Friends of Brad Will

Exposing & Organizing to Stop Plan Mexico: Friends of Brad Will in D.C.

Raising Awareness about ‘Plan Mexico’ and how to stop it!

For Brad Will – - – Against Plan Mexico

Join us in Washington, D.C. Thursday and Friday (rides and places to stay available)

Join us in advocating and agitating to stop Bush-Calderon ‘drug war’ disaster: Plan Mexico.

Panel Discussion:
Impunity, the ‘Drug War’, and human rights in Mexico
Thursday 6-9 p.m. at St. Stephens’ Church
16th & Newton, Columbia Heights metro stop, Washington, DC

On the Panel:

Susan Mitchel – Brad Will’s cousin, will report on family’s visit to Oaxaca, Mexico and the status if the investigation into his murder

Renata Rendon – Amnesty International, Mexico and Latin America desk

Beehive Collective – Will address similarities between the disastrous Plan Colombia and Bush’s proposed Plan Mexico

Hector Sanchez, Global Exchange, DC-Mexico Policy/Education Coordinator

and more!

THURSDAY Lobbying

9:30- 4 pm

Meet from 9:30 to 10:30 at Lebon Cafe Inc 210 2nd St (Capitol South Metro).

Call 347.647.4801 if you’re late!

FRIDAY, Press conference

12pm, noon – Press Conference and demo at Mexican Embassy, 1911 Pennsylvania Ave NW, between 18th and 19th streets, with puppets and signs

Call 347.647.4801 or 646 641 5788

Friday Demonstration

6pm – Meet at Pigeon Park, on the NW of 16th street and Columbia

6:20 or so: leave Pigeon Park and start a procession to the Mexican Cultural Institute, with puppets and signs

6:45/7pm – demo starts at Mexican Cultural Institute, 2829 16th St NW

Check www.friendsofbradwill.org for periodic updates on our schedule and news.

Also, www.bradwill.org for much more information.

For Brad Will – - – Against Plan Mexico!

By Robert Jereski mutualaid@earthlink.net http://www.friendsofbradwill.org

Subcommittee Hearings and Meetings

"A Little Bit of So Much Truth" premieres in NYC on Nov. 1, 2, and 7

Please spread the word.

Corrugated Films, in collaboration with Mal de Ojo TV, presents the NYC premiere of “A Little Bit of So Much Truth” (Un Poquito de Tanta Verdad).

When the people of Oaxaca decided they’d had enough of bad government, they didn’t take their story to the media… they TOOK the media.

Read more »

Download, print (cut) and distribute widely!

These flyers are for the November 1st and 2nd events in D.C. Please join us and spread the word!

Side one

Side two

Plan Mexico Under Consideration by Congress even though its Contents have not been made Public!!!

TIME FOR ACTION is NOW!

JOIN US IN D.C. for ADVOCACY EFFORTS and DEMO/Press Conference ON NOVEMBER 1st and NOVEMBER 2nd.

Then on a date yet to be determined w/in the next 2.5 weeks, in d.c. for FULL FOREIGN RELATIONS COMMITTEE HEARING ON PLAN MEXICO! We MUST have 15 people in that hearing!

In the meantime, download, print (cut) and DISTRIBUTE widely for this week’s action!

Side one and Side two

Forward to your human rights- and Mexico-related blogs, sites, lists!

And download this flyer and letter:
http://www.friendsofbradwill.org/2007/10/19/contact-congressman-engel

CONTACT Congressman Eliot Engel and YOUR LOCAL Representative

Email: jason.steinbaum@mail.house.gov
Phone: (202) 225-2464 and Fax: (202) 225-5513

and

Congressman LANTOS (Chair of Foreign Relations Committee)

CONTACT his Chief of Staff, Bob King:

ca12lantos@mail.house.gov
Phone: 202-225-3531
Fax: 202-226-4183

Tell them to hold up on supporting “Plan Mexico”.
Tell him to conduct hearings on the possible uses of Blackwater-style mercenaries, shared intelligence with corrupt officials, the need for human rights investigations in Oaxaca and beyond and to prioritize solving of the murder of US journalist Brad Will!
No to “Plan Mexico”!

