July, 12 2011, 11:21am EDT
For Immediate Release
Contact:
Elliott Adams, President, Veterans for Peace, (518) 284-2048, elliottadams@juno.com
David Barrows, Pro se defendant, (202) 543-4244, barrowsdoh@yahoo.com
Ann Wilcox, Esq., (202) 441-3265, wilcox_ann@yahoo.com
Deborah C. Anderson, Esq., (202) 248-9327, dcande01@gmail.com
Trial for 19 Peace Activists Postponed After Impasse in Courtroom
Charges of "Disorderly Conduct-Blocking Passage" Not Presented in Timely Fashion by Prosecution
WASHINGTON
The pro se trial scheduled to begin today for 19 peace activists - including members of Veterans for Peace and one World War II veteran - stemmed from arrests made on March 19, 2011, on the sidewalk near the White House, and has been postponed after the two sides disagreed on the version of the law that should be used in the trial.
DC Superior Court Judge Russell F. Canan continued the trial until 9:30 am, Monday, August 29, 2011 - only after defense attorneys Ann Wilcox and Deborah C. Anderson raised concerns that Assistant Attorney General for the District of Columbia, Tamara Barnett, brought forth new charges just days before the start of the trial date. The judge was concerned that the defendants had not been properly arraigned and notified of these charges.
Judge Canan chastised defense for not checking the filing of the charges even though prosecution did not attempt to deliver these charges until the weekend before today's trial. Wilcox and Anderson are concerned that the new law will make it easier to convict the defendants, and asked for additional time to investigate which law should be used and to prepare their clients for a pro se trial.
Prosecutors strongly urged Stay Away orders from the White House for all defendants, but Judge Canan did not grant their request.
On March 19, 2011, 113 activists were arrested while demonstrating, and petitioning our government, to end the wars and occupations in Iraq and Afghanistan, and to free whistleblower Bradley Manning. The protestors were challenging the U.S. government's effort to quash their right to "petition for redress" by arresting them while peacefully assembled at the White House fence. Demonstrators included whistleblower Daniel Ellsberg, philosopher Chris Hedges, and health care activist Dr. Margaret Flowers, members of Veterans for Peace, and other long-time peace activists.
Veterans For Peace is a global organization of Military Veterans and allies whose collective efforts are to build a culture of peace by using our experiences and lifting our voices. We inform the public of the true causes of war and the enormous costs of wars, with an obligation to heal the wounds of wars. Our network is comprised of over 140 chapters worldwide whose work includes: educating the public, advocating for a dismantling of the war economy, providing services that assist veterans and victims of war, and most significantly, working to end all wars.
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UN Chief Warns of Israel's Syria Invasion and Land Seizures
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United Nations Secretary-General António Guterres said Thursday that he is "deeply concerned" by Israel's "recent and extensive violations of Syria's sovereignty and territorial integrity," including a ground invasion and airstrikes carried out by the Israel Defense Forces in the war-torn Mideastern nation.
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Addressing the assassination of UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson and conversations it has sparked about the country's for-profit system, longtime Medicare for All advocate Sen. Bernie Sanders on Wednesday condemned the murder and stressed that getting to universal coverage will require a movement challenging corporate money in politics.
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In addition to highlighting Sanders' interview on social media, Congressman Ro Khanna (D-Calif.) pointed out to Business Insider on Wednesday that "you've got thousands of people that are sharing their stories of frustration" in the wake of Thompson's death.
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"Of course, we don't want to see the chaos that vigilantism presents," said Ocasio-Cortez. "We also don't want to see the extreme suffering that millions of Americans confront when your life changes overnight from a horrific diagnosis, and people are led to just some of the worst, not just health events, but the worst financial events of their and their family's lives."
Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.)—a co-sponsor of Sanders' Medicare for All Act—similarly toldHuffPost in a Tuesday interview, "The visceral response from people across this country who feel cheated, ripped off, and threatened by the vile practices of their insurance companies should be a warning to everyone in the healthcare system."
"Violence is never the answer, but people can be pushed only so far," she continued. "This is a warning that if you push people hard enough, they lose faith in the ability of their government to make change, lose faith in the ability of the people who are providing the healthcare to make change, and start to take matters into their own hands in ways that will ultimately be a threat to everyone."
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Reporters Without Borders' (RSF) 2024 roundup, which was published Thursday, found that at least 54 journalists were killed on the job or in connection with their work this year, and 18 of them were killed by Israeli armed forces (16 in Palestine, and two in Lebanon).
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"In Gaza, the scale of the tragedy is incomprehensible," wrote Thibaut Bruttin, director general of RSF, in the introduction to the report. Since October 2023, 145 journalists have been killed in Gaza, "including at least 35 who were very likely targeted or killed while working."
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When counting the number of journalists killed by the Israeli army since October 2023 in both Gaza and Lebanon, the tally comes to 155—"an unprecedented massacre," according to the roundup.
Multiple journalists were also killed in Pakistan, Bangladesh, Mexico, Sudan, Myanmar, Colombia, and Ukraine, according to the report, and hundreds more were detained and are now behind bars in countries including Israel, China, and Russia.
Meanwhile, in a statement released Thursday, the International Federation of Journalists (IFJ) announced that at least 139 Palestinian journalists and media workers have been killed since the war in Gaza began in 2023, and in a statement released Wednesday, IFJ announced that 104 journalists had perished worldwide this year (which includes deaths from January 1 through December 10). IFJ's number for all of 2024 appears to be higher than RSF because RSF is only counting deaths that occurred "on the job or in connection with their work."
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