Supporting Guantánamo Hunger Strikers, Bradley Manning and Protesting Drones
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Wednesday April 3, 2013
Event: Antiwar Protest at Barack Obama’s $32,500/plate dinner
When: 4pm onward, Wednesday April 3, 2013
Where: Home of Gordon and Ann Getty
2870 Broadway (at Baker)
San Francisco
As President Obama speaks in Pacific Heights to Democratic Party donors at $32,500 per guest, others will stand and speak outside the hall. Beneath the shadow of a (1/5 scale) replica drone, antiwar activists will gather to noisily confront Obama over his wars, his torture and drones, and the prosecution of courageous whistleblower Bradley Manning.
These protesters were mobilized by World Can’t Wait, Code Pink, and the Bradley Manning Support Network. They will gather outside the entrance, standing in witness. They will speak out and demonstrate against key features of the war program over which Obama is presiding: drone spying and warfare, torture and Guantánamo, and the upcoming court martial of Bradley Manning.
April 2013 has been designated a month of action against drone spying and killing, an uprising of grassroots and other activism to demand that the U.S. stop its drone policies now. Drone strikes in Pakistan, Yemen, Afghanistan, Somalia and unknown other countries by the US military and CIA drone programs have so far have killed 2,772-3,933 people there, including 170-199 known children
Also some protesters will wear the jumpsuits and hoods that have come to represent torture and Guantánamo, to mark the 57th day of the massive hunger strike now continuing there. According to lawyers for the striking prisoners, this hunger strike was partially triggered by incidents of religious disrespect by prison authorities against Muslim prisoners.– But more fundamentally, the prisoners launched their strike once it was clear – to the world, including to these prisoners themselves — that the Obama administration intends to NEVER allow them to be EITHER charged and tried, or released; thus, a hunger strike bidding for world attention to this thoroughly illegal situation was an action of last resort.
April 11: A NATIONAL DAY OF ACTION TO SUPPORT THE GUANTÁNAMO HUNGER STRIKERS has just been announced by World Can’t Wait, the Center for Constitutional Rights, Amnesty International, and Witness Against Torture. Watch here for more info.
Contact: Linda Jacobs (415) 424-7358
sf@worldcantwait.org worldcantwait.net fire johnyoo.org