Podcasts about ivaw

This week we're sharing a chat with Graham Clumpner, an anarchist veteran of the U.S. military from the early days of the so-called Global War on Terror. During his time in Afghanistan and elsewhere, Graham worked his way up to being an Army Ranger and left the military in 2007. After struggling with the effects of Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) and a Traumatic Brain Injury (TBI), Graham resisted being recalled into the military, for a short time going underground before finding a path with the help of Common Courage and the G.I. Rights Hotline. Graham became involved in anti-war organizing with Iraq Veterans Against The War (IVAW), which later developed into the group, About Face. Currently Graham organizes on-water direct action against fossil fueled climate change in the Salish Sea with the Mosquito Fleet as a part of the Environmental movement against climate change and is also on the advisory board of the CLDC. For the hour Graham will share about his time before, during and immediately after, his resistance to redeployment, ideas on de-enlistment and his politicization as an anarchist a little on the inspiration of the revolution in Rojava. You can find Graham on Twitter by the handle @turncoatveteran Stay tuned for the second half of this conversation, out May 20th at our website, in our podcast stream, blah blah blah. You'll hear Graham talking about the responsibility of veterans and members of imperialist societies for the harms done in their name and with their money abroad, what it might mean to build a movement with teeth, pushing back on environmental devastation by militarism and capitalism and some tips on integrating veterans into our movements. Announcements Indigenous Mutual Aid So far, the coronavirus pandemic is making more apparent all the violences that the so called US is predicated upon: capitalism, xenophobia, racism, prison/slavery, genocide, and disposability, all of which - when they collide – create situations that are escalating degrees of deadly for the people and communities who are most affected by systemic violence. We here have seen staggering statistics in so called US, which already account for almost a third of all covid deaths worldwide. The widest spread rates of infection and death are coming out of communities which are the hardest impacted by racism, poverty, and genocide. To that end we would like to uplift the platform Indigenous Mutual Aid! From their website: “Indigenous Mutual Aid is an information and support network with an anti-colonial and anti-capitalist framework. We exist to inspire and empower autonomous Indigenous relief organizing in response to COVID-19. We seek to grow the organizing of this effort into a collective hub of organizers from throughout what we recognize as Turtle Island. As our communities have a deep history with organizing to support each other in times of crisis, we already have many existing Mutual Aid models to draw from.
 This looks like a small crew coordinating their relatives or friends to chop wood and distribute to elders. It looks like traditional medicine herbal clinics or sexual health supply distribution. It looks like community water hauling efforts or large scale supply runs to ensure elders have enough to make it through harsh winters. Basically any time individuals and groups in our communities have taken direct action (not through politicians or indirect means) and supported others, not for their own self-interests but out of love for their people, this is what we call ‘mutual aid.'” To see their website, along with further reading and ways to donate, you can go to https://www.indigenousmutualaid.org/ Other Indigenous mutual aid funds (from IMA website): Seeding Sovereignty Rapid Response FundNDN “Collective” COVID-19 Response Fund Indigenous Environmental Network COVID-19 Mutual Aid Fund7th Generation Fund – Flicker Fun for COVID-19 ResponseFirst Nations Development Institute COVID-19 Response FundNative Voices Rising COVID-19 Fund If you have suggestions for further mutual aid networks we can help uplift and amplify, or if you yourself would like to be interviewed or know someone who might, you can always email us at thefinalstrawradio@riseup.net with the subject line “Mutual Aid Info”! Prison-Related Prisoners across the country and around the world are resisting their captivity and the dangers of the pandemic in a constellation of ways, from sharing rations to caring for the sick, from filing grievances and getting word out about conditions to daring escapes, uprisings and hunger strikes. A few great places to find news are the Perilous Chronicle site and the Breakout columns on itsgoingdown.org and to hear prisoners struggles in their own voices, check out our fellow CZN podcast, KiteLine. Leonard Peltier Leonard Peltier is an elder indigenous rights activist, member of the American Indian Movement (or AIM) and prisoner held since the 70's for the killing of a federal agent during the Wounded Knee standoff when the U.S. government besieged native people at Pine Ridge reservation. This week two congress people, citing the release from prison of convicted fraudster and ally of Donald Trump, Paul Manafort, due to fears of covid-19 and his age and health problems. Published a letter to the president requesting similar release for Mr. Peltier. His main support website, WhoIsLeonardPeltier.Info, has more info on his case. At our website you can hear a conversation we had with his supporter Paulette D'Auteuil. Imam Jamil Al-Amin Jamil Al-Amin, formerly known as H Rap Brown, is a civil rights leader and elder in prison accused of shooting two sheriff's deputies in Georgia in the year 2000. He is currently fighting for a retrial of his case and there is a petition on change.org where you can see a video of the Imam's son and attorney, Kairi Al-Amin talk about the possibility and learn more about the case and see an adjoined video of the man who has confessed to the shooting of the deputies. Marius Mason Marius Mason is an imprisoned Earth Liberation Front activist who is 10 years into an almost 22 year sentence for acts of sabotage against ecocide and capitalism. He has tested positive for covid-19 while being held at Danbury Correctional in Connecticut and is being held in quarantine with other corona-positive inmates. His support folks are posting updates on the blog at SupportMariusMason.org and they are asking folks to send him letters. Note that he is limited in who he can write back to, so you may not get a response, but he could sure use some inspiring words right now. Check out a conversation with Marius' daughter we published a few years back. Jennifer Rose Just a bump that Jennifer Rose, whose words we featured on the show a few weeks back, is still in need of support letters for an upcoming parole hearing she has. You can check out her support site at https://babygirlgann.noblogs.org . ... . .. Playlist

