Global Exchange staff all dressed up at 10th Annual Human Rights Awards gala

The Tenth Annual Human Rights Awards (HRA) was a spectacular success!

The sold out event included inspirational speeches by honoree Annie Leonard and Daniel Ellsberg who accepted the People’s Choice Award on behalf of Bradley Manning. The participation of the entire Global Exchange staff, board, and community made this night special.

So who showed up? Too many to name them all, but guests in attendance included friends and supporters from The Story of Stuff, Bradley Manning Support Network and Courage to Resist, Ben & Jerry’s, Sungevity, Aspiration, and many more. We  mixed and mingled with long-time Global Exchange supporters and welcomed the opportunity to meet lots of new people doing great work.

Thank you to our Sponsors and everyone who joined us at the HRA as we honored the work of:

Annie Leonard delivering inspiring speech

Story of Stuff Creator Annie Leonard — Annie inspired the crowd with her amazing passion for environmental health and justice. She has made it her life’s work to highlight important issues plaguing our world today. On Thursday night, she asked all of us to make the movement for justice go viral and inspire 15 million more people to action. Stay tuned and be ready to spread the upcoming video: The Story of Change.

Daniel Ellsberg Nixon-gesturing before delivering his speech on behalf of Bradley Manning

PFC Bradley Manning (accepted by Daniel Ellsberg) accused Wikileaks whistleblower. Daniel Ellsberg remarked that accepting the award on behalf of Bradley Manning was one of the greatest honors of his life. Keep up with the work of the Bradley Manning Support Network.

——–

All in all, the 10th Annual Human Rights Award Gala was a great time, from the delicious food and ‘Justice and Ginger’ signature cocktail, to the inspirational speakers and activities, including the “I am Bradley Manning” (and “We are Bradley Manning”) photo ‘booth’.

Thanks again to Ben & Jerry’s, Green Mountain Coffee, and all of our Sponsors and those who participated and helped make the 10th Annual Human Rights Awards such a special night.

We hope to see you next year. In the meantime, below are some photo highlights of our honorees, guests, friends and staff. The complete set of photos you’ll find on our Facebook page, so we encourage you to check those out!

2012 Human Rights Awards Gala — in Pictures

Annie Leonard and Kevin Danaher

Ashley from Care2 and Rae from CodePink

Board member, Walter Riley and son in front of San Francisco City Hall

Aspiration staff & friends in front of San Francisco City Hall

Bradley Manning Support Network guests with People's Choice Award and Carleen Pickard

We are Bradley Manning photo booth in action

Ben & Jerry's Jeff Furman with Carleen Pickard

Global Exchange intern Sue with Daniel Ellsberg

—–

 TAKE ACTION!

Visit Facebook to see all the pictures from the 10th Annual Human Rights Awards.

Global Exchange board member Ann Wright

The following guest post by Global Exchange board member Ann Wright originally appeared on MichaelMoore.com.

Bradley Manning was recently chosen as  Global Exchange’s Human Rights Awards People’s Choice Winner. The award will be presented at the 2012 Human Rights Awards gala on May 10th in San Francisco and will be accepted on Bradley Manning’s behalf by special guest Daniel Ellsberg.

—
The Government’s Warning to Bradley Manning and Others: “Tell on us, and we will put you behind bars for the rest of your life”

The pre-trial hearings for alleged Wikileaks whistleblower US Army PFC Bradley Manning hold some lessons for us all.

One of the issues discussed in Manning’s April 25 pre-trial hearing has relevance for all of us. If soldiers or other government employees expose on the internet or in interviews with journalists government malfeasance, should that person be charged with “aiding and abetting the enemy?” Even if a soldier has no intent to give information to an “enemy,” no “evil intent,” but the enemy could possibly have access to the interview by buying a newspaper that contains the interview, or accesses it on the internet, should the government employee be prosecuted for “aiding and abetting the enemy?”

What if the government is more fearful of its citizens than of al Qaeda and the Taliban and attempts to silence the whistleblowers in the government who alert the citizens of the wrongdoings of its government?

What if the government does not want to hold accountable those in government who are violating regulations and laws?

The prosecution in the Bradley Manning trial is arguing that soldiers should know that the “enemy” uses the internet and can easily find derogatory or negative comments from military personnel and use them to find weaknesses in military units, strategies, policies.

Does that mean that a soldier, government employee, or for that matter, anyone not even in government who talks about the monstrously high levels of post-traumatic stress in our military or talks about 18 military and veterans committing suicide a day, or anyone who identifies cost overruns in virtually every government program is subject to the charge of “aiding and abetting the enemy.”

