Alberto Gonzales Files -june city complete qxp washingtonspark org-city june10th2005
Transcript of Alberto Gonzales Files -june city complete qxp washingtonspark org-city june10th2005
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cityWashington Spark / Issue no. 4 / June 10, 2005
11 Law
12 Housing & Homelessness
13 Health
14 Calendar
CITY SECTION WASHINGTON SPARK / JUNE 10, 2005
By Abebe Feleke and Selamawit Legesse
with notes from Mead Notkin
Thousands of Ethiopians in the D.C
metropolitan area staged a thunderous
demonstration outside the State
Department on May 26 calling for the
US to seriously monitor and save the
election process in Ethiopia, which, they
said, was marred by wide ranging fraud,
rigging, irregularities and tampering by
the incumbent regime in Ethiopia.
Some demonstrators who support
the Coalition for Unity and Democracy
(CUD) and United Ethiopian
Democratic Forces (UCDF), the two
main opposition parties contending for
power, accused the ruling party,
Ethiopian Peoples RevolutionaryDemocratic Front (EPRDF) of trying to
cling to power by stealing the election
results. Other demonstrators simply
wanted to see free and fair elections in
Ethiopia.
The demonstrations chided the
regime for an early claim of victory,
before ballot counting, and for deliber-
ately delaying the announcement of pro-
visional results. Some Ethiopians who
were at the rally took this opportunity to
renounce ethnic division amongst them-selves.
Participants of the rally, representing
every sector of the Ethiopian
Community, presented a letter expressing
their concern to Anne Simon, Ethiopia
Country Officer with the State
Department. Simon acknowledged the
demonstrators and stated that the United
States is watching the election process
very closely.
Chairman of the 2005 Ethiopian
National Election Coordinating task
force Mr. Solomon Bekele said to the
Washington Spark, "Currently, opposi-
tion supporters and ballot observers are
being abducted, intimidated, harassedand imprisoned by the authorities with
the harmful objec-
tive of obstructing
the election result."
He further stated
that the state media
has muzzled the
views of the opposi-
tion by imposing a
ban on their press
releases and activi-
ties, while only
allowing the regime
to propagate its basis
and out right lies.
One of the par-
ticipants in the
demonstration, Mr.
Eskender
Alemayehu, said thatAmerica should
stand for Ethiopian
people. "President George Bush, in his
second term inauguration speech, prom-
ised for those of us who are living in
tyranny and hopelessness, that the
United States of America would not
ignore our oppression or excuse our
oppressors." Mr. Eskinder went on, say-
ing, "USA and the rest of the interna-
tional community should warn the ruling
party to avert full-scale violence by invit-ing rival opposition groups to dialogue."
The elections generated tremendous
excitement in Ethiopia, a nation of 71
million in which 25 million were regis-
tered to vote and of those 90 percent
turned out on election day. They were
left with enormous tension and frustra-
tion pending the finalization of the ballot
counting.
The demonstrators also condemned
Ethiopian government's imposition of a
state of emergency in Addis Ababa and
its surroundings for a month after the
May 15 election as an illegal action to
cover up the forcible alteration of the
election result in favor of the govern-ment. Mr. Solomon Bekele told the
Washington Spark that the task force
would keep conducting its peaceful
struggle. "In addition to our effort here
in the US, we are committed to express
our problem
so that we
can see the
formation of
legal govern-
ment which
is loyal to the
rule of law.
We are plan-
ning to coor-
dinate similar
demonstra-
tion in
London,
Rome,
Stockholm,
Paris, and in
other major
cities of
Europe."
There are some international observer
teams in Ethiopia, including European
Zenebech Tadesse, 70, of
Silver Spring Maryland, par-
ticipating in her first political
demonstration Thursday in
front of the State
Department. Supporters of
the opposition party areprotesting possible tallying
fraud by the ruling EPRDF
party in this week's national
election in Ethiopia, the
third in the nation's history.
Official election results
expected Monday. Photo By
Mead Notkin
Ethiopians Call for Free and Fair Elections
Organizers of the
rally address the
crowd. Photo
Courtesy of
www.ethiopia
first.com
Edited by y Selamawit Legesse and Mead Notkin
Union, African Union, and Carter
Center, who are monitoring the whole
process. The EU observer's mission
expressed "regret" at the way Ethiopian
Electoral Board was counting and releas-
ing votes as well as the bias of the only
government owned broadcasting media
in treating news and press releases relat-
ed to the election in favor of the ruling
party.
On May 19, the Carter Center
released a report on the organization's
observation of the Ethiopian election.
