HOST COM M ITT EE
Chair
Father Miguel d’Escoto Brockmann
President, U.N. General Assembly, 2008-2009;
Foreign Minister of Nicaragua’s Sandinista
government, 1979-1990
Gala Coordinators:
Teresa Gutierrez
Sara Flounders
LeiLani Dowell
From Behind the Walls:
Mumia Abu-Jamal
An Invitation from Father Miguel d’Escoto Brockmann
to Support the Ramsey C�ark 85th Birthday •
IAC 20th Anniversary
Ga�a Celebration
Father Miguel d’Escoto Brockmann
Revolutionary journalist
Professor Sami Al-Arian
Dear Friend,
Harvey ‘Tee’ Earvin
This year marks the 85th birthday of Ramsey Clark, the founder of the International
Action Center. And this year also marks the 20th anniversary of the International
Action Center.
I have had the privilege of both knowing and collaborating with Ramsey for more
than 40 years. Perhaps our most important ongoing collaboration, together with Ben Bella
(Algeria), Tony Benn (UK) and Karmenu Bonnici (Malta), was being part of the coalition
to oppose the Gulf War and to demand an end to the criminal U.S.-led sanctions against
the people of Iraq — sanctions that eventually killed more than 1.5 million people and
marked only the beginning of the U.S. war against Iraq.
At the end of this month, Ramsey will be with us in Managua and will once again
receive the love and gratitude that our people have always felt for him.
During my tenure as President of the UN General Assembly, Ramsey was my key
senior advisor on international law, providing valuable insights into the Palestinian-Israeli
conflict, the so-called “responsibility to protect”— new jargon to mask the old practice of
wars of aggression — and the sorely needed reform of the United Nations. I am proud to
have had the honor, during this period, of bestowing on Ramsey in 2008 the U.N. Human
Rights Award. His voice, challenging U.S. wars and criminal corporate policies, is a voice
of conscience recognized around the world. He has brought ethics back into the equation
and discussion of global issues.
For more than 20 years, Ramsey’s work with the IAC has meant that the people of
the world know that they can count on a friend and ally in the United States, the belly
of the beast.
The IAC has sustained itself through difficult times and has remained consistently
anti-imperialist, anti-racist and anti-capitalist. This is an accomplishment.
That a great people’s champion stands tall and keeps fighting is well worth celebrating.
This is why I urge you to support the Ramsey Clark 85th Birthday and IAC 20th
Anniversary Gala Celebration on Saturday, January 12, 2013, at historic Riverside Church.
Palestinian activist
Texas death row activist
Leonard Peltier
Native American political prisoner
Lynne Stewart
Attorney
I
Pam Africa & Suzanne Ross
International Concerned Family & Friends
of Mumia Abu-Jamal
Kazem Azin SI - Solidarity with Iran
Imam Ashraf Islamic Circle of North America
Rev. Luis Barrios IFCO/Pastors for Peace
Tom Burke National Coalition
to Stop FBI Repression
William Camacaro
Alberto Lovera Bolivarian Circle
Nicholas Camerota
Springfield Technical Community
College Professional Association
Shahid Comrade Pakistan USA Freedom Forum
John Conyers U.S. congressperson
Steve Downs National Coalition
to Protect Civil Freedoms
Berthony Dupont Haiti Liberte
Bernadette Ellorin BAYAN USA
Frances ‘Sissy’ Farenthold
Founder, National Women’s Political Caucus
Bishop Thomas J. Gumbleton
Archdiocese of Detroit
Lawrence Hamm
Peoples Organization for Progress
Abdeen Jabara Attorney; past president,
American Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee
Alicia Jrapko
International Committee to Free the Cuban Five
Kadouri Al-Kaysi Iraqi activist
Imam Ashrafuz Zaman Khan
Islamic Circle of North America
Ramsey Clark remains a unique political figure in the United States. At great sacrifice
he has consistently opposed U.S. intervention abroad and fought for justice at home.
He has defended countless individuals and organizations, targets of racism or repression,
many who might have otherwise stood alone. From prisoners on Texas death row to the
Joe Lombardo & Marilyn Levin
United National Antiwar Coalition
Holly Maguigan Professor,
New York University School of Law
Cynthia McKinney
Former U.S. congressperson
Lucy Pagoada Quesada Colectivo
Honduras USA Resistencia
Roberto Quesada Author, Colectivo
Honduras USA Resistencia
Mauri Saalakhan
Peace thru Justice Foundation
Dr. Agha Saeed
American Muslim Association
Dr. Asha Samad Matias
City University New York
Women’s Studies Program
Dr. Muhammad Shafique
Pakistan USA Freedom Forum
Dr. Fowzia Siddiqui Aafia Movement
United for Peace, Justice Freedom
Jose Maria Sison International League
of Peoples Struggle; exiled Filipino leader
Imam Al-Haj Talib Abdur Rashid
Islamic Leadership Council of Metropolitan N.Y. Clarence Thomas International Longshore
& Warehouse Union, Local 10
Victor Toro MIR co-founder;
Chilean activist fighting deportation
Attica prison rebels; from ­Native American leader Leonard Peltier to Jamil Al-Amin
and the Plowshare defendants; from Lori Berenson in Peru to prisoners in the Philippines, Turkey, Pakistan, and Egypt — Ramsey Clark has been there for them.
He’s been here for all of us. He has opposed nuclear weapons, U.S. bases, drone
wars and every U.S. aggression, including the most recent dangerous threat of a new
war on Iran.
It was through Ramsey that the IAC began, in the mass movement to oppose
both the first war in Iraq in 1991 as well as the deadly sanctions. In Cuba’s most
difficult hour, Ramsey and the IAC mobilized a massive rally at the Javits Convention Center and sent vital material aid delegations. At a crucial moment for Mumia
Abu-Jamal, it held a historic rally at Madison Square Garden.
Ramsey Clark and the IAC have done it all boldly, often in the face of vicious
opposition. This is a great history!
I urge you to help celebrate this history — and help launch the next era of struggles — by supporting the Ramsey Clark 85th Birthday — IAC 20th Anniversary
Gala Celebration.
Attached you will find information on how you can reserve a table for the Gala,
reserve a journal ad and donate to the Gala even if you are not able to attend.
Please feel free to contact Gala organizers, either by emailing [email protected] or calling Teresa Gutierrez at 917.328.6470 or Sara Flounders at
201.388.7428.
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Michael Tarif Warren Attorney
Onward to the struggle & to our victories,
Bernard White Community Public Radio
Father Miguel d’Escoto Brockmann,
Metro; former program director, WBAI Pacifica
Chair of the 85/20 Gala Host Committee
“In 84 years I have never celebrated a birthday.
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But I will on my 85th birthday because it
celebrates the 20th anniversary of the IAC
and helps assure its continued work. I look
forward to seeing you at the Gala.”
— Ramsey Clark
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