Read more »

October 27th We Gather to Remember Brad Will

Friends,

A year has passed since our friend and brother, Brad Will, was murdered in Oaxaca. On Saturday, October 27th, friends and family will gather at St. Mark’s Church to honor his memory and the legacy of courage and resistance that he left behind.

Please come, bring food for the body and the spirit. Share your bread and your wine; your poems and your songs; your love and your rage.

SATURDAY, OCTOBER 27TH, ST. MARK’S CHURCH ON THE BOWERY

12:00-1:00 Food and Gathering
1:00 –3:30- Program of ritual, music, poetry, video and reminiscence
3:30 –whenever- a procession to La Plaza Community Garden to share whiskey song, and fire.

Read more »

Brad Will: Open Letter International

This letter is published in various media outlets to mark one year of impunity in the death of journalist Brad Will in Oaxaca.

October 2007

Like in the cases of so many other journalists, human rights activists, indigenous leaders and social activists, the murder of Brad Will, a U.S. journalist and documentary video maker from Indymedia New York, who was killed in Oaxaca on October 27, 2006, has been addressed by the Mexican Government with impunity for the murderers.

A year after these events, we express our public outrage at this situation, and maintain our strong demand that the Mexican Government respect human rights and that it investigates the truth about the events that led to Brad Will’s death, through a serious and impartial investigation. We demand as well the prosecution of those responsible.

Unfortunately a very long list of cases of murderers unpunished exists in Mexico, a list which grows longer every day; but we do know that for us there is no time, distance or borders which can stop us from continuing to demand justice for Brad and for all victims in Oaxaca.

Because we will not be fatigued, we will not be silent, and not forget:

Enough with impunity in Mexico.

Read more »

CPJ calls for investigation into Bradley Will murder

The Committee to Protect Journalists sent a letter to President Felipe Calderón urging him to set up a rigorous investigation into the murder of Brad Will.

October 26, 2007

Felipe Calderón Hinojosa
President of Mexico
Los Pinos
Mexico City, Mexico

Via facsimile: 52-55-52772376

Your Excellency:

The Committee to Protect Journalists is deeply concerned that one year after the death of journalist Bradley Roland Will nobody has been brought to justice. Further, we are troubled by the absence of a serious murder investigation and the lack of official response to witness reports and photographs from the murder scene that identify several armed men shooting into the crowd where Will was present.

On October 27, 2006, in the capital city of Oaxaca state, Will was shot twice while covering a clash between antigovernment protesters and heavily armed plainclothes men working for the embattled state governor, Ulises Ruiz Ortiz. At the time of the shooting, Will, a 36-year-old independent journalist reporting for New York’s Indymedia, was standing alongside protesters. He was accompanied by at least eight other journalists. Ballistics reports show that the two bullets that hit Will came from the same weapon, from a distance of no more than 16 feet, which corresponds to the distance cited in witness accounts of men shooting as they charged the protesters.

Read more »

Time-Sensitive: Action for Brad & Mexico

TODAY (before 1pm if possible) please (let people know they can) make calls, get questions asked and get $1.4 billion in military/police aid stopped.

Write back to mutualaid(at)earthlink(dot)net to let us know what the congresspeoples’ response was.

TAKE ACTION:
Call: Congressman Meeks (Co-Chair of Subcommittee on Western Hemispheric Affairs): 202 255.3461
Congressman Engels (Chair of Subcommittee on Western Hemispheric Affairs): 202.225.2464

Tell them: Activists with Friends of Brad Will intend to be present at Congressional Hearings on October 25th and has suggested FOUR QUESTIONS for the Congress Members to ask the Administration:

Read more »

No $ To Mexico Until Accountability on Human Rights!

