Archive for October 2007

Exposing & Organizing to Stop Plan Mexico: Friends of Brad Will in D.C.

Raising Awareness about ‘Plan Mexico’ and how to stop it!

For Brad Will - - - Against Plan Mexico

Join us in Washington, D.C. Thursday and Friday (rides and places to stay available)

Join us in advocating and agitating to stop Bush-Calderon ‘drug war’ disaster: Plan Mexico.

Panel Discussion:
Impunity, the ‘Drug War’, and human rights in Mexico
Thursday 6-9 p.m. at St. Stephens’ Church
16th & Newton, Columbia Heights metro stop, Washington, DC

On the Panel:

Susan Mitchel - Brad Will’s cousin, will report on family’s visit to Oaxaca, Mexico and the status if the investigation into his murder

Renata Rendon - Amnesty International, Mexico and Latin America desk

Beehive Collective - Will address similarities between the disastrous Plan Colombia and Bush’s proposed Plan Mexico

Hector Sanchez, Global Exchange, DC-Mexico Policy/Education Coordinator

and more!

THURSDAY Lobbying

9:30- 4 pm

Meet from 9:30 to 10:30 at Lebon Cafe Inc 210 2nd St (Capitol South Metro).

Call 347.647.4801 if you’re late!

FRIDAY, Press conference

12pm, noon - Press Conference and demo at Mexican Embassy, 1911 Pennsylvania Ave NW, between 18th and 19th streets, with puppets and signs

Call 347.647.4801 or 646 641 5788

Friday Demonstration

6pm - Meet at Pigeon Park, on the NW of 16th street and Columbia

6:20 or so: leave Pigeon Park and start a procession to the Mexican Cultural Institute, with puppets and signs

6:45/7pm - demo starts at Mexican Cultural Institute, 2829 16th St NW

Check www.friendsofbradwill.org for periodic updates on our schedule and news.

Also, www.bradwill.org for much more information.

For Brad Will - - - Against Plan Mexico!

By Robert Jereski mutualaid@earthlink.net http://www.friendsofbradwill.org


Subcommittee Hearings and Meetings


“A Little Bit of So Much Truth” premieres in NYC on Nov. 1, 2, and 7

Please spread the word.

Corrugated Films, in collaboration with Mal de Ojo TV, presents the NYC premiere of “A Little Bit of So Much Truth” (Un Poquito de Tanta Verdad).

When the people of Oaxaca decided they’d had enough of bad government, they didn’t take their story to the media… they TOOK the media.

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Download, print (cut) and distribute widely!

These flyers are for the November 1st and 2nd events in D.C. Please join us and spread the word!

Side one

Side two


Plan Mexico Under Consideration by Congress even though its Contents have not been made Public!!!

TIME FOR ACTION is NOW!

JOIN US IN D.C. for ADVOCACY EFFORTS and DEMO/Press Conference ON NOVEMBER 1st and NOVEMBER 2nd.

Then on a date yet to be determined w/in the next 2.5 weeks, in d.c. for FULL FOREIGN RELATIONS COMMITTEE HEARING ON PLAN MEXICO! We MUST have 15 people in that hearing!

In the meantime, download, print (cut) and DISTRIBUTE widely for this week’s action!

Side one and Side two

Forward to your human rights- and Mexico-related blogs, sites, lists!

And download this flyer and letter:
http://www.friendsofbradwill.org/2007/10/19/contact-congressman-engel

CONTACT Congressman Eliot Engel and YOUR LOCAL Representative

Email: jason.steinbaum@mail.house.gov
Phone: (202) 225-2464 and Fax: (202) 225-5513

and

Congressman LANTOS (Chair of Foreign Relations Committee)

CONTACT his Chief of Staff, Bob King:

ca12lantos@mail.house.gov
Phone: 202-225-3531
Fax: 202-226-4183

Tell them to hold up on supporting “Plan Mexico”.
Tell him to conduct hearings on the possible uses of Blackwater-style mercenaries, shared intelligence with corrupt officials, the need for human rights investigations in Oaxaca and beyond and to prioritize solving of the murder of US journalist Brad Will!
No to “Plan Mexico”!

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October 27th We Gather to Remember Brad Will

Friends,

A year has passed since our friend and brother, Brad Will, was murdered in Oaxaca. On Saturday, October 27th, friends and family will gather at St. Mark’s Church to honor his memory and the legacy of courage and resistance that he left behind.

