuesday, May 31, 2011

WHAT MEMORIAL DAY MEANS TO ME/ The "Greatest" Generation?

WHAT MEMORIAL DAY MEANS TO ME

 

    I was a war baby.  My dad was the chief interpreter at the war crimes trial for General Yamashita in 1945.  General Yamashita had not ordered the slaughter of innocents in the Philippines but he was held criminally responsible even though he opposed what his subordinates had done.  He was convicted by the war crimes court and hanged.  My father thought this was an unjust act and he had developed a great admiration and respect for General Yamashita during the trial.  Later he authored an article that appeared in the Marine Corps Gazette arguing against the legality of Yamashita's hanging that attracted more than a little attention.

    My dad was also a war hero.  He was attached to the First and Second Marine Corps Divisions' general staffs and was involved in the interrogation of prisoners of war.  These were not torture conditions.  During the war Japanese soldiers were taught the ethics of bushido, or fighting to the death, so there were very little prisoners to be taken especially in the early phases of the war.  My dad had to fight within the Marine Corps for the humane treatment of Japanese prisoners because many American soldiers were angry about what Japanese soldiers had done to their comrades.  He and other intellligence officers designed campaigns to inform not-yet-surrendered solders to surrender and promised them humane treatment and food.  My dad witnessed untold carnage as he was at Guadalcanal, Saipan, Tinian, the Marshall and Gilbert Islands.  He was awarded the Legion of Merit among other medals and eventually reached the rank of lieutenant colonel in the reserves.

    I was conceived shortly after his return from the trial and born in October 1946.  As a youngster we attended military parades on Memorial Day in my home town of Madison, Wisconsin.  But my parents had both had enough of war and violence.  They left the Congregational Church (where my grandfather had been a praise the lord and pass the ammunition kind of preacher during World War I).  They became Quakers, and so my long education as a Quaker and pacifist had a beginning. 

    During the Vietnam War, I chose to leave college rather than hide under a student deferment.  I became a conscientious objector and worked for nearly one nearly unbelievable, impossible year on a North Dakota Indian Reservation, then eventually left for Philadelphia where I started what would become a lifelong medical career.  I first worked in a psychiatric hospital, then transferred to a medical hospital.  I married a wonderful young woman who had recently graduated from the University of Pennsylvania school of nursing.  I loved working in the hospital on a retired police and firemen's ward, but I clearly wanted to get back to college and become the writer that I thought I was destined to be, when a nursing supervisor asked me if I wanted to go the hospital's nursing school. 

    The thought knocked my socks off.  I'd never, ever considered a career in nursing, but here I was already working in an environment helping people, some as they were dying or already dead, and it affected my heart.  Life is indeed a precious commodity and I was doing my best to help.

    It took me 25 years to act on the supervisor's suggestion, because I had to have my writing career, but the seed had been planted deeply within me.  At age 45 I decided to go back to school and five years later at age 50, after much anguish and turmoil, I finally graduated as an R.N.  For the last nearly 15 years I worked in hospitals and now I work in Maryland prisons.

    In some ways I regret we no longer have a draft because its abolition has enabled many many people to avoid taking any responsibility for the wars that our nation gets engaged in.  I personally am thankful for what happened to me because it positively impacted my life.  National non-violent service can be a very good endeavor.  But I am also extremely distressed that so many in our country don't give a moment's thought about the adviseability of using violence.  This is wrong.  I grieve for what our country is doing, but I also realize that there are many good things that our country still does.

    As peace activists we need to rededicate ourselves to advocating for peace.  This is difficult and often discouraging.  But in my despair I remember what both Rev. M. L. King and Mohandas Ghandi did with their lives, and how much they accomplished.  That gives me hope that as beacons of peace and good will, we can still be effective. 

 

Krist Boardman 

 

The "Greatest" Generation?

