Taking Liberties & The ID Card Resistance

Woohoo! ‘Taking Liberties’ (ht2 Dave @ Complex System of Pipes & Throw Away Your Telescreens) the entertaining doco on the UK’s descent into a police state has hit YouTube, using the spiffy autoplay feature the 11 parts begin and automatically load and play the next part for a seamless viewing experience. Click here to start watching.And now the dawn of the ID resistance, some time ago I pledged to this-

 “I will refuse to register for an ID card and will donate £10 to a legal defence fund but only if 10,000 other people will also make this same pledge” back in 2005. In fact 11360 other people also did.

So off goes my ten pounds (current US dollar value $8,326! Ok just kidding, the dollar could never collapse, oh no…) to the NO2ID peeps. Believe me if you watch ‘Taking Liberties’ it is actually very good to find there is something immediate to be done to halt the oncoming lockdown state, so I send my £10 (in fact £11 to cover paypal fees, be generous) with pleasure. Check out the NO2ID site and join the resistance here.

Thousands Protest SOA/WHINSEC

 Sunday was the culmination of SOA Watch’s weekend of action and thousands (authorities est. 10-12,000, SOAW as many as 20,000) marched on Fort Benning-

Veterans who have been a strong presence all weekend marched in the morning along Victory Drive to the gates of Fort Benning, where Genaro Jacinto Calel from the International Mayan League offered a Mayan Blessing. U.S. presidential candidates Dennis Kucinich and Cynthia McKinney, Sister Mary Waskowiak; President of the Sisters of Mercy of the Americas and Rabbi Michael Lerner addressed the crowd, and Adriana Portillo Bartow gave a tribute to Rufina Amaya, the sole survivor of the El Mozote massacre of over 900 men, women and children in El Salvador. In 1999, Rufina traveled from El Salvador to the gates of Fort Benning, Georgia, where 19 of the 26 people later found responsible for the massacre were trained at the School of the Americas. She told the story of the massacre and worked for justice until her death of a heart illness earlier this year. 

Rep. Jim McGovern, who led the charge in the House of Representatives to close down the school that failed by a 214-203 vote, was clearly the most popular of Saturday’s long lineup of speakers and protesters. “This school symbolizes everything the rest of America is not,” said McGovern, who toured the institute Saturday and spoke to its commandant, Col. Gilbert Perez. “I knew some of the priests that graduates of this school murdered.” Another vote is not expected during the next session of Congress, he said. “We’ll wait for the election. The new president may choose to close the school.”

Democratic presidential hopeful Dennis Kucinich said Sunday the thinking that went into producing an Army school blamed for human rights abuses in Latin America was the same that led the U.S. to war in Iraq and could cause it to raid Iran. Kucinich was speaking at the 18th annual protest of the school at Fort Benning that trains Latin American soldiers, police and government officials. One of his first acts as president if elected would be to close the school, he said.

And what is the counter (started 6 years ago) protest called? God Bless Fort Benning. That would be the American Christo-fascist Bush voting pro-torture imperial God of course. God bless ’em indeed.