Our non-profit blog was inspired by a Filipina domestic from the Middle East who left her newborn baby – with placenta still attached – at the Bahrain Gulf Air airplane toilet - upon landing in Manila, read her story here http://filipina-nannies-caregivers.blogspot.ca/2013/05/this-blog-was-inspired-by-filipina.htm . Her despair and desperation inspired this blog to gather all possible stories in order to help, to inform and to empower all Filipina nannies, caregivers and maids -- to liberate themselves from abuses of all forms: physical, rape, verbal, exploitation, overtime working without pay.... Send us your stories. Stay anonymous - if you like. (No one can afford to deny this matter anymore). Write in Tagalog, or your dialect, or English, or French, or any language. ALL nannies, caregivers and domestic maids are welcome, send your stories to mangococonutmay1@gmail.com
============================================================
ILPS praises heroic act of Edward Snowden
in exposing NSA surveillance program PRISM
June 20, 2013 at 12:11pm
By Prof. JOSE MARIA
SISON Chairperson, International League of Peoples' Struggle
15 June 2013
15 June 2013
We, the
International League of Peoples' Struggle, praise the heroic act of Edward
Snowden in exposing PRISM, a secret national security electronic surveillance
program operated by the US National Security Agency (NSA) since 2007. We
applaud his noble and democratic purpose of making the exposure in order to
defend the privacy rights of American citizens and the people of the
world.
PRISM is
covered by an unconstitutional blanket authority from the US Foreign
Intelligence Surveillance Court (FISC) for the NSA to monitor the phone, email
and other communications of US citizens and foreigners and require the world's
leading technology companies to provide access to the electronic data. The
antecedent of PRISM is the Terrorist Surveillance Program, implemented in the
wake of 9-11.
In exposing
PRISM, Snowden has provided copies of the classified documents about the
program to The Guardian and Washington Post. The documents include 41 Power
Point slides and identify the collaborating technology companies, such as
Microsoft, Yahoo, Google, Facebook, Paltalk, YouTube, AOL, Skype and Apple. The
NSA intercepts all electronic data that pass into, from and through the US.
The
whistleblower, Edward Snowden, is a 29 year-old technology expert and former
technical assistant for the CIA, who has worked at the NSA as an employee of
various defense contractors, including Booz Allen Hamilton and Dell. He was in
a position to access and copy an enormous amount of intelligence documents from
the NSA, the most secretive organization in the world.
He is now
acknowledged as one of the most consequential whistle blowers in US history,
together with Daniel Ellsberg who leaked the Pentagon papers and Bradley
Manning who provided Wikileaks with the memoranda and cables to and from the US
State Department. In fact, Snowden is now rated as the one who has exposed the
most documents about the criminal and anti-democratic acts of the US
government.
We admire his
principled position and courage in exposing PRISM. He has declared that he
stands for the right of the people to privacy and all related democratic rights
against the unconstitutional and criminal acts of the state. By daring to fight
the No. 1 imperialist power, he has sacrificed his relatively high salary and
comfortable life and he is now in danger of being renditioned and even murdered
by US covert operatives and their shady partners.
We condemn US
imperialism for having laid the legal and electronic infrastructure of a
surveillance state and a fascistic executive branch of government. In
connection with PRISM, the US has arrogantly claimed that it is out to violate
the rights of foreigners and not American citizens. This is a blatant demagogic
lie disproven by the classified documents that have come to light.
We stand in
solidarity with Edward Snowden and support him all the way in his fight for the
democratic rights pf the people against the growing surveillance state in the
US and against the criminal arrogance and hegemonism of the US. We are happy
that the ILPS chapter and member-organizations in Hongkong and Macao have
expressed support for Snowden. We call on all global region committees,
national chapters, member-organizations and allies of the ILPS to do likewise
and to act militantly in defense of Snowden.
=================================================
Oliver Stone, Noam Chomsky, Tom Hayden Urge President Correa to Grant Snowden Asylum
Submitted by Megan Iorio on 26 June 2013 - 3:12pm
http://www.justforeignpolicy.org/node/1421
To add your support for this letter, click here.
A Spanish translation of this letter is here. Another Spanish version is posted at SOAWatch, here; and there is also one at Aporrea here. A French version is at Mémoire des luttes, here.
Dear President Correa,
We write to urge you to grant political asylum to whistle-blower Edward Snowden.
Snowden’s disclosures have already done much to unveil the alarming scale of U.S. government spying on its own citizens and on people around the world. They have revealed severe overreach by the U.S.’ National Security Agency (NSA), which seeks to gather an overwhelming and invasive amount of information on people within the United States. Snowden has also revealed that the constant NSA surveillance also applies to millions of people outside the U.S., whose phone calls, emails and other communications are also indiscriminately targeted.
These are severe abuses of the basic constitutional rights of U.S. citizens and the rights of people in other nations. Yet rather than focusing on the danger to citizens' freedom and privacy exposed by these revelations, and what reforms are necessary to protect citizens' rights, the Obama administration, the U.S. Congress and much of the media are again focusing their ire on the messenger – the brave whistle-blower who, at great personal risk, decided to step forward and inform the U.S. public about what is being done in their name and what is being done to them. Sadly, a great deal of the media and other institutions that should play the role of watchdog have largely abdicated their responsibility.
We have seen this drama play out several times before under the Obama administration. The administration has charged more than twice as many whistle-blowers under the Espionage Act than all previous presidents combined. These have included Thomas Drake who also exposed wrongdoing at the NSA, and most notably Private Bradley Manning, who stands accused of providing Wikileaks with information that revealed U.S. war crimes, U.S. meddling in other countries’ affairs, and other grave and troubling misdeeds. Manning was held for three years before his trial under conditions that a formal U.N. investigation found to be “cruel, inhuman and degrading.”
Many of us petitioned last year for you to grant political asylum to Wikileaks founder Julian Assange. Assange, who as you know well, has been targeted by the U.S. government for publishing evidence of U.S. war crimes – most notably the “Collateral Murder” video of a U.S. helicopter attack on civilians in Iraq – and other information embarrassing to the U.S. government. The Obama administration’s consideration of Espionage Act charges against Assange and Wikileaks, via a grand jury, and bellicose rhetoric by top administration officials and members of Congress, amount to a chilling assault on freedom of the press. We were glad to see you act to support this vital freedom by recognizing Assange’s political persecution and granting him asylum and refuge at the Ecuadorean embassy in London.
As could have been the case with Assange, Manning’s treatment since his arrest shows that Snowden could be subjected to cruel and unusual punishment if he were taken into U.S. custody. There is also a grave danger that Snowden would have difficulty in receiving a fair trial in the U.S. – a point he reportedly has made in his petition for asylum. Manning’s case also shows that Snowden’s constitutional right to a “speedy” trial might also not be secure. These are all serious examples of political persecution against Manning that may await Snowden if he becomes a U.S. prisoner.
It is no doubt your courageous decision to grant Assange asylum that has encouraged Edward Snowden to also seek asylum in Ecuador. Your choice in Assange’s case was not without consequences; the U.S. and U.K. governments reacted angrily, with British police keeping Assange confined to the embassy. Since Assange is being targeted by the U.S. government, there has and no doubt will be more political repercussions. You knew this and yet you acted in the name of justice, saying “Latin America is free and sovereign and… we'll not put up with meddling, colonialism of any kind, at least in this country, small, but with a big heart."
Charging someone with espionage, who clearly did not commit espionage, is strong prima facie evidence of political persecution. The unprecedented quantity of whistle-blowers that have been charged under the Espionage Act by the Obama administration suggests that it is applying this law in a completely arbitrary fashion. In Snowden’s case what he has revealed are actions by the NSA that violate the U.S. Constitution’s Fourth Amendment protections against “unreasonable searches and seizures.” There is no evidence whatsoever that his revelations have in any way threatened U.S. national security or were ever intended to do so. Yet rather than pursue reforms that would protect the rights of people in the U.S. and around the world, the Obama administration again seeks to silence those who have brought these abuses to light. These are actions of political repression, and you would be right to grant Snowden political asylum.
Thank you for your consideration of our request.
Sincerely,
Oliver Stone, Film Director
Michael Moore, Documentary Filmmaker and Author
Noam Chomsky, Author
Tom Hayden, Author, Peace Activist
Daniel Ellsberg, Vietnam War whistleblower
Danny Glover, Film Director
Amber Heard, Actor
Shia LaBeouf, Actor
John Cusack, Actor
Roseanne Barr, Comedian
Naomi Klein, Author and Activist
Boots Riley, Musician and Community Activist
Andy de la Tour, Actor, screenwriter
Susan Wooldridge, Actor and writer
Emma Thompson, Actor, screenwriter and author
Julie Christie, Actor
Jean Luc Mélenchon, Member, European Parliament; co-president, Left Party of France
Bernard Cassen, professor emeritus, University of Paris; Secretary General, Mémoire des luttes
Juan Cole, Professor of Middle East History, University of Michigan
Cenk Uygur, co-founder, The Young Turks
Thomas Drake, former NSA Senior Executive, whistleblower
Coleen Rowley, retired FBI agent & former Minneapolis Division Legal Counsel, one of three “whistleblowers” named Time Magazine’s “Persons of the Year” in 2002
Ambassador Joe Wilson, Iraq War whistleblower
Jacob Appelbaum, Developer, The Tor Project
Medea Benjamin, Cofounder, CODEPINK
Jodie Evans, Cofounder, CODEPINK
Ann Wright, US Army Colonel (Ret) and former US diplomat
Ray McGovern, Former U.S. Army officer and longtime senior CIA analyst (ret.)
