Cynthia McKinney requests your presence in DC…

From a 7/13/09 e-mail from a Cynthia McKinney supporter:

We just received word that the Viva Palestina convoy is still being held in Egypt despite negotiations. Convoy organizers Cynthia McKinney [former Congresswoman, and 2008 Green Party presidential candidate] and George Galloway are calling for protests tomorrow. Those of us who are in Washington, DC will be gathering tomorrow (Tuesday, July 14) outside the Egyptian embassy at noon to demand that Egyptian authorities allow the aid through! Please come out and spread the message!

*Please Forward Far and Wide*

Emergency Protest! Demand that Egyptian Authorities allow humanitarian aid into Gaza!

When: Tuesday, July 14th at 12 noon

Where: Egyptian Embassy, Washington, DC (Van Ness metro – red line) (3521 International Court, NW)

For updates on the Washington, DC protest or to endorse, please contact:
703.231.7553.

July 5: Cynthia McKinney being deported from Israel

A report from the popular Green Party site Green Party Watch, and a story in the Atlanta Journal-Constitution, affirm that Cynthia McKinney was brought from jail to the airport, and is currently being deported by Israel. Supporters wait and worry until she arrives home in the US safely. Former Congresswoman and former Green Party candidate for President Cynthia McKinney was on a boat trying to deliver humanitarian aid to Gaza, when the boat — with 21 activists — was taken by Israel.

(excerpt from) Green Party Watch
BREAKING NEWS: Israeli authorities deporting Cynthia McKinney
July 5th, 2009 by Gregg Jocoy · 8 Comments

This breaking news comes via David Josue, a close associate and supporter of Congresswoman Cynthia McKinney: Editor’s notes in parenthesis.

July 5th in NYC: Leaders of Haiti Movement and Guadelope Movement

The Brecht Forum is hosting Elie Domota and Fignole Saint-Cyr on Sunday July 5, 2009 from 2:00pm-6:00pm. The Brecht Forum is at: 451 West Street (between Bank & Bethune Streets) New York, NY 10014. Please alert everyone to come and bring guests.

A message from our colleague Colia Clark:

The crisis in Haiti and the war on the leaders of the successful Guadeloupe strike against France is far too urgent for us to treated lightly . We, who are part of Left movements and progressive forces must join in solidarity and full support of these movements of African people right next door in the Caribbean Islands. They are fighting American, French and Canadian and other forms of European imperialism with every breath of energy and they need our help now! Please come.

Colia L. Clark

Call White House for Cynthia McKinney please

Former Congresswoman and 2008 Green Party Presidential candidate Cynthia McKinney, has been captured by the Israeli Navy…oh, my. Unbelievable, but I have gotten many reliable reports via phone and e-mail.

It is the afternoon of Wed. July 1, 2009 and no word that she is back safe, yet. People just put up a petition for her release: here.

Also, Marian from the Green Party of the United States Diversity Committee said that we are trying to get calls to the White House. Please call now:

Ask people to contact the White House – 202-456-1111

I just left a detailed message with a White House comment line operator. He was very courteous, even supportive.

Marian

Women leaders rise up: “Peace Mom” Cindy Sheehan demands Cynthia McKinney’s release…

Call the White House and ask them to get Cynthia McKinney and the others back. White House – 202-456-1111 . More action items and links at read more…

Hot Indie News
[Peace Mom] Cindy Sheehan demands the immediate release by Israel of 2008 Green Party Presidential Candidate Cynthia McKinney and other kidnapped aid workers on the boat: The Spirit of Humanity
By James Lane / Tuesday, June 30th, 2009

Nobel Peace Prize Nominee, Human Rights’ Activist and Gold Star Mother, Cindy Sheehan, calls on the Israeli government to immediately release the members and crew of the boat The Spirit of Humanity that was attempting to deliver humanitarian aid to the devastated peoples of Gaza.