Please come, bring food for the body and the spirit. Share your bread and your wine; your poems and your songs; your love and your rage.

SATURDAY, OCTOBER 27TH, ST. MARK’S CHURCH ON THE BOWERY

12:00-1:00 Food and Gathering
1:00 –3:30- Program of ritual, music, poetry, video and reminiscence
3:30 –whenever- a procession to La Plaza Community Garden to share whiskey song, and fire.

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Brad Will: Open Letter International

This letter is published in various media outlets to mark one year of impunity in the death of journalist Brad Will in Oaxaca.

October 2007

brad-will_261007.jpg Like in the cases of so many other journalists, human rights activists, indigenous leaders and social activists, the murder of Brad Will, a U.S. journalist and documentary video maker from Indymedia New York, who was killed in Oaxaca on October 27, 2006, has been addressed by the Mexican Government with impunity for the murderers.

A year after these events, we express our public outrage at this situation, and maintain our strong demand that the Mexican Government respect human rights and that it investigates the truth about the events that led to Brad Will’s death, through a serious and impartial investigation. We demand as well the prosecution of those responsible.

Unfortunately a very long list of cases of murderers unpunished exists in Mexico, a list which grows longer every day; but we do know that for us there is no time, distance or borders which can stop us from continuing to demand justice for Brad and for all victims in Oaxaca.

Because we will not be fatigued, we will not be silent, and not forget:

Enough with impunity in Mexico.

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CPJ calls for investigation into Bradley Will murder

The Committee to Protect Journalists sent a letter to President Felipe Calderón urging him to set up a rigorous investigation into the murder of Brad Will.

October 26, 2007

Felipe Calderón Hinojosa
President of Mexico
Los Pinos
Mexico City, Mexico

Via facsimile: 52-55-52772376

Your Excellency:

The Committee to Protect Journalists is deeply concerned that one year after the death of journalist Bradley Roland Will nobody has been brought to justice. Further, we are troubled by the absence of a serious murder investigation and the lack of official response to witness reports and photographs from the murder scene that identify several armed men shooting into the crowd where Will was present.

On October 27, 2006, in the capital city of Oaxaca state, Will was shot twice while covering a clash between antigovernment protesters and heavily armed plainclothes men working for the embattled state governor, Ulises Ruiz Ortiz. At the time of the shooting, Will, a 36-year-old independent journalist reporting for New York’s Indymedia, was standing alongside protesters. He was accompanied by at least eight other journalists. Ballistics reports show that the two bullets that hit Will came from the same weapon, from a distance of no more than 16 feet, which corresponds to the distance cited in witness accounts of men shooting as they charged the protesters.

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Time-Sensitive: Action for Brad & Mexico

TODAY (before 1pm if possible) please (let people know they can) make calls, get questions asked and get $1.4 billion in military/police aid stopped.

Write back to mutualaid(at)earthlink(dot)net to let us know what the congresspeoples’ response was.

TAKE ACTION:
Call: Congressman Meeks (Co-Chair of Subcommittee on Western Hemispheric Affairs): 202 255.3461
Congressman Engels (Chair of Subcommittee on Western Hemispheric Affairs): 202.225.2464

Tell them: Activists with Friends of Brad Will intend to be present at Congressional Hearings on October 25th and has suggested FOUR QUESTIONS for the Congress Members to ask the Administration:

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No $ To Mexico Until Accountability on Human Rights!

Contacts:
Harry Bubbins, Friends of Brad Will, Media Representative,
h.bubbins(at)gmail(dot)com
http://friendsofbradwill.org

Robert Jereski, Friends of Brad Will, Congressional Representative
mutualaid(at)earthlink(dot)net
212 973 1782,
http://friendsofbradwill.org

Download as a pdf

Friends of murdered journalist demand hold on military aid pending investigation into his murder

The Friends of Brad Will, a network of friends and associates of Brad Will, the U.S. journalist, have urged House Speaker Pelosi and Eliot Engels, the Chair of the Western Hemispheric affairs subcommittee to oppose U.S. support for Mexican military and police forces. Mr. Will, the 36 year old reporter, was murdered in Oaxaca, Mexico a year ago, on October 27th, 2006. Witnesses and photographic evidence implicate members of the Mexican government, including a police chief.

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