December, 14 2010, 07:04am EDT
For Immediate Release
Contact:
Linda Schade
202-422-5780
Kevin Zeese
301-996-6582
Prominent Americans Oppose Prosecution and Extradition of Assange Americans Organize to Support WikiLeaks Transparency
WASHINGTON
In opposition to
efforts by the U.S. Attorney General Holder to extradite Julian Assange,
Editor in Chief of WikiLeaks, prominent authors, academics,
lawyers, whistleblower
activists concerned with eroding civil
liberties, government accountability, electronic freedom, opposition to
war, and protection of
whistleblowers have signed on to a strongly worded statement (below)
condemning 'U.S efforts to fraudulently criminalize the legitimate
journalism of Julian Assange...".
"This statement is the first step in an ongoing
campaign to support Julian
Assange, WikiLeaks and to re-assert the concept that the U.S. government
is
accountable to its citizens," said Linda Schade of
WikiLeaksisDemocracy.org. "We will not accept the
manipulation of
our legal system to criminalize a journalist; a free and independent
press is
non-negotiable." The project is planning an aggressive campaign
to support Assange and WikiLeaks and has hosted the statement online.
Among the
prominent signers are:
John Perry Barlow, Electronic Freedom
Foundation
Medea Benjamin, CODE PINK
William Blum, the Empire Report
Tim Carpenter, Progressive Democrats of America
Noam Chomsky, professor emeritus of linguistics at MIT, author and
political
activist Marsha Coleman-Adebayo, No FEAR Coalition
Daniel Ellsberg, author and former intelligence analyst who released the
Pentagon Papers
Jodie Evans, CODE PINK
Margaret Flowers, MD, health care reform advocate
Glen Ford, Black Agenda Report
Eric Garris, Antiwar.com
Mike Gogulski, Bradley Manning Support Network
Chris Hedges, Former New York Times
war correspondent and author
Jeff Paterson, Courage to Resist
Bill Quigley, Center for Constitutional Rights
Justin Raimondo, AntiWar.com
Coleen Rowley, whistle blower and former TIME Woman of the Year
Linda Schade, Voters for Peace, initiator WikiLeaks Is Democracy
Cindy Sheehan, Peace of the Action
Jeffrey St. Claire, Counterpunch
David Swanson, War is a Crime
Sue Udry, Defending Dissent
Harvey Wasserman, journalist, author, democracy activist
Naomi Wolf, author, democracy advocate and political activist
Colonel Ret. Ann Wright, retired military and U.S. Foreign Service
Kevin Zeese, Voters for Peace
Tariq Ali, historian, writer,
filmmaker, political activist and commentator.
Contact
information for some signers that represent the some of the different
types of people signing on is available below the Statement from
WikiLeaksIsDemocracy.org.
Statement From WikiLeaksIsDemocracy.org:
"We, the undersigned,
stand in
defense of Julian Assange, WikiLeaks and their actions to safeguard and
advance
democracy, transparency and government accountability, as protected
under the
First Amendment of the U.S. Constitution.
Wikileaks performs an
invaluable
service to the broad U.S.
and global public with a commitment to the protection of human rights
and the
rule of law. Government representatives have issued serious and
unjustified threats against Mr. Assange and his non-profit media
organization
which serve only to maintain a cloak of secrecy around high crimes and
violations of international law, including torture, tampering with
democratically elected governments, illegal bombings and wars,
surveillance, mass
slaughter of innocent civilians and more.
We call on all governments, organizations,
and
individuals of conscience forcefully to condemn and reject all U.S.
efforts to fraudulently criminalize the
legitimate journalism of Julian Assange, WikiLeaks and related efforts
to
expose an increasingly lawless U.S.
government to the indispensable democratic requirement of public
scrutiny. True
or false, any charges which the Swedish government may pursue are
irrelevant to
the primacy of an independent free press.
Journalists should not be made into
criminals for
publishing materials critical of the government. Therefore, we reject
any
efforts to extradite Julian Assange to the United States or allied
client
states in relation to these matters. We condemn and reject every
incitement to
murder, incarcerate or in any way harm Mr. Assange. We encourage all
those with
information on corruption and violations of law to take courage from the
example of Mr. Assange and WikiLeaks by acting to expose all such
information into
the light of public and judicial review."
Suggested Contacts
The letter is being
signed from people with different backgrounds and experience. You are welcome to contact any of them. To
represent this breadth of view we recommend contacting the following
people:
1) John Perry Barlow
is a leader in the electronic freedom movement and is a co-founder of
the Electronic Freedom Foundation. He has written for a
diversity of publications, including Communications of the
ACM, Mondo 2000, The New York Times, and Time.
He has been on the masthead of Wired
magazine since it was founded. He is a former Wyoming rancher and
Grateful Dead
lyricist. His piece on the future of copyright,
"The Economy of Ideas," is taught in many law schools, and his
"Declaration of the Independence of Cyberspace" is posted on thousands
of websites. He can be reached at barlow@eff.org. His phone nubers are 1-917-863-2037,
1800-654-4322 (both go to his mobile) or his landline 1-415-888-2241.
2) Daniel
Ellsberg is a former U.S. military analyst
who leaked the Pentagon Papers, a top-secret Pentagon analysis of the
Vietnam War tothe New York Times. He can be reached at ellsbergd1@gmail.com
3) Noted author Naomi Wolf's recent article on the US Espionage
Act and
WikiLeaks is linked here. She is an author and political consultant. She
is a leading spokesperson for the third-wave of the feminist movement
and an advocate for progressive causes most recently arguing that there
has
been a deterioration of democratic institutions in the United States.
Naomi Wolf can be contacted at naomirwolf@aol.com or 1-646-334-1290.
4) Kevin Zeese is the executive director of
Voters For
Peace, is an attorney and noted political activist who works on a wide
range of issues including war, torture accountability, economic justice
and corporate influence on American democracy (see also www.ProsperityAgenda.US).
Zeese served as Ralph Nader's
press secretary and spokesperson in 2004. He is widely quoted in the
media. His most recent article on
WikiLeaks, is Assange in the Grasp of U.S.
Empire, https://www.huffingtonpost.com/kevin-zeese/assange-in-the-grasp-of-u_b_794491.html.
Zeese can
be reached at KBZeese@gmail.com.
He can be reached by phone at 1-301-996-6582 (cell) or 1-443-708-8360
(office).
Linda Schade served as the founding
Executive Director of VotersForPeace,
and most recently as the Director of Program Development at the Center
for Climate Strategies. Ms. Schade is a 20-year
political veteran featured on CNN, Fox News, C-SPAN, Washington
Post, USA Today, NPR, Pacifica radio, and other media
outlets on her peace, justice and democracy work.
LATEST NEWS
California's $20 Fast Food Worker Minimum Wage Kicks In
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Apr 01, 2024
A new California law raising the minimum wage for most fast food workers from $16 to $20 an hour took effect Monday, a move cheered by labor advocates who dismissed—and debunked—claims by an industry reaping record profits that the pay hike would force restaurant chains to raise prices and cut jobs.
The law applies to restaurants at national fast food chains with at least 60 locations and that have limited or no table service. Restaurants inside supermarkets and establishments that bake and sell bread are exempt. Twenty dollars is just a starting point, as a state law also established a Fast Food Council that can raise wages by up to 3.5% annually through 2029.
"The vast majority of fast food locations in California operate under the most profitable brands in the world," Joseph Bryant, executive vice president of the Service Employees International Union, said in a statement. "Those corporations need to pay their fair share and provide their operators with the resources they need to pay their workers a living wage without cutting jobs or passing the cost to consumers."
As the California Fast Food Workers Union noted:
- From 2015 to 2023, California raised the minimum wage by 72%, from $9 an hour to $15.50 an hour;
- While the minimum wage was rising, fast food restaurants in California added 142,000 jobs; and
- The minimum wage has increased every year in California since 2015, and so has the number of fast food jobs in California, except for 2020, when the Covid pandemic hit.
California Fast Food Worker Union also pointed out that "numerous academic studies confirm: When states and cities pass big minimum wage increases, employers either add jobs or there is no or minimal effect on employment."