McKinney leaves Cyprus with Gaza supplies

The Free Gaza boat the “Spirit of Humanity” departed Cyprus at 7:30am on Monday, 29 July. Twenty-one human rights and solidarity workers representing eleven different countries were aboard.  The passengers include Nobel laureate Mairead Maguire and former U.S. congresswoman Cynthia McKinney. The ship also carries three tons of medical aid, children’s toys, and rehabilitation and reconstruction kits for twenty family homes.

Green Party Presidential candidate Cynthia McKinney: “[T]he U.S. should send a message to Israel reiterating the reported White House position that the blockade of Gaza should be eased, and that medical supplies and building materials, including cement, should be allowed in … Will [President Obama] stand by his own words and allow us to provide relief for Gaza or will he back down?” 

Had enough of being abandoned by your party? Come home to the Green Party

Green Party, preparing for 2009 national meeting, ask: Is America ready for a real opposition party now?

• Citing Democrats’ votes for war funding and retreats on health care, Greens call Dems “the new wing of the GOP” and invite Americans to “come home to the Green Party”

• Green Party Annual National meeting: Durham, North Carolina, July 23-26

Green Party leaders, preparing for the party’s 2009 Annual National Meeting, said that America is in desperate need of a real opposition party, as Democrats maintain Republican positions on foreign policy, health care, the environment, and other big issues.

“Democratic leaders made their party a wing of the Republican Party in June,” said Wayne Turner, North Carolina Green Party co-chair (http://www.ncgreenparty.org). “Any progressive positions taken by the Obama administration are getting nullified by Blue Dog Democrats and other Republican allies.  The Democratic leadership and mainstream have adopted values we associate with the GOP, while Republicans are taking ever more extreme positions and want to see President Obama fail at whatever he sets out to accomplish.  That leaves two parties representing corporate lobbies and the Green Party representing the interests and ideals of most Americans.  ‘Across the aisle’ used to mean Democrats and Republicans.  Now both of them are across the aisle from the rest of America.”

“With President Obama expanding the war in Afghanistan and Democrats overwhelmingly voting for war funding, the Democratic Party can no longer pretend to be the antiwar party.  We invite voters who want peace to come home to the Green Party,” said Mr. Turner.

Greens cited widespread popular opposition to the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, support for a national health care plan that covers all Americans (http://www.reuters.com/article/topNews/idUSTRE55K00220090621), and resentment over the Wall Street bailout as evidence that the Green Party is closer to the political sentiments of a majority of Americans.

Green leaders pointed to several decisions and actions in June that betray the Obama promise of change:

• 256 Democrats in the House voted for the war funding bill, with only 30 Democratic nays.  President Obama is also expanding US troops in Afghanistan, with air attacks inside Pakistani borders, and has maintained the Bush-Cheney ‘preemption’ doctrine in threatening Iran.  (Democratic leaders endorsed both wars from the beginning and continued voting for President Bush’s war funding requests after they took control of Congress in 2006.)

• The Democratic leadership’s health care reform plans not only reject Single-Payer, but will also omit the public health care option because it’s “unfair to insurance companies” — as if insurance industry profits were more urgent the health needs of millions of Americans.

• In capitulation to industry interests, the Waxman-Markey climate bill (”American Clean Energy and Security Act of 2009″) would place a weak cap on greenhouse gas emissions (reductions of only 1-4% below 1990 levels by 2020), create a $2 trillion carbon-trading market with dangerously unregulated derivatives and minimal effect on emissions, give away 85% of the carbon permits to corporations over the next decade, offer a $150 billion handout to coal companies, and impose a severely inadequate 15% renewable energy standard by 2020.

• President Obama approved mountaintop removal for coal, which will wreak further environmental devastation on states like West Virginia and Tennessee.  The Obama Administration continues to espouse industry myths about ‘clean coal.’

• Despite President Obama’s announcement of some limited domestic partnership benefits for gay federal employees, the Obama Justice Department has submitted a brief in support of the antigay Defense of Marriage Act, undercutting the President’s claim to support equality for lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender Americans.

To this list, Greens added other Democratic betrayals and retreats: the bailout for Wall Street (the largest transfer of wealth from taxpayers to corporations in history); continued warrantless surveillance of US citizens; refusal to hold Bush officials who approved torture and lied to Congress accountable for their actions (with torture continuing at some sites, according to reports); and uninterrupted military aid for Israel despite massive human rights violations against Palestinians.

