[CIMC-work] Free Stephen Funk--quick note

Wed Sep 3 23:43:25 PDT 2003

I noticed we have a link to the Stephen Funk actions in UPCOMING EVENTS.
I didn't see any planned coverage--but I'm guessing some of the groups
involved will self-cover for this.  Since there will be local action on
this, it may be worth center column treatment.  Just mentioning this
before I head offline for a spell.--eliz

==============================================================
From:  Chicago Refuse and Resist <chicago at r...> 
Date:  Fri Aug 29, 2003  9:58 am
Subject:  Defend GI Resister Stephen Funk

In Chicago, here's what we're doing around the Stephen Funk
Trial------we'd also appreciate if this would get posted:

On Thursday, September 4th, several organizations and individuals join
with NION, R&R!, CABN and League of Filipino Students to protest
military recruitment, support Steven Funk and to build for Friday's
rally by protesting the recruitment center across from Lane Tech High
School at 2:30 p.m.  This is located at 2550 W. Addison (near Western
Ave.) We will be leafleting and talking to students and we need your
help

On Friday, September 5th, NION Joins CABN (Chicago Anti-Bashing Network)
and other organizations such as Queer to the Left, ANSWER, and R&R! in
calling for a Rally to Support Stephen Funk, at the corner of Halsted &
Roscoe at 7 pm.

Throughout the week there will be random flyering and possibly other
creative actions.  

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

NO WAR!  NO POLICE STATE!  ANOTHER WORLD IS POSSIBLE!   WE WILL REFUSE
AND RESIST!

-----Original Message-----
From: seac-announce-bounces at seac.org
[mailto:seac-announce-bounces at seac.org] On Behalf Of
mitchelcohen at mindspring.com
Sent: Wednesday, September 03, 2003 3:43 PM
To: mitchelcohen at mindspring.com
Subject: [SEAC-Announce] URGENT: Sign the petition to Free Stephen Funk

SUPPORT STEPHEN FUNK, Military Resister

Military resister Stephen Funk goes on trial Thursday, Sept. 4, for 
refusing to fight in Iraq.
Please stand with Stephen --  Sign this online petition NOW
http://www.petitiononline.com/stephenf/petition.html

Marine reservist Stephen Funk, a gay US conscientious objector of
Filipino 
and Native American origin, faces a military tribunal on Thursday
September 4.
He is refusing to kill and publicly saying so. "In the face of this
unjust 
war based on deception by our leaders, I could not remain silent."

Even worse in the eyes of the military, he is calling on other soldiers
to 
refuse as well. And for this, he risks two years in jail.

His trial will be a test case. His victory could be a tremendous 
encouragement to the many other soldiers in the United States and other 
countries who are considering a similar choice.

Don't allow them to force Stephen to walk into that military courtroom 
without you!

Sign the petition at
http://www.petitiononline.com/stephenf/petition.html

and,

Please send checks payable to:
The Stephen Funk Legal Defense Fund
1230 Market Street #111, San Francisco, CA 94102
Or donate on line at
http://www.notinourname.net/funk/

Write in support of Stephen's request for immediate discharge as a 
conscientious objector:

+ Commandant of the Marine Corps, Headquarters, U.S. Marine Corps, 
Washington, DC 20380-1775

+ Commanding Officer, Headquarters, 4th FSSG  4400 Dauphine Street, New 
Orleans, LA 70146-5400

(Copy to Legal Defense or to Stephen stephenfunk at objector.org and 
payday at paydaynet.org - we would post on website)

For more information see: REFUSING TO KILL
www.paydaynet.org
Working with the Global Women's Strike

Letter from Payday to the military commanders - Discharge Stephen Funk
now!

15 August 2003

Commanding Officer,
Headquarters, 4th FSSG
4400 Dauphine Street,
New Orleans, LA 70146-5400

Commandant of the Marine Corps,
Headquarters, US Marine Corps
Washington, DC 20380-1775

Re: Stephen Funk, conscientious objector, awaiting military trial for 
"desertion" on 4 September 2003

"In the face of this unjust war based on deception by our leaders, I
could 
not remain silent. In my mind that would have been true cowardice."
       -Stephen Funk, June 26th, 2003

We write from Payday, an international and multiracial network of men 
working with the Global Women's Strike, in support of US Marine Corps 
reservist Stephen Funk who faces trial for "desertion". We support Mr
Funk 
s demand to be immediately discharged as a conscientious objector, as is

his right.

We believe that the only reasons for putting Mr Funk on trial are
political 
ones, designed to prevent him from saying what many of us, in and out of

uniform, know in our bones -- that the current US war against, and
military 
occupation of, Iraq is unjust and illegal. Mr Funk said, "I am being 
punished simply for practicing my First Amendment rights, and they are 
seeking an unfit punishment to dissuade others from becoming
conscientious 
objectors".

