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NATIONAL CLIENTS
The American Civil Liberties Union is a national organization that works to protect civil rights and civil liberties. ACLU attorneys across the country have provided direct representation to individuals and organizations targeted by the FBI and state and local police for exercising their First Amendment right to criticize government policies, including people who participated in numerous rallies and marches to protest the war in Iraq, who were excluded from meaningful participation at public presidential speeches and who protested at the 2004 Republican and Democratic National Conventions.
American Friends Service Committee carries out service, development, social justice and peace programs throughout the world. Founded by Quakers in 1917 to provide conscientious objectors with an opportunity to aid civilian war victims, AFSC's work attracts the support and partnership of people of many races, religions and cultures. AFSC's work is based on the Quaker belief in the worth of every person and faith in the power of love to overcome violence and injustice. The organization's mission and achievements won worldwide recognition in 1947 when it accepted the Nobel Peace Prize with the British Friends Service Council on behalf of all Quakers.
Greenpeace is an international advocacy organization dedicated to combating the most serious threats to the planet's biodiversity and environment. Since 1971, Greenpeace has been at the forefront of environmental activism through non-violent protest, research and public education. In the past several years, Greenpeace has repeatedly engaged the Bush administration through public protest and activism. In 2001, Greenpeace held public demonstrations outside the personal residences of President Bush and Vice President Cheney, criticizing the administration's environmental and energy policies. Greenpeace has also actively publicized the Bush administration's ties to the oil industry, especially Exxon Mobil. More recently, a team of Greenpeace experts exposed the United States' military's failure to secure and contain nuclear waste facilities in Iraq.
United for Peace and Justice is a coalition of more than 1,300 local and national groups throughout the United States that have joined together to oppose the war in Iraq. Since its founding in October 2002, UFPJ has spurred hundreds of anti-war protests and rallies across the country and sponsored the four largest demonstrations against the Iraq war. UFPJ organized a rally outside the United Nations in New York City that drew more than 500,000 participants as part of a global day of protest against the war. Two days after the bombing of Iraq began, UFPJ mobilized more than 300,000 people for another protest march in New York City. UFPJ also organized the anti-war march in New York City on the eve of the Republican National Convention, with 500,000 people. UFPJ coordinated more than 700 local protests across the country. Many of these were at or near military facilities, including recruitment stations.
Veterans For Peace is a national organization founded in 1985. The organization includes men and women veterans from World War II, Korea, Vietnam, the Gulf War and other conflicts in addition to peacetime veterans. Based on the experience of its members, the organization believes that wars are easy to start and hard to stop, and that those hurt are often the innocent. Thus, other means of problem solving are necessary. Veterans for Peace draws on the personal experiences and perspectives of veterans to raise public awareness of the true costs and consequences of militarism and war - and to seek peaceful, effective alternatives.
CALIFORNIA
Berkeley Stop the War Coalition (BSTW) is a diverse coalition of students on the University of California Berkeley campus who oppose various military activities undertaken by the United States government. BSTW supports peace, justice and equality, and opposes racism, militarism and attacks on civil liberties. BSTW has organized numerous protests against military recruitment on the UC Berkeley campus. Members of the group -- Leigh Johnson, Snehal Shingavi, Ehud Moshe Appel, Matthew Alan Taylor and Chelsea Collonge -- are also seeking any Pentagon files kept on them as individuals.
University of California Santa Cruz Students Against War is a student-run organization on the University of California Santa Cruz campus dedicated to stopping war in all its forms. The organization is working to stop the current war in Iraq and is committed to stopping military funding of university projects and recruitment on the UCSC campus. SAW believes that the occupation of Iraq is unjust and illegal and that the military's "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" program is in violation of University of California non-discrimination policies. SAW is a non-violent organization. Members of the group -- Konstanty (Kot) Hordynski, Joshua Sonnenfeld and Jennifer Ching-Hsia Low -- are also seeking any Pentagon files kept on them as individuals.
FLORIDA
Peter D. Ackerman is clerk of the Peace and Social Justice Committee of the Fort Lauderdale Friends. He has participated in, and helped to organize, actions to further their concerns.
The American Civil Liberties Union of Florida is the Florida affiliate of the ACLU, a national organization that works to protect civil rights and civil liberties. As the leading defender of freedom, equality, privacy and due process rights in the United States, the ACLU has challenged the United States government’s broad targeting and surveillance of innocent people as part of the war on terrorism, the government’s crackdown on criticism and dissent and the secret and unchecked surveillance powers of the Patriot Act. The ACLU also routinely provides information to the public and the media through print and online communications about the erosion of civil rights and civil liberties after September 11, and encourages ACLU members and activists to oppose government anti-terrorism policies that unnecessarily violate civil rights and civil liberties.