'I realized that my excuses for justifying war had nothing to do with what we were trying to achieve. I justified war because I wanted to believe that the things I’d done were right, and that my fellow soldiers hadn't died in vain.' Those are the sobering words of Afghanistan war veteran and conscientious objector, Brock McIntosh. Through his experiences in Afghanistan, he lost faith in the Afghanistan war, and then in war altogether. Growing up, McIntosh had taken his ideological cues from the institutions in his life — military, church, and family — and in the process of applying for conscientious objector status, he found himself wrestling with his inherited beliefs and renegotiating his relationships with these institutions. His process of becoming a conscientious objector became a portal through which to challenge and reconstitute his most fundamental beliefs. The overarching shift: from fearful rigidity to brave open-mindedness. Today, McIntosh is a peace activist pursuing his Master's of Public Policy at NYU.

On Wednesday May 23, 2012, Iraq war veteran and former Army medic Will Stewart-Starks showed posters of artworks by veterans, including himself, and spoke of the Right to Heal, a project of Iraq Veterans Against the War (IVAW).  The presentation was featured on the May 22 broadcast of Tell Somebody. From IVAW’s Operation Recovery Page: Service members have the right to receive medical care and advice from medical professionals. Service members who experience PTSD, TBI, MST, and combat stress have the right to exit the traumatic situation and receive immediate support, and compensation. Click on the pod icon above or the .mp3 filename below to listen to the show, or right-click and choose "save target as" to save a copy of the audio file to your computer.  You can also subscribe to the podcast, for free, at the iTunes store or your podcast directory. If you have any comments or questions about the show or any problems accessing the files, send an email to: mail@tellsomebody.us    

On this edition of V-RADIO I am proud to have Mr. Josiah White from the organization "Iraq Veterans against the war" (IVAW) to talk about his organization and what it is doing to spread awareness of the reasons people should oppose the war in Iraq and Afghanistan. V-RADIO is looking for donations for next month so please visit V-RADIO.org and consider a donation! Thanks again for all your support!

The second interview with Aaron Hughes, Lead Organizer of Iraq Veterans Against the War (IVAW), joined by Lily Hughes of the Soldier-Citizen Alliance, who has been working with IVAW. They talk about IVAW's strategy, its campaigns, and aspects of the organizing model they're using, especially leadership development. Lily also describes her path to becoming an organizer.