As Mr Funk goes on to say, "The purpose of the military is to churn out 
non-thinking killing machines. All humans have a natural aversion to 
killing, and being forced to shout out "Kill, Kill, Kill" everyday is a 
major stress on the mind, body, and soul. One must go through a 
transformation in order to accommodate the unnatural way of life that
the 
military teaches." That is exactly our view in Payday -- and that of
many 
others, as witnessed in great variety and detail on our Refusing To Kill

website (www.paydaynet.org) -- and a major reason why we write in his 
support. Having come to such a conclusion, how could Mr Funk do other
than 
apply for conscientious objector status?

And the Marines trumping up charges of desertion against a person who
has 
been so straightforward and principled in his dealings with them
underlines 
the witch-hunting nature of the whole process.

Mr Funk believes as we do that he is fulfilling his duty as a soldier to

refuse illegal orders, a principle of the Uniform Code of Military
Justice 
809.ART.90 (20), 892.ART.92 (1), and 892.ART.92 (2). This principle,
which 
came out of the Nuremberg Tribunals, has been part of the official
policy 
of the US Department of Defense since 1953.

The Bush administration s doctrine of pre-emptive war violates many 
international laws that the US has ratified under the Constitution, 
including the Nuremberg Principles which define as a crime against
peace, 
the "planning, preparation, initiation or waging of a war of aggression,
or 
a war in violation of international treaties, agreements, or assurances,
or 
participation in a common plan or conspiracy for accomplishment of any
of 
the foregoing."

Mr Funk says, "I spoke out so that others in the military would realize 
that they also have a choice and a duty to resist immoral and
illegitimate 
orders." Is this why he is being put on trial?

One of the 45% of the military s rank and file who are people of color
in 
the United States (way out of proportion to numbers among the general 
population), Mr Funk, who is gay and of Filipino and Native origin, says
he 
has "always considered myself an activist and stood with the oppressed 
peoples of the world. Since high school I have worked with several 
campaigns for the disadvantaged, political prisoners, and for peace and 
justice in our communities ... In February my San Jose-based unit was 
called up to support the attack on Iraq. I could no longer obey." He 
refused to become a killer and an instrument of oppression of people of 
color in another part of the globe.

Mr Funk stands in the best tradition of some of the United States most 
famous international figures. Speaking of another war, Dr Martin Luther 
King recommended that, "As we counsel young men concerning military
service 
we must clarify for them our nation's role in Vietnam and challenge them

with the alternative of conscientious objection."

He went on to say, "I knew that America would never invest the necessary

funds or energies in rehabilitation of its poor so long as adventures
like 
Vietnam continued to draw men and skills and money like some demonic 
destructive suction tube. So I was increasingly compelled to see the war
as 
an enemy of the poor and to attack it as such."[1] This is still true 
today. For Vietnam read Iraq, or Afghanistan, or . . . as $900 billions
are 
spent yearly on military budgets worldwide, half by the United States 
alone. Yet 10% of this would provide the essentials of life for all:
water, 
basic sanitation, health, nutrition, literacy . . .

Indeed it is Mr Funk s view, and Payday s, that war is an attack on
people 
with least access to resources, and therefore primarily an attack on
women, 
children and people of color, everywhere. We draw your attention to 
protests by the Iraqi Women s League who have described how the war and 
ongoing military occupation of Iraq have left women and children 
particularly vulnerable to the worst living conditions, including lack
of 
protection against sexual and other violence. They demand that food,
water, 
medical supplies, electricity, phone and other welfare facilities
destroyed 
by the war be immediately made available. At the time of writing these 
basic essentials are still not accessible to millions of people in Iraq.

Many millions of people, including millions in the United States, have 
demonstrated, in a variety of ways, their hostility to what they have 
identified as a US war against the rest of the world. We believe that, 
whether we are inside or outside the military, we must take a stand with

this international movement, since it is the only way to stop this US
war 
against the world, the only way to stop the devastating waste of human
life 
-- stopping the occupying soldiers from occupying and killing, and
bringing 
them home alive.

For all of these reasons we urge you to immediately drop the charge of 
"desertion" and discharge Mr Funk as a conscientious objector.

Yours sincerely,

Eric Gjertsen
Payday US

Ben Martin
Payday UK

1. Speech delivered by Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., on April 4, 1967, at
a 
meeting of Clergy and Concerned Laity at Riverside Church in New York
City.
Marine reservist Stephen Funk, a gay US conscientious objector of
Filipino 
and Native American origin, faces a military tribunal on Thursday 4
September. 

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