“Why won’t President Obama and congessional Democrats fight for a cap on credit card interest rates and restoration of Glass-Steagal regulations to prevent financial industry abuses?  The election of a few Greens to Congress would change the dynamic of American politics.  Democrats and Republicans would have to compete with Green candidates, who accept neither corporate campaign contributions nor the influence of corporate lobbies,” said Jody Grage, treasurer of the Green Party of the United States.

Free Gaza Speaks about the Delayed Departure of the Hope Fleet

This is not the statement we in the Free Gaza Movement intended to release today. We had hoped to announce that our two ships, the Free Gaza and the Spirit of Humanity, departed from Larnaca Port on a 30-hour voyage to besieged Gaza, carrying human rights activists who have travelled to Cyprus from all across the world for this journey, 3 tons of medical supplies, and 15 tons of badly needed concrete and reconstruction supplies.

In addition to the concerns expressed by our Cypriot friends today, the American consulate in Nicosia warned us not to go to Gaza, stating that:

“…[T]he Israeli Foreign Ministry informed U.S. officials at the American Embassy in Tel Aviv that Israel still considers Gaza an area of conflict and that any Free Gaza boats attempting to sail to the Gaza Strip will “not be permitted” to reach its destination.”

Former U.S. Congresswoman & [Green Party] presidential candidate Cynthia McKinney responded to this warning by pointing out that, “The White House says that cement and medical supplies should get into Gaza and that’s exactly what we are attempting to take to Gaza.”

“Instead of quoting Israel policy to us,” McKinney continued, “…the U.S. should send a message to Israel reiterating the reported White House position that the blockade of Gaza should be eased, that medical supplies and building materials, including cement, should be allowed in. The Free Gaza boats should be allowed to reach their destination, traveling from Cyprus territorial waters, through international waters, and straight into Gaza territorial waters.”

“The State Department has chosen to advise us to take the Israeli notification seriously.  Our question is, ‘Can we take President Obama seriously?’  Will he stand by his own words and allow us to provide relief for Gaza or will he back down?”

Cynthia McKinney: They Denied Us So They Wouldn’t Have to Ram Us

The Israelis are hopping mad.  And they’re flexing their muscles in all the ugly places.  They can’t ram us again without sparking an international uproar, so they’re trying to stop us from leaving the port at all.  The Limasol, Cyprus Port Authority which controls the port of Larnaca also, sent their inspector to Larnaca with a letter saying that the boat failed inspection, only thing, the letter was written BEFORE he even arrived in Larnaca to do the inspection!  {emphasis added} Reuters is doing the story at this very moment saying that we were prevented from leaving due to Cypriot authorities.  We just learned from a Cyprus government source that pressure is being applied by Israel to deny us departure credentials. It appears, then, that Israel is putting us into contortions because they don’t want us to take cement into Gaza.  After white phosphorus, depleted uranium, DIME, cluster bombs, F16s, death, destruction, and mayhem.  All of *this* over a few bags of cement.  Can you believe???

1.  Read the Haaretz article here, showing Israeli concern about us taking cement to Gaza
2.  Hear the interview with Don Debar on the contortions we’re being put through by Cyprus Port Authority
3.  Read the Reuters article here (interesting that the story broke in Israel and not Cyprus!!)
4.  Individuals have already started to contact the Cyprus UN Mission and their DC Embassy to inquire why they are arbitrarily not allowing the Spirit of Humanity and the Free Gaza to set sail.

1.  Here is the Ha’aretz article:

From Cynthia McKinney: We Leave for Gaza Tomorrow; I’ve Asked the White House to Intervene for our Safety

I just sent the following message to President Obama:

“Mr. President, Please ask the Israelis to not harm our boats and to let us proceed to Gaza.  The Israelis are paying attention and have printed stories about our boats in both the Jerusalem Post and Ha’aretz.  We are doing nothing more than what you have already requested the Israelis to do:  ease up on the Gaza blockade.  Please ask the Israelis to allow us to proceed to Gaza without harm.  Sincerely, Cynthia McKinney”

You, too, can contact the White House (http://www.whitehouse.gov/contact/) and ask them to send a message to Israel requesting our safe passage to Gaza.  We pose no threat to Israel and represent real hope for change in US policy for the people of Gaza.  I also contacted the State Department and the Justice Department with similar messages.