BREAKING: Today hundreds of fast food workers from across California are in LA to officially launch the California Fast Food Workers Union
We've won a Fast Food Council
We've won $20/hr
Now we're doing whatever it takes to win annual raises, just cause, and more#UnionsForAll pic.twitter.com/pykRKZF0PV
— California Fast Food Workers Union (@CAFastFoodUnion) February 9, 2024
The union highlighted various studies, including one in 2024 that found no fast food jobs were lost when California and New York increased their minimum wage to $15; another in 2018 that showed a slight increase in restaurant and food service employment in six cities that raised their minimum wage; and yet another in 2021 revealing hikes in state and local minimum wages had no effect on McDonald's opening or closing restaurants.
"According to the data, there's no reason why the new fast food minimum wage of $20 per hour in California should mean layoffs or increased prices," Alà Bustamante,deputy director for the Worker Power and Economic Security program at the Roosevelt Institute, said last week. "Profits in the fast food industry are sufficiently high to absorb the greater operating costs and ensure industry workers are paid fairly."
As More Perfect Union noted, McDonald's made $8.5 billion in profit last year, while Burger King's parent company raked in $1.2 billion, and Starbucks enjoyed $4.1 billion in profits.
Additionally, a new Roosevelt Institute analysis co-authored by Bustamante found that the 10 largest publicly traded fast food companies spent $6.1 billion on stock buybacks last year alone. This, while fast food prices soared by 46.8% over the past decade compared with 28.7% for the average of all prices. In 2023, fast food companies charged their customers 27% above their production costs. Critics have accused these and other corporations of "greedflation."
"In 2022, fast food industry employment in California had increased to approximately 553,000 workers—a 20.1% increase since 2014," the analysis notes. "Trends in the California fast food labor market have mirrored the national averages. Yet between 2014 and 2023, the federal minimum wage remained stagnant at $7.25 per hour, while California's minimum wage increased from $9 to $15.50 an hour—further evidence that California fast food firms can readily adjust to minimum wage increases."
The U.S. federal minimum wage of $7.25 an hour has not been raised since 2009, and that amount is worth far less now than it was then due to inflation.
"This is an insult to American workers and bad for our economy," former U.S. Labor Secretary Robert Reich said in a video published Monday by the Gravel Institute.
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GDP is the market value of all the finished goods and services produced in a country over a certain time period. Critics have long argued against using it as the premier indicator of how a nation is doing.
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"The country's impoverished multitudes can now get all they can eat—assuming they can digest paper report pages."
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"It's one thing for corporations to pass reasonable increased costs to consumers. It's another for them to line their coffers by exploiting Americans who are just trying to get by," the Groundwork Collaborative's Liz Pancotti said in January, as the group released a related report. "It's time to rein in corporate price gouging—or families will continue to pay the price."
Data released last month by the Federal Reserve shows that the top 1% of Americans are the richest they have ever been, with a collective $44.6 trillion in wealth, a record largely driven by the stock market. President Joe Biden and some progressive Democratic lawmakers recently renewed calls for wealth taxes, but such proposals are not expected to pass the divided Congress.
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The right-wing Florida Supreme Court on Monday effectively greenlighted a six-week abortion ban—but the justices also determined that state voters can weigh in on a ballot measure that would enshrine the right to abortion care in November.
Early last year, the court agreed to hear a challenge to the state's 15-week abortion ban—filed by the ACLU, the Center for Reproductive Rights, Planned Parenthood Federation of America, and others on behalf of healthcare providers. Just a few months later, the Florida Legislature passed and Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis signed the six-week ban. Because of the court's ruling, the stricter ban is now set to take effect in a month.
In response to the court's decisions on Monday,
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Reproductive rights advocates pointed to the court's approval of the ban as proof of the need for Floridians to turn out in November for the abortion rights ballot measure, which requires 60% voter support to pass. It states:
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Before DeSantis signed the 15-week ban in 2022—just a couple of months before the Roe reversal, which amplified the efforts of right-wing state policymakers to cut off access to abortion—Florida was long "an oasis of reproductive care in the South."
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Pro-choice Democrats in the state also chimed in. Florida Rep. Anna Eskamani (D-42), said that "the stakes for reproductive rights in Florida are incredibly high. Onward to November for a state where reproductive freedom is a reality for all."
Debbie Mucarsel-Powell, a former Democratic congresswoman now challenging U.S. Sen. Rick Scott (R-Fla.), highlighted her opponent's support for the six-week ban, which she warned would devastate reproductive care in the state.
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