An interview with Aaron Hughes, Lead Organizer of Iraq Veterans Against the War. Aaron talks about the program and work of IVAW, how he came to become an organizer, including his experience in Iraq, and the leadership development model of organizing IVAW has come to embrace. First of a two part interview.

On September 25th, Iraq Veterans Against the War (IVAW) held a press conference and feeder march to the People's Uprising March.  There goal was to connect the dots between the US-led wars in Iraq and Afghanistan and the economic policies of the G20 nations.  The group created a living memorial, made of mud and sidewalk chalk.  IVAW explains "The memorial highlighted the hundreds of thousands of veterans waiting for or denied benefits from the Veterans Administration. It also payed tribute to the untold number of civilian deaths and the millions of displaced people, overwhelmingly comprised of women and children, by war."

Josh Stieber was in middle school on 9/11/2001.  Fear and terror and panic were contagious.  Josh joined the Army and did a tour in Iraq. Reflecting on his expericences there, Josh came to believe that love can be just as contagious and just as powerful a force as fear was, and set off on foot and bicycle across the country.  Josh and a companion stopped on the side of the road outside of Sedalia, Missouri, and talked on the phone to Tell Somebody.  Earlier the same day, Senators Kit Bond, John McCain and Mitch McConnell hid out in Childrens Mercy Hospital in Kansas City for a supposed healthcare town hall with a hand-picked audience of partisan supporters.  Tell Somebody heard from the protestors across the street. And finally, we go to the archives to hear from Julie Pierce, featured in the film Sicko,  whose husband died after Cigna insurance denied treatment for him, and look back to when whistleblower Wendell Potter was still working for Cigna. Tom Klammer   mail@tellsomebody.us     www.tellsomebody.us "right click" on the .mp3 filename below, or on the "pod" icon above and then choose "save target as" to download the audio file of this show to your computer, or subscribe to the podcast, for free, at the iTunes store.

I've been reading a lot of articles that deserve some more mention. Not only is police brutality the classic oppressive instrument of the state, it is a fundamental look into how government agencies are set up to run. Take these news clips:-"Outside the debate, members of Iraq Veterans Against the War led a demonstration at the Hofstra University gates. At least fifteen people were arrested–including five IVAW members. Emily Forman of I-Witness Video captured footage of police on horseback attacking the crowd. Police horses trampled at least one veteran, Nick Morgan, who lay on the ground nearly unconscious in a pool of blood. Morgan served in Iraq for about a year. His condition is unknown."Taken from DemocracyNow! Thursday October 16th, 2008-"In Maryland, new details have been released on the state police spying on peace groups and anti-death penalty activists. In July, Maryland was forced to admit its agents infiltrated meetings and events of the Baltimore Pledge of Resistance and the Baltimore Coalition Against the Death Penalty. On Tuesday, Maryland’s top police chief admitted fifty-three nonviolent activists, as well as several protest groups, were classified as terrorists and entered onto a federal database that tracks terrorism suspects. Activists are now being invited to review their files before they are deleted."Taken from DemocracyNow! Wednesday October 8th, 2008-Today in one of my classes, there was an interesting question posed. "Think of how different your life would be, if at all, if you never had to fear violence of any kind?" This kind of police action is state violence directly against the people of this nation. Police all across the country have committed acts of violence and oppression against the working, working poor, and working/studying/activist youth of this country. Take a glimpse into what happened outside the last presidential debate:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KmQESpuiurIThis disrespect goes to our veterans...now think of what you may have experienced. Being pushed around, humiliated and taunted in the squad car, at the office, in the cell, chained up inside a courtroom with a leash around your neck. At other protests, tactics continue to include shooting rubber bullets and gasses into the crowds of men, women, and children. Since when was protesting illegal? This is direct state intervention and violence against what is arguably the most basic duty of people in a free society...demanding democracy in their streets. Demanding an end to an illegal war and occupation, which has devastated the people, enflamed a civil war, and condemned the region to billions of years of radiation from exploded depleted uranium shell casings. Oil supplies are not a good reason to invade a country...though, the members of the White House may not agree with me. You may have heard of Project for a New American Century...well, this is where you can find the neo-cons' logic and reasoning, as well as a hint that they might have let a certain disaster happen to get us behind some not-so-popular initiatives. I believe the quote from one of their publications read that they would need a "Pearl Harbor-like event" to get the people behind these plans. Lots of exploding, fire, massive destruction, many questions as to why it happened in the first place...if there's one disaster after Pearl Harbor that fits all these criteria, it's 9-11.Let me plainly state the obvious: The members of our government have used the pretext of a threat of terrorism to concentrate power into the hands of fewer and fewer people with less and less oversight. This is especially alarming considering the fact that U.S. troops are now being stationed for operations right here on U.S. soil. That's right:"In a barely noticed development, a US Army unit is now training for domestic operations under the control of US Army North, the Army service component of Northern Command. An initial news report in the Army Times newspaper last month noted that in addition to emergency response the force “may be called upon to help with civil unrest and crowd control.” The military has since claimed the force will not be used for civil unrest, but questions remain."Taken from DemocracyNow! Monday, October 13th, 2008Martial law is coming soon, and the police are the test run. The Army is next. Fight the power. Hit the streets. Show your numbers. Resist, refuse.