GP’s Cynthia McKinney: I Sent a Message to the President about My Trip to Gaza . . .

. . . and all I got back was a Father’s Day e-mail from Michelle!  Well, at least I know they noted my e-mail address and tucked it away in their database!

If I can’t get a response from the White House, the Israelis certainly are paying attention to our trip.  Both the Jerusalem Post and Ha’aretz have published stories of our visit:

1.  Ha’aretz article
http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/1093988.html

Last update - 17:00 18/06/2009

Activists plan to send Gaza cement, in violation of Israel blockade

By Reuters and Haaretz Service

Tags: Gaza, Hamas, Israel News

Activists campaigning for an end to Gaza’s blockade by Israel will sail to the Hamas-run enclave from Cyprus despite the presence of the Israeli navy, they said on Thursday. Two boats, including one carrying cement and building supplies — materials not permitted in by Israel over fears that they could be used for military purposes — will sail from Cyprus on June 25, the multi-national Free Gaza Movement said. “We are taking 15 tons of cement, which is just a token of how much the Palestinians need, because the Israelis won’t allow building supplies into Gaza,” said Greta Berlin, a representative of the group. The group started regular shuttles to Gaza from Cyprus in August 2008, but was turned back by the Israeli navy on its last journey in mid-January of this year. Israel tightened a blockade on Gaza in 2007 after the Islamist Hamas took control of the enclave, a strip of land that is home to 1.5 million people. Israeli forces bombed and then invaded Gaza in late December 2008 in a bid to rout out militants lobbing rockets into Israel, badly battering its already decrepit infrastructure.

2.  Jerusalem Post article
http://www.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?cid=1245184869772&pagename=JPost%2FJPArticle%2FShowFull

JPost.com » Middle East » Article

Jun 18, 2009 17:20

Activists plan to defy Gaza blockade again

By ASSOCIATED PRESS
NICOSIA, Cyprus

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International activists, including a former US congresswoman and a Nobel Peace Prize laureate, plan to defy Israel’s blockade on Gaza next week by traveling to the Palestinian territory by boat to deliver humanitarian supplies.

The Free Gaza Group already has made five successful boat trips to Gaza since August 2008, but its activists were stopped twice by Israeli warships during December’s Operation Cast Lead.

Free Gaza Group spokeswoman Greta Berlin said Thursday that 36 people would make the June 25 trip from Cyprus to Gaza on a fishing boat and a small ferry loaded with building supplies such as cement.

Berlin said the activists from 16 countries would include former Democratic US Rep. Cynthia McKinney of Georgia, and Mairead Corrigan Maguire, who won the 1976 Nobel Peace Prize for her work with Catholics and Protestants in Northern Ireland.

3.  And Heddy, a Holocaust survivor planning on making the trip with us, will not be able to because she was attacked and had to be stitched up.  Here’s her story:

http://www.columbiatribune.com/news/2009/jun/21/guest-speaker-hurt-in-assault/

Guest speaker hurt in assault

By Janese Heavin

Sunday, June 21, 2009

An “inspirational” speaker for 15 years at the Missouri Scholars Academy was attacked this week after visiting the Columbia camp.

Hedy Epstein: Holocaust survivor

Hedy Epstein, an 84-year-old Holocaust survivor, was walking to her home from a Metrolink station in St. Louis on Wednesday when someone pushed her hard from behind. She fell to the ground and lay in a state of shock, bleeding profusely from her chin.

The attack occurred so quickly, Epstein said, that she thought she saw a man running but can’t remember what he looked like. She forced herself to get home and called a friend when the bleeding would not stop. At the hospital, doctors determined an artery had been nicked.

The attack might not have been random.

Epstein is part of a movement opposed to Israel’s treatment of Gaza and has received threatening messages.

After she gave a television interview earlier this year, someone left a phone message telling Epstein she should be ashamed of herself. In the message, the caller threatened to visit St. Louis and “give you a piece of my mind and spit on your ugly face. … We will find a way to deal with protesters of your type.”

Epstein has since given the transcribed message to police.

On Thursday, Epstein said she received an e-mail from someone asking whether she is trying to help free the Israeli soldier abducted by Palestinians more than two years ago. “Is there a connection” between the attack and e-mail? she asked. “It’s not obvious, but there might be.”

Her injuries have forced Epstein to cancel a planned trip to Gaza this month, but she’s planning another trip there in August. She said she won’t let the threats or her attack stop her.

After all, Epstein has experienced worse.

She was 8 when Adolf Hitler came to power while she and her family were living in Germany. Five years later, Epstein was taken to England with 500 other Jewish children.

From a foster home, she continued to correspond with her parents until 1942, when she received back-to-back letters from them. Though written separately, both her father and mother told her they were going to an “undisclosed location” and that it would be a long time before she would hear from them again.

Years later, Epstein found out what they meant: Both had been sent to the Auschwitz death camp in Poland. “I didn’t know that at the time,” she said. “So when my parents said it may be a long time, I wanted to know how long. I wanted so much to be reunited.”

Hearing that story during the Missouri Scholars Academy this week hit home for Grace Sparapani, a scholar from Nixa. “I can’t imagine not seeing your parents again,” she said. “It really made me appreciate mine more.”

Epstein is “absolutely amazing,” Grace added. “I can’t even imagine how much courage it takes to talk about that … What she’s doing is really brave.”

The scholars made a “Get Well” card to send to Epstein, said Chris Young, a spokesman for the camp. “Hedy’s a very inspiring individual,” he said. “The scholars wanted to do something to show her that they care for her.”

The attack might have caused her body to bruise, but it did little to injure her spirit. She said she’s as determined as ever to continue opposition efforts against the Israeli government’s treatment of Palestinians in Gaza.

“I know what it means to be discriminated against and to suffer,” she said. “I care profoundly about issues of justice and fairness and peace. And I care about people — not just Jewish people. I care about everybody.”

Reach Janese Heavin at 573-815-1705 or e-mail jheavin@columbiatribune.com.

4.  New content is posted on our ning site (www.dignity.ning.com) and on our DIGNITY Channel on Livestream.com (www.livestream.com/dignity).  Please check out the new videos, text, and photos!! Also, I think we have some bugs to work out on our Livestream channel.  Please be sure to report your findings to us so we can work through any bugs that might be in our posting or your reception.

5.  Keep up with me as I cross the Meditterranean to Gaza.  The boats will send out a signal and our location will be shown on FreeGaza.org. Tune in to follow our progress from Cyprus through international waters to the territorial waters of Gaza.

–
http://www.livestream.com/dignity
http://dignity.ning.com/
http://www.twitter.com/dignityaction
http://www.myspace.com/dignityaction
http://www.myspace.com/runcynthiarun
http://www.twitter.com/cynthiamckinney
http://www.facebook.com/CynthiaMcKinney

Green Parties Worldwide condemn violence in Peru

Global Greens condemn violence in Peru, seek an independent investigation of police actions at protests against land grab for oil drilling

The following statement was issued by the Global Green Coordination on June 15.  The Global Greens (http://www.globalgreens.org) is the international network of Green parties and political movements, founded in 2001 at the First Global Greens Congress, in Canberra, Australia.  The Green Party of the United States is a member of the Global Greens.

Global Greens Condemn Violence in Peru
http://www.globalgreens.org/statements/peru

The Global Green Coordination has called for an independent investigation into the actions of police in the Amazonian region of Peru which resulted in at least 50 deaths. After the violence near the town of Bagua Grande, hundreds more people, mainly indigenous people, are missing and it is alleged that police have hidden hundreds of bodies. Indigenous people were protesting against new legislation which will mean their land can be exploited for oil and gas drilling.