{"article":{"id":12620,"heading":"Green Party USA elected Coordinator targeted as \"terrorist\"-denied rights","author":"The Greens\/Green Party USA-Mitchell Cohen","created":"2001-11-04 09:20:18","modified":"2001-11-06 23:22:02","last_modified":"Wed, 07 Nov 2001 06:22:02","article":"

GREEN PARTY USA ELECTED COORDINATOR DETAINED AT AIRPORT

PREVENTED BY ARMED MILITARY FROM FLYING TO GREENS GNC MEETING IN CHICAGO

\"I was targeted because the Green Party USA opposes the bombing of innocent

civilians in Afghanistan.\"

--Nancy Oden



(The Green Party USA statement on the war against Afghanistan is at

http:\/\/www.greenparty.org\/911.html<\/a>

They are the original Green Party in the U.S. since 1986)

==========

PLEASE FORWARD TO ALL MEDIA AND LISTSERVES. THANX (Mitchel Cohen)

The Greens \/ Green Party USA

226 South Wabash, 6th floor

PO Box 1406,

Chicago, Illinois 60690

Toll-free Phone: 1-866-GREENS-2

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

November 2, 2001

MEDIA ALERT:

GREEN PARTY USA will hold press conference in CHICAGO

SATURDAY, NOV. 3

10 a.m.

at the J. Ira and Nicki Family Hostel

24 East Congress Parkway (at Wabash), 2nd floor

------------------------------------------------

GREEN PARTY USA COORDINATOR DETAINED AT AIRPORT

PREVENTED BY ARMED MILITARY FROM FLYING TO GREENS MEETING IN CHICAGO

Armed government agents grabbed Nancy Oden, Green Party USA coordinating

committee member, Thursday at Bangor International Airport in Bangor Maine,

as she attempted to board an American Airlines flight to Chicago.

\"An official told me that my name had been flagged in the computer,\" a

shaken Oden said. \"I was targeted because the Green Party USA opposes the

bombing of innocent civilians in Afghanistan.\"

Oden, a long-time organic farmer and peace activist in northern Maine, was

ordered away from the plane. Military personnel with automatic weapons

surrounded Oden and instructed all airlines to deny her passage on ANY

flight. \"I was told that the airport was closed to me until further notice

and that my ticket would not be refunded,\" Oden said.

Oden is scheduled to speak in Chicago Friday night on a panel concerning

pesticides as weapons of war. She had helped to coordinate the Green Party

USA's antiwar efforts these past few months, and was to report on these to

The Greens national committee. \"Not only did they stop me at the airport

but some mysterious party had called the hotel and cancelled my

reservation,\" Oden said.

The Greens National Committee -- the governing body of the Green Party USA

-- is meeting in Chicago Nov. 2-4 to hammer out the details of national

campaigns against bio-chemical warfare, the spraying of toxic pesticides,

genetic engineering, and the Party's involvement in the burgeoning peace

movement.

\"I am shocked that US military prevented one of our prominent Green Party

members from attending the meeting in Chicago,\" said Elizabeth Fattah, a

GPUSA representative from Pennsylvania who drove to Chicago. \"I am outraged

at the way the Bill of Rights is being trampled upon.\"

Chicago Green activist Lionel Trepanier concluded, \"The attack on the right

of association of an opposition political party is chilling. The harassment

of peace activists is reprehensible.\"

For further information, please call 1-866-GREENS-2 (toll-free)

