Whistleblower Chelsea Manning
Interview with attorney for Chelsea Manning on her continued imprisonment and now steep fines (8/13/19)
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Out-FM Full Show
This is part of our Queerly Defiant series.
Last Tuesday, a federal judge refused a request by transgender former soldier and world-renowned whistleblower Chelsea Manning to reconsider his unprecedented rulings in May that Manning not only continue to be held in jail for contempt, but that she also must pay virtually unprecedented fines which mount daily and could total nearly half a million dollars by the end of her 18 months in prison, unless she changes her mind and agrees to answer questions before the grand jury. In a moment we’ll interview one of her attorneys to get the latest.
But first, the backstory. In 2010, Manning, then a 22-year-old Army private, an intelligence analyst and computer programmer, was so troubled by secret documents and videos that she had access to, which showed evidence of abusive U.S. military actions in Iraq and Afghanistan and much more U.S. government misconduct, that she decided to release them to the public. Neither the New York Times nor the Washington Post showed any interest, so she moved on to her last choice, which was Wikileaks. The hundreds of thousands of documents and videos constituted the largest release of confidential materials up til that point and made frontpage news. People around the world gained new insights into issues of anti-civilian practices, government repression, and corruption in many countries that were being tolerated or even encouraged by the U.S. government. During her court-martial, she took responsibility for the release of documents and videos, and pled guilty to 10 of the charges. The Army then tried her on the remaining 12, all of which she was found guilty of, except for “aiding the enemy.” In 2013, she was sentenced to 35 years. The next day, she came out as transgender and begun the long and ultimately largely successful battle to change the army’s policies and provide medical support for her gender transition.
Manning endured 7 years in a men’s military prison, including many months in solitary confinement, a punishment deemed "tantamount to torture" by a United Nations rapporteur. In Barack Obama’s final week in office, he commuted her sentence, and she was released in May 2017.
Chelsea Manning was working to re-establish an independent life in Maryland as a writer and advocate when in March 2019, a federal grand jury in Virginia investigating the release of secret US government documents by Wikileaks, subpoenaed her to testify – this despite the fact that she had done so at length during her trial. In a public statement, Manning said, “I will not participate in a secret process that I morally object to, particularly one that has been historically used to entrap and persecute activists for protected political speech.” She also denounced the grand jury’s attempts to suppress freedom of the press. In court, a federal judge rejected her reasons and found her in contempt of court,
meaning she would be held for the remaining life of the grand jury, which by law can last up to 18 months, or until she testified. With the exception of a week in May when one grand jury ended and a new one began on the same issues, after which Manning was again subpoenaed and again held in contempt, she has been held at Truesdale Adult Detention Center in Alexandria, Virginia since March.
We’re now joined on the phone by one of Chelsea’s defense attorneys, Moira Meltzer-Cohen. Moira has a long history of representing political activists facing repression. Thanks so much for coming on Out-FM.
I want to start by reading an excerpt from an article about this ruling on Chelsea’s monetary fines written by longtime investigative journalist Kevin Gosztola, actually one of our previous guests on Out-FM, that ran on the website truthout.org last Thursday.
A federal judge denied Chelsea Manning’s motion to reconsider fines imposed against her for refusing to testify before the grand jury investigating WikiLeaks. He also undermined due process and refused to hold a hearing.
“Manning has the ability to comply with the court’s financial sanctions or will have the ability after her release from confinement,” ruled Judge Anthony Trenga (appointed, I would add, by Pres. George W. Bush). “Therefore, the imposed fines of $500 per day after 30 days and $1,000 per day after 60 days is not so excessive as to relieve her of those sanctions or to constitute punishment rather than a coercive measure.” Trenga additionally insisted that he had the authority to confine her and impose fines as well.
“I am disappointed but not at all surprised. The government and the judge must know by now that this doesn’t change my position one bit,” Manning declared in response to the decision.
Manning has been in jail for 147 days. She already owes $38,000 in fines, as of August 7, and she could owe up to $441,000 — nearly a half million dollars — if the sanctions continue.
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Revolutionary Lesbian Faces Health Crisis
Revolutionary Butch Lesbian Bo Brown
This is part of our Queerly Defiant series.
Tonight we want to discuss an elder butch lesbian radical activist who spent many years in dedicated struggle against imperialism, capitalism, sexism, and heterosexism, and is now struggling with a life-challenging painful illness called Lewy Body Dementia.
As background, let me read part of an excellent bio of Bo Brown prepared by Joy James, included in her 2003 book Imprisoned Intellectuals: America’s Political Prisoners Write on Life, Liberation, and Rebellion.