 

My father’s record in combat spoke for itself.  I have here on display in my office his Asiatic-Pacific Campaign medal with three bronze service stars, each awarded for “action against the enemy” at Saipan, Tinian, and Okinawa, respectively.  Furthermore, when I was a young boy, his fellow warriors elected him to be the Commander of the local American Legion Post, a distinct honor as he saw it.  He brought along my mother, my sister, and me for the installation ceremony and dinner that night.            

My father had nothing good and nothing bad to say about the Japanese Imperial Army and its soldiers.  But it was obvious from his tone of voice that he considered them to be dangerous warriors who were prepared to fight to the death, as large numbers of them did at his hands.  He never expressed any regret about killing them.  Nevertheless, my father and mother never raised any of us eight children to be biased or prejudiced against the Japanese or any other people for that matter. 

My father was extremely proud of his combat service in the Marine Corps against the Japanese Empire that had attacked his country, and for the rest of his life continued to consider himself to be a Marine, as is true for all Marines.  But he never bragged about his combat experiences in the war to me or to anyone else that I was aware of.  He never said that he was a “hero” or that he had ever done anything “heroic.”  My father never said anything about being part of some “greatest generation.”  Indeed, he never told me there was anything “great” about having fought that war.  I never got the impression from my father that he believed fighting the Japanese Imperial Army had made him “great” in any way.  In fact, my father was just “grateful” to the Almighty that he had survived the war. 

As I learned from my father, there is nothing “great” about fighting a war. And fighting a war does not make you “great” either. All the rest is just pro-war propaganda.

Professor Francis  Anthony  Boyle, Junior.

Author, Protesting Power: War, Resistance and Law (Rowman & Littlefield)

Francis A. Boyle

Law Building

504 E. Pennsylvania Ave.

Champaign, IL 61820 USA

217-333-7954 (voice)

217-244-1478 (fax)

(personal comments only)

 

Sr. Jackie Hudson .... 65 Hours and Counting

Mary Lou Pedersen <mpeder3926@comcast.net>

Tue, May 31, 2011

 

Jackie – 65 Hours and Counting

 

Posted on May 31, 2011 by Disarm Now Plowshares

http://disarmnowplowshares.wordpress.com/

 

Editor’s Update 9:45 am PST, 5/31: The prison had Jackie transported

to the county hospital this morning where she was evaluated; it was

determined that she was not [currently] in cardiac distress, and we

have no other details yet.  Jackie’s attorney is scheduled to speak

with her in less than an hour.  Our efforts have had likely had a

positive effect.

 

Jackie’s attorney has asked that we all hold off on any more calls to

the prison until we get his update a bit later today so that we don’t

scuttle his efforts to speak with her. Thanks!!!

----

 

Update on Jackie May 31, 2011

 

(from Joe Power-Drutis jpdrutis@gmail.com )

 

This day promises to be a pivotal one in Jackie’s life and ours.

Whatever struck Jackie in the afternoon of May 28th, we can only

assume it heart because of its symptoms, she has remained in pain,

frequently crying out for assistance, and at least many of her cries

have gone forth unanswered by her human captors.

 

Nearly 65 hours have elapsed since Sr. Carol Gilbert first called

pleading for someone to come and provide Jackie much need care. Yes,

65 hours have elapsed when medical authorities tell us minutes make a

difference. It is 65 hours that Ardeth, Carol, Jean and Bonnie had to

sit helpless, literally feet away from where Jackie would lay. During

these 65 hours the legal system would ostensibly shut down and

everyone would go to the beach over Memorial Day Weekend.

 

Well now we are at the end of that 65 hour period and I feel confident

in my heart that Jackie will be liberated from, as Dorothy Day would

say, “this dirty filthy rotten system” that keeps her in chains and

without the care she so desperately needs.

