[Chicago] NATO 3 Need Court Support!

[ckaihatsu]

Fwd: NATO 3 Need Court Support! Spectators Can Now Register to Attend Court the Same Day


Hello All,

The NATO 3 trial has begun, in courtroom 606 at 26th and California, and is expected to last several weeks.

There were about 15 supporters in court for the NATO 3 today - and there's several empty rows available for spectators. Please help get the word out & pack the courtroom - show the court that Chicago is behind these defendants!

The most up-to-date info on the trial & spectator rules can be found at: http://freethenato3.wordpress.com/

For live tweets from the courtroom and from supporters, follow: @FreeNATO3 @kgosztola @rummanahussain @allshiny @plussone

Excellent reports from Kevin Gosztola via firedoglake.com on court proceedings thus far:

1/20: Why is Illinois, Not the US Government, Putting ‘NATO 3′ on Trial for Terror Conspiracy?

1/21: Trial of Occupy Activists Known as ‘NATO 3′ Begins, Defense Attorneys Focus on Police Infiltration

1/22: Female Undercover Cop Who Helped Chicago Police Target ‘NATO 3′ Testifies on Recordings at Trial

Please help mobilize support and solidarity for Brent, Jay & Brian Jacob.

- Rachael P
____________________________________

Via [email protected]:


We got word that the registration process for attending the NATO 3 trial has
been changed so that people can now register the same day they want to attend
the trial. Each person will still need to show their state-issued ID and
submit to the background check for open warrants and orders of protection
against anyone involved in the court process, but they can do this when they
arrive at court and then wait to enter the courtroom at the next break in the
proceedings after they are cleared. People with open warrants will still be
arrested on site.

We believe that this registration will happen outside of Courtroom 606 and
that people can register at any time of the day. Court today will begin at
10:30am, so everyone who has already registered will need to be seated by
10:15am. Those who did not register yesterday can now come to register this
morning and join us in packing the courtroom later on today!


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[Art Vandelay]

Jesus Christ. I was there when they were arrested. I remember taking part in some demo outside a police station (not sure if it was for them or other prisoners), I remember everyone talking about how obviously trumped up the charges were, I remember the illegal march on the weekend that started at the hay market monument, I remember a lot about that weekend, getting kettled, the police brutality etc..but then I went on with my life, went through a shift in my politics, forgot about these guys and they're still in there, for absolutely no reason. The only people who should be facing charges are the cops involved with that bust who engaged in entrapment. Those boys aren't terrorists.

[ckaihatsu]

It would be almost funny, if only . . .


News from the Chicago Chapter

Screening of "Informant" & Discussion with Kevin Gosztola - This Saturday,
Feb. 1, 1 pm

World Can't Wait Chicago, Neighbors for Peace, and 8th Day Center for Justice are hosting a screening of "Informant," a documentary about an activist turned FBI informant in the run-up to protests against the Republican Convention in Minneapolis in 2008 as a fund raiser for the NATO3 defense.

Lake Street Church of Evanston
607 Lake Street, Evanston

We are excited to announce that Kevin Gosztola will be joining our discussion. Kevin covered the trial of Chelsea Manning and is now reporting daily on the trial of the NATO3. If you haven't been able to attend, here is your chance to find out what's going on and why it matters to all of us. If you are on Facebook, please join our event there, invite friends, and share!

* * * * * * * * * * * * *

World Can't Wait depends on YOUR support to continue all our work - Thanks!



Chris,

Week two of the trial of the NATO 3 is now coming to a close, and the prosecution is still presenting its case against the three young men charged with conspiracy to commit terrorism under an Illinois statute passed right after Sept. 11, 2001 and other serious felonies.

The testimony of one of the two undercover Chicago police officers who attempted to infiltrate Occupy Chicago has been the focus of most of the media attention. She told stories of dropping Lemonhead candy into beer to watch it fizz, musing about the utility of slingshots to project marbles into various venues, and prodding supposedly dangerous anarchists who needed police direction and instigation to toss around ideas about possible "targets" but couldn't find them even with GPS.

But the humor stops when we consider the damage already done by this vicious prosecution. Consider the personal costs. These three men, all in their twenties, have already spent more than a year and a half in jail, some of that time in solitary confinement, and one of them was beaten so badly that he had to be sent to the infirmary. They now face up to 40 years in prison for what can only be described as thought crimes, with the only "action" taken having been suggested and orchestrated by the undercover cops (backed up by at least a dozen or more police behind the scenes). There was no harm done to anyone and no property damaged.

