FIRST HAND ACCOUNT OF RNC DETENTION - "Guantanamo on the Hudson"

[Newtopia]

NEWTOPIA EXCLUSIVE

"Guantanamo on the Hudson"

by Charles Shaw, Editor-in-Chief, Newtopia; Co-Chair, Peace Action Committee, Green Party of the United States

An inside look at a Peace Activist's 48 hours of Hell and Solidarity during detention at the RNC.

http://www.newtopiamagazine.net/content/issue18/features/guantanamo.php

[smirkymonkey]

1. It's unbelievable - Why isn't this getting more attention?

A must read. I have a feeling that this will become a commonplace occurrence over the next few years.

KICK! :kick:

[livinginphotographs]

4. It's not getting attention because of the damn librul media...

or something.

[Newtopia]

14. Two words...

Corporate...Media

[wildflower]

2. My god...

I am speechless. This is absolutely horrifying. And terrifying.

-wildflower

[AspenRose]

3. My gosh, that was riveting....and scary

:scared:

[smirkymonkey]

5. Another Kick! Hey People, pay attention to this!

Why is something so alarming not getting other DU'ers attention!

I am sometimes shocked at what we overlook on this board. And the copycat threads get all the replies! :wtf:

[JNelson6563]

6. Wow!

Big read but worth it. What a tale! We are on a slippery slope and not to a good place either.

Julie

[proud patriot]

7. sent this out

:hi:

[IdaBriggs]

8. Kick.

[Newtopia]

9. THANKS!

Please spread the word! Post far and wide!

-Charles

[G_j]

10. why does it seem 'more ok' to abuse dissenters?

http://www.alternet.org/rights/19779 /

First They Came for the Protesters

By Rachel Neumann, AlterNet. Posted September 3, 2004.

The demonstrations in New York offer lessons on future strategies to get protesters' messages across to the public
---------

Tourists, old ladies and gentlemen, a building superintendent who was taking out the garbage, teenagers on their first date to a play, ministers, students, bicycle messengers and a good number of bruised and dirty yet singing and chanting protesters. It's the kind of diversity that New York City is famous for, and during this past week, the best place to find it was in the makeshift jail at Pier 57. The biggest underreported story of the Republican National Convention was not Laura Bush's Botox or conservative women making fools of themselves for California's manly governor. It was this: how could 1,800 people be arrested when they had done nothing wrong with the exception of crowding the sidewalks or block traffic? These events happen a thousand times every second in New York City. If these are crimes, all of New York should be arrested every single day.

In a country that engages in preemptive war against a small nation that had neither the intention nor the ability to attack us, preemptive suppression of dissent is the next logical step. But the word "preemptive" is misleading here, because it implies that a crime was about to be committed. It implies that Barbara Gates, 78, whose plans were as nefarious as walking at a slow pace to somewhere near the Convention and lying down, is a criminal and a threat to society. It implies that Julia Gross, 24, arrested while walking away from a "kiss-in," is a potential terrorist. These arrests, the lack of media attention concerning them, and the simultaneous pageantry within the convention imply that there is a legitimacy, in these "unsafe" times, for arresting anyone who has the audacity to even think about speaking up for dissent, even before they do so. After all, the Boy's Choir of Harlem is about to sing and the show must go on.

<snip>
At the 2000 Republican National Convention in Philadelphia, 420 people were arrested – more than 75 of whom were locked up for sleeping in a large space used for making puppets. It wasn't until April 2004, almost four years later, that the final arrestees stood trial and were acquitted on all charges. The arrests and protesters' subsequent treatment in jail brought heavy criticism from the ACLU, Human Rights Watch, the National Lawyers Guild, Amnesty International and other civil rights organizations, but so far there hasn't been either acknowledgement or compensation to people who experienced the excessive arrests.

..more..

[Disturbed]

11. Amerika

For those that are still in denial Amerika is a Neo Fascist state.

When a public official admitts on public TV that he has commited violations of the Geneva Convention and nothing is done about it do we need to have further proof that Amerika is no longer a "Representative Republic" that follows The Constitution?

Rumsfailed Admitted to Violating Geneva Convention

Rumsfailed admitted in public that when CIA Director Tenet requested that an Irai prisoner be sent to a secret Afghan/US Prison that Rumsfailed did so. After four months a DOD Attorney stated that this was an illegal act. Rumsfailed then ordered that this prisoner be sent back to Abu Graib but the prisoner was not listed at that location, also an ilolegal act. That is two violations of the Geneva Convention by Rumsfailed. Tenet and Rumsfailed violated the Geneva convention, thereby also The Constitution of the USA. Not one complaint or charge was made regarding Rumsfailed and Tenet, not even by any Dem in Congress after this public admission by Rumsfailed.

Does the US no longer follow the Geneva Convention or the Constitution of the USA?

It appears so.

[G_j]

12. Bush lawyer Gonzales

his opinion was that the Geneva Convention was "quaint".

& never mind that the Chief Prosecutor of the Nuremberg tribunals stated that "aggressive war" was illegal.

[Newtopia]

13. Sibel Edmonds

Thanks for posting the photo of Sibel. She is the real hero!

[G_j]

15. another kick-ass hero

Lt. Colonel Karen Kwiatkowski, who blew the whistle on the Pentagon's "Office Of special Plans" (OSP)


++++++++++++++++++++++++++

[Bundbuster]

16. Kick

Saw some of this fascism on "Democracy Now" last night - as usual, just like the Iraqi prisoner abuse...no big deal. This country's collective conscience has been NUMBED by the junta.

[graphixtech]

17. This article is Shocking and Incredible

I hope everyone takes the time to read this gripping account
of your NYC detention experience. Well worth the read.

Thank you.

http://www.septembereleventh.org/forum/ubbthreads.php