During the DNC - Free Bradley Protest in MENLO PARK, CA!

During the Democratic National Convention, join Peninsula Direct Action and Occupy Redwood City to rally in support of Bradley Manning! A variety of anti-war and occupy groups have put out a call for a nationwide day of action in support of Manning on September 6th.

We will be rallying in front of the Obama 2012 campaign headquarters in Menlo Park. The Obama administration has prosecuted more whistleblowers than any other previous administration, while escalating the war in Afghanistan and increasing the use of murderous drones throughout the region, particularly in Pakistan.

This will be a non-violent protest, and we are not trying to get arrested. The purpose is to draw attention to Manning's imprisonment and to show the Democratic party that this is an important issue. Please come with relevant signs: "Free Bradley Manning", "Whistleblowing is not a crime", etc!

Bradley Manning is a young American soldier who (allegedly) leaked classified information to WikiLeaks. This information included videos of the July 12, 2007 Baghdad airstrike and the 2009 Granai airstrike in Afghanistan; 250,000 United States diplomatic cables; and 500,000 army reports that came to be known as the Iraq War logs and Afghan War logs. These documents exposed government corruption, and is widely believed to be a major catalyst in the Arab Spring uprisings. Manning has been imprisoned since July 2010, awaiting his trial (which is scheduled for September).

It is also worth noting that while Manning is gay, his plight as a gay and gender-nonconforming soldier who faced harassment while serving has been ignored by mainstream gay rights groups in the US. Larry Goldsmith writes: "This is, of course, the classic argument about gays and national security--they'll get beat up or blackmailed and reveal our secrets. And NGLTF, Lambda, and HRC, with their impeccably professional media and lobbying campaign, based on the best branding and polls and focus groups that money can buy, have effectively demolished that insidious stereotype. They have demolished it by abandoning Bradley Manning."

On September 6th, let's show that we haven't abandoned him, either! Stop the wars, thank you Wikileaks, and FREE BRADLEY MANNING!

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