Aimee Allison and Aaron Glantz, co-anchors; Esther Manilla, producer; Jon Almeleh and Michael Yoshida, engineers; Naji Mujahid, editor; Sasha Lilley, project exec producer and highlights producer.

Aimee Allison and Aaron Glantz, co-anchors; Esther Manilla, producer; Jon Almeleh and Michael Yoshida, engineers; Naji Mujahid, editor; Sasha Lilley, project exec producer and highlights producer.

Aimee Allison and Aaron Glantz, co-anchors; Esther Manilla, producer; Jon Almeleh and Michael Yoshida, engineers; Sasha Lilley, project exec producer; Eric Klein, highlights producer/editor; archival audio from Pacifica Radio Archives.

Chanan Suarezdiaz is an Iraq War Veteran and an anti-war activist. He is the President of the Seattle, Washington Chapter of Iraq Veterans Against the War (IVAW). Suarezdiaz was a medic in Iraq from September 2004 until February 2005 when he got seriously wounded in the back by shrapnel. He spent many months in Ramadi, Iraq and recounts some of that experience in this interview. He calls it a "racist war of oppression". He also talks about the important organizing he's doing with Iraq Veterans Against the War both inside the military itself where anti-war sentiment is growing quickly all the time and among veterans. This interview occurred in Eugene, OR in the beginning of 2008 when he and David Solnit were touring and organizing for IVAW and the "counter-recruitment" movement just before the fifth anniversary of the invasion of Iraq where way over a million Iraqis have been killed as well as over 4000 Americans at that time. He reports that the US troops don't want to be in Iraq and Suarezdiaz cites some of the main issues of the vets besides that they don't like being an "occupying force". The troops are more and more often doing "search and avoid" missions for this reason. More and more squads and platoons are refusing orders and resisting. He emphasizes that they need a strong anti-war movement to back them up and big, huge demonstrations are very good.One out of four homeless people are vets both from the Vietnam War and this Iraq War-- and maybe more wars. He discusses the "back door draft" meaning that recruiters target and trick poor rural and urban folks since they have no other way to get money and they join because they need a job-- the reason that Suarezdiaz himself did. Ultimately many of the promises made by recruiters are never fulfilled and if people complain they are dismissed. The health care is nothing close to what is needed, especially regarding the mental health issues of post traumatic stress which is SO common. Suicide among vets and active duty military is VERY high. We discuss racism against the Iraqis and among the US troops. IVAW asks for 1) Immediate withdrawal of all occupying forces in Iraq, 2) Full VA benefits for all vets and abd 3) Reparations for Iraqis.YouTube - Chanan Suarez Diaz on GI Resistance to the war ...Chanan Suarez Diaz addressed a packed room on June 16, 2007 ...Watch video - 18 min - Rated 4.3 out of 5.0www.youtube.com/watch?v=uR_WPHrTDFI