I recently inadvertently and fortuitously ended up at a meeting with a US State Department sponsored group of young professionals from the Middle East who were brought to the United States to learn more about our country. I mentioned that I was attending the hearings for the alleged Wikileaks whistleblower Bradley Manning.

The reaction of the group was stunning. Immediately hands for questions went up—the questions began with a comment—“Without Wikileaks, I would never have learned what my own governments was doing, its complicity in secret prisons and torture, in extraordinary rendition, in cooperation in the US wars in the region. Wikileaks exposed what our politicians and elected officials are doing. Without Wikileaks, we would never have known!”

And that is what Bradley Manning’s trial is all about and what the charges against six other government employees who face espionage allegations for providing information the government classified to protect its own wrongdoings -to silence other potential government whistleblowers.

Only two persons in our government have had the courage to risk life imprisonment to leak massive amounts of government documents. Daniel Ellsberg leaked thousands of documents that revealed the sordid history of the US involvement in Vietnam and who President Nixon labeled for his actions “the most dangerous man in America.”

And now, Bradley Manning who is accused of leaking hundreds of thousands of documents that reveal war crimes in the US wars in Afghanistan and Iraq and questionable US diplomatic policies and duplicity with governments around the world.

The charges of “aiding and abetting the enemy” and of espionage are meant to threaten any others who might find the evidence of government criminal actions and alert the American public.

The unmistakable warning is “don’t tell on us, or we will put you behind bars for the rest of your life.”

—

About the Blogger: Global Exchange board member Ann Wright is a retired US Army Colonel who spent 29 years in the US Army and Army Reserves. She resigned from the State Department on March 19, 2003 in protest of the invasion of Iraq. Since then, she has been writing and speaking out for peace. Ann has been on delegations to Iran, was in Gaza three times in 2009, and was an organizer for the Gaza Freedom March. She was on the 2010 Gaza flotilla that was attacked by the Israeli military and on the Audacity of Hope boat which was part of the Freedom Flotilla in 2011. She lives in Honolulu.

—

Attend the 2012 Human Rights Awards gala: Global Exchange is proud to honor Bradley Manning as its 2012 Human Rights Awards People’s Choice recipient.

Find out all about this exciting awards event here and purchase tickets here.

Daniel Ellsberg Photo Credit: www.ellsberg.net

Daniel Ellsberg is a lecturer, writer and activist on the dangers of the nuclear era, wrongful U.S. interventions and the urgent need for patriotic whistleblowing with an interesting background of his own. From Daniel Ellsberg’s website:

In 1967 Ellsberg worked on the top secret McNamara study of U.S. Decision-making in Vietnam, 1945-68, which later came to be known as the Pentagon Papers. In 1969, he photocopied the 7,000 page study and gave it to the Senate Foreign Relations Committee; in 1971 he gave it to the New York Times, the Washington Post and 17 other newspapers. His trial, on twelve felony counts posing a possible sentence of 115 years, was dismissed in 1973 on grounds of governmental misconduct against him, which led to the convictions of several White House aides and figured in the impeachment proceedings against President Nixon.

Hope to see you! So, if you find yourself in the California Bay Area on May 10th, we hope you join us at the historic Green Room (401 Van Ness) in San Francisco from 6PM – 8:30PM for this fabulous Human Rights Awards Gala. Awaiting you will be drinks, passed appetizers, and the opportunity to mingle with awardees, Global Exchange staff, and other progressives.

And there’s a silent auction? Yep, for the cherry on top of this delicious evening, there will also be a silent auction featuring lots of incredible items up for auction at great prices during the awards gala. Last year’s auction included fine artwork, Fair Trade gift baskets, getaways and more. I wonder what tempting auction items there will be this year. Come out on May 10th to find out. I look forward to meeting some of you there.

That's me with a few of my personal heroes Ben & Jerry and Kevin Danaher at the 2011 Human Rights Awards

TAKE ACTION!

• Get Tix: 2012 Human Rights Awards Tickets
• Find out more: More about the 2012 Human Rights Awards
• See pics from last year: Photos from the 2011 Human Rights Awards Gala on Facebook 

Bradley Manning

With over 2,900 votes, the people have chosen PFC Bradley Manning as the 2012 People’s Choice Award winner.  Global Exchange is proud to honor Bradley Manning, and we hope you’ll take a moment to read more about this year’s winner.

It takes great courage to stand for what you know is right.  Bradley Manning, a 24-year-old Army intelligence analyst, joined the army at age 19.  Before deploying to Iraq, when a friend asked that he “stay safe,” Bradley replied, “I’m more concerned about making sure that everyone: soldiers, marines, contractors, even the local nationals, get home to their families.”