-30-<\/p>\n","contact":"gpusa@igc.org","link":"http:\/\/www.greenparty.org","address":"226 South Wabash, 6th floor-PO Box 1406-Chicago, Illinois 60690","phone":"1-866-GREENS-2","parent_id":0,"mime_type":"text\/plain","summary":"GREEN PARTY USA ELECTED COORDINATOR DETAINED AT AIRPORT-PREVENTED BY ARMED MILITARY FROM FLYING TO GREENS GNC MEETING IN CHICAGO IL USA\r\nNancy Oden,an elected Green Party USA coordinator,has been denied flying privileges and her constitutional rights, because of Green Party USA opposition to the bombing in Afghanistan.\r\nThe new \"terrorism\" laws have just removed all our rights and have created new \"enemies lists\"-WHO WILL BE NEXT??","numcomment":6,"fileurl":"\/uploads\/","filesize":null,"article_url":"\/news\/2001\/11\/12620.php"},"attachments":[],"comments":[{"id":12625,"heading":"woah, but","article":"Sounds hectic.\r\n\r\nThough before I go into fits of paranoia, i want to know the whole story- here is another piece of the story- perhaps between this account and the above account the truth lays. Perhaps not\r\n\r\n\r\nhttp:\/\/www.bangornews.com\/editorialnews\/article.html?ID=44958","author":"ellen","parent_id":12620,"mime_type":"text\/plain","created":"2001-11-04 20:52:47","modified":"2001-11-04 21:19:46","fileurl":""},{"id":12626,"heading":"It's attitude, not politics","article":"Bangor Daily News, Nov. 3, 2001: \r\nhttp:\/\/www.bangornews.com\/editorialnews\/article.html?ID=44958 \r\n\r\nThis article in the Bangor Daily News in Bangor Maine reports that Nancy Oden was given a security check, she made a big fuss about it and she got kicked out of the airport. \r\n\r\nThe Greens\/Green Party USA isn't a representative organization for the Greens in the United States. i should know, i used to work for them. \r\n\r\nThe Green Party of the United States (not the organization called G\/GPUSA that put out the press release about Nancy Oden) is the only Green political organization organized nationally as a party, in which at least 31 states are represented (and other states' memberships pending). It organized the Green National Convention in Denver in June, 2000, at which Ralph Nader was nominated to run for President, and is recognized among Green Parties around the world. The Green Party of the United States is now in the process of filing papers with the FEC for recognition as a national party. \r\n","author":"Starlene Rankin","parent_id":12620,"mime_type":"text\/plain","created":"2001-11-04 20:59:02","modified":"2001-11-04 21:19:46","fileurl":""},{"id":12637,"heading":"Starlene, why?","article":"Starlene Rankin apparently has it in for Nancy Oden. She is going to the trouble to post her rebuttal all over indymedia, apparently.\r\n\r\nSo I spoke with Nancy on the phone, and I believe what she said, that no, she did not \"make a big fuss\" at the airport.\r\n\r\nAnd the group Nancy Oden is in includes Mitchel Cohen, and that is good enough for me.\r\n\r\nThe National Guardsmen and other sources that the reporter for the Bangor News used besides Nancy Oden were \"not completely frank\" (big surprise).\r\n\r\nShe was NOT uncooperative. As she pointed out, not cooperating is a crime, and they would have arrested her, which they did not do.\r\n\r\nShe helped them open her bags and she cooperated with the wand-check. She did not resist these reasonable measures.\r\n\r\nWhat she did resist was being grabbed by the arm by a young National Guard who started yelling in her face about \"Do you know what happened on Sept. 11?\" At which she wrenched her arm away and said \"Don't touch me, I will not stand here and listen to a lecture by you about\" (...something like bombing innocents, I don't remember exactly what she told me, but it probably was not the subservient approach that might soothe someone with this type of fascistic mentality). She said, \"then he came at me again, and I said 'DON'T touch me'.\r\n\r\nI asked her about this part of the Bangor News article:\r\n\"She was uncooperative during the screening process,\u201d said American Eagle spokesman Kurt Iverson, who added that Oden reportedly would not stand still when security staff tried to wave a metal-detecting wand over her. \"\r\n\r\nShe said she has no idea who this American Eagle spokesperson is, and that she did stand still for the wand. Even though this was right after she had been grabbed and yelled at, she stood still. She did say \"don't touch me with that\" when the guardsman was holding the wand right up next to her breasts (he did subsequently touch her shoulder with it, but she kept quiet). The guy was literally three inches from her face, and she stepped back. This is the extent of any \"not standing still\" or non-cooperation that happened.\r\n\r\nShe said they may have wanted to arrest her, but there were enough people standing around who had witnessed what happened.\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n","author":"czarina","parent_id":12620,"mime_type":"text\/plain","created":"2001-11-05 04:07:46","modified":"2013-11-10 23:38:37","fileurl":""},{"id":12638,"heading":"I wouldnt fly her either","article":"Honestly it didnt take 15 minutes of reading up on Nancy Oden to find out exactly why shes made a list of morons who arent welcome in the sky. She is a person who openly inspires and incites criminal acts and then openly admits her roll and acceptance of them. Shes a fool people. I wouldnt want anyone like her on a airplane with any of my freinds or family. Shouldnt she be against motorized travel any way ? ","author":"Danny W Thomas","parent_id":12620,"mime_type":"text\/plain","created":"2001-11-05 04:22:59","modified":"2001-11-05 04:43:16","fileurl":""},{"id":12640,"heading":"Dear Danny W Justin H or whoever the","article":"15 minutes of reading up? HOW ABOUT YOUR REFERENCES so that we can \"read up\" too?\r\nthanks ever so.","author":"Mike Bohunk","parent_id":12620,"mime_type":"text\/plain","created":"2001-11-05 04:29:45","modified":"2001-11-05 04:43:16","fileurl":""},{"id":12697,"heading":"For Your Info","article":"Just for your information, American military personnel are not authorized to speak to reporters about any official action. This must be done through the Public Affairs Officer. You want an answer, contact the commander of the unit providing the guards for the airport. That reporter should have known that is the procedure. There was an Air Force Base there for decades.","author":"GFAFBLIFR","parent_id":12620,"mime_type":"text\/plain","created":"2001-11-06 23:22:02","modified":"2001-11-07 00:00:02","fileurl":""}]}