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From Neither Blood Nor Rape for Oil
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From left to right: Marcus from Veterans for Peace; Ron Kovic at the microphone, author of Born on the 4th of July; and Margaret Prescod from the Global Women's Strike. A Poem for Casey Austin Sheehan, a U.S. soldier who died in Iraq on April 4th, 2004 - " A Nation Rocked to Sleep" ~ written by his sister, Carly Sheehan read by Margaret Prescod at protest |
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Look for our yellow banner NO MILITARY/CORPORATE OCCUPATION -- INVEST IN CARING NOT KILLING. We will also have signs demanding an end to rape and other torture, opposing occupation in Iraq, Palestine, Haiti and US intervention in Venezuela. Men are welcome too. NEWS FLASH: Danny Glover will be emcee’ing at the rally. Margaret Prescod from Women of Color in the Global Women's Strike and KPFK Radio show host will also help emcee. In the tradition begun by the Global Women’s Strike, protest organizers have made a truck available for elders and others unable to walk the march route. As people around the world express outrage at the atrocities exposed by the photos in Abu Ghraib prison and demand that the US get out of Iraq, women are demanding to know what is happening to women and girls, in prison and elsewhere, at the hands of US and other troops. Rape and other torture of women and girls in Iraq and Afghanistan have remained largely hidden, the media refers to US soldiers shown "having sex with Iraqi women prisoners" instead of calling it what it is - rape. Rape and torture as US policy did not begin in Iraq or Afghanistan, there has been a long history: genocide against Native American people; slavery; Vietnam; Central and Latin America; Haiti; inside US prisons, and more. Furthermore, little has been heard about the epidemic of rape of women soldiers in the US military. In fact, over 100 US servicewomen have come home from Iraq claiming rape by US military personnel. The GWS, the International Women Count Network/US, London-based Black Women’s Rape Action Project and Women Against Rape have written to women legislators in the Coalition of the Willing demanding accountability on this issue. They have included material from Dorothy Mackey of Survivors Take Action Against Abuse by Military Personnel (STAAAMP). Both the UK and the US governments are complicit, and they know as we do that rape is a reality for women under every war and occupation from Iraq to Afghanistan, Palestine, Haiti, Congo . . . A recent report at last begins to reveal how Palestinian women are raped by Israeli interrogators and how "Israeli investigators and intelligence officers keep video tapes of the raping to blackmail the female detainees" *Israeli Guards Rape Palestinian Women, By Samer Khuwayera & Hanadi Dwaikat, IslamOnline.net Please join us to stop the torture including rape and ensure that women are not once again invisible. Invest in Caring not Killing. For Neither Blood Nor Rape for Oil: Coming clean on rape and other sexual torture of women and girls at the hands of US and UK armed forces or their agents in Iraq and Afghanistan, as well as statements from the Global Women's Strike, International Women Count Network and Dorothy Mackey of STAAAMP, please check out the GWS website: www.globalwomenstrike.net Other demands of the protest include: *US Hands Off Haiti, Korea, Afghanistan, Philippines, Colombia, Cuba, Venezuela! *End the Colonial Occupation of Palestine – Support the Right of Return! *Stand Against Racism Here & Abroad! *Money for Jobs, Education, Housing, Healthcare & Welfare – Not for War! *Defend Civil Liberties & Immigrants’ Rights The Global Women’s Strike is a co-sponsor of the LA protest, which has been called by ANSWER who called together a June 5 Coalition. People are needed to be monitors for security. If you can help, contact Ian Thompson at ANSWER/LA 323-464-1636. For info on the protest, call 323-464-1636. For info on the Women’s Contingent and the Global Women’s Strike, call 323-292-7405 la@crossroadswomen.net Tel & fax: 323-292-7405. PO Box 86618, Los Angeles CA, 90086. Payday, a network of men working with the Global Women’s Strike, has set up a Refusing To Kill website tracking stories of refuseniks from around the world www.refusingtokill.net Neither
blood nor rape for oil Rape
and other torture in Iraq Letter to US Congresswomen from International Women Count Network re: suppression of information about rape in Iraq Excerpts from a paper by Rev. Dorothy Mackey, former US Air Force Captain and Commander who herself suffered rape and sexual assault while a serving officer, at the hands of her colonel and lieutenant colonel. Neither was ever prosecuted. "Rape in Iraq", letter to the Editor from Black Women's Rape Action Project and Women Against Rape, The Guardian (London, England), May 24, 2004 |
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