She writes:
Bo Brown grew up in a white working class neighborhood in Klamath, OR. Her first experience with the US prison system came when she was sentenced to 7 months for stealing $40 from the post office in Seattle where she worked. Upon release, she returned to Seattle and became involved in prison and lesbian rights work, helping to found Leftist Lezzies, an organization to combat the invisibility of lesbians of the antiwar movement. Eventually, Brown became a member of the George Jackson Brigade. Her involvement with the Brigade and its armed robberies led to 8 additional years of incarceration.
Based in Seattle, the Brigade emerged as a multiracial, non-homophobic, anti-capitalist, anti-imperialist underground organization. It was largely composed of individuals who were former prisoners, or had used or advocated armed struggle in opposition to US policies and in solidarity with Native struggles for sovereignty, Seattle Auto Workers’ strikes, and Washington State prisoners’ human rights. …..
Attempting to make a distinction between terrorism and the Brigade’s actions, Brown asserted in the feminist publication Off Our Backs:
Terrorism is armed action which deliberately and callously ignores the welfare of the people. It is the institutionalized sick violence of the ruling class and its police forces — i.e., the senseless bombings of Vietnam; the Attica massacre; the Kent State massacre; the individual murders of [NY Black youth] Clifford Glover, [anti-nuclear whistleblower] Karen Silkwood, and [teenage Black liberation fighter] George Jackson; the continuing murders and sterilizations of Native Americans and Puerto Ricans…A primary factor is that concern for the welfare of innocent people is ALWAYS a vital part of the planning and execution of these actions.
After Brown was released from prison in 1987, she cofounded Out of Control Lesbian Committee to Support Political Prisoners [in San Francisco], and began support work for people with AIDS in prison, and for battered women convicted of killing their abusers. Organized initially around the campaign to close the Lexington Control Unit for Women, Out of Control later worked to support women PPs. Brown also participated in the Jericho 98 Campaign to Free PPs & POWS and the committee for the release of Norma Jean Croy, a Native lesbian wrongful imprisoned for 19 years. Brown directed and produced Shasta Woman, a documentary on Croy’s case.
Before I welcome our guest, I want to play a short excerpt from Bo Brown’s remarks as a keynote speaker at an event held by Queers United in Support of Political Prisoners here in New York during the 1994 celebrations of the 25th Anniversary of the Stonewall uprising. In Bo’s remarks, you’ll hear her refer to fundraising events on a battleship, now a museum, in NY harbor called the Intrepid, organized by mainstream gay and AIDS groups, largely by wealthy gay men. The Intrepid was used to stage 9,000 bombing runs during the Vietnam War, and its use for a gay event was protested by gay left and peace groups.
[play 2-minute recording of Bo]
A documentary about her revolutionary life is titled “The Gentleman Bank Robber” by Julie Perini. In the description, Perini writes, “bo brown is a model for how to lead a life of committed activism while maintaining a sense of humor and humanity.”
And now I’d like to welcome my guest, bisexual and longtime Black activist Ida McCray. Ida was active in militant Black liberation activities in the 1970s, for which she was arrested and served 10 years in federal prison. After her release, she became – and remains to this day – a community activist working on various community service social projects. She has also become a friend and supporter of Bo Brown as she faces the toughest struggle of her life.
[Questions about Bo's & Ida's joint struggles and support with Assata Shakur at Alderson, West Virginia federal prison, & Ida's impressions of her & her contributions to the movement, plus what’s happening with Bo's health.]
Definition of Lewy body disease:
Lewy body disease is one of the most common causes of Dementia in the elderly. Lewy body disease happens when abnormal structures, called Lewy bodies, build up in areas of the brain. The disease may cause a wide range of symptoms, including: changes in alertness and attention, hallucinations, problems with movement and posture, muscle stiffness, and confusion.
WEBSITE: https://www.gofundme.com/show-up-for-bo-brown
Excerpt:
"Bo Brown is a lifelong movement-maker and community supporter who is living with Lewy Body Dementia, for which she requires constant care. If you've never met Bo, you've never seen the profound effect this powerhouse, principled woman has had on everyone around her.
"If you know one thing about Bo, you should know that she knows how to Show Up. Decades of hard work have built an enormous web of community and family around Bo, from the causes she supported as part of the George Jackson Brigade to the people with whom she was incarcerated; the countless families Bo has helped through hard times to the decades-long commitment she's proven to the health and liberation of all incarcerated people. Ask anyone who knows her and they can tearfully describe her ability to show up when it's time and stay in the fight til the fight is done. Bo has changed lives. She has made the world demonstrably, measurably better."
ACT UP Hidden Histories
ACT UP co-founder Eric Sawyer discusses the role ACT UP played in supporting AIDS activism in poor countries of the Global South.