[Peace-discuss] Ray McGovern attacked by police at Hillary Clinton Speech

[Stuart Levy]

This is appalling.  Peaceable silent dissent -- at Clinton's speech today,
on freedom of speech -- is now an offense worthy of a police beating,
while Clinton continued speaking, undisturbed and uninvolved.
McGovern was silent but we need to make noise about this!

[Heard this on the "ufpj-activist" mailing list.]

On Wed, Feb 16, 2011 at 08:38:40PM -0500, Kevin Zeese wrote:
> Friends
> 
> Our colleague Ray McGovern attended a speech that Hillary Clinton was giving
> today on Freedom of Speech in the Internet age.  While she was talking about
> freedom speech around the world he stood up and turned his back and silently
> stood.  He was wearing a Veterans for Peace tee shirt.  He was accosted by
> two police officers, one uniformed and one not, who battered and bruised
> him, brought him to jail and left him there bleeding.  Hillary did not blink
> an eye as the incident occurred as you can see from the video below.
> 
> I corresponded with Ray and he is recovering but worried about what this
> says about our country.Bdelow is his response to my question about how he
> was doing, and my response.
> 
> thanks kevin the painful bruises are those for our country and its erstwhile
> ideals physically I hurt, but no broken bones,dislocated shoulders, or
> anything else that won't h...eal pls pass word around
> 
> My response to him:
> Will spread the word. We need to use this to highlight the state of affairs
> in our country. Clinton's silence during your abuse and arrest needs the
> spotlight and the hypocrisy of US 'concern' for freedom abroad and the
> action against you tells an important truth.
> 
> Thank you for standing. It is interesting how often doing something simple -
> sitting at a lunch counter or on a bus - brings out the truth.
> 
> Glad you will physically heal from this.
> 
> KZ
> 
> The peace movement needs to make an issue of this and put the spotlight on
> Hillary and the hypocrisy of American calls for freedom of speech around the
> world while they behave like this at home, especially against someone like
> Ray McGovern with his distinguished career.
> 
> The video is here and below is more on the situation.
> 
> http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N-Vy8fFnz18&feature=player_embedded
> 
> KZ
> 
> 
> *At Clinton Speech: Veteran Bloodied, Bruised
> and Arrested for Standing Silently*
> * *
> 
> *Post this article on your Facebook
> page<http://www.facebook.com/sharer.php?u=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.justiceonline.org%2Fsite%2FNews2%3Fpage%3DNewsArticle%26id%3D5553>
> *
> 
> As Secretary of State Hillary Clinton gave her speech at George Washington
> University yesterday condemning governments that arrest protestors and do
> not allow free expression, 71-year-old Ray McGovern was grabbed from the
> audience in plain view of her by police and an unidentified official in
> plain clothes, brutalized and left bleeding in jail. She never paused
> speaking. When Secretary Clinton began her speech, Mr. McGovern remained
> standing silently in the audience and turned his back. Mr. McGovern, a
> veteran Army officer who also worked as a C.I.A. analyst for 27 years, was
> wearing a Veterans for Peace t-shirt.
> 
> Blind-sided by security officers who pounced upon him, Mr. McGovern
> remarked, as he was hauled out the door, "So this is America?" Mr. McGovern
> is covered with bruises, lacerations and contusions inflicted in the
> assault.
> 
> Mr. McGovern is being represented by the Partnership for Civil Justice Fund
> (PCJF). "It is the ultimate definition of lip service that Secretary of
> State Clinton would be trumpeting the U.S. government's supposed concerns
> for free speech rights and this man would be simultaneously brutalized and
> arrested for engaging in a peaceful act of dissent at her speech," stated
> attorney Mara Verheyden-Hilliard of the PCJF.
> 
> Mr. McGovern now works for Tell the Word, a publishing arm of the ecumenical
> Church of the Saviour in the Adams Morgan neighborhood of Washington, D.C.
>   [image: Ray McGovern with bruises]
> [image: Ray McGovern with bruises]  *Spread the word*

> _______________________________________________
> ufpj-activist mailing list
> 
> Post: ufpj-activist at lists.mayfirst.org
> List info: https://lists.mayfirst.org/mailman/listinfo/ufpj-activist