Support refuseniks seeking asylum in Canada

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"I signed up for the National Guard to ... do humanitarian work, filling sandbags if there was a hurricane ... I should have been in New Orleans, not Iraq."

Corey Glass, Iraq veteran and war resister

In Philadelphia - Wed 9 July, 11^:30am - 12^:30pm

Speak-out & delegation to Canadian consulate
1650 Market St (1 Liberty Place)

 War resisters in Canada and everywhere won a huge victory on June 3, when, due to international campaigning, the Canadian Parliament called on the government to “immediately implement a program to allow conscientious objectors and their immediate family members […] to apply for permanent resident status and remain in Canada; and … the government should immediately cease any removal or deportation actions … against such individuals.” 

Yet Corey Glass is under imminent threat of deportation. The Canadian and American governments want to set an example to the hundreds of US refuseniks who have taken refuge in Canada, and to prevent their refusal from spreading to Canadian soldiers in Afghanistan. They could face deployment to Iraq, long-term imprisonment, and punitive discharges, including the forfeit of medical benefits and income, and prejudicing future employment.  If forced to serve, they would likely be involved in war crimes.

On July 9, similar actions are planned in Washington DC, San Francisco, Seattle, Dallas, New York City, Minneapolis, Los Angeles, Boston, Phoenix, Denver, Miami, and Chicago as part of a national day of action called by Courage to Resist, Veterans for Peace, and Project Safe Haven. 

If you cannot attend this action please

call and write Canadian officials

Minister of Citizenship and Immigration Diane Finley 

Phone (+1) 613-996-4974 

Email minister@cic.gc.ca  finled1@parl.gc.ca

Prime Minister Stephen Harper

Phone (+1) 613-992-4211  Fax: (+1) 613-941-6900 

Email pm@pm.gc.ca

See War Resisters Support Campaign website: www.resisters.ca/actions.html. 
Also see model letter from Courage to Resist at www.couragetoresist.org/x/content/view/499/89/  

Corey Glass and other war resisters have been supported by many organizations including Amnesty International, Canadian Friends Service Committee, Iraq Veterans Against the War, and Veterans for Peace. A recent poll show that 64% of Canadians favor giving refuge to U.S. soldiers who don't want to fight in Iraq.

Refusing to kill is not a crime

Refuseniks in the US and Canada are part of an international movement of men and women resisting in spite of being harassed, persecuted, tortured (like Mehmet Bal and Halil Savda in Turkey), sentenced to years in jail after being put on trial time and time again (like Lazaros Petromelidis in Greece and refuseniks in Israel – such as Daniel Cronberg, sentenced to jail again last week).  Their only “crime” is refusing to kill. 

 They are the tip of a huge anti-militaristic iceberg, a hidden part of the international anti-war movement which must support them.  All of us must have the right to refuse to kill, to live in a world free of war and dictatorship, a world which invests in caring, not killing.   Refusing to kill is not a crime and this protection of human life must be supported, not punished.

Philadelphia action organized by Payday men’s network & Global Women’s Strike, co-sponsored by AFSC Youth and Militarism Program, Brandywine Peace Community, Delaware Valley Veterans for America, Veterans for Peace Chapter 31

For more info, call Payday at 215-848-1120 or payday@paydaynet.org
For more info about international refuseniks: www.refusingtokill.net