Beyond this, there is the damage done to the righteous protests against the US-led NATO war criminals' conference in Chicago in May 2012 that brought these men and thousands more to town to protest. The undercover police operation being revealed at least in part in a courtroom at 26th & California is just the tip of the onslaught that was set in motion to intimidate, constrain, and repress our ability to stand up and say NO! to war, torture, and occupation and all the horrors that NATO (North Atlantic Treaty Organization) has brought to the people of Afghanistan, whose country has been occupied by NATO for more than 12 years, to the people of Libya who died in the thousands under NATO bombardment, and many more.

Remember the ordinances that Mayor Rahm Emanual got through the Chicago City Council with barely a whimper of objection in January 2012? Hundreds protested the proposals that were rightly dubbed the "sit down and shut up" ordinances, targeting both Occupy Chicago and anyone who might protest NATO, although those ordinances are permanent and remain on the books today. Almost any picket line now requires registering for a permit 15 days in advance and providing the City with a list of signs, banners, sound equipment, and any "attention-getting devices" that require two or more people to carry (like a banner). Fines for violating these ordinances were also increased. While they have not been enforced yet, they are there for use whenever the City finds it convenient, or necessary.

In the months leading up to the NATO summit, Chicago's newspapers were filled with carefully escalating stories of plans for mass evacuation in case of an "attack" or "unrest," and discussions of opening a long-closed prison to incarcerate the imaginary overflow of rioting demonstrators. These stories were accompanied by real-life large, threatening black helicopters circling the downtown skies, attempting to acclimate the citizenry to the overwhelming police occupation to come.

And if all that wasn't enough to paint everyone who dared to take to the streets and demand an end to the wars waged by NATO as criminal, the coup de grace came just two days prior to the biggest demonstration on May 19. Giant front-page headlines trumpeted the arrest of "terrorists" caught with "Molotov cocktails" in a Bridgeport apartment. Testimony this week revealed that the police who raided the apartment emptied the gas from the beer bottles that were allegedly to serve as those weapons, destroying part of the supposed "evidence."

As we wrote a few weeks ago, this trial represents the real danger, and it is up to us to speak out against it. The police and prosecutors are arguing that all their undercover investigating, bugging, recording conversations and license plate numbers, and manipulations were and are justified because these men allegedly described themselves as anarchists. This is the same type of set-up operation that has put hundreds of Muslims behind bars in this country, the victims of FBI sting oeprations that created "crimes" were none existed in order to paint an entire community as dangerous.

Please join us this Saturday, February 1, at 1 pm at Lake Street Church of Evanston for a screening of "Informant," a film about an activist turned informant for the FBI in Minneapolis during the Republican Convention in 2008. The film will be followed by a discussion with Kevin Gosztola, who writes as The Dissenter on firedoglake.com and is providing daily analysis of the NATO3 trial.

Everyone is welcome, we will not ask for a cover charge, but we will ask everyone to donate as generously as you can to support the attorneys providing a vigorous defense against these outrageous charges and exposing the fallacies and distortions of the prosecutors. Checks may be made out to 8th Day Center for Justice (205 W. Monroe St., Suite 500, Chicago 60606), with "NATO3 Defense" in the memo line.
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[ckaihatsu]

NATO 3 Found Not Guilty of “Terrorism” Charges; Activists Protest Demand for Harsh Sentences

3 protesters charged in an extraordinary application of state "terrorism" charges before thousands gathered in Chicago to protest the May 2012 NATO meeting were acquitted of those charges last week, while being convicted of other serious felonies. Kevin Gosztola reported the comments of defense attorney Michael Deutsch (http://org.salsalabs.com/dia/track.jsp?v=2&c=h%2Fz89z39MQYCWwd80d8Uvpn9p6zlKYYJ):

“This is a victory not only for these three young men but a victory for everyone. When you start to trivialize terrorism and charge protesters with terrorism, then we are threatening all kinds of rights to protest and to speak out.” He called it a “victory for the city of Chicago” and “all the people who came here to protest NATO.” It is obviously disappointing “there were some counts they were convicted of but “the fact of the matter is that [Illinois State's Attorney of Cook County] Anita Alvarez should be made to be held accountable for politically motivated charges.”

The Chicago Tribune responded to the verdict by calling for harsh sentences for the 3 men. World Can't Wait, which called the charges and the prosecution "dangerous," joined in a statement taking issue with the editorial, calling it "completely outrageous and dangerous because the media acting is acting in the behest of the state in a case where there was an effort by Mayor Rahm Emmanuel, Police Superintendent Garry McCarthy, and States Attorney Anita Alvarez to find criminality and manufacture criminality where there was none as became clear during the course of the trial all in order to criminalize and sideline dissent"

Read the full statement (http://org.salsalabs.com/dia/track.jsp?v=2&c=pQAWnSvk48%2FbqvYVmjb58pn9p6zlKYYJ), signed by a number of protest organizers.

http://org.salsalabs.com/o/1170/images/NATO_protest_trib_in_front_canada.jpg
Above, protesting NATO, Chicago 2012


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