Bradley is accused of leaking a video showing the killing of civilians, including two Reuters journalists, by a US Apache helicopter crew in Iraq.  He is also charged with sharing the documents known as the Afghan War Diary, the Iraq War Logs, and embarrassing U.S. diplomatic cables, with the anti-secrecy website WikiLeaks.  The video and documents have exposed the true number and cause of civilian casualties in Iraq, human rights abuses by U.S. funded contractors and foreign militaries, and the influence that corporate interests have on U.S. foreign policy.  Journalists have credited the release of these documents with helping to motivate the democratic revolution in Tunisia as well as the final withdrawal of U.S. troops from Iraq.

In chat logs attributed to Bradley by the FBI, he explains what motivated him to act:

“I can’t separate myself from others…I feel connected to everybody…like they were distant family…I…care?  I prefer a painful truth over any blissful fantasy.  I think I’ve been traumatized too much by reality, to care about consequences of shattering the fantasy…God knows what happens now.  Hopefully worldwide discussions, debates, and reforms…I want people to see the truth…regardless of who they are…because without information, you cannot make informed decisions as a public.”

Although Bradley has not yet been tried, he was held in solitary confinement for the first 10 months of his incarceration.  During this time he was denied meaningful exercise, social interaction, sunlight, and was occasionally kept completely naked.  In one week in April 2011, over a half million people signed a petition to end his illegal treatment, as those conditions serve as “a chilling deterrent to other potential whistleblowers committed to public integrity.”  His supporters include famous whistleblower Daniel Ellsberg, over 300 top legal scholars, veterans, and civilians around the world.

If the military continues refusing to acknowledge Bradley as a whistleblower, he may become the first person in U.S. history to be convicted of “Aiding the enemy through indirect means,” a crime punishable by life in prison or the death penalty, for telling the public the truth.

To learn more about how to support Bradley Manning, please visit the website of the Bradley Manning Support Committee: bradleymanning.org

Join us on Thursday, May 10, 2012 as we honor  Human Rights Award Honorees Bradley Manning and Annie Leonard at the Tenth Annual Human Rights Awards in San Francisco.  (Note that Bradley’s award will be accepted by a representative)

For more information about the Human Rights Awards, and to purchase tickets, please visit humanrightsaward.org.

By Medea Benjamin and Charles Davis.

photo: EPA

Bradley Manning is accused of humiliating the political establishment by revealing the complicity of top US officials in carrying out and covering up war crimes. In return for his act of conscience, the US government is torturing him, humiliating him and trying to keep him behind bars for life.

The lesson is clear, and soldiers take note: You’re better off committing a war crime than exposing one.

An Army intelligence officer stationed in Kuwait, the 23-year-old Manning – outraged at what he saw – allegedly leaked tens of thousands of State Department cables to the whistle-blowing website WikiLeaks. These cables – cables that show US officials covering up everything from child rape in Afghanistan to an illegal, unauthorised bombing in Yemen.

Manning is also accused of leaking video evidence of US pilots gunning down more than a dozen Iraqis in Baghdad, including two Reuters journalists – and then killing a man who stopped to help them. The two young children of the passerby were also severely wounded.

“Well, it’s their fault for bringing kids into a battle,” a not-terribly-remorseful US pilot can be heard remarking in the July 2007 “Collateral Murder” video.

Walking free

None of the soldiers who carried out that war crime have been punished, nor have any of the high-ranking officials who authorised it. And that’s par for the course. Indeed, committing war crimes is more likely to get a soldier a medal than a prison term. And authorising them? Well, that’ll get you a book deal and a six-digit speaking fee. Just ask George W Bush. Or Dick Cheney, Donald Rumsfeld or Condoleezza Rice. Or the inexplicably “respectable” Colin Powell.

In fact, the record indicates Manning would today be far better off if he’d killed those men in Baghdad himself – and on the lecture circuit, rather than in solitary confinement.

Hyperbole? Consider what happened to the US soldiers who, over a period of hours – not minutes – went house to house in the Iraqi town of Haditha and executed 24 men, women and children in retaliation for a roadside bombing.

“I watched them shoot my grandfather, first in the chest and then in the head,” said one of the two surviving eyewitnesses to the massacre, nine-year-old Eman Waleed.

“Then they killed my granny.”

The relative value of life

Almost five years later, not one of the men involved in the incident is behind bars. And despite an Army investigation revealing that statements made by the chain of command suggest they “believe Iraqi civilian lives are not as important as US lives”, with the murder of brown-skinned innocents considered “just the cost of doing business” – a direct quote from Maj Gen Eldon Bargewell’s 2006 investigation into the killings – none of their superiors are behind bars either.

