In From The Front... For Immediate Release...

WAR RESISTERS SUPPORT CAMPAIGN

www.resisters.ca

For Immediate Release

PARLIAMENT VOTES TO LET WAR RESISTERS STAY

Canadians call on Immigration Minister Jason Kenney to use his authority to act...

OTTAWA-On Monday evening the House of Commons voted, for the second time in 10 months, to let Iraq War resisters live in Canada. The vote on a motion from the Standing Committee on Citizenship and Immigration directs the Government of Canada to immediately stop the deportation of U.S. Iraq War resisters andestablish a program to facilitate permanent resident status for the resisters and their families.

"It's time for Immigration Minister Jason Kenney and Prime Minister Harper to follow the will of the majority of Canadians and act as directed byParliament," said Michelle Robidoux, spokesperson for the War Resisters Support Campaign. "It could be as simple as Jason Kenney using his discretion as minister to grant the resisters' applications to stay in Canada on humanitarian and compassionate grounds".

The vote in Parliament comes less than a week afterMembers of Parliament from all three opposition parties held a press conference calling on the Harper government to stop the deportation of Kimberly Rivera,the first female Iraq War resister to come to Canada.

Kimberly Rivera, a former U.S. soldier, deployed to Iraq in the fall of 2006. While home on leave she decided she could no longer participate in the war. She and her family sought refuge in Canada in January 2007. Kimberly, her husband Mario and their three children -including a Canadian born daughter - were ordered to leave Canada by March 26 or face deportation. They won an 11th hour stay from the Federal Court Wednesday evening. Though The Honourable James Russell's written decision was not immediately released, his verbal ruling explained that war resisters who are deported to the U.S. face disproportionately severe punishment for being public about their objections to the Iraq War.

"This was the fifth time that the court ruled that Iraq war resisters face harsher punishment if they're sent back to the U.S.," said Robidoux. "The courts have spoken, Parliament has spoken and Canadians have made their views clear. These conscientious objectors should not be sent back to the United States to face jail time for opposing the Iraq War." A public opinion poll conducted by Angus Reid Strategies last June found that 64 per cent of Canadians want the government to allow Iraq War resisters to become permanent residents of Canada.

For further information, please contact: Michelle Robidoux, Spokesperson, War Resisters Support Campaign, 416-856-5008; or Ken Marciniec, Communications Volunteer, War Resister Support Campaign, 416-803-6066, kmarciniec@sympatico.ca

www.VetSpeak.org

US Iraq War Resister Kimberly Rivera Granted Emergency Stay of Removal

Ed Note: This e-mail was forwarded to me for posting by Jan Ruhman, our VetSpeak.org Operations Coordinator, Vietnam Veterans Against The War SoCal Organizing Coordinator, and VP of Veterans For Peace, San Diego. He is actively involved with the G.I. Rights movement there in SoCal. He is a regular visitor with Robin Long, and has submitted several reports on Robin's case to VetSpeak's pages during Robin's incarceration at the Miramar, MCAS, Brig, in San Diego. This related case of Kimberly Rivera's is a healthy sign of the political power of a growing a G.I. Rights movement that is now challenging and impacting the deportation laws of Canada, and the long arm of the Pentagon. Never give up... Never surrender...WH

From: "An Angel"
Subject: US Iraq War Resister Kimberly Rivera granted emergency stay of removal (from Canada)
To: "vetlist"
Date: Thursday, March 26, 2009, 6:28 AM

I just checked the Canadian’s war resister website. There’s not much info yet but good news for now for the Rivera family.
http://resisters.ca/index_en.html

Canucks – Gotta love em. You can help by phoning or emailing the Prime Minister, Stephen Harper and the Immigration Minister, Jason Kenney. Click here -> http://www.resisters.ca/actions.html

Kimberly Rivera received word late on March 25th that the Federal Court granted her a stay pending a decision on whether or not they will review a decision by Immigration officials rejecting her Pre-Removal Risk Assessment.