Walter Riley, Attorney; Civil Rights Activist; Chair Haiti Emergency Relief Fund; Chair, Meiklejohn Civil Liberties Institute
Mark Weisbrot, Co-director, Center for Economic and Policy Research
Ignacio Ramonet, Journalist and author
Fernando Morais, writer
Alicia Lira Matus, presidenta de la Agrupación de Familiares de Ejecutados PolÃticos- Chile
MartÃn Almada, Premio Nobel Alternativo de la Paz
Frei Betto, escritor, Brasil
Raúl Zibechi, periodista, Uruguay
Roy Bourgeois, fundador de SOA Watch
Rina Bertaccini, ingeniera geógrafa, presidenta del Mopassol de Argentina y vice presidenta del Consejo Mundial por la Paz
Fr. Julin Acosta, República Dominicana
Juan Manuel Sandoval Palacios, antropólogo y politólogo, Seminario Permanente de Estudios Chicanos y de Fronteras (Dirección de EtnologÃa y AntropologÃa Social, Instituto Nacional de AntropologÃa e Historia, México)
Elisa Mata, activista argentina por la causa Palestina
Susana Pimiento Chamorro, Fellowship of Reconciliation, EEUU
Hervi Lara B., Delegado del Servicio Internacional Cristiano de Solidaridad con los Pueblos de América Latina (SICSAL)
Cristina Coronel, Educadora Servicio Paz y Justicia Paraguay
Marta Almada Denis, Educadora Servicio Paz y Justicia Paraguay
Ramòn Corvalan, Educador Servicio Paz y Justicia Paraguay
Stella Calloni, periodista escritora
Patricio Labra, Servicio Paz y Justicia Chile
Juana Aguilera Jaramillo, Presidenta, Comisión Etica contra la Tortura (CECT-Chile)
Patricio Véjar, Comunidad Ecuménica Martin Luther King, Chile
Pablo Ruiz, Observatorio por el cierre de la Escuela de las Américas, SOAW
Bill Fletcher, Jr., writer/activist
Kevin Gosztola, Journalist, Firedoglake.com
John Pilger, Journalist
Kent Spriggs, Guantanamo habeas counsel
Kevin Martin, Executive Director, Peace Action
Kathy Kelly, Co-coordinator, Voices for Creative Nonviolence
Mark C. Johnson, Executive Director, Fellowship of Reconciliation
Rabbi Michael Lerner, Editor, Tikkun and Chair, The Network of Spiritual Progressives
Norman Solomon, Cofounder, RootsAction.org
Jeff Cohen, Founder of FAIR
Michael Beer, Executive Director, Nonviolence International
Maya Schenwar, Executive Director, Truthout
Michael Albert, co-editor, ZNet, Z Magazine
Robert Naiman, Policy Director, Just Foreign Policy
Sam Husseini, Director, Washington office of the Institute for Public Accuracy
Miguel Tinker Salas, Professor of History, Pomona College
David Blacker, Prof. of Philosophy of Education & Legal Studies, U. Delaware; Editor, Education Review
Marc Becker, Professor of History, Truman State University
Adrienne Pine, Assistant Professor of Anthropology, American University
C. G. Estabrook, Visiting Professor (retired), University of Illinois
Carolyn Eisenberg, Professor of US Foreign Policy, Hofstra University
Peter Kuznick, Professor of History, American University; co-author with Oliver Stone of The Untold History of the United States
Greg Grandin , Professor of History, New York University
Betsy Hartmann, Professor, Development Studies, Hampshire College
Van Gosse, Associate Chair, Department of History, Franklin & Marshall College
Falguni A. Sheth, Associate Professor of Philosophy and Political Theory, Hampshire College
Bob Buzzanco, Professor of History, University of Houston
Vijay Prashad, Professor of History and International Studies, Trinity College
Staughton Lynd, Historian and peace activist
Marilyn Young, Historian, New York University
William Robinson, Professor of Sociology, University of California, Santa Barbara
Sinclair Thomson, Associate Professor of History, New York University
T.M. Scruggs, Professor Emeritus, Univ. of Iowa; Executive Producer, TheRealNews.com
To add your signature, click here
A Spanish translation of this letter is here. Another Spanish version is posted at SOAWatch, here; and there is also one at Aporrea here. A French version is at Mémoire des luttes, here.
Dear President Correa,
We write to urge you to grant political asylum to whistle-blower Edward Snowden.
Snowden’s disclosures have already done much to unveil the alarming scale of U.S. government spying on its own citizens and on people around the world. They have revealed severe overreach by the U.S.’ National Security Agency (NSA), which seeks to gather an overwhelming and invasive amount of information on people within the United States. Snowden has also revealed that the constant NSA surveillance also applies to millions of people outside the U.S., whose phone calls, emails and other communications are also indiscriminately targeted.
These are severe abuses of the basic constitutional rights of U.S. citizens and the rights of people in other nations. Yet rather than focusing on the danger to citizens' freedom and privacy exposed by these revelations, and what reforms are necessary to protect citizens' rights, the Obama administration, the U.S. Congress and much of the media are again focusing their ire on the messenger – the brave whistle-blower who, at great personal risk, decided to step forward and inform the U.S. public about what is being done in their name and what is being done to them. Sadly, a great deal of the media and other institutions that should play the role of watchdog have largely abdicated their responsibility.
We have seen this drama play out several times before under the Obama administration. The administration has charged more than twice as many whistle-blowers under the Espionage Act than all previous presidents combined. These have included Thomas Drake who also exposed wrongdoing at the NSA, and most notably Private Bradley Manning, who stands accused of providing Wikileaks with information that revealed U.S. war crimes, U.S. meddling in other countries’ affairs, and other grave and troubling misdeeds. Manning was held for three years before his trial under conditions that a formal U.N. investigation found to be “cruel, inhuman and degrading.”