The Broward Anti-War Coalition (BAWC) is a grassroots coalition of several peace organizations, centered in Fort Lauderdale, Florida, that joined together in the fall of 2001 in opposition to U.S. military intervention in Afghanistan. BAWC has organized or participated in every major anti-war demonstration in South Florida since 2001, and hasparticipated in major social justice events such as the Miami-FTAA demonstrations in November 2003 and the Organization for American States protest in June 2005. In December 2005 it was revealed, through the leaking of a secret Defense Department report, that BAWC events have been subject to covert surveillance by U.S. Military Intelligence on multiple occasions. It was discovered (in January 2006) that BAWC's participation in the Alliance for Justice in the Americas' OAS-related meetings in 2005 were infiltrated by a paid FBI undercover informant.
The Fort Lauderdale Friends Meeting is part of the worldwide Religious Society of Friends ("Quakers"). Their service in the world originates from their meeting for worship and is guided by their testimonies of Simplicity, Integrity, Peace, Equality and Community. In belief that policies of the present administration run contrary to their stated testimonies, they act to oppose those policies.
Bruce Gagnon has been a full-time peace and justice activist since 1978. From 1983-1998 he coordinated the Florida Coalition for Peace & Justice and began to specialize in the nuclearization and weaponization of space. Bruce, a co-founder of the Global Network Against Weapons & Nuclear Power in Space, has been working full-time for the organization since 1998. Since that time he has spent nearly two weeks of every month traveling throughout the world speaking and organizing protests around the space issue. During the 1980's Bruce, with the help of the Orlando Sentinel, was able to expose a series of infiltrations of the Florida Coalition by the Metropolitan Bureau of Investigation. Bruce served in the United States Air Force from 1971-1974.
The Global Network Against Weapons & Nuclear Power in Space was created in 1992 to build an international movement to prevent the arms race from moving into space. Each year the Global Network holds an international space organizing conference in a different part of the world bringing together the growing numbers of concerned citizens who wish to keep space for peace. Through the production of video documentaries, organizing protests, speaking tours, and media work the Global Network has been able to take its message throughout the United States and around the world. For the past several years the Global Network has organized "Keep Space for Peace Week" during the first week of October. This week of local actions around the world is held to show the growing opposition to Star Wars.
The Haiti Solidarity Committee is based in south Florida and has organized numerous protests and lobbying campaigns against the Bush administration’s support for the current regime in Haiti. It also organized the Committee to Free Father Jean-Juste, which spearheaded a much broader and successful effort that led to the priest’s freedom. Last spring the committee played a leadership role in The Alliance For Justice, an ad hoc coalition of peace and justice groups that organized a mass protest that included several thousand Haitians outside of the Organization of American States Conference in Fort Lauderdale.
The Melbourne, Florida Counter Inaugural was created by Brevard County citizens who joined together to symbolically "mourn" the election of President Bush and the threat they felt he represented to their civil rights. The group crafted headstones demarking the civil rights they believed were in jeopardy under the continued Bush administration and conducted a mock funeral procession on January 20, 2005, the day of the president’s inauguration.
Jeff Nall is a community activist and freelance writer. In 2003, Nall helped found Patriots for Peace and lead the anti-war movement in Brevard County, Florida, producing two demonstrations that were attended by approximately 500 people. Since then he has gone on to help organize numerous peace vigils and demonstrations as well as rallies for marriage equality, reproductive rights and civil liberties. Jeff also helped organize the Space Coast Progressive Alliance. And in 2005 he helped reorganize the Brevard chapter of the National Organization for Women. Nall also regularly contributes to progressive publications like Toward Freedom, the Humanist and Impact Press.
Patriots for Peace is an informal citizen group drawn from Brevard and Indian River residents who oppose the war in Iraq. The group began organizing demonstrations against the war in the lead up to the invasion of Iraq. In 2003 Patriots for Peace organized rallies on February 15, March 15 and March 22. The group also organized several anti-war vigils. Since 2003 the group has continued to help organize anti-war demonstrations, vigils and other events.
Maria Telesca-Whipple has worked extensively for many years in Brevard County, Florida, as an organizer for the Global Network Against Nuclear Weapons & Power in Space and has attended just about all of the Melbourne Peace rallies. Along with Jeff Nall and Bruce Gagnon, she was mentioned frequently in files created and maintained by the Brevard County Sheriff’s Office.