The Center reported that it "deployed 50
international observers from 17 countries
to seven regions." The preliminary state-
ment indicates that the Carter Center
found that "some irregularities in proce-
dures did occur, the most notable being
that ID cards were not always checked.
While officials consistently asked for
voter cards, they failed to be equally dili-
gent on the presentation of ID docu-
ments... ballots were not all counted and
marked before openings. Limited
accounts of underage voting were
reported."
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By Pete Perry
Three Washington peace and justice
activists will soon be returning to DCSuperior Court to learn their verdict in a
trial stemming from a February 9 protest
at the US Supreme Court.
The three were protesting the abuse
of prisoners at Guantanamo Bay,
Afghanistan and Iraq, and the confirma-
tion of Alberto Gonzales as attorney
general. Gonzales is the author of a gov-
ernment memo stating the U.S. govern-
ment was not beholden to the Geneva
Convention on the treatment of prison-
ers of war when detaining individuals in
the "War on Terror."
David Barrows, Pete Perry and
Mitchell Potts were initially charged with
unlawful entry when they refused to leave
the lower steps of the Supreme Court.
The government, however, changed
the unlawful entry charge, which requires
a jury trial, to a violation of a 1949 law
prohibiting certain kinds of protests and
11
CITY SECTION
Law
Activists Challenging Guantanamo and Gonzales, Still Seek Justice
Recent reports in the media have con-firmed that sadistic, blatant, and wantoncriminal abuses (Taguba Report) havebeen committed against Iraqi detainees byU.S. personnel.
TASSC calls on the United Statesgovernment to:
Ensure the protection of all itsdetainees from any form of torture or ill-
treatment. Release all documents in its posses-sion related to abuse of Iraqi detainees andmake public all subsequent reports ofinvestigations upon their completion.
TASSC calls on Congress to pledge that allhearings on this subject will be open to thepublic.
Please contact your representatives andsenators and urge them to insist on publicdisclosure of all documents related toabuse of Iraqi prisoners.
U.S. Capitol Switchboard: 202-224-3121For the White House Comment Line:202-456-1111.The Presidents email address is:[email protected]
Please contact Harold Nelson with yourinformation: [email protected]
Members of the DC Anti War Network protest the confirmation of Alberto Gonzales
as U.S. Attorney General outside the Supreme Court.
Photo Courtesy of Brendan Hoffman
WASHINGTON SPARK / JUNE 10, 2005
By Michael Shiferaw
Edited by Mead Notkin
From an email, Tuesday, June 7
Let me tell you what I know about the
elections in a manner as free of bias as Iam capable. The official report of the
electoral board is still pending while com-
plaints of fraud are being investigated.
The board is forming committees com-
posed of both the complaining parties and
the accused at the disputed stations, and
international observers have been invited
to monitor the process. The official elec-
tion results will be announced after the
board has made a final determination on
the complaints. If the complaining parties
are not satisfied with the fairness of the
investigation, the board has declared they
are free to pursue their claims in court.
The tentative results have the EPRDF
with 301 of the 524 seats in parliament,
enough to form a government, and the
opposition with approximately 170 seats,
but both parties are claiming victory. The
outcome of the election will be deter-
mined by the investigation, the assessment
of the foreign observers, and whether the
competing parties accept the result or not.At present there is a heavy air of stress and
tension in Addis Ababa, and people are
afraid.
In terms of the unofficial result, the
organizational structure of the govern-
ment is such that each administrative
region is autonomous. In the capitol city
of Addis Ababa, one such autonomous
region, the opposition has won all twenty-
three seats in congress. In fact, the oppo-
sition has won a majority of seats in most
of the larger cities. The EPRDF has con-
ceded this and declared that it is ready to
hand over power when the time comes.
This means the capitol is to be adminis-
tered by the opposition while the federal
government is to be headed by the
Observer's Notebook: Addis Ababa, Ethiopia
rallies on the property of the US
Supreme Court, four days before the trial
began on May 2. The new charge, from
US Title 40, Section 6135, has a lessermaximum penalty and therefore did not
call for a jury trial.
"By switching the charge so soon
before the trial, the government put us at
a disadvantage," said pro-se Defendant
Potts. "We were preparing for a jury trial.
Through this entire process the gov-
ernment has acted in bad faith."
If convicted, the defense plans to
challenge the law as a clear violation of
the US Constitution's First Amendment
during the appeal process.
During the protest, Barrows and
Potts took part in street theater, by por-
traying themselves as torture victims
wearing black hoods, sitting in stress
positions with their hands behind their
backs. Perry stood next to them holding a
sign and asked onlookers if this type of
treatment was justice.