Now consider the treatment of Bradley Manning. On March 1, 2011, the military charged Manning with 22 additional offenses – on top of the original charges of improperly leaking classified information, disobeying an order and general misconduct. One of the new charges, “aiding the enemy”, is punishable by death. That means Manning faces the prospect of being executed or spending his life in prison for exposing the ugly truth about the US empire.

Meanwhile, the Obama administration has decided to make Manning’s pre-trial existence as torturous as possible, holding him in solitary confinement for 23 hours a day since his arrested ten months ago – treatment which Psychologists for Social Responsibility notes is, “at the very least, a form of cruel, unusual and inhumane treatment in violation of US law”.

In addition to the horror of long-term solitary confinement, Manning is barred from exercising in his cell and is denied bed sheets or a pillow. And every five minutes, he must respond in the affirmative when asked by a guard if he’s “okay”.

Presumably he lies.

While others sleep soundly

It gets worse. On his blog, Manning’s military lawyer, Lt Col David Coombs, reveals his client is now stripped of his clothing at night, left naked under careful surveillance for seven hours, and, when the 5:00am wake-up call comes, he’s then “forced to stand naked at the front of the cell”.

If you point out that the emperor has no clothes, it seems the empire will make sure you have none either.

Officials at the Quantico Marine Base where Manning is being held claim the move is “not punitive”, according to Coombs. Rather, it is for Manning’s own good – a “precautionary measure” intended to prevent him from harming himself. Do they really think Manning is going to strangle himself with his underwear – and that he could do so while under 24-hour surveillance?

“Is this Quantico or Abu Ghraib?” asked US Representative Dennis Kucinich. Good question, congressman. Like the men imprisoned in former President Bush’s Iraqi torture chamber, Manning is being abused and humiliated – despite having not so much as been tried in a military tribunal, much less convicted of an actual crime.

So much for the presidential term of the candidate of hope and change.

Administrations change, much remains the same

Remember back when Obama campaigned against such Bush-league torture tactics? Recall when candidate Obama said “government whistleblowers are part of a healthy democracy and must be protected from reprisal”? It appears his opposition to torture and support for whistleblowers was mere rhetoric. And then he took office.

Indeed, despite the grand promises and soaring oratory, Obama’s treatment of Manning is starkly reminiscent of none other than Richard Nixon.

Like Obama – who has prosecuted more whistleblowers than any president in history – Nixon had no sympathy for “snitches”, and no interest in the US public learning the truth about their government. And he likewise argued that Daniel Ellsberg, the leaker of the Pentagon Papers, had given “aid and comfort to the enemy” for revealing the facts about the war in Vietnam.

But there’s a difference. Richard Nixon never had the heroic whistleblower of his day thrown in solitary confinement and tortured. If only the same could be said for Barack Obama.

Medea Benjamin is cofounder of Global Exchange and CODEPINK: Women for Peace. Charles Davis is an independent journalist. On March 20 CODEPINK and others will be traveling to the Quantico Marine Base to rally in support of Bradley Manning. You can sign our petition here asking President Obama to pardon Bradley Manning.

While Megyn Kelly brought up the idea that perhaps Pfc. Bradley Manning had blood on his hands for leaking the information, Medea made clear points for the need of having transparency and an informed citizenry in order to make informed decisions about our foreign policy positions.

Excerpts:

We need transparency and an informed citizenry. So many things have been hidden from us in the last decade that has gotten us into wars we shouldn’t be in and have resulted in so much suffering and agony. And if indeed Bradley Manning gave us documents that can end all of this, then he is actually going to be saving lives.

There is absolutely no evidence that anything that has been leaked has resulted in the death of anybody because of these leaks. The policies themselves have led to and continue to lead to the deaths of innocent people.

Bradley Manning is a truthteller; getting out information that we the public need to make informed decisions about our policies and that’s a positive thing.

The things that we have learned through Wikileaks, like the use of clusterbombs in Yemen – a weapon that has been condemned all over the world – the continued killing of innocent people through drones in Pakistan; the widening of these wars that are supposedly being wound down, we need an open discussion about a foreign policy run amok and this is giving us that opening. My view – the fact that we can now have these kinds of discussions to say, ‘Is this policy making us more or less safe?’, and I say the policies is what’s making us less safe. Bradley manning is actually helping to have that discussion.

]]> http://www.globalexchange.org/blogs/peopletopeople/2010/12/09/transparency-and-truthtellers/feed/ 0