Contacts:
Harry Bubbins, Friends of Brad Will, Media Representative,
h.bubbins(at)gmail(dot)com
http://friendsofbradwill.org

Robert Jereski, Friends of Brad Will, Congressional Representative
mutualaid(at)earthlink(dot)net
212 973 1782,
http://friendsofbradwill.org

Download as a pdf

Friends of murdered journalist demand hold on military aid pending investigation into his murder

The Friends of Brad Will, a network of friends and associates of Brad Will, the U.S. journalist, have urged House Speaker Pelosi and Eliot Engels, the Chair of the Western Hemispheric affairs subcommittee to oppose U.S. support for Mexican military and police forces. Mr. Will, the 36 year old reporter, was murdered in Oaxaca, Mexico a year ago, on October 27th, 2006. Witnesses and photographic evidence implicate members of the Mexican government, including a police chief.

Read more »

Global network demands accountability in the murder of US Journalist Brad Will

No to Plan Mexico!!!

‘Please consider this site a resource for your (own) actions to support Brad Will’s memory, his family and friends, and the people of Mexico.’

Contact:

Friends of Brad Will, Media Representative, Harry Bubbins
h.bubbins(at)gmail(dot)com
FriendsofBradWill.org

Friends of Brad Will, a global network pushing for accountability in the murder of US journalist Brad Will in Oaxaca, Mexico, in 2006, denounced plans to fund a “Plan Mexico”.

“One year after the murder of Brad Will, no one has been arrested. Under the guise of stopping drug trafficking, US taxpayers could be funding human rights violations, corrupt local officials and Blackwater-style mercenaries in Oaxaca and elsewhere. This is exactly the wrong message to send at this time.” said Harry Bubbins, a media representative for Friends of Brad Will.

Read more »

Contact the Chair of the Sub-Committee on the Western Hemisphere

Download this letter as a pdf

Contact Congressman Eliot Engel and YOUR LOCAL Representative

Email: jason.steinbaum@mail.house.gov
Phone: (202) 225-2464 and Fax: (202) 225-5513

Tell him to say ‘no’ to Bush’s “Plan Mexico”.
Tell him to conduct hearings on the possible uses of Blackwater-style
mercenaries, shared U.S. intelligence with corrupt officials, the need for
human rights investigations in Oaxaca and beyond and to prioritize
solving of the murder of US journalist Brad Will before any military ‘aid’ is provided at U.S. taxpayer expense!
No to “Plan Mexico”!

Read more »

Letter to Representative Jerrold Nadler

Download this letter as a pdf

Representative Jerrold Nadler
201 Varick Street, Suite 669
New York, NY 10014
Tel. 212-367-7350

Dear Honorable Mr. Nadler,

This letter is to thank you for your efforts to demand answers in the misuses of the Patriot Act. Please use the oversight hearings to inquire about surveillance and intelligence that may have been shared with foreign governments about American Citizen and New Yorker Brad Will.

As you know, American journalist and human rights activist Brad Will was shot dead in Mexico on October 27, 2006 while filming and reporting from Oaxaca, where a months long strike by teachers had grown into a widespread social movement. Hundreds of local residents were arrested, but not yet the killers of Brad Will, though they are probably captured on film. Many people have been killed. Numerous federal elected officials have written to Secretary of State Condoleeza Rice regarding the investigation into the murder of Mr. Will, including Representatives Carolyn Maloney and Jose E. Serrano in New York, Jan Schakowsky of Illinois, Jim McGovern of Massachusetts, Hilda Solis of California, and Raúl Grijalva of Arizona.

Read more »

The Oaxaca Crisis and the roots of migration

Here’s a powerpoint presentation which Witness for Peace and EDUCA (Servicios para una Educación Alternativa, A.C.) have been using. Their event/tour just came to nyc and is now in upstate ny, moving to pennsylvania, maryland, delaware, d.c. and beyond.

