ALERT: Support Katherine & GI Resisters
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| SOURCE:www.couragetoresist.org |
Will your group join us in support of Katherine Jashinski of the Texas Army National Guard if she faces court martial and military prison in the coming weeks for refusing to deploy to Iraq and asserting her right to conscientious objection?
We are calling for a national mobilization in support of Katherine, from letter writing and public education to support vigils and demonstrations on the day before her military court martial tribunal.
We are also setting up an ongoing alert network of groups willing to support GI resisters. Please read the Call for a National GI Resistance Alert Network below, signed by organizers, writers and thinkers from many sectors of the antiwar and allied movements (see below). This Call explains why it is so crucial to support GI resisters and how this is key to ending the war and occupation. We are asking your group to both support Katherine in the coming weeks AND to participate in the ongoing GI Resistance Alert Network to support Katherine and other GI resisters when they need it over the long haul. We will send out alerts with suggestions of what to do and background information. When we can we will also offer resources to support your organizing. The response form below explains what is meant by participation.
Katherine Jashinski is a Specialist in the Texas Army National Guard and the first woman in the military to publicly resist the Iraq war, refusing to deploy to Iraq in November. After denying her conscientious objector status, the military has confined her to Fort Benning Army Base and will attempt to court martial her. She faces military jail and forfeiture of pay and benefits.
Katherines writes, "What characterizes a conscientious objector is the willingness to face adversity and uphold our values at any cost. We do this not because it is easy or popular, but because we are unable to do otherwise. My biggest hope after all this is said and done, is that I become an example and prevent others from enlisting before they know who they are."
The military is expected to announce her court martial date in the coming days or weeks and her court martial could take place from a few weeks to a few months. Her lawyers are attempting to avoid a court martial tribunal. We will send out an alert as soon as the date is set. We will also have available a downloadable 8 1/2 by 11 inch flyer, sample press release, and an informational flyer for you to use in your organizing. We will do our best to monitor and report on events around the country and internationally.
with hope and resistance,
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| Source:couragetoresist |
Courage to Resist
Courage to Resist
Call for a National GI Resistance Alert Network
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We urge you to join us in a National GI Resistance Alert Network. It's time for us to escalate public pressure and action in support of the thousands of courageous men and women who have in many different ways followed their conscience to uphold international law and to take a principled stand against the unjust, illegal war and occupation of Iraq. It's time we had their backs.
Objection and resistance by military servicepersons is a healthy and important assertion of democracy in a country where the decisions to invade Iraq, to maintain an occupation, and engage in widespread human rights violations and torture were made undemocratically in violation of international law and based on continuing lies and disinformation.
Resisting illegal occupation and war is not a crime! In fact, under the military rules of engagement, a soldier is upholding the law by disobeying an illegal order. The right to conscientious objection is being systematically violated by the military. Those objectors who are publicly asserting their rights are being singled out for punishment. We demand that military personnel retain their right to follow their conscience, publicly dissent and that their basic democratic rights be respected.
On May 10, 2005 when sailor Pablo Paredes and soldier Kevin Benderman faced court martials after being unjustly denied conscientious objector status, thirty cities responded to our call to action by organizing demonstrations, vigils and public events with less than ten days notice. This national attention combined with a mobilization to support Pablo at his court martial in San Diego contributed to Pablo's ability to force issues of the war's legality in court and his lighter-than-expected non-jail sentence.
Many of us see this as part of a people power strategy to stop the war and occupation; if the government won't listen to the people and stop the war, we will stop it ourselves by organizing campaigns to remove the pillars of support on which the war depends (troops, corporate profiteers and corporate media). Supporting GI resistance, together with counter recruitment and draft resistance is key to stopping the war ourselves. If the government can't recruit or draft new troops and if troops resist the illegal war and occupation, as was the case in the Viet Nam War, they can't continue the war and occupation.