 

Over the past 48 hours you have been a part of a very large response

from people North to South and East to West, that have wrote, called,

planned and made contacts on behalf of our sister Jackie. This morning

Medical, Legal and Political representatives will weigh in on Jackie’s

behalf and I believe they will accomplish their objective . Our main

hope is that the courts will intervene and order Jackie either

released from Jail so that we might ensure her care or order the Irwin

County Detention Facility in Ocilla to send her to the Irwin County

Hospital immediately for proper evaluation and treatment.

 

Nothing short of this will be acceptable. I am making plans for going

to Ocilla soon and will send out word through this service when I

catch wind of any development.

 

I pray this day that the men and women, who will do all they can on

Jackie’s behalf, will be successful in ensuring she receives the care

she desperately needs

--

U.S. Boat to Gaza Announces Passenger List

For Immediate Release: May 31, 2011

Contacts:

Felice Gelman, 917-912-2597

Donna Nevel, 917-570-4371

 

"WE ARE UNARMED AND WE ARE SAILING"

On Anniversary of Mavi Marmara Killings, U.S. Boat to Gaza
Announces Passenger List

New York, NY-May 31, 201l. Organizers of the U.S. Boat to Gaza announced today that they expect some 50 people will be aboard The Audacity of Hope when it joins the second "freedom flotilla" in late June to break the siege of Gaza.

The announcement came on the year's anniversary of the 2010 Israeli attack on unarmed passengers aboard the Mavi Marmara, killing nine, including an 18-year old U.S. citizen of Turkish descent.

Leslie Cagan, coordinator of the U.S. Boat to Gaza, said, "We are sailing-despite threats by the Israeli armed forces to use attack dogs and snipers against us-and despite frantic diplomatic pressure by the Israeli government to prevent other countries from allowing the flotilla to sail." She commented that while Egypt has just opened the Rafah border to Gaza, the maritime blockade and the Israeli siege of Gaza still exist.

So far, 34 passengers and four crewmembers have confirmed that they will be sailing on The Audacity of Hope. They range in age from 22 to 87 years old and live in 14 states in every region of the U.S. All are committed to non-violence. Members of the press will also be on the boat.

Varied occupations are represented by the passengers, including retired film producer, construction worker, retired teacher and engineer, student, author, nurse, EMT, firefighter, activist, jazz musician, retired military personnel, professor social worker and lawyer. More than half the participants are women.

Passengers and crew will gather in Athens on June 21, 2011 in advance of the anticipated sailing date, which will depend on weather conditions and logistics.

The Audacity of Hope will carry as its cargo thousands of letters of friendship and solidarity with the people of Gaza from people throughout our country. Cagan said that inspections of the boat and its passengers prior to departure will prove the non-violent nature of the mission.

Richard Levy, attorney and passenger on The Audacity of Hope, explained that "Because Israel occupies Gaza, and accordingly has obligations under the Geneva Conventions, it cannot legally blockade Gaza." Therefore, he continued, "attempts by the Israeli government to prevent ships from going to Gaza are equally illegal."

A list of confirmed passengers and crew is attached. Short biographical statements from each of them can be found at http://ustogaza.org/passengers-on-the-audacity-of-hope/


PASSENGERS ON THE AUDACITY OF HOPE

Nic Abramson - Woodstock, NY
Johnny Barber - Gallatin Gateway, MT
Medea Benjamin - Washington, DC
Greta Berlin - Los Angeles, CA
Hagit Borer - Los Angeles, CA
Regina Carey - San Rafael, CA
Gale Courey Toensing -Canaan, CT
Erin DeRamus - Portland, OR
Linda Durham - Sante Fe, NM
Debra Ellis - Santa Cruz, CA
Hedy Epstein - St. Louis, MO
Steve Fake - New Orleans, LA
Ridgely Fuller - Waltham, MA
Megan Horan - West Seattle, WA
Kathy Kelly - Chicago, IL
Kit Kittredge - Quilcene, WA
Libor Koznar - New Britain, CT
G. Kaleo Larson - Northern CA
Richard Levy - New York, NY
Richard Lopez - Tumwater, WA
Ken Mayers - Sante Fe, NM
Ray McGovern - Arlington, VA
Gail Miller - New York, NY
Robert Naiman - Urbana, IL
Henry Norr - Berkeley, CA
Ann Petter - New York, NY
Gabe Schivone- Tucson, AZ
Kathy Sheetz - Richmond, CA
Max Suchan - Chicago, IL
Brad Taylor - New York, NY
Len Tsou - New City, NY
Alice Walker - Northern CA
Paki Wieland - Northampton, MA
Ann Wright - Honolulu, HI

CREW OF THE AUDACITY OF HOPE

John Klusmire, captain
David Smith, engineer
Yonatan Shapira, mate
David Schermerhorn, mate

***

Follow the US Boat to Gaza on Twitter: http://twitter.com/usboattogaza

 




--
Desiree

"If we wish to create a lasting peace we must begin with the children." Gandhi

www.codepink.org
http://www.moveoveraipac.org/
www.costofwar.com
www.collateralrepairproject.org


"I like your Christ, I do not like your Christians. Your Christians are so unlike your Christ." Gandhi

"If I can't dance, I don't want to come to your revolution!" Emma Goldman

 

CIA prisons in Poland 'illegal'

http://www.news24.com/World/News/CIA-prisons-in-Poland-illegal-20110530

 

CIA prisons in Poland 'illegal'

2011-05-30 18:02

Warsaw - Secret prisons operated by the US Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) on Polish territory violated international law and the Polish constitution according to legal experts, reported the daily Gazeta Wyborcza on Monday, citing sources close to an investigation.

The CIA held terror suspects inside a military intelligence training base in Stare Kiejkuty, north-eastern Poland from 2002 to 2005, anonymous Polish intelligence officers have said.

Public prosecutor Jerzy Mierzewski had wanted to charge officials from the 2001-2005 Democratic Left Alliance government with violating the constitution, unlawful detention and participation in crimes against humanity, the daily reported.

The left-wing party is today Poland's second largest opposition party. Polish politicians who were in power when the prisons allegedly operated have denied allegations that CIA prisons were located in the country.

Mierzewski, however, was withdrawn from the case two weeks ago, the daily wrote. His supervisor, Dariusz Korneluk, declined to comment on the reason for the dismissal.

Mierzewski had asked international law experts in February to determine whether the CIA prisons were lawful and constitutional, the daily said.

No US assistance

The law experts replied in May in a 50-page report that the prisons were unlawful, according to both international law and the Polish constitution. The US regulations that allow for waterboarding were also against international law, the experts added.

Prosecutors have been investigating allegations about the secret prisons since 2008, but have not released their findings.

According to Wyborcza, Poland and the US agreed that the US would not reply to a Polish request for assistance in the case. This would prolong the investigation until the case could be suspended, the daily reported, citing a source in the prosecutor's office.

Prosecutors representing Saudi national Adb al-Rahim al-Nashiri, accused in the bombing of the USS Cole in 2000, claim the man was tortured at the facility between 2002 to 2003. Al-Nashiri was subjected to waterboarding and mock executions with a power drill while he was naked and hooded, the prosecutors said.

Flight logs obtained from Polish officials in February 2010 confirmed that CIA aircraft landed in Poland during 2003. Human rights groups suspect these were rendition-related flights.

The logs, which were obtained by human rights organisations, showed that CIA-chartered aircraft landed in Szymany, north-eastern Poland, at least six times in 2003.

New York-based Human Rights Watch claimed in a 2005 report that secret CIA prisons in Poland were used to house suspected terrorists from Afghanistan.

- SAPA

 

 

© 2011 24.com. All rights reserved.

