Prison time for activist over green jobs banner? We’re not kidding

Dear Friends,

Despite the Gulf disaster, no one from BP has been arrested and sent to jail. Despite safety violations at coal mines, no one from Massey Energy has been handcuffed. But today I write to inform you that one of America’s best global warming activists is probably facing several months of jail. He’s been convicted by a D.C. jury, and now he awaits sentencing on July 6th. Why? Because he peacefully dropped two banners on Capitol Hill that said: “GREEN JOBS NOW” and “GET TO WORK.”

I’m not joking. Ted Glick of the Chesapeake Climate Action Network was convicted by a jury May 13th of peacefully dropping the banners inside the U.S. Senate Hart Office Building last September. The DC U.S. Attorney’s office clearly has decided to make an “example” of Ted because of his previous two — count ’em, two — convictions related to peaceful acts of climate civil disobedience. Can you believe it? You can see a three-minute video of Ted’s September “crime” right here. He’s the guy toward the end simply lowering the banners. Period.

Now Ted is facing up to three years in jail. Based on the judge’s comments last week, it really does appear that he will be incarcerated for at least a month or two.

So here’s what you can do:

First, please write a respectful but firm snail-mail letter to Judge Frederick H. Weisberg telling him why you think Ted should not go to jail. The judge’s address is below. Just type something up, print it and mail it off. Explain why only a suspended sentence is fair, especially given all the real injustices out there on global warming. There is reason to believe that that a large number of thoughtful, well-reasoned letters to the judge could bring leniency.

Second, take an action right now that will help create a world where global warming is no longer such a threat and people like Ted won’t have to drop banners and get arrested in the first place! Sign the “Windmills, Not Oil Spills” petition to stop new offshore drilling in America and promote clean energy alternatives instead.

Thanks for your support, your activism, and your prayers as CCAN fights to keep a morally innocent staff member out of jail during this time of great global crisis.

Sincerely,

Mike Tidwell
Director, Chesapeake Climate Action Network

—
Here’s the judge’s address:

Judge Frederick H. Weisberg
DC Superior Court
500 Indiana Ave., NW
Washington, DC  20001

**Please keep in mind**

The letters should be respectful. Suggested topics include:

• If you personally know Ted and have shared experiences with him, tell the judge;
• Describe the urgency of the climate issue and the need to pressure our government to take action on it;
• Give your views on what would be a justice-based approach by the legal system toward nonviolent actions of the kind Ted took part in.

Please let other people know about this campaign. And it would be helpful if you could send us a copy of your letter to Judge Weisberg, or if you could let us know that you have sent a letter. You can email Ted at ted AT chesapeakeclimate.org, or you could send by regular mail to Ted’s attention at CCAN, P.O. Box 11138, Takoma Park, Md. 20912.

—
Mike Tidwell
Director, Chesapeake Climate Action Network
MTidwell AT ChesapeakeClimate.org
cell: 240-460-5838
www.ChesapeakeClimate.org

“Polar Bear 7” Go to Court

New York Green Zool  Zulkowitz is part of the “Polar Bear 7” arrested in action in Washington D.C. in October 2007.   Read his call for support:

Friends–

Please join the “Polar Bear 7” this Friday, March 7, 2 PM in Washington DC Superior Court, Room C-301, 500 Indiana Avenue, NW.

On October 22, 2007, during the “No War, No Warming” demonstration in Washington DC, seven people, including myself, were snatched and arrested by the US Capitol Police. None of us had participated in civil disobedience or broken any law.

According to police documents, seven people “dressed as polar bears,” (though I was dressed in a business suit and another defendant, a journalist, was dressed in casual clothes) were arrested for unlawful assembly. While only five of us eventually went to trial, Judge Raphael Diaz referred to us as the “Polar Bear 7” (and alternatively, as “teddy bears”).

Following a six day trial in February, Judge Diaz found the “Polar Bear 7” innocent of unlawful assembly, but guilty of “a lesser included” charge, failure to obey a police order.

Tomorrow, Friday, March 7 at 2 PM, the “Polar Bear 7” will return to court for reconsideration and/or sentencing. Attorney Ann Wilcox, along with co-defendants pro se, Adam Eidinger and Robert Levitt, will argue for the “Polar Bear 7.”