Many of us petitioned last year for you to grant political asylum to Wikileaks founder Julian Assange. Assange, who as you know well, has been targeted by the U.S. government for publishing evidence of U.S. war crimes – most notably the “Collateral Murder” video of a U.S. helicopter attack on civilians in Iraq – and other information embarrassing to the U.S. government. The Obama administration’s consideration of Espionage Act charges against Assange and Wikileaks, via a grand jury, and bellicose rhetoric by top administration officials and members of Congress, amount to a chilling assault on freedom of the press. We were glad to see you act to support this vital freedom by recognizing Assange’s political persecution and granting him asylum and refuge at the Ecuadorean embassy in London.
As could have been the case with Assange, Manning’s treatment since his arrest shows that Snowden could be subjected to cruel and unusual punishment if he were taken into U.S. custody. There is also a grave danger that Snowden would have difficulty in receiving a fair trial in the U.S. – a point he reportedly has made in his petition for asylum. Manning’s case also shows that Snowden’s constitutional right to a “speedy” trial might also not be secure. These are all serious examples of political persecution against Manning that may await Snowden if he becomes a U.S. prisoner.
It is no doubt your courageous decision to grant Assange asylum that has encouraged Edward Snowden to also seek asylum in Ecuador. Your choice in Assange’s case was not without consequences; the U.S. and U.K. governments reacted angrily, with British police keeping Assange confined to the embassy. Since Assange is being targeted by the U.S. government, there has and no doubt will be more political repercussions. You knew this and yet you acted in the name of justice, saying “Latin America is free and sovereign and… we'll not put up with meddling, colonialism of any kind, at least in this country, small, but with a big heart."
Charging someone with espionage, who clearly did not commit espionage, is strong prima facie evidence of political persecution. The unprecedented quantity of whistle-blowers that have been charged under the Espionage Act by the Obama administration suggests that it is applying this law in a completely arbitrary fashion. In Snowden’s case what he has revealed are actions by the NSA that violate the U.S. Constitution’s Fourth Amendment protections against “unreasonable searches and seizures.” There is no evidence whatsoever that his revelations have in any way threatened U.S. national security or were ever intended to do so. Yet rather than pursue reforms that would protect the rights of people in the U.S. and around the world, the Obama administration again seeks to silence those who have brought these abuses to light. These are actions of political repression, and you would be right to grant Snowden political asylum.
Thank you for your consideration of our request.
Sincerely,
Oliver Stone, Film Director
Michael Moore, Documentary Filmmaker and Author
Noam Chomsky, Author
Tom Hayden, Author, Peace Activist
Daniel Ellsberg, Vietnam War whistleblower
Danny Glover, Film Director
Amber Heard, Actor
Shia LaBeouf, Actor
John Cusack, Actor
Roseanne Barr, Comedian
Naomi Klein, Author and Activist
Boots Riley, Musician and Community Activist
Andy de la Tour, Actor, screenwriter
Susan Wooldridge, Actor and writer
Emma Thompson, Actor, screenwriter and author
Julie Christie, Actor
Jean Luc Mélenchon, Member, European Parliament; co-president, Left Party of France
Bernard Cassen, professor emeritus, University of Paris; Secretary General, Mémoire des luttes
Juan Cole, Professor of Middle East History, University of Michigan
Cenk Uygur, co-founder, The Young Turks
Thomas Drake, former NSA Senior Executive, whistleblower
Coleen Rowley, retired FBI agent & former Minneapolis Division Legal Counsel, one of three “whistleblowers” named Time Magazine’s “Persons of the Year” in 2002
Ambassador Joe Wilson, Iraq War whistleblower
Jacob Appelbaum, Developer, The Tor Project
Medea Benjamin, Cofounder, CODEPINK
Jodie Evans, Cofounder, CODEPINK
Ann Wright, US Army Colonel (Ret) and former US diplomat
Ray McGovern, Former U.S. Army officer and longtime senior CIA analyst (ret.)