 

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

 

"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

 

From Spain, Charges Against 20 in the Killing of 6 Priests in El Salvador in 1989

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/05/31/world/americas/31salvador.html?_r=1&nl=todaysheadlines&emc=tha22

 

The New York Times

May 30, 2011

From Spain, Charges Against 20 in the Killing of 6 Priests in El Salvador in 1989

By ELISABETH MALKIN

MEXICO CITY — A Spanish judge issued arrest warrants on Monday for some of the top military leaders of El Salvador’s civil war, accusing them of meticulously planning and carrying out the killings of six Jesuit priests in 1989.

In a 77-page document, the judge, Eloy Velasco Nuñez of Spain’s National Court, said the 20 men named in the warrants never had doubts about “carrying out the most execrable crimes against people merely to impose their strategies and ideas.”

The attack on the priests — who were killed along with their housekeeper and her teenage daughter — was considered brutal even in a civil war known for its violence against civilians. It led to a crisis in El Salvador’s relations with the United States, which had helped the country’s armed forces against leftist rebels, and intensified international pressure on the government to enter peace negotiations.

Five of the six Jesuits were born in Spain, where judges have used the doctrine of universal jurisdiction to prosecute crimes committed outside of the country, as they did against the Chilean dictator Augusto Pinochet.

“When justice can’t be obtained in the country where the crimes were committed, it’s important that the process go forward,” said the Rev. Andreu Oliva, the rector of the Jesuit-run University of Central America, where the priests worked and where they were killed early in the morning on Nov. 16, 1989.

Among the men named in the indictment: Rafael Humberto Larios, who was the Salvadoran defense minister at the time; Juan Orlando Zepeda, the vice defense minister; René Emilio Ponce, leader of the Army’s Joint Chiefs of Staff; and Inocente Orlando Montano, the vice minister of public safety. Mr. Ponce, who is believed to have given the order for the killings, died this month in El Salvador. Mr. Montano is in custody.

“We wanted to walk the judge every step of the way,” said Almudena Bernabeu, a lawyer with the Center for Justice and Accountability in San Francisco, which brought the case to Spain’s National Court with the support of the victims’ families. “The defense has always argued that it all happened in the chaos of war. But there is no doubt that this was a very carefully planned military operation.”

The killings occurred as left-wing guerrillas were beginning an offensive against San Salvador, the capital. The rector of the University of Central America, the Rev. Ignacio Ellacuría, had been working as a mediator between the right-wing president, Alfredo Cristiani, and the rebel leaders. But some military leaders believed that he and other Jesuits at the university were collaborating with the guerrillas.

Under international pressure, a Salvadoran court tried nine men for the killings and convicted two officers, including Col. Guillermo Benavides Moreno, who witnesses said gave direct orders to the commando who carried out the killings. Both Colonel Moreno and the other officer were freed after serving 15 months under an amnesty declared in 1993. They are both named in the new indictment. Judge Velasco argued that the earlier trial was a sham.

Under the peace accords, the guerrillas joined the political process. Two years ago, their candidate, Mauricio Funes, was elected president and started a process of reconciliation.

Gene Palumbo contributed reporting from San Salvador, and Raphael Minder from Madrid.

© 2011 The New York Times Company

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

 

"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

 

Monday, May 30, 2011

from Bahraini citizens

Kuwaity Bahrain [mailto:free.bahrain.kuwait@gmail.com]
Friday, May 27, 2011 10:45 AM