The decision means that Kimberly, her husband Mario and their three children will not be facing a deportation on March 26th. It is a very important decision that recognizes that US war resisters who speak publicly against the war in Iraq face differential treatment by the US military.

It is urgent that Canadians send a very strong message to Prime Minister Stephen Harper and Minister of Citizenship & Immigration Jason Kenney to say that this family and other Iraq war resisters must be allowed to stay. It is the will of Canadians and the will of our Parliament that we welcome war resisters into our country. The Conservative government must respect this view and implement the motion passed by Parliament in June 2008 calling for an end to all removal proceedings against US war resisters and for them to be allowed to apply for permanent resident status in Canada .

Imagine Peace,
Colleen

www.VetSpeak.org

On Sixth Anniversary of Iraq War...

For Immediate Release March 21, 2009
Press Contact: Ben Lowengard at 410-371-7203

More than 10,000 march on Pentagon & leading war profiteers
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A "throng of war protesters swelled Saturday as they marched across the Memorial Bridge." (AP) The protesters marched on the Pentagon and what followed was a dramatic direct action at Boeing, Lockheed Martin, General Dynamics and KBR, corporations that demonstrators labeled "merchants of death." The predominantly young crowd continued to grow as the day proceeded. They marched through the Pentagon north Parking Lot and then into downtown Crystal City, where the leading war corporations' headquarters are located.

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The march was led by a contingent of Iraq and Afghanistan war veterans.

There was a significant delegation from members of the Arab and Muslim communities and many students participated.The Arlington County Police mobilized in full riot gear in an attempt to block the demonstrators from delivering symbolic coffins at the doorsteps of the war corporations. They brought tear gas, snarling dogs and pointed guns loaded with rubber bullets directly at demonstrators. The Arlington County Police also put out an absurdly low count of the demonstration, which was more than 10,000 people.

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This is the last two thirds of the March, as captured by Getty Images, reflecting the fallacy of the Arlington County Police's reported numbers, and the general media treating it as a non-event:
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In Los Angeles, a simultaneous demonstration drew 4,000 people, which culminated with a dramatic die-in at the Kodak Theater. Another 4,000 demonstrated in San Francisco, where police carried out violent attacks on demonstrators and arrested numerous people. "This is the launch of the anti-war movement in the post-Bush era. Bush is gone, but the occupation of Iraq continues, the war in Afghanistan is escalating, and the people of Palestine are living under a state of siege," stated Brian Becker, National Coordinator of the ANSWER Coalition.

"Veterans" photo: Bill Hackwell

www.VetSpeak.org

End The Occupation Update

Iraq War Veterans Drop Banner at Veterans Administration Headquarters:

"Veterans Say No to War and Occupation! March 21st - March on the Pentagon"

Iraq War veterans carried out a dramatic banner drop at the headquarters of the Veterans Administration in Washington, D.C., on the 6th anniversary of the invasion of Iraq.

A U.S. Army National Guard veteran scaled the facade of the VA building and dropped a 25 foot-long, 6 foot-high banner that read "Veterans Say No to War and Occupation, March 21st -March on the Pentagon." He was handcuffed and detained.


The dramatic banner drop was carried out in front of a well-attended press conference organized by the Veterans and Service Members Task Force of the ANSWER Coalition.

"This is the beginning of three days of sustained activities timed to coincide with the sixth anniversary of the illegal invasion of Iraq. On Saturday, March 21st, veterans and service members will be the lead contingent in the National March on the Pentagon," stated James Circello, an Iraq War veteran and a spokesperson for the group.

Other speakers at the press conference included representatives from Iraq Veterans Against the War. Also present were delegations from Veterans for Peace and Vietnam Veterans Against the War.