Walter Riley, Attorney; Civil Rights Activist; Chair Haiti Emergency Relief Fund; Chair, Meiklejohn Civil Liberties Institute
Mark Weisbrot, Co-director, Center for Economic and Policy Research
Ignacio Ramonet, Journalist and author
Fernando Morais, writer
Alicia Lira Matus, presidenta de la Agrupación de Familiares de Ejecutados PolÃticos- Chile
MartÃn Almada, Premio Nobel Alternativo de la Paz
Frei Betto, escritor, Brasil
Raúl Zibechi, periodista, Uruguay
Roy Bourgeois, fundador de SOA Watch
Rina Bertaccini, ingeniera geógrafa, presidenta del Mopassol de Argentina y vice presidenta del Consejo Mundial por la Paz
Fr. Julin Acosta, República Dominicana
Juan Manuel Sandoval Palacios, antropólogo y politólogo, Seminario Permanente de Estudios Chicanos y de Fronteras (Dirección de EtnologÃa y AntropologÃa Social, Instituto Nacional de AntropologÃa e Historia, México)
Elisa Mata, activista argentina por la causa Palestina
Susana Pimiento Chamorro, Fellowship of Reconciliation, EEUU
Hervi Lara B., Delegado del Servicio Internacional Cristiano de Solidaridad con los Pueblos de América Latina (SICSAL)
Cristina Coronel, Educadora Servicio Paz y Justicia Paraguay
Marta Almada Denis, Educadora Servicio Paz y Justicia Paraguay
Ramòn Corvalan, Educador Servicio Paz y Justicia Paraguay
Stella Calloni, periodista escritora
Patricio Labra, Servicio Paz y Justicia Chile
Juana Aguilera Jaramillo, Presidenta, Comisión Etica contra la Tortura (CECT-Chile)
Patricio Véjar, Comunidad Ecuménica Martin Luther King, Chile
Pablo Ruiz, Observatorio por el cierre de la Escuela de las Américas, SOAW
Bill Fletcher, Jr., writer/activist
Kevin Gosztola, Journalist, Firedoglake.com
John Pilger, Journalist
Kent Spriggs, Guantanamo habeas counsel
Kevin Martin, Executive Director, Peace Action
Kathy Kelly, Co-coordinator, Voices for Creative Nonviolence
Mark C. Johnson, Executive Director, Fellowship of Reconciliation
Rabbi Michael Lerner, Editor, Tikkun and Chair, The Network of Spiritual Progressives
Norman Solomon, Cofounder, RootsAction.org
Jeff Cohen, Founder of FAIR
Michael Beer, Executive Director, Nonviolence International
Maya Schenwar, Executive Director, Truthout
Michael Albert, co-editor, ZNet, Z Magazine
Robert Naiman, Policy Director, Just Foreign Policy
Sam Husseini, Director, Washington office of the Institute for Public Accuracy
Miguel Tinker Salas, Professor of History, Pomona College
David Blacker, Prof. of Philosophy of Education & Legal Studies, U. Delaware; Editor, Education Review
Marc Becker, Professor of History, Truman State University
Adrienne Pine, Assistant Professor of Anthropology, American University
C. G. Estabrook, Visiting Professor (retired), University of Illinois
Carolyn Eisenberg, Professor of US Foreign Policy, Hofstra University
Peter Kuznick, Professor of History, American University; co-author with Oliver Stone of The Untold History of the United States
Greg Grandin , Professor of History, New York University
Betsy Hartmann, Professor, Development Studies, Hampshire College
Van Gosse, Associate Chair, Department of History, Franklin & Marshall College
Falguni A. Sheth, Associate Professor of Philosophy and Political Theory, Hampshire College
Bob Buzzanco, Professor of History, University of Houston
Vijay Prashad, Professor of History and International Studies, Trinity College
Staughton Lynd, Historian and peace activist
Marilyn Young, Historian, New York University
William Robinson, Professor of Sociology, University of California, Santa Barbara
Sinclair Thomson, Associate Professor of History, New York University
T.M. Scruggs, Professor Emeritus, Univ. of Iowa; Executive Producer, TheRealNews.com
To add your signature, click here
Catherina Ramirez on 26 June 2013 - 5:30pm
Dear President Correa,
I am a great admirer of yours and have long defended you against the lies of my government. My government is out of control on the world stage and Edward Snowden risked his life to warn the whole world of a grave danger.
I implore you to grant Edward Snowden asylum and show the whole world how Ecuador values people over capital. This will also help fight the propaganda war my country wages against you.
Edward Snowden blew the whistle not just for the American people but for the whole world including Venezuelans and Ecuadorans who've long suffered from the machinations of the US and its electronic tool, the NSA.
Respectfully and with thanks
I am a great admirer of yours and have long defended you against the lies of my government. My government is out of control on the world stage and Edward Snowden risked his life to warn the whole world of a grave danger.
I implore you to grant Edward Snowden asylum and show the whole world how Ecuador values people over capital. This will also help fight the propaganda war my country wages against you.
Edward Snowden blew the whistle not just for the American people but for the whole world including Venezuelans and Ecuadorans who've long suffered from the machinations of the US and its electronic tool, the NSA.
Respectfully and with thanks
Bruce Ross on 26 June 2013 - 5:31pm
Thank you for your consideration to grant political asylum for Edward Snowden.
douglas thomsen on 26 June 2013 - 6:54pm
Oliver Stone, Noam Chomsky, Tom Hayden (+ YOU) Urge President Correa to Grant Snowden Asylum
Oliver Stone, Noam Chomsky, Tom Hayden Urge President Correa to Grant Snowden Asylum
Submitted by Megan Iorio on 26 June 2013 - 3:12pm
Dear President Correa,
We write to urge you to grant political asylum to whistle-blower Edward Snowden.
Snowden’s disclosures have already done much to unveil the alarming scale of U.S. government spying on its own citizens and on people around the world. They have revealed severe overreach by the U.S.’ National Security Agency (NSA), which seeks to gather an overwhelming and invasive amount of information on people within the United States. Snowden has also revealed that the constant NSA surveillance also applies to millions of people outside the U.S., whose phone calls, emails and other communications are also indiscriminately targeted.