I am writing this letter as a Bahraini citizen who demands human rights organizations and the European Parliment and the White House to stand by my people against the criminal regime in Bahrain. I am also writing this letter to bring your attent...ion to the peaceful protests proceeding and which will also take place on the 1st of June ..... a protest that will re-new the demands for freedom.
It is important that you shed light on the upcoming protests, since this time we are completely ready to sacrifice what most precious to us in order to achieve our legitimate demands. My people ask for liberty and social equality, and it is their right first as humans and second as citizens of this country to have both, and while you had clearly and publicly support freedom and democracy for all people, then it is your duty to help us.
Bahrain Case is very critical and we need you to deal with it seriously, because it is as dangerous as the circumstances in Syria. The people of Bahrain as I write this letter are going through outrageous violation of human rights; thousands were fired from their jobs, above 30 people were killed; four of them were killed by torture inside prisons. There are thousands of people who had been arrested and this includes women and children under eighteen, those whom had been released confirmed rape, sexual harassment and excessive mental and physical torture, it had been estimated an average of 10-12 people are being imprisoned every day. The government also wants to uphold executions of two innocent people.
We understand that dialogue is one of the routes out of this situation however the government of Bahrain today had created a situation where it is difficult to establish stability and security and therefore dialogue. So we urge you to take immediate actions toward the government of Bahrain. We urge the western countries to place pressure on the ruling family in order to stop these crimes they are committing shamelessly. We demand that you freeze Al-Kahlifa funds and place restriction orders on their travel; we demand that you stop interacting with those criminals and start to confront them. We demand that you take action now and stop this genocide.
Yours faithfully,
A Bahraini citizen

  

please watch the videos and see whats happening in BAHRAIN

Bahrain Revolution facts and lies-part1
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SjSdWYy6mNY
 
 
Bahrain Revolution facts and lies-part2
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=52EQCgpLVf0
 
 
Bahrain Revolution facts and lies-part3
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DWdRh0FB4qo
 
 
Al Khalifa, crimes against unarmed peaceful people
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l3ISCgxk5ow&feature=related
 
 who's run over who's? Police of Bahrain
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G1H9gqjwrRg&feature=related
 
Protestors SHOT ON STREET! Bahrain soldiers shoot up peaceful protestors! REVOLUTION NOW
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hVgbSoy9SgI
 
 
Lies Face To Face Shoting in bahrain
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cX_eupE6bP8&feature=related
 
 
BAHRAIN The Scream of A Child 'they are' killing us 'like animals' 21.02.2011
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GbdtbV1gfVA
 
 
Bahrain Revolution: Peace vs. Injustice
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vQRxzpMHMTY
 
 
Verses of Bahrain and the Revolution Poet
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NJYvMM6HBxs
 
 
Truth and lies in the revolution of Bahrain
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uPNBE--8exg
 
 
Martyrs 14 feb
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bpmxZznGurk
 
Violations des droits de l'homme à Bahreïn
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ptYtju3lBwc&feature=related
 
 
Violations of human rights in Bahrain
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lSgd9i-40lo&feature=related
 
 
Cost of Democracy In Bahrain
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nhS_2Tzf7sQ&feature=related
 
 
ARRESTED IN BAHRAIN
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HSLB76egj3k&feature=related

Update #1 on Sr Jackie Husson in "Medical Crisis in Prison"

Previous posting: Sr Jackie Husson in "Crisis Medical in Prison".... need help/prayers..

http://groups.google.com/group/National-CW-E-mail-List/browse_thread/thread/599e9858648310cb

 

Leonard Eiger <subversivepeacemaking@gmail.com>

Mon, May 30, 2011

 

Important Note:  In between my emails please check in at the Disarm

Now Plowshares Blog http://disarmnowplowshares.wordpress.com/ as I

posted brief updates there as I receive any new information to share.

 

Friends,

 

This has been, and continues to be, a difficult time for all of us who

know and love Sr. Jackie Hudson.  First - Please know that there is an

extraordinary convergence of people, including lawyers and physicians

who are working virtually 24/7 on Jackie's behalf.  As of this moment

none of us has had direct contact with Jackie, and so we cannot

confirm her present health status.  That having been said, here is

what we know.

 

Since Sr. Carol Gilbert, who is also at Irwin County Detention Center,

informed us (on May 29th) of Jackie's severe chest pain and that

nothing was being done for her medical condition, Joe Power-Drutis

immediately set a process in motion to secure her transportation to a

hospital to reserve proper medical care.  He contacted everyone

possible, and engaged 2 physicians and 3 attorneys to engage directly

with the prison staff.  The prison has been completely uncooperative,

only saying that Jackie "was being taken care of."  She is evidently

in the prison medical facility (God only knows what that is like!!!).

