MEDIA ADVISORY / AVAILABILITY

Contact: Jodie Evans, Co-founder CODEPINK, 310-621-5635, [email protected]

Iraqi Activists, Movement for Black Lives, Labor Leaders, and Many Others to Testify on the Costs of War

WASHINGTON, November 30, 2016 – On December 1st and 2nd, 2016, the People's Tribunal on the Iraq War will investigate the lies and costs related to the war on Iraq. Featuring more than 100 testifiers from around the world, the Tribunal offers the opportunity to unite the peace movement with other justice movements to put a spotlight on the costs of this war—and war itself. Those testifying at the Tribunal will deliver evidence and give statements via video, live-streaming and in-person. Given the results of the Presidential election, the need for transparency is more important than ever, as the country nears having an administration seen as volatile, untrustworthy and racist as President-elect Trump’s.

We will hold a press opportunity with testifiers at 12:30PM on December 2, to give members of the media access to those who will be testifying in-person on the lies that mislead the public into supporting the war in Iraq. This media opportunity will be held at the University of DC in the David Clarke Law School Moot Court Room, 4340 Connecticut Ave, NW.

Those testifying in-person or remotely on December 2 include:

• Nadje Al-Ali, Professor of Gender Studies at the Center for Gender Studies at the School of Oriental & African Studies (SOAS), author of Iraqi Women: Untold Stories From 1948 to the Present and co-author with Nicola Pratt of What Kind of Liberation? Women and the Occupation of Iraq;

• Chase Iron Eyes, member of the Standing Rock Sioux Tribe, the Lakota People's Law Project, and co-founder of the Native American news website Last Real Indians.;

• Angela Peoples, director of GetEqual, an organization that focuses on trans, racial and economic justice;

• Dr. Eddie Glaude, author of Democracy in Black: How Race Still Enslaves the American Soul, professor in the religion department and chair of the Department of African American Studies at Princeton;

Additional testifiers scheduled for day two include actor Danny Glover, Glen Ford of the Black Agenda Report, Eve Ensler of One Billion Rising, Reverend Lennox Yearwood of the Hip Hop Caucus, Ben Cohen of Ben and Jerry’s, and many more. A full list of testifiers can be foundon the Tribunal’s website

“The crisis of imperialism as it relates to U.S. policy is a crisis of white supremacy that creates physical and economic obstacles to opportunity for impoverished people around the world,”  said Ciara Taylor, co-founder of the Dream Defenders and organizer of day two of the People’s Tribunal. “The testimony on the costs of the illegal war on Iraq illuminates the parallels in the practices of mass incarceration, militarization and environmental destruction. The tribunal is a tool is for communities in struggle to unite as we embark upon our collective freedom from endless warfare.”

A pre-recorded press conference is available for background. For more information or to set up interviews with testifiers, contact [email protected].