WarCriminalsWatch Events

Chatham Peace Initiative

P.O. Box 34, Chatham, NY 12037

www.chathampeace.org This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it

contact Bob Elmendorf 518-766-2992 or Susan Davies 518-392-9477

David Swanson, co-founder of After Downing Street.Org  and Valeria A. Gheorghiu, Esq. who has practiced as a workers’ rights attorney at the the South Jersey Legal Services, Inc.will speak on prosecuting the Bush administration for war crimes.  There will be two venues: Monday, April 20 at 12:00 Noon at the Albany Friends Meetinghouse 727 Madison Avenue, Albany NY (Near Corner of Madison & Lake Ave bordering on Washington Park) and at 7:00 that evening at Berkshire Community College Koussevitsky Art Center Rm.111, Pittsfield, MA. when contributions will be accepted.

There is a growing movement for prosecutions and accountability for torture, warrantless spying, and other war crimes.  This includes efforts to prosecute those responsible in district, state, federal, foreign, and international courts, to punish them with civil suits, to deny former top Justice Department officials membership in state bars and employment in academia, to force more evidence into the public realm, and to hold Congressional hearings or create independent commissions.  Swanson and Gheorghiu  will discuss these approaches, and what people can do to help, as well as how failure to hold the last White House accountable is already impacting the behavior of the current one.   They  will also propose a long-term agenda to limit the power of presidents and avoid the crimes associated with aggressive war.

David Swanson is the author of the upcoming book "Daybreak: Undoing the Imperial Presidency and Forming a More Perfect Union" by Seven Stories Press and of the introduction to "The 35 Articles of Impeachment and the Case for Prosecuting George W. Bush," by Dennis Kucinich.  Swanson holds a master's degree in philosophy from the University of Virginia. He has worked as a newspaper reporter and as a communications director, with jobs including press secretary for Dennis Kucinich's 2004 presidential campaign, media coordinator for the International Labor Communications Association, and three years as communications coordinator for ACORN, the Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now.

Swanson is creator of ProsecuteBushCheney.org and Washington Director of Democrats.com, a board member of Progressive Democrats of America, the Backbone Campaign, and Voters for Peace, a convener of the legislative working group of United for Peace and Justice, chair of the UFPJ working group on Accountability and Prosecution, and a member of the Robert Jackson Steering Committee to pursue the prosecution of Bush administration officials for war crimes. (http://www.afterdowningstreet.org/node/36369 )

Valeria A. Gheorghiu practiced as a workers’ rights attorney at the Workers’ Rights Law Center of New York, Inc. since graduating from Vermont Law School in ’06 with a Juris Doctor and a Masters’ of Studies in Environmental Law.  She is a member of the New Jersey Bar, with admission pending to the New York Bar in ’09, the National Lawyers’ Guild International Committee and the Justice Robert Jackson Steering Committee.  Published in the Fourth World Journal on her work in India as a Fellow for the Center for World Indigenous Studies with Gene Campaign, she is planning on opening a solo practice in New York.  While in law school, Valeria A. Gheorghiu served as a board member of the International and Environmental Law Societies. As an Albert Schweitzer fellow at Vermont Law School, she taught international environmental justice to high school students. Prior to Vermont Law School, her global justice work included organizing with the Vermont Mobilization for Global Justice. She holds a Bachelors of Arts degree from The Evergreen State College, with concentrations in environmental studies and anthropology.

Sponsored by the Chatham Peace Initiative 518-766-2992 or  www.chathampeace.org, GIRO (Global Issues Resource Organization) and Berkshire Citizens for Peace and Justice