In my view, the judge’s failure to acquit the “Polar Bear 7” sends a chilling message to the “No War, No Warming” movement. While there was no finding of any basis for our arrest, and the judge discredited the prosecutorial theory of “transferred intent,” he left open the question of selective arrest and gave the police license to arrest people for disobeying an order, even if they broke no law.

–zool (Paul H. Zulkowitz)

Peace Survey for Green Party Presidential Candidates

The survey below has been sent to all the Candidates seeking the GPUS nomination for U.S. President on behalf of members of the Green Party Peace Network (GPPN). Members will distribute the answers to their state parties and they will be posted on this blog.

GPUS Presidential Candidate Peace Issues Survey:

1. What is your position / policy on the following Issues:

–War and Occupation of Iraq
–Waging war on other countries (Iran)
–Disparity in the percentage of U.S. government revenues devoted to
militarism vs. domestic and social needs
–No Child Left Behind and military recruiting in schools?
–Support of a draft or “War tax”
–Support of a “war-profiteering” tax for those companies making
windfall profits from this war?
–The idea of a surtax on incomes over a certain level
–Alternative energy sources
–Climate change (specifically, what goals would you prioritize)

2. What support would you hope to get from states in the GPUS?

——————————–

2008 Green Party Presidential Candidates:

• Jared Ball, independent journalist; radio host (WPFW 89.3 FM Pacifica Radio in Washington, DC),
hip-hop scholar, assistant professor of communications studies at Morgan State University
in Baltimore, Maryland
http://www.jaredball.com• Elaine Brown, 2005 Green candidate for Mayor of Brunswick, Georgia; former leader of the Black
Panther Party; organizer of Mothers Advocating Juvenile Justice and National Alliance for
Radical Prison Reform
http://www.elainebrown.org

• Jesse Johnson, 2006 US Senate candidate and 2004 gubernatorial candidate for the Mountain
Party in West Virginia (now affiliate state party of the Green Party of the United States); filmmaker
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mMxgYnmdHfg

• Cynthia McKinney, former member of the US House of Representatives (Georgia), 1993 to 2003, 2005
to 2007; former member of the Georgia House of Representatives, 1988-1992
http://www.runcynthiarun.org

• Kent Mesplay, 2004 candidate for the Green presidential nomination; former president of
Turtle Island Institute; environmental engineer, alternative energy activist; California Green organizer
http://www.mesplay.org

• Kat Swift, Texas Green organizer; former Campus Greens leader; activist with Clean Money San
Antonio and San Antonio Democracy Now
http://www.bexargreens.org/katforprez

Greens: McClellan bombshell demands impeachment

GREEN PARTY OF THE UNITED STATES
http://www.gp.org

For Immediate Release:
Wednesday, November 28, 2007

Contacts:
Scott McLarty, Media Coordinator, 202-518-5624,
mclarty@greens.org
Starlene Rankin, Media Coordinator, 916-995-3805,
starlene@gp.org

McClellan revelations demand immediate impeachment, say Greens

• Special Counsel Patrick J. Fitzgerald must probe new evidence in Plame case; Democrats and
Republicans who refuse to hold Bush and Cheney accountable are complicit in White House crimes

WASHINGTON, DC — Green Party leaders called impeachment an urgent necessity after former
White House Press Secretary Scott McClellan’s revelation that President Bush and Vice President
Cheney were involved in the conspiracy to expose the identity of CIA undercover operative Valerie
Plame.

“Evidence of high crimes and misdemeanors from the White House are staring us in the face.  What
will it take for the Democratic Party to move on impeachment?  By refusing to impeach, House
Majority Leader Steny Hoyer [D-Md.], Rep. Nancy Pelosi [D-Calif.], Sen. Harry Reid [D-Nev.], and
other Democratic leaders are aiding and abetting crimes committed by President Bush and Vice
President Cheney,” said Peter Thottam, Green Party member, attorney, and Executive Director of
the Los Angeles National Impeachment Center
<http://www.gp.org/press/states/ca/ca_2007_07_18.shtml>.

Greens called it absolutely imperative that US Department of Justice Special Counsel Patrick J.
Fitzgerald investigate Mr. McClellan’s assertions about the role of Mr. Bush and Mr. Cheney in an
illegal attempt to discredit Ambassador Joseph Wilson after Mr. Wilson revealed that the
President’s 2003 State of the Union claim about an Iraqi nuclear weapons material deal was based
on a known forgery.

The Green Party of the United States called for impeachment in July 2003 after President Bush
ordered the invasion of Iraq, which Greens called an act of military aggression outlawed under the
US Constitutional and international law, and lied to the American people about the reasons for the
invasion.