 

At one point there was an indication that Jackie may have been

transported to the local hospital and then returned to the jail.

However, a followup conversation with staff at the local hospital

confirmed that Jackie has not been admitted there, and he staff

indicated that theirs is the only hospital in the area.  There is

absolutely no evidence that Jackie has been sent anywhere for proper

medical evaluation.

 

The prison medical facility, as far as I know, is ill equipped to

evaluate or treat Jackie's possible medical condition and experts

(MDs) agree that based on her presentation to prison medical staff,

she should have been immediately transported to a hospital emergency

facility for a thorough cardiac work-up.

 

Based on all the information we have received it appears that her

treatment since her chest pain began, even beyond her basic medical

needs, has been substandard and inhumane.

 

The legal team working on Jackie's behalf includes Bill Quigley, Legal

Director of the Center for Constitutional Rights; Anabel Dwyer, lawyer

and international human rights expert; and Blake Kramer, Tacoma-based

attorney who has been deeply involved in defending the Disarm Now

Plowshares.  I understand that the legal team is currently working

every possible angle, and one involves getting the Judge for the Y-12

trial, which was the reason for Jackie's current imprisonment, to

order her release/transport to the hospital.

 

Another major concern and an egregious disregard for the rule of law

is prison's refusal to allow Jackie's right to legal counsel.

Jackie's court-appointed attorney, Brad Henry, found out at the jail

that the Warden told all the staff at the jail that no information was

to be given out about Jackie, including her appointed council. The

prison is stonewalling every step of the way.

 

Beyond the obvious moral and ethical implications of the prison's

treatment of Jackie Hudson, it is evident that she is being deprived

of her Constitutional rights as well as essential human rights.  This

on top of Jackie's very real status as a Prisoner of Conscience, quite

literally a political prisoner in a nation that flouts both national

law and international humanitarian law and then imprisons those who

follow their conscience and the law to speak and act out to call on

our nation to uphold these laws.

 

This maltreatment must not stand.  The people operating Irwin County

Detention Center, a private, for profit prison, must be held

accountable for their actions.  If this is how they treat Jackie,

someone with a broad base of support,  I can only imagine the

mistreatment of a vast number of prisoners who have no one to advocate

on their behalf.  What of the forgotten???

 

Besides the work being done by this dedicated group to whom I've

referred, many of you out there are working on Jackie's behalf, and

for this I thank you all!  We evidently flooded the prison phone line

with calls, and I have no doubt that this has had an impact.  They

know we are watching!  I have contacted the ACLU of Georgia, asking

them to act on Jackie's behalf.  We are working on alerting media

locally(Georgia), regionally and nationally to Jackie's plight, and

will also be contacting members of Congress to act on her behalf.

 

What can you do to help Jackie?  For one thing, we can continue to

call, fax and/or email the prison to let them know we are watching and

demand that they send Jackie to the hospital.  The phone number is

229-468-4121. You may get a recorded message during some hours. There

is also an email listed: info@irwincdc.com.   Fax is 229-468-4186

Additional phone numbers: Warden Barbara Walrath – warden of Irwin

County Detention Center, 229-468-4120, Dr. Howard C. McMahan – Medical

Director of Irwin County Detention Center, 229-468-5177.  If you get

into a message system, LEAVE A MESSAGE!

 

Here are some suggested talking points:

 

Sr. Jackie Hudson, who is in your care and for whom you are

responsible, has had intense heart pain, which began Saturday

afternoon.  She is being obstinately denied proper medical care.  Her

symptoms suggest that she may have one or more occluded coronary

arteries.  If this is the case, her heart, as a muscle, will

progressively worsen in the hours and days to come.

