WHAT DOES THIS MEAN ?

The Veterans Day 18

Ann Smith, Arthur Brien, Bruce Macdonald,
Dick Smith, Doug Stuart, Henry Deeks, Joe Bangert, Kathleen Dailey, Ken Farr, Mark Alston-Follansbee, Mike Tork, Nate Goldshlag, Pat Scanlon,
Paul Brailsford, Sev Bruyn, Terrence Rothman,
Tony Flaherty, and CodePINK's Trish Gallagher

This letter from Nate Goldshlag!

Hi folks,

The Veterans Day 18 have been arraigned on charges in Boston of disturbing a public assembly, which we did not do. In the description of the charges it is alleged that we were "loudly chanting anti-war slogans" which is absurd since we had gags in our mouths.

I have gotten lots of emails asking how people can help us. At this time the best support you could give us is to write, call, fax, and email the Mayor of Boston, Tom Menino. Or do all four. The thing that is best is regular mail, then calls, then fax, then email. Let's inundate the Mayor's office with outrage at our arrests. Please do this in the next day or so, while the story is hot. And please forward this email to friends and political mailing lists, far and wide. If you live outside Massachusetts please write anyway. This story has gone out worldwide.

Mayor Menino's contact information is given below. And to make it really easy we are including a template of a letter you could write. Feel free to copy and paste it into a Word document and modify it as you see fit, or write your own.

Phone 617.635.4500 Fax 617.635.2851

Email mayor@cityofboston.gov

Address given below in letter

Thanks for taking the time to do this. And apologies if you receive this email more than once.


Best Regards,
Nate Goldshlag
Co-Coordinator, Smedley D. Butler Brigade Chapter 9 Veterans For Peace

http://smedleyvfp.org/

P.S. Here are some interesting links:

1. Keith Olbermann's Countdown show on MSNBC:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H8-VQbbgCKo
   
2. VFP member's blog on Democratic Underground:http://tinyurl.com/yr29uk
3. Paul Rifkin: YouTube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-YnwXHBxD9s
   
   

Mayor Thomas Menino

Mayor’s Office

City Hall Plaza

Boston, MA 02201

Dear Mayor Menino,

I am writing to express my outrage at the arrest of 15 veterans and 3 supporters on Veterans Day for silently, peacefully protesting the exclusion of Veterans For Peace from speaking at the city-sponsored Veterans Day event on City Hall Plaza. The pictures of these gagged and silent men and women being carted off, which have gone out around the world, are an embarrassment to a city that calls itself the Cradle of Liberty, and to its Police Department.

What has happened to free speech in Boston? Why is Veterans For Peace being prevented from speaking at this event, which always features pro-war, pro-Bush administration messages? Why are these men and women being charged with “loudly chanting anti-war slogans” when it is obvious to the world that these gagged people did no such thing?

The only thing these real patriots are guilty of is their expression of free speech and dissent against this illegal and immoral war. You were in a position to prevent this travesty from occurring but did nothing. Your lack of intervention serves only the interests of those who would eliminate our constitutional rights - the American Legion and George Bush. Shame on you.

Sincerely,
XXX