These are severe abuses of the basic constitutional rights of U.S. citizens and the rights of people in other nations. Yet rather than focusing on the danger to citizens' freedom and privacy exposed by these revelations, and what reforms are necessary to protect citizens' rights, the Obama administration, the U.S. Congress and much of the media are again focusing their ire on the messenger – the brave whistle-blower who, at great personal risk, decided to step forward and inform the U.S. public about what is being done in their name and what is being done to them. Sadly, a great deal of the media and other institutions that should play the role of watchdog have largely abdicated their responsibility.
We have seen this drama play out several times before under the Obama administration. The administration has charged more than twice as many whistle-blowers under the Espionage Act than all previous presidents combined. These have included Thomas Drake who also exposed wrongdoing at the NSA, and most notably Private Bradley Manning, who stands accused of providing Wikileaks with information that revealed U.S. war crimes, U.S. meddling in other countries’ affairs, and other grave and troubling misdeeds. Manning was held for three years before his trial under conditions that a formal U.N. investigation found to be “cruel, inhuman and degrading.”
Many of us petitioned last year for you to grant political asylum to Wikileaks founder Julian Assange. Assange, who as you know well, has been targeted by the U.S. government for publishing evidence of U.S. war crimes – most notably the “Collateral Murder” video of a U.S. helicopter attack on civilians in Iraq – and other information embarrassing to the U.S. government. The Obama administration’s consideration of Espionage Act charges against Assange and Wikileaks, via a grand jury, and bellicose rhetoric by top administration officials and members of Congress, amount to a chilling assault on freedom of the press. We were glad to see you act to support this vital freedom by recognizing Assange’s political persecution and granting him asylum and refuge at the Ecuadorean embassy in London.
As could have been the case with Assange, Manning’s treatment since his arrest shows that Snowden could be subjected to cruel and unusual punishment if he were taken into U.S. custody. There is also a grave danger that Snowden would have difficulty in receiving a fair trial in the U.S. – a point he reportedly has made in his petition for asylum. Manning’s case also shows that Snowden’s constitutional right to a “speedy” trial might also not be secure. These are all serious examples of political persecution against Manning that may await Snowden if he becomes a U.S. prisoner.
It is no doubt your courageous decision to grant Assange asylum that has encouraged Edward Snowden to also seek asylum in Ecuador. Your choice in Assange’s case was not without consequences; the U.S. and U.K. governments reacted angrily, with British police keeping Assange confined to the embassy. Since Assange is being targeted by the U.S. government, there has and no doubt will be more political repercussions. You knew this and yet you acted in the name of justice, saying “Latin America is free and sovereign and… we'll not put up with meddling, colonialism of any kind, at least in this country, small, but with a big heart."
Charging someone with espionage, who clearly did not commit espionage, is strong prima facie evidence of political persecution. The unprecedented quantity of whistle-blowers that have been charged under the Espionage Act by the Obama administration suggests that it is applying this law in a completely arbitrary fashion. In Snowden’s case what he has revealed are actions by the NSA that violate the U.S. Constitution’s Fourth Amendment protections against “unreasonable searches and seizures.” There is no evidence whatsoever that his revelations have in any way threatened U.S. national security or were ever intended to do so. Yet rather than pursue reforms that would protect the rights of people in the U.S. and around the world, the Obama administration again seeks to silence those who have brought these abuses to light. These are actions of political repression, and you would be right to grant Snowden political asylum.
Thank you for your consideration of our request.
Sincerely,
Oliver Stone
Noam Chomsky
Tom Hayden
Daniel Ellsberg
Shia LaBeouf, Actor
Cenk Uygur, co-founder, The Young Turks
Thomas Drake, former NSA Senior Executive, whistleblower
Jacob Appelbaum, Developer, The Tor Project
Medea Benjamin, Cofounder, CODEPINK
Jodie Evans, Cofounder, CODEPINK
Ann Wright, US Army Colonel (Ret) and former US diplomat
Ray McGovern, Former U.S. Army officer and longtime senior CIA analyst (ret.)
Mark Weisbrot, Co-director, Center for Economic and Policy Research
Bill Fletcher, Jr., writer/activist
Kevin Gosztola, Journalist, Firedoglake.com
Kent Spriggs, Guantanamo habeas counsel
Kevin Martin, Executive Director, Peace Action
Kathy Kelly, Co-coordinator, Voices for Creative Nonviolence
Mark C. Johnson, Executive Director, Fellowship of Reconciliation
Rabbi Michael Lerner, Editor, Tikkun and Chair, The Network of Spiritual Progressives
Norman Solomon, Cofounder, RootsAction.org
Jeff Cohen, Founder of FAIR
Michael Beer, Executive Director, Nonviolence International
Maya Schenwar, Executive Director, Truthout
Michael Albert, co-editor, ZNet, Z Magazine
Robert Naiman, Policy Director, Just Foreign Policy
Sam Husseini, Director, Washington office of the Institute for Public Accuracy
Miguel Tinker Salas, Professor of History, Pomona College
David Blacker, Prof. of Philosophy of Education & Legal Studies, U. Delaware; Editor, Education Review
Marc Becker, Professor of History, Truman State University
Adrienne Pine, Assistant Professor of Anthropology, American University
C. G. Estabrook, Visiting Professor (retired), University of Illinois
Carolyn Eisenberg, Professor of US Foreign Policy, Hofstra University
Peter Kuznick, Professor of History, American University; co-author with Oliver Stone of The Untold History of the United States
To add your signature, click here
http://www.justforeignpolicy.org/node/1421
Oliver Stone, Noam Chomsky, Tom Hayden Urge President Correa to Grant Snowden Asylum
Submitted by Megan Iorio on 26 June 2013 - 3:12pm
Dear President Correa,
We write to urge you to grant political asylum to whistle-blower Edward Snowden.