During the trial pro-se defendants
Barrows and Perry testified they had the
good faith belief that their actions were
legal: petitioning a redress of grievances
as stated in the First amendment. Since
the matter they were protesting had to do
with the violent maltreatment of prison-
ers, a clear violation of the USConstitution's Eighth Amendment, they
felt the proper place to express them-
selves was on the property of the
Supreme Court.
US Attorney Miriam Valloy ques-
tioned the intentions of the pro-se defen-
dants. "With civil disobedience you will-
fully break a law and face the conse-
quences."
During her May 4 judgment, Wynn
agreed with the defense that the first
clause of the statute, mentioning parades,
processions and assemblages, did not
apply to the three activists.
The second clause of Section 6135
remains in question. The law states onecannot "display a flag, banner or device
designed or adapted to bring into public
notice a party, organization, or move-
ment" while on the property of the
Supreme Court. Wynn said in her opinion
the sign and the two black hoods were
devices designed to further an issue, or
movement.
"We were not promoting any move-
ment, we were asking the court to uphold
the Constitution," Barrows said. "The
anti-torture movement in this country
ended with the passage of the 8th
Amendment in 1789."
Another witness in the three-day trial
was Harold Nelson, a member of the
Torture Abolition and Survivors Support
Coalition (TASSC), which is planning a
large rally to draw attention to the use of
torture of various governments around
the globe on June 26 in Lafayette Park.
More information can be found on the
group's website at www.tassc.org.
Barrows, Perry and Potts are sched-
uled to appear before Judge Wynn June
30 at 2:30 p.m. at 500 Indiana Avenue.
EPRDF. This is not a normal and easy
practice for a country like ours. The oppos-
ing parties are so at odds that it seems
unlikely they will be able to cooperate and
hold the nation together for the next five
years. It's uncertain if the nation willremain intact, let alone move towards a bet-
ter future. I say this from what I see in the
attitudes of the leaders of both parties,
especially from the opposition that seem to
want all the cake or none at all. The oppo-
sition and their supporters seem irrational-
ly bitter towards the EPRDF, so that peace-
ful coexistence may be difficult if not
impossible to achieve.
Right now we are waiting for the conclu-
sion of the investigations and the
announcement of the official result.
[Prime Minister] Meles has banned demon-
strations in order to prevent violence from
breaking out and events from spinning out
of control. The opposition claims the
prime minister has violated their constitu-
tional right to protest, and are even going
to court to sue him.
In the latest news the situation is deteri-
orating. On June 6, four hundred univer-
sity students protesting and shouting
through the fence of their campus weredetained by the police. There is a state of
agitation and excitement in the city.
Violence seems a real possibility, and the
police are on the alert to maintain order
and control. People do not seem to take
this positively. The city is so full of sol-
diers that it is reminiscent of life under the
Derg, the ruling committee from 1974 to
1987. Our future now hinges on how the
electoral process plays out and whether
both sides will accept the result.
Michael Shiferaw is a writer and architect liv-
ing in Addis Ababa. He is the author of a
recent study on the legendary Ethiopian poet and
novelist, Tsegaye Gabremedhin.
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Business Journal, HUD deemed the pro-
gram ineffective. The DCHA states on
their website that Hope VI was remark-
ably successful.
The changes in Housing Production Trust
Fund usage would make it possible for
developers to use local money in this man-
ner.
Creating affordable housing is only a
first step. There are still major barriers for
eligible people to apply and obtain the
housing that will be made available
through the Trust Fund.People who want to apply for housing
can go to the Client Placement Division,
located at 1133 North Capitol Street NE,
Suite 178, between 8:30am-3:45pm
Monday-Thursday.
But there are problems for people
applying who live in shelters, transitional
housing, or are homeless on the street.
Applicants should expect to be on a long
waiting list, and the DCHA will not
inform applicants how long they can
expect to wait. Where an applicant stands
on the waiting list is determined by many
factors.
The District of Columbia Housing
Authority has waiting list selection prefer-
ences for certain situations. Indicating apreference affects where you are placed on
12 Housing and Homelessness
CITY SECTION WASHINGTON SPARK / JUNE 10, 2005
More Affordable Housing On The Way
By Allison Barnett
Steps toward developing more afford-
able housing in DC are finally being taken.
According to Director of Non-Profit
Housing and Economic Development
Amanda Huron, housing activists, the
Mayor and the City Council are planning
to change the Housing Production Trust
Fund to make developing affordable hous-
ing in DC more efficient and large scale.
The Trust Fund is there for developers
to use to build affordable housing, and istargeted to the residents with the greatest
housing needs, Huron told the
Washington Spark.
The DC Housing Authority (DCHA)
plans to build hundreds of mixed-income
apartments in the Sheridan Terrace prop-
erty over the next two and a half years.