The Truth Project, Inc. is a Florida non-profit corporation, located in Palm Beach County, Florida, consisting of peace and social justice activists whose meetings in 2004 and 2005 took place in a Quaker church in Lake Worth. The Truth Project provides educational resources to high school students, regarding the facts surrounding military enlistment. As reported in December 2005 by NBC Nightly News, the Truth Project's meetings were placed under surveillance by the 902nd Military Intelligence Group, headquartered in Fort Meade, Maryland, which is also the location of the National Security Agency. A secret Department of Defense report characterized the Truth Project as a "credible threat" to national security.
GEORGIA
Georgia Peace and Justice Coalition developed out of statewide opposition to President Bush's decision to attack Iraq, announced in the summer of 2002. Atlanta activism first coalesced around a national campaign to present petitions opposing war to all 100 U.S. Senators across the country on August 28, 2002. As a broad volunteer network of faith, student and community groups, the Coalition has organized dozens of non-violent vigils and marches, petition campaigns and educational campaigns opposing the Iraq War and calling for justice on issues ranging from globalization to Katrina relief. The Coalition is now mobilizing with a diverse regional group, The April 1st Coalition, for the Southern Regional March for Peace in Iraq and Justice at Home to be held in Atlanta on Saturday, April 1, 2006.
Ann Mauney has been politically active in Georgia since the sixties when she organized against the Vietnam War and co-founded Atlanta Women's Liberation in 1969. As a public school U.S. history teacher in a state where teachers have no negotiating rights, she co-founded the Collective Bargaining Caucus of the Georgia Association of Educators in 1991. After retiring in 2001, she helped organize the InterFaith Atlanta Coalition for Justice and Peace in the World in order to coordinate a faith response to Bush's war agenda following 9/11. In 2002, as the Bush administration called for war on Iraq, the InterFaith Coalition joined with Atlanta WAND, American Friends Service Committee, and other faith and community groups to organize the November 9, 2002 Peace March in Atlanta and, in the process, formed the Georgia Peace and Justice Coalition. Working full-time with GPJC/Atlanta since 2002 and as coordinator since 2005, she and the Coalition have organized dozens of vigils, marches, petition campaigns and educational programs.
Nan Grogan Orrock is a ten-term Georgia State Representative representing in-town Atlanta neighborhoods. She is a founder of the Legislative Women's Caucus and her legislative expertise includes health policy, women’s issues, child/family policy, workplace issues, civil liberties, civil rights and environmental issues. Orrock's successful legislative initiatives include passage of the Georgia Family Medical Leave Act, the Prescriptive Equity for Contraceptives Act, the Chlamydia Screening Act, Georgia Hate Crimes Act and the Omnibus AIDS statute. Orrock is the president of Women Legislators' Lobby (WiLL), a national multi-partisan network of women legislators working to impact federal spending priorities. WiLL is a program of WAND, Women’s Action for New Directions, which works to reduce violence and militarism and increase the voices of women in the political process.
School of Americas Watch is an independent organization that seeks to close the US Army School of the Americas through vigils and fasts, demonstrations and nonviolent protest, as well as media and legislative work. Today the SOA Watch movement is a large, diverse, grassroots movement rooted in solidarity with the people of Latin America. SOA Watch also seeks to change U.S. foreign policy in Latin America by educating the public, lobbying Congress and participating in creative, nonviolent resistance. The Pentagon has responded to the growing movement and Congress' near closure of the SOA with a PR campaign to give the SOA a new image. In an attempt to disassociate the school with its horrific past, the SOA was renamed the Western Hemisphere Institute for Security Cooperation in January of 2001.
Women’s Action for New Directions was founded in 1982 as Women's Action for Nuclear Disarmament. With the end of the cold war, the organization adopted the new name and focused its energies on working to redirect federal budget priorities away from the military and toward human needs.
MAINE
The American Friends Service Committee: Maine Program on Youth and Militarism is an organization committed to bringing balanced information about military recruitment to Maine high school students. AFSC: Maine seeks to ensure that students know that they have a right to discuss the military without being forced to enlist, and to participate in open dialogue about militarism and society. AFSC: Maine has helped lead efforts in Maine to help high school students protect private information from recruiters from the Department of Defense by encouraging the prominent placement of "No Child Left Behind" opt-out forms. AFSC: Maine meets monthly at the Meetinghouse of the Midcoast Friends.
The Maine Coalition for Peace and Justice is a statewide organization of individual citizens and Maine group representatives working collectively and nonviolently for social equality, economic justice, direct democracy and regenerative environmental policies.
Members of the Maine Coalition for Peace and Justice have organized rallies and marches across Maine in opposition to the war in Iraq. In 2006, in response to a Maine Civil Liberties Union FOIA request, the FBI revealed that it has conducted surveillance of the Coalition’s e-mail.