Snowden’s disclosures have already done much to unveil the alarming scale of U.S. government spying on its own citizens and on people around the world. They have revealed severe overreach by the U.S.’ National Security Agency (NSA), which seeks to gather an overwhelming and invasive amount of information on people within the United States. Snowden has also revealed that the constant NSA surveillance also applies to millions of people outside the U.S., whose phone calls, emails and other communications are also indiscriminately targeted.
These are severe abuses of the basic constitutional rights of U.S. citizens and the rights of people in other nations. Yet rather than focusing on the danger to citizens' freedom and privacy exposed by these revelations, and what reforms are necessary to protect citizens' rights, the Obama administration, the U.S. Congress and much of the media are again focusing their ire on the messenger – the brave whistle-blower who, at great personal risk, decided to step forward and inform the U.S. public about what is being done in their name and what is being done to them. Sadly, a great deal of the media and other institutions that should play the role of watchdog have largely abdicated their responsibility.
We have seen this drama play out several times before under the Obama administration. The administration has charged more than twice as many whistle-blowers under the Espionage Act than all previous presidents combined. These have included Thomas Drake who also exposed wrongdoing at the NSA, and most notably Private Bradley Manning, who stands accused of providing Wikileaks with information that revealed U.S. war crimes, U.S. meddling in other countries’ affairs, and other grave and troubling misdeeds. Manning was held for three years before his trial under conditions that a formal U.N. investigation found to be “cruel, inhuman and degrading.”
Many of us petitioned last year for you to grant political asylum to Wikileaks founder Julian Assange. Assange, who as you know well, has been targeted by the U.S. government for publishing evidence of U.S. war crimes – most notably the “Collateral Murder” video of a U.S. helicopter attack on civilians in Iraq – and other information embarrassing to the U.S. government. The Obama administration’s consideration of Espionage Act charges against Assange and Wikileaks, via a grand jury, and bellicose rhetoric by top administration officials and members of Congress, amount to a chilling assault on freedom of the press. We were glad to see you act to support this vital freedom by recognizing Assange’s political persecution and granting him asylum and refuge at the Ecuadorean embassy in London.
As could have been the case with Assange, Manning’s treatment since his arrest shows that Snowden could be subjected to cruel and unusual punishment if he were taken into U.S. custody. There is also a grave danger that Snowden would have difficulty in receiving a fair trial in the U.S. – a point he reportedly has made in his petition for asylum. Manning’s case also shows that Snowden’s constitutional right to a “speedy” trial might also not be secure. These are all serious examples of political persecution against Manning that may await Snowden if he becomes a U.S. prisoner.
It is no doubt your courageous decision to grant Assange asylum that has encouraged Edward Snowden to also seek asylum in Ecuador. Your choice in Assange’s case was not without consequences; the U.S. and U.K. governments reacted angrily, with British police keeping Assange confined to the embassy. Since Assange is being targeted by the U.S. government, there has and no doubt will be more political repercussions. You knew this and yet you acted in the name of justice, saying “Latin America is free and sovereign and… we'll not put up with meddling, colonialism of any kind, at least in this country, small, but with a big heart."
Charging someone with espionage, who clearly did not commit espionage, is strong prima facie evidence of political persecution. The unprecedented quantity of whistle-blowers that have been charged under the Espionage Act by the Obama administration suggests that it is applying this law in a completely arbitrary fashion. In Snowden’s case what he has revealed are actions by the NSA that violate the U.S. Constitution’s Fourth Amendment protections against “unreasonable searches and seizures.” There is no evidence whatsoever that his revelations have in any way threatened U.S. national security or were ever intended to do so. Yet rather than pursue reforms that would protect the rights of people in the U.S. and around the world, the Obama administration again seeks to silence those who have brought these abuses to light. These are actions of political repression, and you would be right to grant Snowden political asylum.
Thank you for your consideration of our request.
Sincerely,
Oliver Stone
Noam Chomsky
Tom Hayden
Daniel Ellsberg
Shia LaBeouf, Actor
Cenk Uygur, co-founder, The Young Turks
Thomas Drake, former NSA Senior Executive, whistleblower
Jacob Appelbaum, Developer, The Tor Project
Medea Benjamin, Cofounder, CODEPINK
Jodie Evans, Cofounder, CODEPINK
Ann Wright, US Army Colonel (Ret) and former US diplomat
Ray McGovern, Former U.S. Army officer and longtime senior CIA analyst (ret.)
