Statement of Solidarity from Women Against Military Madness: Drop the Charges!
by Webmaster ~ April 23rd, 2009. Filed under: Uncategorized. The Right to Dissent-Women Against Military Madness (WAMM)
Women Against Military Madness (WAMM) is a nonviolent, non-partisan feminist organization that has worked in solidarity with others, since its founding in January 1982, to create a system of social equality, self-determination and justice through education, action and the empowerment of women. WAMM’s purpose is to dismantle systems of militarism, economic exploitation and global oppression.
In recent years our mission has included protesting against Bush Administration policies that led our country to engage in unjustified wars and other wrongful and even illegal policies and to emphasize our unqualified support for all Americans’ right to dissent. After 8 years in which dubious legal theories meant that citizens’ rights were not always respected, we have been further disappointed to learn that WAMM itself fell victim as an organization to illegal data collection, profiling and smear tactics in the lead-up to the Republican National Convention (RNC). We therefore hope for restoration of the broadest protection of First Amendment as well as all constitutional rights. WAMM members also witnessed firsthand (or understand from fellow members’ accounts) the indiscriminate, egregious police state brutality on display during the RNC.
We fail to understand how pre-emptive arrests of the eight young, unarmed organizers of the “RNC Welcoming Committee” that occurred in the Twin Cities even before the RNC began in September 2008 were in accord with this country’s constitutional freedoms of speech and assembly.
It is on these First Amendment and other constitutional grounds, that we ask for all charges to be dismissed against the “RNC-8” based on their organizing of RNC protests.
