Update! Click Here to download Ann Wright’s talk at the Vets Hall or check the whole article from SC Indymedia with additional MP3’s of Neal Coonerty, Diane Rejman, and the Raging Grannies.

“DISSENT: VOICES OF CONSCIENCE” a book-reading and public presentation by COLONEL (Ret.) ANN WRIGHT. Sunday, January 20th 2008 3:00 p.m. Songs by “The Raging Grannies”! Introduction by County Supervisor Neal Coonerty. Veterans Memorial Hall 846 Front Street in Santa Cruz Sponsored by the Resource Center for Nonviolence, Women’s International League for Peace and Freedom, CODEPINK SC, Veterans for Peace, GI Rights Hotline, Women in Black members of the Corrie-Mizo Chapter 11. VFW Post #5888, MediaWatch, PUP (People United for Peace), Women in Black, the Santa Cruz Peace Coalition, Church and Society Committee of the United Methodist Church of Santa Cruz. For more information, contact (831) 423-1626 or www.rcnv.org.
“Dissent: Voices of Conscience–Government Insiders Speak Out Against the War in Iraq” by Colonel (retired) Ann Wright, (Koa Books, January 2008), profiles government officials whose loyalty to the Constitution and the American people ultimately transcended partisan politics. Originally scheduled for release in 2007, publication has been delayed until now by the State Department’s clearance process. Books will be available for author signing. Author Colonel (ret.) Ann Wright resigned from the U.S. Foreign Service on March 19, 2003, while serving as Deputy Chief of Mission at the US Embassy in Mongolia, in protest of the war in Iraq and unnecessary curtailment of civil liberties. She joined the Foreign Service in 1987 and served in US Embassies in Sierra Leone, Micronesia, Uzbekistan, Kyrgyzstan, Grenada, Micronesia, Nicaragua, and Afghanistan. Before entering the Foreign Service, she served in the Army and Army Reserve for 29 years combined. She has Master’s and Law Degrees from the University of Arkansas and a Master’s Degree in National Security Affairs from the U.S. Naval War College. $5 - $10 suggested sliding-scale donation. No one turned away for lack of funds. The book “Dissent: Voices of Conscience–Government Insiders Speak Out Against the War in Iraq” is also available by mail for a $20 donation to Courage to Resist, 484 Lake Park Ave #41, Oakland CA 94610. Proceeds to benefit Courage to Resist’s “Dear Canada: Let U.S. War Resisters Stay!” campaign underway.

Phyllis Bennis spoke in Santa Cruz on April 30, 2007 on the subject of “Challenging Empire: How People, Governments and the UN defy US power”, also the name of one of her books.

Phyllis Bennis is a fellow at the Institute For Policy Studies in Washington DC and the Transnational Institute in Amsterdam. She is also co-founder of the US Campaign to End the Israeli Occupation and was a featured speaker at the Jewish Voice For Peace Conference in Oakland, Ca. on April 28-29, 2007. She is the author of many books including “Before and After: US Foreign Policy & The War on Terrorism”, Understanding the Israeli-Palestinian Conflict: A Primer”, “Challenging Empire”, and “Calling The Shots: How Washington Dominates The UN”.

For years Bennis has worked to end the US war and occupation in Iraq, and supports a just and comprehensive peace based on an end to the Israeli occupation of Palestine. She works closely with the United For Peace and Justice anti-war coalition, and has played an active role in the growing global peace movement.

Her books are available from Interlink Books and Publishing.

Thanks to George Cadman for recording the talk, editing it, and posting it on Indybay Santa Cruz for everyone to enjoy.

Please Click Here to download the file direct or Click Here to visit the Indybay article.

“There’s no question that the war in Iraq — the U.S. invasion, the occupation — has made Iraq into what it never was before: a center of this kind of global terrorism.”
Phyllis Bennis