Chelsea Manning’s Birthday Celebration in Boston
On Saturday December 20, 2014 the Boston Chelsea Manning Support Committee, Veterans for Peace and other activists held a speak-out at Park Street Station, a historic site for protests on Boston Common, in honor of heroic Wikileaks whistle-blower Chelsea Manning’s 27th birthday (December 17th). The first speaker brought the audience up to date on the status of Chelsea’s legal fight over the past year including the denial of a reduction in sentence by the Commanding Officer of the Washington Military District who had the authority to do so and the hiring of appellate lawyers to pursue the case further.
Other speakers spoke to the need to keep Chelsea’s case front and center now that the publicity from the trial has faded and to emphasis the continuing importance of the information she has made public to the struggle for governmental transparency, especially on the issues of war and peace. Additionally, speakers spoke to the need to keep getting signatures for the Courage to Resist petition and the Amnesty International on-line petition calling on President Barack Obama to use his constitutional authority to pardon Chelsea. One speaker read a recent letter from Chelsea thanking her supporters for their previous efforts and urging them to keep up the good work, including a heartfelt plea to keep raising funds for her appeals. The last speaker from Veterans for Peace, an organization which has supported Chelsea’s cause from the beginning of her incarceration over four years ago, invoking the military “buddy system” ethos told the crowd-“we will not leave our sister behind.”
On Saturday December 20, 2014 the Boston Chelsea Manning Support Committee, Veterans for Peace and other activists held a speak-out at Park Street Station, a historic site for protests on Boston Common, in honor of heroic Wikileaks whistle-blower Chelsea Manning’s 27th birthday (December 17th). The first speaker brought the audience up to date on the status of Chelsea’s legal fight over the past year including the denial of a reduction in sentence by the Commanding Officer of the Washington Military District who had the authority to do so and the hiring of appellate lawyers to pursue the case further.
Other speakers spoke to the need to keep Chelsea’s case front and center now that the publicity from the trial has faded and to emphasis the continuing importance of the information she has made public to the struggle for governmental transparency, especially on the issues of war and peace. Additionally, speakers spoke to the need to keep getting signatures for the Courage to Resist petition and the Amnesty International on-line petition calling on President Barack Obama to use his constitutional authority to pardon Chelsea. One speaker read a recent letter from Chelsea thanking her supporters for their previous efforts and urging them to keep up the good work, including a heartfelt plea to keep raising funds for her appeals. The last speaker from Veterans for Peace, an organization which has supported Chelsea’s cause from the beginning of her incarceration over four years ago, invoking the military “buddy system” ethos told the crowd-“we will not leave our sister behind.”
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