An idea of the uproar over the way San Francisco Pride's Board has treated Bradley Manning recently can be gained from this op-ed article. 

Manning has duel British and US citizenship. His mother is Welsh and lives in south Wales. The UK government therefore has a responsibility to help a British citizen at a time when he is being persecuted in the US but it is doing next to nothing. See this Guardian article by Ann Clwyd MP.

The case of the US vs Bradley Manning | Frontline Club Talks

Clwyd can also be seen speaking at this Bradley Manning event at the Frontline Club in London which inter alia discussed the need to bring pressure to bear on the UK government to ensure that Manning gets a fair trial and is compensated for the cruel and inhuman treatment he has received while in US custody at the infamous FBI Quantico brig near Washington DC.

Amnesty and Human Rights Watch have also failed to come to Manning's aid by refusing to designate him a political prisoner. Stop the War activists are encouraged to bring pressure to bear on Amnesty by using the Twitter hash tag #shamnesty in Tweets to @amnesty.

As some of the panellists in the video state, Manning's trial is above all a political show trial. We need to expose it as such and bring pressure to bear on the UK government and human rights organisations. This case will be won or lost on the political front since the trial is a stitched up foregone conclusion. Obama is a national security hawk but he is also a politician with the power of clemency when his term ends. If enough political flac is launched at him over this issue who knows...

Nearly 50 people came to Waterstones to a joint event between Stop the War and One World Publishing. Lindsey German introduced her book and 95 year old Manchester peace campaigner Betty Tebbs, spoke of her experiences.

Lindsey's book is entitled A Century of War and its Effect on Women.

The second book: She is the One - a book of poetry and prose celebrating international women's day - was also launched and some of the poems were read out by their authors.

Waterstones said it was one if the best book launches they have had both in attendance and books sold.

This video can be downloaded here either in high definition (2 GB mp4 file) or at a lower definition (ogg theora file).  Any problems playing them when downloaded can be sorted by downloading the free and open source Videolan player (VLC) which will play anything you throw at it. Highly recommended.

How a  century of war changed the lives of women
Book Launch with author Lindsey German and Betty Tebbs, veteran peace campaigner

29 April 6pm Waterstones, Deansgate, Manchester

Lindsey will introduce her book in Waterstones cafe.

"The Stop the War movement, which began over a decade ago in response to the War on Terror, has become the biggest mass movement in British political history. One of its most remarkable features has been the involvement of women of all ages, races and backgrounds who have been at its centre.

Why did this movement become such a vehicle for women’s political action, and what does that tell us about the position of women today? To answer these questions ...we must look not just at the past few years, but at the changes that have taken place over the past century"

Betty Tebbs will also be speaking  ... Betty joined her first trade union at 14, lost her first husband in WWII and spent her entire life working for rights for women and workers, global peace and justice and nuclear disarmament

We will be joined by contributors from She's the one - a book of poetry and prose celebrating international women's day.

We hope you can join us

Protest called by Stop the War, CND, War on Want and Drone Wars UK

TRANSPORT TO LINCOLN

We are assembling at Lincoln rail station at 12 noon, to march to RAF Waddington for 2pm. There will be a free shuttle service from the base to drop people back at Lincoln station after the rally.

Lincoln is accessible by rail - check nationalrail.co.uk for details .

There is a coach from Manchester which  leaves Chorlton street outside the National Express coach station 9am.

Tickets are £10 unwaged, £15 waged, £20 solidarity

Ring/text Penny to book tickets on 07966632027

Bradley Manning Support Campaign Public Meeting in New York City

This is a video of an important public meeting of the Bradley Manning support campaign in New York City. The video features Icelandic MP Birgitta Jonsdottir who was one of the Wikileaks people who helped release the now iconic Collateral Murder video exactly 3 years ago to the day.

She and is a very brave lady indeed to even consider entering the United States given the rabid and vindictive hostility of the US government towards Bradley Manning, Wikileaks and whistleblowers in general. Another brave Icelandic Wikileaks spokesperson Kristinn Hrafnsson is also in the US supporting the Manning campaign.

The following was the text of the invite to the event:

Daniel Ellsberg [veteran whistleblower of the Pentagon Papers about the Vietnam war] and Michael Moore invite you to a Bradley Manning event with Birgitta Jonsdottir.

On Friday April 5th, we invite you to an evening of art and discussion to sow the seeds of resistance against illegal imperialist wars, and to discuss the present state of free speech and freedom of the press. Your presence at Judson Memorial Church would send a clear signal that we the people value truth and stand against the unbelievable lack of ethics and accountability this, and other leaks, consistently reveal.

Doors will open at 5:30 PM, for two hours of drinks, refreshments, and artwork , including stills from Collateral Murder, art prints by Molly Crabapple, and Laura Poitras's five-minute documentary.

Then at 8 PM, we'll move to a discussion among Birgitta, independent journalist Alexa O'Brien, FireDogLake's Kevin Gosztola, and FAIR media critic Peter Hart, moderated by Sam Seder.

See also this Real News report about the significance of the Collateral Murder video 3 years after it was released with Michael Ratner, US lawyer for Julian Assange.

And here is another video of Birgitta speaking at the New York University Journalism Institute:

04 April 2013 Ask me anything with Birgitta Jonsdottir at Yes Lab