Eric Murillo, a U.S. Army veteran from El Paso, Texas, decried, "Military recruiters are targetting young people in Latino communities. Our communities face high unemployment and young people are struggling to be able to pay the tuition costs necessary to go to school. The recruiters are offering the promise of citizenship to immigrant youth. This is the most cynical manipulation by the Pentagon. Our young people need real jobs. We need affordable education and immigrants need full legal rights."

Similar actions were organized today in cities throughout the country by the Veterans and Service Members Task Force of the ANSWER Coalition.

Click here to read about the Associated Press article about the action that was published by the Army Times.

More than 1,200 organizations are co-sponsoring the protests set for Saturday, March 21st in Washington, D.C., Los Angeles and San Francisco. The demonstration in Washington, D.C., will begin at 12:00 noon at 23rd St. and Constitution Ave. NW. The demonstration will march to the Pentagon, and then on to the headquarters of Boeing, Lockheed Martin, General Dynamics, and KBR (the former Halliburton subsidiary), located in Crystal City, Virginia. The marchers will carry hundreds of flag-draped coffins representing the multinational victims of the U.S. war drive.

Photos: Bill Hackwell, AnswerCoalition.org

www.VetSpeak.org

Post 3/21 Pentagon Demo Musings

To those who plan to be in DC this Saturday March 21 for the March on the Pentagon,After the march there is a vet poetry reading at Busboys and Poets. Come join us and read.

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Veterans’ Reading at
Busboys and Poets
Langston Room, 14th & V Streets NW,
Washington, DC

Saturday March 21th, 5 - 7PM

…searing raw-whisky poetry by military veterans …
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For some, the intense experience of war can only be expressed in writing, while others are driven by the need to say something openly political:
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Reading their own work are, Camillo “Mac” Bica Thomas Brinson, Dayl Wise and others...

Book proceeds to Veterans for Peace.

Published by Post Traumatic Press, Woodstock , NY
D. Wise, dswbike@aol.com

The soldier-poets:
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Camillo =E 2Mac” Bica , Ph.D., is a professor of philosophy at the School of Visual Arts in New York City. As a veteran recovering from his experiences as a United States Marine Corps officer during the Vietnam War, he founded, and coordinated for five years, the Veterans’ Self-Help Initiative, a therapeutic community of veterans suffering from post traumatic stress disorder. He is a long-time activist for peace and justice, a member of Vietnam Veterans Against the War, and the coordinator of Veterans For Peace Long Island. Poems and articles by Dr.Bica have appeared in The Humanist Magazine, Znet, Truthout.com, Monthly Review Zine, Foreign Policy in Focus, and numerous philosophical journals.

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Thomas Brinson currently serves on the National Board Directors of Veterans For Peace, is the Poet Laureate of VFP Long Island Chapter 138, and Long Island contact for Vietnam Veterans Against The War. He served in the II Corps Vietnam from 1967 to 1968, and as a Peacemaker on the Nonviolent Peace Force in Mutur, T rincomalee, Sri Lanka from 2003 to 2005.
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Dan Wilcox is a poet and photographer who is said to have the largest photo collection of unknown poets on the planet. Dan hosts the “Third Thursday Open Mic” for poets at the Social Justice Center in Albany, New York and reads poetry on a regular basis at various clubs throughout the Hudson River Valley. He is a member of a poetry troupe, known as “3 Guys From Albany.” He is the author of Meditations of a Survivor (A.P.D. The Alternative Press for Albany’s Poets) and has published eight books including two more of his own and a book for Anthony Bernini. He is an active member of Veterans for Peace, chapter 10 in Albany, NY.
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Dayl Wise is the author of Poems and other stuff (Post Traumatic Press) and recently edited a collection of work by veterans titled Post Traumatic Press 2007. His poems have appeared in The Veteran and More Than a Memory, Reflections of Viet Nam. He was drafted into the US Army in 1969 and served in Viet Nam and Cambodia in 1970 with the First Air Cav. He is a member of Vietnam Veterans Against the War and Veterans For Peace.

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www.VetSpeak.org