Citizen Smash points out that today was declared National Day of Action for GI Resisters.
YOU PROBABLY DIDN’T KNOW that Tuesday was a “National Day of Action for GI Resisters.†Well, it was! Notices were sent out to activists all over the country, urging them to converge on Fort Stewart, Georgia and San Diego, California to support “GI resisters†Kevin Benderman and Pablo Paredes.
Here in San Diego, people came in caravans from as far as San Francisco to participate in the event. Local activists were asked to host vistors. Army deserter Camilo Mejia and conscientious objector Aidan Delgado both came out to show their support. A banquet hall big enough to hold 700 people was reserved. The media were notified.
Smash attended the kickoff session and gives us his thoughts of the gathering. Go read.
Meanwhile, the Navy celebrated the day by convicting one of the speakers, shirker Pablo Paredes.
A Navy sailor turned anti-war activist was convicted Wednesday of missing his ship’s movement when he refused to board the USS Bonhomme Richard as it deployed to the Persian Gulf in December.
A military judge deliberated about 40 minutes before finding Petty Officer 3rd Class Pablo Paredes guilty of the count.
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Paredes, a 23-year-old from the New York City borough of the Bronx, could receive a year in jail, a forfeiture of pay, reduction in rank and a bad-conduct discharge.
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While his shipmates bid farewell to loved ones, Paredes sat pierside and told reporters he did not want to be part of a war he considers illegal and immoral. He said his military training taught him to avoid what he views as a war crime.
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Paredes says he was a different person when he joined the Navy in 2000, looking for a job and a way to get a college education. The Navy sent him to Yokosuka, Japan and once there, he says he had something of an awakening.
He began devouring works by writers like Noam Chomsky, the MIT linguistics professor and political activist. He joined political discussions with like-minded friends who criticized the Bush administration.
Paredes is no coward. Well, he may be, but it cannot be determined from this story as his deployment would have offered little or no personal danger. What can be determined is that Paredes is a pathetic, immature peacenik leftist who would happily trade shoving extra duty onto his supposed brothers in arms for a little publicity.