Mark Weisbrot, Co-director, Center for Economic and Policy Research
Bill Fletcher, Jr., writer/activist
Kevin Gosztola, Journalist, Firedoglake.com
Kent Spriggs, Guantanamo habeas counsel
Kevin Martin, Executive Director, Peace Action
Kathy Kelly, Co-coordinator, Voices for Creative Nonviolence
Mark C. Johnson, Executive Director, Fellowship of Reconciliation
Rabbi Michael Lerner, Editor, Tikkun and Chair, The Network of Spiritual Progressives
Norman Solomon, Cofounder, RootsAction.org
Jeff Cohen, Founder of FAIR
Michael Beer, Executive Director, Nonviolence International
Maya Schenwar, Executive Director, Truthout
Michael Albert, co-editor, ZNet, Z Magazine
Robert Naiman, Policy Director, Just Foreign Policy
Sam Husseini, Director, Washington office of the Institute for Public Accuracy
Miguel Tinker Salas, Professor of History, Pomona College
David Blacker, Prof. of Philosophy of Education & Legal Studies, U. Delaware; Editor, Education Review
Marc Becker, Professor of History, Truman State University
Adrienne Pine, Assistant Professor of Anthropology, American University
C. G. Estabrook, Visiting Professor (retired), University of Illinois
Carolyn Eisenberg, Professor of US Foreign Policy, Hofstra University
Peter Kuznick, Professor of History, American University; co-author with Oliver Stone of The Untold History of the United States
To add your signature, click here
http://www.justforeignpolicy.org/node/1421
Jane Killgore on 26 June 2013 - 6:57pm
I think we have given up too many freedoms in the name of security. I support the efforts to have less secrecy in government
Brooke Passano on 26 June 2013 - 6:58pm
President Correa.... Thank you for helping Edward Snowden and
Julian Assange!!! We appreciate you. Brooke Passano. California
Nancy A. Butterfield on 26 June 2013 - 7:28pm
Please grant Edward Snowden asylum. It is clear that the U.S.
Government is unwilling and unable to provide justice to Edward Snowden,
or to even look rationally at the acts he has taken, because leading
politicians are hysterical in their rage against him because he has
exposed their legal and constitutional violations of the rights of the
citizens. Thank you for considering his request.
Anonymous on 26 June 2013 - 7:38pm
Querido compañero, Presidente Correa,
Tenemos la fé que vas hacer lo que es justo y que vas a darle asilo politico a Edward Snowden como ya lo hiciste para Julian Assange.
Muchissimo gracias por ser el hombre honesto, sincero, justo y valiente que eres.
Un abrazo bien fuerte y revolucionario parati.
Tenemos la fé que vas hacer lo que es justo y que vas a darle asilo politico a Edward Snowden como ya lo hiciste para Julian Assange.
Muchissimo gracias por ser el hombre honesto, sincero, justo y valiente que eres.
Un abrazo bien fuerte y revolucionario parati.
Frank da Cruz on 26 June 2013 - 9:07pm
Todos sabemos que los Estados Unidos es el gran abusador del
mundo, la mayor causa de miserÃa, sufrimiento, destrucción, y muerte por
todo el planeta desde la II Guerra Mundial. Lo más importante es que
surgen paÃses dispuestos a desafiar a este monstruo arrogante, haciendo
lo justo en vez de cumplir sus exigencias imperiosas. Hay muchos los
norteamericanos que admiramos aquellos paÃses -- Ecuador, Venezuela,
Cuba y otros -- donde la justicia y el bienestar de la gente común y
corriente le importan más al gobierno que la avaricia de un elite
todopoderoso y cruel. Y que deseamos que los EEUU más pareciera esos
paÃses. Al concederle asilo a Snowden, Ecuador les dará un ejemplo a
los paÃses sufriendos del mundo que no se puede pasar por alto,
inspirándolos a tener valor. Y asÃ, poco a poco, el mundo se librará de
la garras del monstruo. Gracias.
susan meyer on 26 June 2013 - 9:16pm
The world needs truth tellers and Snowden is a truth teller.
susan meyer on 26 June 2013 - 9:16pm
Snowden is a truth teller, and the world needs to know the truth.
Dave Richard, CPA, CMA on 26 June 2013 - 10:07pm
Please grant Edward Snowden asylum. Perhaps more potential
whistleblowers will have the courage to step forward if they see they
have a chance at asylum from political persecution. Thank you for
granting Julian Assange asylum in your embassy in London.
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arriving in Canada, USA, and everywhere in the world
-- should have an EMPOWERMENT DAY
-- an orientation day, an introduction day
-- wherein they are told their rights and
-- wherein they are trained to defend themselves from all kinds of abuses and exploitation
-- especially fight against - working 24 hours a day - everyday - within 7 days a week.
-- All Filipina maids should keep a DAILY LOG SHEET on how many hours they work and what kind of extra work they do, TO PROVE they are being EXPLOITED after their 7 hours or 8 hours shift - that they work 24 hours everyday, 7 days a week!
SISTERHOOD OF CAREGIVERS
We suggest that all organizations like AAFQ establish a Sisterhood of Caregivers -- wherein a member adopts a NEWCOMER caregiver for a year -- to be her guide and mentor, moral support and prevention -- from becoming a slave.
I am a witness to the suffering of my people. I am a chronicler of truth and a catalyst of change... (from The Scholastican)
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