There are many more under construction
right now that will be completed in the
next few years, according to Huron.
The changes to the Trust Fund will help
get these affordable housing projects fin-
ished sooner, and to create many more.
The problem with the Trust Fund right
now is that the Department of Housing
and Community Development is notori-
ously known for being inefficient, and theavailable funds for developers were not
being spent, Huron said. But there is a
new director now who will get things on
track and bunches of people are working
to reform the way the department works.
The changes being made to the depart-
ment, as well as to the Housing
Production Trust Fund usage, are especial-
ly important because there will no longer
be federal funding for large scale afford-
able housing projects in 2006.
Huron said that the Department of
Housing and Urban Development (HUD)
is eliminating Hope VI, a program
designed to tear down distressed buildings
and redevelop them with affordable hous-ing. According to the Washington
Edited by Allison Barnett
To become a Friend of the Trust Fundand endorse the Housing Production TrustFund, email [email protected]
To donate to Unity Health Care andHealthcare for the Homeless, go towww.unityhealthcare.org
the waiting list only. It does not
guarantee that you will be
offered housing assistance,
states the DCHA website.
While people are on a waiting
list, they are offered no support
and are expected to continue to
be homeless. Even if a person isliving in a shelter, many have
limitations on the number of
days they are permitted to stay.
Organizations like
Healthcare for the Homeless,
part of Unity Health Care Inc.,
are aware of these realities and
provide services to those in
need. By driving a mobile unit
around DC and stopping at
various sites, Healthcare for the
Homeless tries to reach as
many as they can.
Starting around 6:00pm
Monday through Thursday, and
Fridays starting at around8:00am, the van can be found
in the streets of Washington
providing medical care and
referrals, the Unity Health
Care website states.
Driver Everett Delph said the program
helps people obtain health insurance,
provides social services, and does any-
thing to support the homeless. We
should reach out to the homeless
because there is a lot of it out there.
Manager of Health Care for the Homeless John Craig and driver Everett Delph work provide health
services from their Unity Health Care Mobile Unit on 24th and G. Photo by: Allison Barnett 2004
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increasing abstinence-only programs.
However, increased international fundingto the Global Fund would insure that itremains the strongest independent fund-
ing source for the problem of AIDS, TBand Malaria in developing countries.
Estimates published in the journal
Science suggest that $9-12 billion is need-ed each year to address HIV/AIDS, tuber-culosis and malaria. The Global Fund cur-
rently sponsors and closely monitors over300 programs with an estimated 100 pro-grams to be added during the course of
this year.
and the health of those in the rest of the
world, Gates continued. I am here to
talk about how the world, working togeth-er, can dramatically reduce this inequity.
Never before, have we had anything closeto the tools we have today to both spreadawareness of the problem and discover
and deliver solutions.The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation,
founded in January 2000 from the merger
of the William H. Gates and GatesLearning Foundation, seeks to promotegreater equity in the areas of global health,
education and public libraries. TheFoundation has donated over $1 billion ingrants to the United Negro College Fund,
$750 million to The Vaccine Fund and$126.5 million to the International AIDS
13
CITY SECTIONWASHINGTON SPARK / JUNE 10, 2005
Public Health
Gates Foundation Increases Global Health Funding,
Highlights Where Progress Needs to be Made
Approximately six million people die each
year due to HIV/AIDS, tuberculosis and
malariatranslating to over 16,000 needless
deaths each day.It is estimated that 45 million people will
become infected with HIV/AIDS between
2002 and 2010. 29 million of these new
infections can be prevented with adequate
access to prevention and treatment pro-
grams.
In 2003, 8.8 million people fell ill with TB,
2 million people died.
Malaria killed at least a million people in
2004with 90% of these fatalities children
and 90% from Sub-Sahara Africa.
Donate to the Global Fund to Fight AIDS,
Tuberculosis
and Malaria.
http://www.theglobalfund.org/en/donate/
Or in writing payable to:
United Nations Foundation
Attn: Global Fund to Fight AIDS, TB &
Malaria
Dept. 344
Washington, DC 20055-0344
By Justin Orndorff
At the opening session of the WorldHealth Organizations annual assembly
March 16, Bill Gates advocated for the worlds historical chance to eradicateserious diseases. On behalf of the Bill &
Melinda Gates Foundation, Gates,founder of Microsoft and recent honoraryknight, promised to more than double his
funding, to total $450 million, in order tocombat 14 major health challengesincluding improving child vaccines, creat-
ing new vaccines, controlling disease-transmitting insects, improving nutritionand drug treatment and improving techno-
logical conditions in developing countriesfor more accurate and helpful health ITfor patient records.
