Four Important Actions from UFPJ

Dear UFPJ Member Groups:
Here’s Weekly Action Bulletin No. 2!
Contents:

* Security without Empire: National Organizing Conference on Foreign Military Bases February 27 – March 2, 2009: Do it.
* Code Pink’s: Gaza Briefing and Aid Delegation: Do it.
* Courage to Resist: National Week of Letter-Writing for War Resisters, March 16 – 23, 2009: Do it.
* The UFPJ Accountability and Prosecution Working Group urges calls to the U.S. Attorney General and Congress: Do it.

* * *

Security without Empire: National Organizing Conference on Foreign Military Bases February 27 – March 2, 2009

Many of us have a new sense of hope as we think about new possibilities in the Obama years. We also understand that if we and the world are to get the changes we need, we will have to learn more and step up our organizing. This certainly applies to U.S. and international efforts to close the foreign military bases that make wars from Afghanistan and Iraq to Columbia and the Phillipines possible, oppress ‘host’ nations and communities, and divert our tax dollars from addressing essential human needs.

The Project on Military Bases, a coalition of fifteen national and community-based organizations has organized ‘Security Without Empire: National Organizing Conference on Military Bases’, which will be held at American University, February 27 – March 2. We will also be joined by leading anti-bases activists from Africa, Asia and the Pacific, Latin America, and Europe. The conference will provide a unique opportunity to learn about the dangers, ‘abuses, and usurpations’ that come with foreign military deployments, and to join in the process of organizing to win the closure and withdrawal of these bases.

Together we will:

* Share information about U.S. military bases and resistance
* Develop strategies and expand the U.S. anti-bases movement
* Raise the visibility of the U.S. and international anti-bases movement
* Apply pressure on Congress to close and reduce the number of foreign bases

For more information: www.projectonmilitarybases.org

* * *

Code Pink’s: Gaza Briefing and Aid Delegation

You’re invited to join the Gaza Trip Report Back and discussion about Israel and Palestine with Medea Benjamin and Ann Wright.

* Wednesday, February 25, 6pm PST / 9 pm EST
* To join, call: (309) 946-5100 and enter access code 26337465# (CODEPINK#)
* RSVP to locals@codepinkalert.org for the call with any questions you have

Gaza Humanitarian Aid Delegation:

Code Pink is organizing a delegation to return to Gaza in time for International Women’s Day, March 8, hosted by the Women’s Division of the United Nations Relief and Works Agency. The group will provide solidarity for the women in Gaza and exert pressure on the United States, Egyptian, and Israeli governments to lift the blockade. If we are not allowed inside, we will set up an encampment near the border to call attention to the need to open the borders and end the siege.

Join the delegation to Gaza from March 5 – March 12 to support the women of Gaza and promote peace and human rights in the region. Some scholarships are available: http://codepinkalert.org/article.php?id=4675

* * *

Courage to Resist: National Week of Letter-Writing for War Resisters, March 16 – 23, 2009

Where: In your community (at your house, community center, religious space, etc.)

Organize a letter-writing party in your community to show support for war resisters. Robin Long, recently deported from Canada, is serving a 15-month sentence for refusing to fight in Iraq. Tony Anderson is currently serving a 14-month sentencing for resisting deployment to Iraq. Many more war resisters are sitting in prison for refusing to fight in Iraq and Afghanistan, and countless more live with that possibility. Several war resisters have been threatened with deportation from Canada, and Chris Teske and Cliff Cornell have already been forced to leave.

We are asking allies of the G.I. resistance movement to gather together to write:

* Letters of support to war resisters in prison, awaiting trial, or seeking refuge in Canada
* Letters to the Canadian government asking that war resisters be granted sanctuary
* Letters to our own government demanding amnesty for war resisters

http://www.couragetoresist.org/x/content/view/664/1/

* * *

The UFPJ Accountability and Prosecution Working Group urges calls to the U.S. Attorney General and Congress

Tell Justice Department Not to Cover-up Torture With “State Secrets” Claim

Please phone and Email Attorney General Eric Holder right now to ask him not to cover-up torture and prevent prosecutions. Ask him instead to appoint a special prosecutor: 202-514-2001. Email: DOJ@usdoj.gov

Support New Legislation Just Introduced in Both Houses: State Secrets Protection Act requiring court review of any “state secrets” claims. Ask your Congress member and senators to sign on and to encourage the Attorney General to appoint a Special Prosecutor: 202-224-3121.

Senator Russ Feingold has requested a classified briefing to explain the “state secrets” claim. Encourage him to pursue the matter and to encourage the Attorney General to appoint a Special Prosecutor: Feingold, (202) 224-5323.

For more detailed information go HERE.

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