Climate change report shows need for Green agenda, election wins

GREEN PARTY OF THE UNITED STATES
http://www.gp.org

For Immediate Release:
Monday, November 5, 2007

Contacts:
Scott McLarty, Media Coordinator, 202-518-5624,
mclarty@greens.org
Starlene Rankin, Media Coordinator, 916-995-3805,
starlene@gp.org

Greens: New climate change report shows the need for Green agenda, Green election wins
Report proves that the Lieberman-Warner bill is inadequate and short-sighted and capitulates to industry, say Greens

• Green Party Speakers Bureau on global warming
(speakers available for interview):
http://gp.org/speakers/speakers-ecological.php
Contact information: http://www.gp.org/speakers

WASHINGTON , DC — Green party leaders today said that a new climate change report to be released
Monday proves the election of Green Party candidates into office is essential to enforce the immediate and drastic steps needed to combat global warming.

Green Party Global Warming Activist on No War No Warming

This is written by Green Party Global Warming Activist Ted Glick who has been on a 50 day fast. What he writes here should bring hope and pride to both Greens and Activists all over.
No War, No Warming Disrupts Capitol Hill

by Ted Glick

It’s day 50, 25 days on water-only, followed by 25 days on fruit and
veggie juices and miso broth, with vitamin and protein supplements.

I got a big test yesterday of how I’m doing on this liquids-only
regimen. I was up early in the morning and down to the U.S. Capitol by
6:30 a.m. to get prepared for our No War, No Warming action. I was
intensely involved in the for-sure “action” phase of the event from
about 7:45 to 9:30, at which point I was arrested and taken off to
jail with 60 other sisters and brothers. We spent about six-seven
hours in a Capital Police facility, a garage, sitting all together on
hard metal chairs while processing went on. Almost all of us were
released by late afternoon.

Arrests on Capitol Hill today – including at least one Green Party Peace Activist

It’s a Movement, It’s a Party, It’s Resistance on Capitol Hill

Submitted by davidswanson on Mon, 2007-10-22 13:55. Nonviolent Resistance

By David Swanson

Oil towers and windmills in Independence Avenue, all the doors to Congressional Office Buildings blocked, mucic blasting, dancing polar bears, a faux Blackwater patrol, a reborn SDS, traffic blocked by a wall of kids, everyone arrested, traffic restarted, another group blocking the street again, including Ted Glick who still hasn’t eaten, corporate reporters and staffers annoyed they can’t get across the street but rather uninterested in why, chants of Arrest Bush Not Vets and Arrest Bush Not Kids, banners declaring No War No Warming, code pink, billionaires for warming, more dancing polar bears,

racially and age mixed activists for the first time getting serious and having fun doing it, groups marching in the road and chanting on nearby corners occupying hundreds of Capitol Police (in shorts in October!), equipment confiscated and people (including our friend Zool, who had planned to be arrested later inside the Capitol) arrested haphazardly with no warning, a few people in tears, the old folks learning where the juvenile jail is, and a chant of Resistance Is Forming, No War No Warming. It’s a beautiful day in Washington DC. DemocracyCellProject, Fox, Reuters, Washington Post, WaPo video, CNN, Associated Press, AP version 2, AP version 3, DailyKos, The Hill, watch for news at code pink DC, whynot news, grassrootsamerica, IVAW, al Jazeera, etc… It’s the oil, stupid!

Greens join No War No Warming actions on Capitol Hill, Oct. 22

GREEN PARTY OF THE UNITED STATES
http://www.gp.org

For Immediate Release:
Monday, October 22, 2007

Contacts:
Scott McLarty, Media Coordinator, 202-518-5624,
mclarty at greens.org
Starlene Rankin, Media Coordinator, 916-995-3805,
starlene at gp.org
Paul “zool” Zulkowitz, Green Party Peace Action
Committee member, on-site contact, 646-549-1615
zooltheartandpolitics at hotmail.com

Green activists join ‘No War, No Warming’ actions targeting Congress

• No War, No Warming groups seek US troop withdrawal from Iraq, end of US oil addiction, drastic steps to cut greenhouse gas emissions

WASHINGTON , DC — Green Party activists will participate in ‘No War, No Warming’ events targeting Congress on Monday, October 22 in an effort to push Congress on ending the Iraq War and enacting measures to curb global warming.