The Foundation announced the increase
in funds earmarked for the GrandChallenges in Global Health, administered
by the National Institutes of Health, tosupport researching diseases which dispro-portionately affect members of develop-
ing nations. We are not doing enough todeliver the solutions we do have, and werenot spending enough to find the solutions
we dont have. As a result, millions of peo-ple die every year. This doesnt tell a flat-tering story about humanity, but the story
isnt over. In fact, the story is starting tochange, said Gates.
There is a tragic inequity between the
health of people in the developed world
Edited by Justin Orndorff
Vaccine Initiative. The Foundation has
contributed over $3.5 billion in grants toglobal health organizations.
In many cases, the global health situa-
tion has grown increasingly fragmentedand inaccessible over the past 15 years.
These rates have all increased in recent
decades due to many factorsamongthem the commodification of drinking
water and the gradual dwindling and
increasingly-expensive health care run bymultinational corporations (both affectingthe areas of prevention and treatment).
Each of these diseases can be prevented,but not without conscious change in thehearts and minds of policymakers, trade
organizations and the power of grassrootsorganizations.
One such partnership, The Global Fund
to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria
(founded in 2001), has received over $4.7billion in funds guaranteed through 2008.
Despite the large sum, the Global Fundremains vastly in need of financial help.Many countries have followed suit with
the USs recent reduction in funds, whichcut its 2004 donation by $200 million fromthe previous years $550 million sum.
Other donors have not kept their wordafter initial pledges.
Despite the recent cuts, the US remains
the Global Funds largest contributorafact that may shackle the Fund to US pol-icy interests, particularly in areas dealing
with treatment for sex workers and
Sources, from page 8
5.. Khagendra Thapa, Ph.D., "On Nepal:Elected Criminals and Grand Corruption inPolitics," Peace Journalism, June 2005,http://peacejournalism.com/ReadArticle.asp?ArticleID=2692
6. Patrick Hogan, "Human Rights Crisis inNepal: the View of Dinesh Praisan,"Washington Spark, May 11, 2005,http://www.washingtonspark.org/page_images/May11th2005/World_May11th2005.pdf
7."Draconian Laws to Curb Media," KantipurOnline, 20May 2005,
http://www.kantipuronline.com/kolnews.php?&nid=40615
8. Charles Haviland, "Nepal's Rising VigilanteViolence," BBC News, March 14, 2005,http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/south_asia/4346597.stm
9.Chitra Tewari, "India Delivers Arms toNepal,"Washington Times, May 14, 2005,http://www.washtimes.com/world/20050513-104752-5094r.htm
10.Somnath Ghimire, "100 Day Anniversaryof King Gyanendra's Executive Power,"Nepali Post, May 21, 2005,http://www.nepalipost.com/english.html#80
By Kirt Undercoffer
Nepal is the worlds only Hindu king-dom and is composed of various ethnici-ties and religious identities dominated by
the Hindu majority Newaris.Nepali identity begins with the Kirati
people in the 7th century BC. They estab-
lished a kingdom in the Kathmandu valleywhich continued until 200 AD.
200 AD saw the invasion of the
Licchavi from India, bringing Hinduism
which largely replaced Buddhism, andushered in a classical period of Nepalese
art and architecture.The Licchavi were succeeded by the
Thakuri dynasty circa 879 AD. Nepal
endured several centuries of invasionuntil the rise of the Malla dynasty, which
saw a renaissance of Nepali art and cul-
ture. Several independent city-stateswere established including Kathmandu
and Patan. The Malla dynasty reached it's
height in the 15th century.The rulers of Gorkha, west of the
Kathmandu Valley, conquered the Malla's
in 1768 and established Kathmandu as thecapital. They began a brief period ofexpansion ending in 1792 following their
defeat in an invasion of Tibet.
Following a brief war with the British,the 1816 Sugauli Treaty establishedNepal's present eastern and western
boundaries. Jung Bahadur seized powerafter 1846, establishing himself as
prime minister for life and taking the
title of Rana. The Ranas later becamehereditary and ruled from Kathmanduthough the following century.
With the British withdrawal from India
in 1948, the Ranas' lost their chief sup-port. Civil unrest followed eventually
resulting in the accession of KingTribhuvan as ruler in 1951. His govern-ment was comprised of Ranas and mem-
bers of theNepali Congress Party. King
Mahendra, successor to King Tribhuvan,
established a partyless system with theprime minister and a large percentage ofthe national assembly appointed directly
by the king.King Birendra assumed power in 1972
but continued the partyless system until
violent protests in 1989 prompted him todissolve his government, legalize the
political parties and invite the opposition
to form a government. This began the
serious establishment of democracy withthe Nepali Congress Party and the
Communist Party of Nepal sharing
most of the votes. Establishing democracyin Nepal has proven to be a difficult task,complicated by a poor economy, illiteracy
and an ethnically fragmented population.The Maoist rebellion, beginning in 1996
and concentrated in Western Nepal, posed
further challenges.