 

Jackie must be taken to an emergency room immediately.  The Emergency

Department at the Irwin County Hospital verifies that Sr. Jackie has

not been taken to their hospital, and that there is no other local

hospital to which she might have been taken.  They Emergency

Department has been in contact with the ICDC to no avail.

 

Such treatment constitutes cruel and unusual punishment, and  if

Sister Jackie is not moved to an emergency room immediately and

suffers any negative medical consequences as a result I will hold

Michael Croft Enterprises, operator of ICDC and in particular Warden

Barbara Walrath and Medical Director Howard C. McMahon personally responsible.

 

Those supporting Jackie Hudson must have direct access to her and her

physicians so they know her whereabouts, her condition and her

treatment.  These people include: Sue Ablao, Sr. Jackie’s housemate at

Ground Zero Center for Nonviolent Action, Poulsbo, WA; Frank Hudson,

Sr. Jackie’s brother; Sister Nathalie Meyer O.P., provincial of the

Dominican Sisters of Grand Rapids, Sr. Jackie’s religious order; and

Brad Henry, Jackie's attorney.

 

Send an email to (or call) any news media contacts you have, or even

if you don't have any you email the newsroom (look them up in the

contacts section of that newspaper's Website).

 

I understand that the Koinonia Partners community in Americus,

Georgia, is planning a vigil at the prison tomorrow.

 

As I stay focused on dear Jackie's immediate needs I find myself also

focusing on a much broader issue.  Here is a person with so much

support from so many wonderful people.  And yet, there is a huge

percentage of the U.S. prison population (with the largest

incarceration rate in the world) for whom there is no support.  What

becomes of these forgotten prisoners when they become ill???  We will

take up that issue once we get Jackie taken care of!!!

 

One last thing before I close; an excerpt from something by Liz

McAllister and Chrissy Nesbitt of the Jonah House community that I

find quite pertinent today:

 

"It is Memorial Day as we write. Meaning no disrespect, but on this

"war heroes' weekend", isn't it time to also honor those who have

"fallen" in a different battle - against the slaughtering wars?   It

often takes a different kind of moral and, yes, even physical courage

to resist a war and/or a weapons system that you believe is a crime,

when all your family, friends, teachers and the vast American majority

support them. But what about the Sr. Jackie Hudsons who don't want to

kill people, who don’t believe it is right to build more and more

weapons of mass destruction? They're an odd breed who count among

their number such as Muhammad Ali, Mahatma Gandhi, Sergeant York,

David Hockney, three US weapon-refusing combat medics who won the

medal of honor. What kind of guts does it take for war objectors,

whether they're Quakers, Jehovah's Witnesses, Mennonites or Roman

Catholic, who simply don't want to kill? On this Memorial Day, it

might be a time to think about the outcasts who refuse to take life.

Should Sr. Jackie Hudson be required to give her life in a jail that

displays absolutely no respect for life? Is this what the U.S. is about?"

 

That's all for now.  In between these emails I am regularly updating

the Disarm Now Plowshares Blog as I hear of anything that you should

know.  Please check in at the top of the home page occasionally for

updates.   And -  Please forward this email far and wide.

 

Thanks to all who have offered to help in so many ways.  As bad as

this all is, Jackie is surrounded by such a wonderful, loving

community, and I can imagine that this knowledge is deeply embedded in

Jackie's heart and mind, and that it is a great comfort to her.

 

Peace,

 

Leonard Eiger

Puget Sound Nuclear Weapon Free Zone  (Coordinator) www.psnukefree.org

Ground Zero Center for Nonviolent Action (Media & Outreach) www.gzcenter.org

Disarm Now Plowshares (Media & Outreach)

http://disarmnowplowshares.wordpress.com

Email:  subversivepeacemaking@gmail.com

Blog:  http://nuclearabolitionist.blogspot.com

Blog:  http://subversivepeacemaking.blogspot.com