Download the powerpoint presentation (7.4 MB)

12 months later… The murder of journalist Brad Will

Oct/Nov 2007: friendsofbradwill.org & bradwill.org

pdf flyer to download, copy and distribute!

In May, 2006, tens of thousands of teachers went on strike in Oaxaca, Mexico, in a ritual that had been carried out for better wages & working conditions annually for over 20 years.

Then governor Ulises Ruiz Ortiz ordered police to remove the protestors and at least one teacher was killed. The brutality of the police actions that day galvanized a broad social movement which united in an effort to force the Governor, seen by most as fraudulently elected, to step down from office.

October 27th, 2006, New York City independent journalist Brad Will was murdered, a tragic event captured on his rolling video camera. Brad’s death was used by the Mexican government to justify a further escalation of violence and the occupation of Oaxaca by federal forces. The police chief and several representatives of the Oaxacan government were photographed with guns firing at the time Mr. Will was shot. Some suspects were arrested and released shortly afterwards. We are asking what the US State Department and the US Congress and Senate are doing to hold accountable those responsible for the murder of American citizen and journalist Brad Will. No money to Mexico!

On October 25th, Rep. Engel stated: I am aware of the killing of Brad Will, a U.S. journalist and documentary filmmaker, who was shot on October 27, 2006 in Mexico. I would like an update from U.S. and Mexican authorities on the investigation into his death.”! http://foreignaffairs.house.gov/110/eng102507.htm

Read more »

Vicente Fox Protest in Houston Report

Outside Vicente Fox’s presentation at Houston’s Wortham Theater last night, two groups showed up to protest.

On the right side of the street were Border Watch with a strange sign comparing immigrants “sucking” on America’s society to a baby sucking on a nipple. On the left side of the street, members of Grupo MAIZ (the International Movement of Zapatista Adherents) and Friends of Brad Will held signs and denounced human rights abuses that took place in Oaxaca, Atenco and Chiapas under Fox.

Read more »

Vicente Fox disrupted in NYC by questions about Oaxaca and Brad Will

A book signing at Barnes and Noble turned tense when audience members asked about Brad Will…

By Friend of Brad Will

October 10th, 2007: Former Mexican President Vicente Fox faced a skeptical, if not hostile crowd on October 9th during what was supposed to be a tame and uneventful book signing event at Barnes and Noble in New York City’s Union Square park neighborhood. In town to shill for his new tome, “Revolution of Hope”, Fox has lept upon the Bush bashing parade full bore, joining the ranks of Alan Greenspan and others who were in positions of power to speak out loudly against world wrecking policies, but chose to wait until out of office and on the writing circuit to cash in on the now almost universal disdain for America’s leader. Such is the courage of this ill begotten ilk.

Vicente Fox sounded like a stilted Mitt Romney, and of the same tall height, or some such christo-fascist with his wanting to “thank god, publicly” numerous times. Fox further enlightened the unimpressed crowd of over 150 with snippets like, “Information is important,” and that the first Spaniards on these continents “came through Ellis Island” while calling the Barnes and Noble mega chain bookstore a “library”, more than once.

Read more »

Reclaman a Fox por muerte de periodista

LOCALES – 10/11/2007
Judith Torrea/edlp

NUEVA YORK — La muerte del periodista estadounidense Brad Will en Oaxaca persiguió al ex presidente de México Vicente Fox en la presentación de su libro “Revolución de Esperanza” el martes en la noche en una librería céntrica de Manhattan.

Aunque el ex presidente prefirió centrar su discurso en los logros democráticos de México, atreviéndose incluso a hablar de la formación de la Unión Europea, de temas personales como su amor por Dios e incluso de su admiración por el santo católico español San Ignacio de Loyola -al que el ex mandatario se refirió coloquialmente como “Iñaki de Loyola”-, la muerte sin esclarecer del periodista estadounidense se convirtió en la protagonista del evento.

Read more »