June 2001 saw the massacre of theNepaili royal family by Crown Prince
Dipendra in an alleged family dispute overthe queen's disapproval of Dipendra's girl-friend. Dipendra was nominally king for
two days until he died of self-inflictedwounds. Consequently Prince Gyanendra,brother of King Birendra ascended to the
throne. King Gyanendra has dissolved thegovernment at least twice and seems tohave had even less success with quelling
the Maoist rebellion than his brother. Oflate the Maoists have extended their
war sporadically into 74 of Nepal's 75
districts, while essentially establishing con-trol of seven districts.
A Brief History of Nepal
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WASHINGTON SPARK / JUNE 10, 2005CITY SECTION
JUNEJUNE CCiittyy CCaalleennddaarr
Our calendar is just the tip of the iceberg!
This calendar may include listings from the following websites:Activist Events: Karibu Books:http://activistevents.org http://www.karibubooks.com/Metro DC Committee of Correspondence: Washington Peace Center:http://www.dccofc.org http://www.washingtonpeacecenter.orgDC Calendar of Events: The Abolitionist Action Committee:http://app.calendar.rrc.dc.gov/directory.aspx http://www.abolition.orgDC Independent Media: Politics and Prose:http://dc.indymedia.org/ http://www.politics-prose.com/U.S. Campaign for Burma: D.C. Caribbean Carnical:ht tp :/ /www.uscampaignforburma.org ht tp :/ /www.dccaribbeancarnival .com
Capital Pride: Provisions Library:http://www.capitalpride.org/flash/index.html http://www.provisionslibrary.org
Provisions Library Hosts Workshopby PEN
Provisions is proud to announce this year'sDHARMA AND DIVERSITY workshop, June10-12, 2005. The workshop is entitled CultureClash: Journeys Out to the World & Down tothe Self, and features Literary Award WinnerFaith Adiele, English Professor at the University
of Pittsburgh and author ofMEETING
FAITH: The Forest Journals of a BlackBuddhist Nun. To register contact:
Provisions Library1611 Connecticut Ave NW, Wash DC, 20009
202-299-0460
Official Capital Pride 2005Opening Party at CobaltFriday June 10, 10 p.m.-3 a.m
Come let loose and be proud, with a few hundredof your friends! Featuring music all night by
world-famous DJ DAVID KNAPP (Roxy/Twilo
/Limelight/NYC/Atlanta) and hosted by Miss
Lena Lett and Miss Capital Pride 2005. .. 21+ w/ID, cover. For more information visit:
www.cobaltdc.com and ww.madtizzy.com
DC Premiere of the New Film:22/8: The Jeff Luers Story
Saturday June 11, - 7pm
$5 donation to benefit Jeff LuersIn Solidarity with the June 10-12 Weekend ofResistance for political prisoner Jeff "Free" Luers:
www.freefreenow.orgJune 2005 marks the five-year anniversary of
Oregon environmental political prisoner, Jeff"Free" Luers. Jeff was sentenced to more than 22years in prison for burning three Sport Utility
Vehicles (SUVs) at a car dealership in Eugene,Oregon, and on attempted arson charges. Jeff setfire to SUVs to call attention to climate change
and to protest oil wars and environmentaldestruction. He was well-known to law enforce-
ment because of his involvement with nationalforest protection (starting an occupation of acontroversial old-growth timber sale in 1998),
anti-police brutality activism (documenting ram-pant police abuse in Eugene), free food programsin a local park and his teaching of self-defense to
women. Since his imprisonment, Jeff has contin-ued to be extremely active in prison and fight
oppression with his words and inspiration.
Annual Capital Pride ParadeSunday June 12, Washington Park.
Line Up 9:45 AMStep Off at 11:30 AM.This year's Parade will be even bigger! This year's
parade route starts at Sprague Place, goes out toWashington Avenue, down to Lark Street, all the
way to Madison Avenue, onto Willet Street andback into the park at Hudson Avenue at which
time a full day of celebration will begin at the fes-
tival grounds. Come watch the parade and thenjoin us in Washington Park immediately after for
the start of ourAnnual Pride Festival.