Courage to Resist will send out alerts about GI resisters in need of support, asking for support in the following ways as appropriate: send letters, make phone calls, create educational events, educate your community and networks, attend court martials or hearings, and organize vigils, demonstrations, and civil disobedience/nonviolent direct actions. We are asking concerned organizations, communities, and individuals to join us and commit to a sustained campaign of support for GI resistance and conscientious objection.
A better world is possible,
Aimee Allison - Gulf War 1 C.O.; former Oakland City Council Candidate
Medea Benjamin - Co-Founder, Code Pink; Founding Director, Global Exchange
Andrea Buffa - Code Pink; Global Exchange
Leslie Cagan - National Coordinator, United for Peace and Justice
Kelly Campbell - September 11th Families for Peaceful Tomorrows
Kelly Dougherty - US Army veteran, co-founder of Iraq Veterans Against the War
Susan Galleymore - MotherSpeak; Courage to Resist; military mother
Arnoldo Garcia - National Network for Immigrant and Refugee Rights
Stan Goff - Coordinating Cmte., Bring Them Home Now!; retired Special Forces Master Sgt; military father
Edward Hasbrouck - Draft registration resister; Resisters.info
Tom Hayden - author; antiwar organizer
Dahr Jamail - independent journalist
Naomi Klein - activist; writer
Sharon Lee Kufeldt - Commander of American Legion Post #315 San Francisco, Women's Coordinator of Vets4Vets4Women, Veterans For Peace National Vice President
Barbara Lubin - Director, Middle East Children's Alliance; Nat'l Steering Cmte., ANSWER
Andrew McGuffin - Gulf War veteran, attorney member of the National Lawyers Guild
Douglas Minkler - artist
Anuradha Mittal - Director, Oakland Institute, author and human rights expert
Steve Morse - GI Rights Program Coordinator, Central Cmte. for Conscientious Objectors (CCCO)
Efia Nwangaza - Afrikan American Institute for Policy Studies; Nat'l Steering Cmte., Not in Our Name
Victor Paredes - brother of Navy refuser Pablo Paredes
Jeff Paterson - Not in Our Name; former Marine and 1991 Gulf War 1 resister
Anne Roesler - Military Families Speak Out; military mother
School of the Americas Watch Staff Members
Sandra Schwartz - Peace Education Coordinator, American Friends Service Committee
Cindy Sheehan - Gold Star Families for Peace
David Solnit - People Powered Strategy Project; Courage to Resist
Samina Faheem Sundas - Founder and Executive Director, The American Muslim Voice
Fernando Suarez del Solar - Proyecto Guerrero Azteca por la Paz
Fr. Louie Vitale - O.F.M.; Korea War veteran
Brian Wilson - Viet Nam Veteran, author and activist
Bonnie Weinstein - Bay Area United Against War
David Wiggins MD - US Army Desert Storm conscientious objector
Elizabeth Wrigley-Field - National Coordinating Committee, Campus Antiwar Network
Organizations listed for identification purposes only.
More information at: https://CourageToResist.org
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GI RESISTANCE ALERT/ KATHERINE JASHINSKI ORGANIZATION RESPONSE FORM
******************************************************************* Our group will, within our capacity, support GI Resisters when alerted by:
__ Send alerts to and activate members of our organization and or network/s.
__ Write letters/e-mails and/or make phone calls.
__ Organize support vigils, demonstrations or civil disobedience.
__ Educate our community and the public; newsletters, e-mail
announcements, printed information, announce at meetings and public
events, hold public forums (films/resources are available), letters to
the editor, getting coverage in local, regional, national or
international media, etc.
__ Support GI Resisters through fundraising for personal/legal expenses,
writing letters of support, attending hearings or court martials in our
region, etc.
Organization Contact Person/s:
E-mail:
Phone/s:
Mailing Address:
Other information about your group, resources, etc:
Please send this form to [email protected]
More information at: https://CourageToResist.org
NOTE: Individuals can subscribe to receive alerts on our website:
CourageToResist.org
Our group will participate in supporting Katherine and in the ongoing GI Resistance Alert Network in the following ways (Participating
groups will be listed on the Courage to Resist website).
Organization: