Edge Left

• May Day in Manhattan: David McReynolds- Note: David, twice the SP-USA's Presidential candidate, has been an active member of the SP, and a leader in the New York Left, since the 1950's. You can read his Web Log at http://www.mytown.ca/mcreynolds/. The day started bright and sunny as I headed uptown to the Church Center for the UN to take part in an action endorsed by the NY Local of the SP, and organized mainly by clergy (including a lot of heavy duty lifting from the Catholic Workers). I had been careful to empty my pockets of anything that might get me in trouble after arrest - my Swiss army knife, nail clippers, and the little plastic container of catnip for cats I meet along the way (the police might easily think it was a stash of pot). I packed a bottle of water for what I expected would be the long wait between arrest and release (and three Hershey bars to cope with hunger). We had an orderly two-by-two march down from the Church Center at 44th and First Avenue, across to Third Ave., and up to 45th St. where the US Mission to the UN is. (I do not know why it moved from 46th St. - the old site is a big hole in the ground now so maybe they are building a new US Mission there). We arrived, about 75 of us willing to risk arrest by blocking the entrance, and over 75 across the street in the legal area. We stood, with orange T shirts that said "Shut Down Guantanamo" and "End Torture", and a metal cage the Catholic Workers had constructed, with someone inside in an orange jump suit and a black hood. (The cage was kept across the street in the legal area - but it had been carried across town with us and was very dramatic). The group of us waiting for arrest were almost entirely clergy - I was kind of the honorary atheist. We waited. There were lots of cops. Lots of police cars. But after about a half an hour word came down that the building manager was not going to ask the police to arrest us. Had we entered the building and gone up to the US Mission office we would have been arrested but that would have been a much more serious federal charge which hadn't been anticipated. (That would have needed a long group discussion - we had not anticipated this). So there were closing prayers and Rabbi Arthur Waskow took the occasion of reminding us about the origins of May Day in Chicago, and with that we dispersed. (There was a mention of this on the BBC News). Thus, instead of ending up under arrest I came home, did my laundry and then went over to Mary House, run by the Catholic Worker, for their annual celebration of May Day. For those interested, there is an ongoing Guantanamo Project (of which this is a part) and if you want to help with local organizing, let me know. Peace, David McReynolds
• The deepening crisis.-

  Edge Left: An occasional column by David McReynolds.

  Fri, 14 Jul 2006 David Mcreynolds * dmcreynolds@nyc.rr.com http://www.mytown.ca/mcreynolds/. This current crisis flows not only from relatively old quarrels between Israel and the Palestinians, but from recent Israeli policy toward the Palestinians. When Hamas won the election in Palestine, one could deplore their refusal to recognize Israel, but one should not have been surprised by it, given the long policy of Israel of "targeted assassinations" which too often had high civilian casualties. (If one counts the number of Israelis killed by terrorists attacks and stacks those deaths up against the terrorist attacks by Israel on the Palestinians, the death rate is very much higher for the Palestinians - something the US media seems never to get clear). One can feel a deep concern for the fear the Israelis have - I have that concern - but

• Edge Left: Iraq, the End Game-

  By David McReynolds

    After the remarkable beginning of the Iraq War, bitterly opposed by so many millions around the world, the gradual unraveling of the war became clearer. There were no weapons of mass destruction.  Bush changed the rational for the invasion to one of "building democracy". One is curious as to what Bush will say, when he finally has to address the present reality - the war is lost, there will be no democracy, the lives and the money down a black hole.  

  For months the Republican line has consisted of three arguments (none of them addressing the issue of weapons of mass destruction). First, "while many can make critiques of past decisions, we must now 'stay the course'". (Ie., it is OK to talk about events in the past - but to challenge the current Bush policy was unpatriotic). Second, "whatever people thought about why we went in, we cannot now 'cut and run'", and the Democrats have not outlined what they propose as an alternative".Third, "if we don't fight the terrorists in Iraq, we will fight them here in our own country".   As it turns out, the Democrats, who, aside from John Murtha, never did have a coherent plan for getting out, didn't need one. Because the US now doesn't have any choice.

• Edge Left: Shut Down Guantanamo-
  
  David McReynolds, being arrested, on Armed Forces Day, 1979.

  by David McReynolds

  This is written early Wednesday morning, before I take Amtrak down to Washington DC to join Thursday's protest on the International Day to Shut Down Guantanamo. Before going further, let me give the web site so that anyone wanting to join the general campaign can find ways to engage. Go to: www.witnesstorture. org. That site will not only give you information on how you can get involved, it will also provide updates on what happens Thursday, who has been arrested, when we will be released.

  There is no doubt that torture has taken place at Guantanamo. The statements by Bush, Rumsfeld, and others that the US doesn't use torture is, sadly, a lie. Sadly both because torture is, in itself, wrong, and because it is always painful when our own government lies to us. There is also no doubt - this has been documented by a range of sources, including the New York Times - that not only have those being held at Guantanamo not had charges brought, not been allowed a day in court, but in many cases were very young, in some cases very old, were picked up by accident in the chaos after the US invaded Afghanistan. Some have been released, but only after long periods of time in captivity.

  There is no doubt terrorism is a serious problem in our world today. We know this from our own 9.11, but from many other attacks which have targeted civilians - in Great Britain, in Spain, and elsewhere. But to pick up men and boys without charging them, to torture them, is not only wrong in itself, but becomes a contributing factor to further terror.

  There are statements on Guantanamo which Americans need to heed. Archbishop Desmond Tutu has said Guantanamo is "A stain on the character of the United States". The United Nations Human Rights Commission said: "Immediately close the detention center at Guantanmo Bay, Cuba, and either release its inmates or bring them before an impartial tribunal". Kofi Annan urged that "America must close the camp as soon as is possible" and Lord Chancellor, Charles Falconer, the highest ranking official in the British legal system, said of Guantanamo "A shocking affront to the principles of democracy . . . intolerable and wrong".

  On Thursday the 11th a number of us will march to the Supreme Court and Federal Court and attempt to deliver motions on the prisoners behalf to the Court. It is expected that over two hundred of us will face arrest.

• EdgeLeft: A Day In the Life of the Resistance-
  
  The Washington DC 'Day to
  Shut Down Guantanamo'.

  by David McReynolds

  Last Wednesday about this time I was on the train to Washington DC to take part in the International Day to Shut Down Guantanamo. This project came, primarily, out of the Catholic Worker community. I had expected to be arrested, and after getting several emails or phone calls to ask me what happened, it occured to me that it is just as important to report on a demonstration when it is over as it is just before it happens. How did it go?

  After getting to Washington, I took a taxi to St. Stephens, a church which I'd known very well from mass mobilizations over the years, a place to meet, and to house those with sleeping bags. (Sleeping bagless, I stayed the night at the Dorothy Day Catholic Worker House). There were about 200 people in the church - a number of others joined us the next day, the 11th.

  The meeting went through the scenario we were to carry out. At 10:30 a.m. the Center for Constitutional Rights (which has done wonderful work on this project and on the Guantanamo issue) and Amnesty International would hold a joint press conference at the US Supreme Court. Following the press conference, the demonstrators would don orange jump suits, put on black hoods, and be marched, two by two, to the Federal Court House . When we got there the group would divide into three parts.

  Some would stand at a distance from the doors of the Court House, protecting them from arrest. Some would enter the court "in civilian clothes" and then, once inside, take part in various acts of guerilla theater (unfurling banners, etc.). And some of us, in our orange jump suits and black hoods, would stand at the doors of the Court House, blocking the doors, and, led by a Catholic Worker dressed in military fatigues, request to be admitted to present petitions of Habeas Corpus on behalf of the prisoners in Guantanamo. Each of us had the name of a prisoner on whose behalf we demanded the right to be admitted. The name I was given was Fnu Nasraullah, 27 years old, from Oruzgan, Afghanistan. He was just 22 when picked up in Afghanistan. He has been held, along with hundreds of other prisoners, with no hearing, no charges. Despite denials from Bush, those held at Guantanamo have, without question, been subjected to torture.