Framework Panel Four: Artist as Activist
Friday June 16, 6:00pm-8:00pmProvisions Library
Light refreshments. This event is free and open tothe public. Please join us. Transformer, in partner-
ship with Provisions Library, is pleased to presentArtist as Activist - a panel discussion focusingon the artists, artwork and curatorial themes of
two current exhibitions:We Could Be Heroes
May 21 - June 25 at Transformer, and
On the Subject of WarMay 4 - June 26 at Provisions Library.
Global Protests at EmbassiesTwo days before the "arrest yourself" events on
June 19th, we are calling on individuals andgroups around the world to organize mega-
protests in front of embassies of Burma's militaryregime. Where possible, we call on individuals andgroups to conduct peaceful civil disobedience
aimed at disrupting the activities of theembassies.
In Washington, DC activists will "deliver" 6,000birthday cards (in honor of Aung San Suu Kyi's60th birthday) signed by people living in the
United States to Aung San Suu Kyi. If theembassy refuses to accept the cards, we may leavethem in a ceremonious heap on the front steps.
http://www.uscampaignforburma.org
The Autobiography of Medgar EversFriday June 17, 6:30 pm
Karibu BooksThe Mall at Prince George's
Myrlie Evers-Williams along with ManningMarable will discuss and sign The Autobiographyof Medgar Evers. Medgar Evers was one of the
greatest leaders of the civil rights movement - andfor that, he was assassinated. This June marks the42nd anniversary of his death. There has been
much written on Martin Luther King, Jr. andMalcolm X, but until now, Medgar's story, in his
own voice, has not been told.
Hiroshima/Nagasaki Never Again!The Nagasaki-Hiroshima Peace Committee
is conducting their third annual essay contestto send a national capital area youth to represent
the Committee at the World Conference
Against the Atom and Hydrogen Bombs in
Hiroshima and Nagasaki Japan.The Committee has been working since 1980 tobreak the silence about the tragedy that tookplace in 1945, when our own government explod-
ed two atomic bombs on the Japanese at the endof World War II.
The Committee seeks a mature youth (age 17-26).He or she must compete in an essay contest bysubmitting a 700 - 1,000 word essay emphasizing
our message of Hiroshima/Nagasaki NeverAgain! Abolish Nuclear Weapons!"The deadline is June 20, 2004. The person cho-
sen as delegate will have all travel and otherexpenses covered and will give several talks
and/or speeches on the subject. The Please sendessays and correspondence c/o:
John Steinbach
7615 Lake DriveManassasVA 20111
(703)369-7427
SMITHSONIAN
FOLKLIFE FESTIVAL11am.-5:30pm daily
5:30pm-9pm evening events
A celebration of contemporary living traditions.The Festival typically includes daily and evening
programs of music, song, dance celebratory per-formance, crafts and cooking demonstrations, sto-
rytelling, illustrations of workers' culture, and nar-rative sessions for discussing cultural issues. TheFestival encourages visitors to participate - to
learn, sing, dance, eat traditional foods, and con-verse with people presented in the Festival pro-
gram. www.folklife.si.edu/CFCH/folklife
DC Caribbean Carnival
Banneker Park
$5 admission, Parade freeDC Caribbean Carnival is one of the fastest grow-ing Carnivals in North America.To date, all of the participating groups have been
local to the DC Metropolitan Area, comprising ofrepresentatives from every Caribbean country.The carnival has enjoyed support from several
local, national and family-owned businesses. Thehighlight of the Carnival is the annual parade,
which includes twenty-two colorful bands of mas-queraders accompanied by the sweetest, mostinfectious music, will be dancing up a storm down
Georgia Avenue from Missouri Avenue, NW toBanneker Park, NW across from the campus ofHoward University.
www.dccaribbeancarnival.com
STARVIN' FOR JUSTICE 2005
12th Annual Fast & Vigilto Abolish the Death Penalty,at the U.S. Supreme Court
9:30pm - Last Supper: The Last Supper will takeplace at "Taverna The Greek Islands," which is
located at 305 Pennsylvania Avenue, SE, just downthe street from the Library of Congress, and onlythree blocks from SCOTUS. They know who we
are, they like us, we have a reservation, we canorder off the menu again this year, there will beplenty of choices for vegetarians, and to quote the
boss, "We will take care of you." Plan to spend $8to $15, not including drinks.
http://www.abolition.org
ERIK SAAR and VIVECA NOVAKINSIDE THE WIRE
Politics and Prose
5015 Conn. AveNW, Wash DC 20008(Penguin Press, $24.95)
Army sergeant Erik Saar's description of the sexu-al interrogation tactics used on prisoners at
Guantanamo shocked the world when it wasleaked to the Associated Press in January. In col-
laboration with journalist Viveca Novak, Saardetails his experience as an enthusiastic volunteerin the War on Terror who witnessed torture and
abuse at the prison camp.
On the Subject of WarLocation: Provisions Library
1611 Conn. Ave NW, Suite 200, Wash DC 20009202-299-0460
Closes June 26thHow much can we know about war?
This exhibition of contemporary art raises dilem-
mas of recording in pictures the atrocities andabsurdities of war. The artists not only document
war but lead us to confront our own relationshipto these horrifying realities.
Please send community announcements & event info to:
Due to space limits we can't guarantee that we can
print every item, but we'll try!
Annual Summer Film SeriesWednesdays June 9th to July 21st. 12:00 PM
Institute for Policy Studies,733 15th Street NW, Suite 1020
Foreign Policy In Focus is proud to announce its
annual summer film series.Generation X-Saddam.
A Film By Shelly Saywell,First Run/Icarus Films
Q&A with Anas Shallal, Iraqi Dissident and Co-
Founder of the Mesopotamia Cultural Society andPeace Cafe. This timely and eerily prophetic film
weaves together the lives of several Iraqis both
just before and just after the US-led war to toppleSaddam Hussein. Examines the historical implica-
tions of US foreign policy towards Iraq and howthe chaos following the war has impacted the livesof Iraqis from across economic, social, and politi-
cal spectrums. This a free event, with light refresh-ments. For more information, contact
Adam Waxman
The Sudan CampaignWeekdays at noon
2210 Mass Ave., NW
The Christian Solidarity International (CSI)demonstrations and arrests continue at SudanEmbassy. The Sudan Campaign calls for daily
demonstrations and nonviolent civil disobedienceat the Sudanese Embassy, 2210 Massachusetts
Ave., NW, in Washington, D.C. at noon to Stop
the Genocide and Free the Slaves. The demonstra-tions call for humanitarian intervention Darfur
and opposition to genocide in Sudan.Call 202-498-8644 or
www.darfurgenocide.org
Women in Black VigilEvery 3rd Wednesday 6:30-7 pm
Martin & Patrick Sts., Frederick, MD
WIB does a silent vigil mourning all violence thethird Wednesday of the month. Wear black, butbring no additional signs.
Call 301-834-7581 [email protected]
Picket At The Embassy Of HaitiWednesdays 12 noon - 1:30pm
Embassy Of Haiti
2311 Massachusetts Ave. NWDemocracy activists are under brutal attack inHaiti or in exile. Political prisoners fill the jails,
executed bodies fill the morgues and families flee-ing persecution sleep each night in a differentplace.
Free All Political Prisoners In Haiti!
Stop State Sponsored Terror In Haiti Now!Contact Epica at 202-332-0292,
or by e-mail at [email protected]
June 10
June 11
June 12
June 16
June 17
June 20
June 23-27 June 30-July 4
Ongo ing
June 29 - July 2
June 30
Clos ing
June 25 and 26
Edited by Jennifer Holder
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8/14/2019 Alberto Gonzales Files -june city complete qxp washingtonspark org-city june10th2005
6/6
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CITY SECTIONWASHINGTON SPARK / JUNE 10, 2005
Photography
As DC Flickr regular John Windmuellerput it, what started as a hey, wouldn't itbe cool if... question has grown into areal event that's going to happen thanksto the enthusiasm, creativity, and work oflots of DC Flickr folks.
Flickrfor those not yet in the knowisan online photo management and sharingprogram that functions more like a cyber-space community of photography enthu-siasts, collectors of vacation snapshots,and everything in between. And the realevent is a photo exhibit (physical, not
virtual) featuring select works by abouttwo dozen regular members of the
Washington DC/Metro Area Flickrgroup, a club of sorts that is slowly butsurely expanding from the world of inter-net message boards to in-person meet-ups.
The Washington DC/Metro Area groupincludes about 340 members; the groupphoto pool is a repository of morethan 3000 photos that anyone can browseor search by key words. Its open to thepublic, so if you live in the DC area orhave some great photos of the area youdlike to share, log on and join in.
Target Opening Date: June 25, 2005;should remain up for viewing for abouttwo weeks.Location: El Tamarindo restaurant, 7331Georgia Ave. NW, Washington, DC
For more information: Erick, (202) 291-0525 Some of the photos in the exhibit
will be available for sale.For more information about Flickr or toopen a free account, visit www.flickr.com
Edited by Brendan Hoffman
T Street Traffic Light, Matthew Bradley
Photoblogger Groups
Debut in DC
Birds in Flight, Matt Billings
Naranja Mecanica, Erick Adali
The Mall, John Ulaszek
On the Potomac, Jennifer Foley