PENNSYLVANIA
CODEPINK Pittsburgh joins its sister branches worldwide in its struggle for peace and equality. CODEPINK believes women can be instrumental in ending the illegal and immoral invasion and occupation of Iraq. CODEPINK Pittsburgh rejects peace, freedom, and democracy at gunpoint. CODEPINK has organized numerous public actions against the war and says it will continue to express opposition to the U.S. imperialistic foreign policy until all U.S. troops are home safely, and the quality of life of Iraqi citizens is restored.
Pittsburgh Bill of Rights Defense Campaign is dedicated to organizing a grassroots response to defend civil liberties in America today. Along with other organizations, the campaign successfully petitioned the Pittsburgh City Council to pass a resolution to resist the implementation of the Patriot Act.
Pittsburgh Raging Grannies, acting in the tradition of wise women elders, seeks to promote global peace, justice, and social and economic equality by raising public awareness through the medium of song and humor. The Raging Grannies challenge audiences to work to bring about the social changes that are required in order to end economic oppression, particularly of women and children, and to end racial inequality, environmental destruction, human rights violations and arms proliferation. The Raging Grannies have organized and performed at numerous peace rallies in and around Pittsburgh and appear regularly at peace and freedom events throughout the greater Pittsburgh area.
The Thomas Merton Center has been Pittsburgh's center for peace and social justice since 1972. The TMC acts as a resource and organizing center for twenty-five different projects. The TMC comprises people from diverse philosophies and faiths who find common ground in the nonviolent struggle to bring about a more peaceful and just world and work together to raise the moral questions involved in the issues of war, poverty, racism and oppression through protest, public education and advocacy.
The Thomas Merton Center Anti-War Committee emerged in opposition to the imminent invasion of Iraq in January of 2003. The Anti-War Committee has organized a number of marches and events against the Iraq war. In 2005, the Anti-War Committee organized the largest known convoy of Pittsburgh buses to the anti-war march in Washington, DC on September 24. The Committee also organized the March convergence and the Bring Them Home Now Tour with Cindy Sheehan in September. Both events drew thousands of Americans out in protest of the war in Iraq.
RHODE ISLAND
The Green Party has been actively involved in politics in Rhode Island since 1992, emphasizing ecology, equality, democracy and peace. GPRI has run candidates for office in every election cycle since 1994 and actively participated in a variety of public policy debates in the state. GPRI has been very involved in peace issues, helping to organize numerous rallies for peace around the Iraq war, a series of policy forums relating to U.S. energy policy and war policy and opposition to the Patriot Act. GPRI members were very involved in the creation of the RI Community Coalition for Peace and active in the December 2004 rally at the National Guard recruiting center that was included in the TALON database.
International Socialist Organization, Providence Chapter has been active since 1992. Among other activities, the ISO organized protests against President George W. Bush's inauguration in 2001 and 2005, and opposed the invasion and occupation of Afghanistan, helping to form the Justice Not War Coalition in 2001. The ISO in Providence has worked closely with the RI Community Coalition for Peace to protest military recruitment in downtown Providence and at Rhode Island College, and to organize buses to the September 24, 2005 anti-war protest in Washington, D.C. Other public protest activity by the ISO includes a rally against torture last summer and a march and rally in Providence on the March 19th anniversary of the invasion of Iraq.
Rhode Island Community Coalition for Peace (RICCP) comprises individual members as well as representatives of officially endorsing groups, and has a listserv of more than 300 people. In addition to calling for the immediate withdrawal of troops from Iraq, RICCP opposes the Patriot Act. RICCP has organized many public events, including a March 19, 2004 rally and march through downtown Providence, which drew about 500 people, and a December 2004 peaceful protest in front of the RI National Guard Office in downtown Providence, which drew approximately 50 people. The December event is the one Rhode Island event that has thus far been publicly disclosed as being contained in the TALON database. RICCP also sponsored an appearance by anti-war activist Cindy Sheehan last July, and helped organize transportation for a substantial Rhode Island presence at the September 24, 2005 anti-war march in Washington, D.C. RICCP remains very active in ongoing counter-recruitment efforts.
The South Kingstown Justice and Peace Action Group is made up of a diverse group of area citizens and seeks positive change promoting justice and peace. Past and current efforts include participation in a "Pledge of Resistance" campaign on the eve of the U.S. invasion of Iraq, collaboration with other progressive organizations in Rhode Island, local hosting of national speakers, school presentations, member appearances on radio talk shows and newspaper editorials on the issues of the day. The organization was successful in working with the South Kingstown Town Council to pass a town resolution opposing certain provisions of the Patriot Act that violate civil liberties.