41 years ago today the great Muhamed Ali was convicted of draft dodging by a Houston court. This was a man who could never be accused of being a coward, he took the bravest of decisions.

His words should be remembered today, with the great conflicts that engulf us in mind. When will troops have the guts to stand up and say "i ain't got no quarrel with them Iraqi's, I ain't got no quarrel with them Afghans" ?

What ever happened to concientious objectors ?

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Viva Fidel

"If there ever was in the history of humanity an enemy who was truly universal, an enemy whose acts and moves trouble the entire world, threaten the entire world, attack the entire world in any way or another, that real and really universal enemy is precisely Yankee imperialism"

"North Americans don't understand... that our country is not just Cuba; our country is also humanity"

Better Still


"I aint got no quarral with those muslims"

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"We will disobey your laws as long as they are unjust and they make a world shaped only for your profit"-G8 protestor Genoa 2001





NO PASERÁN!!

"We learned a long time ago that we should never subject ourselves to the schedules of the powerful. We had to follow our own calendar and impose it on those above.” - Subcommandante Marcos

Indeed.

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Viva Fidel

"If there ever was in the history of humanity an enemy who was truly universal, an enemy whose acts and moves trouble the entire world, threaten the entire world, attack the entire world in any way or another, that real and really universal enemy is precisely Yankee imperialism"

"North Americans don't understand... that our country is not just Cuba; our country is also humanity"

They went to canada and are being extradited.

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To where?

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"We will disobey your laws as long as they are unjust and they make a world shaped only for your profit"-G8 protestor Genoa 2001





NO PASERÁN!!

"We learned a long time ago that we should never subject ourselves to the schedules of the powerful. We had to follow our own calendar and impose it on those above.” - Subcommandante Marcos

True, what annoys me is well 2 things. 1) not nearly enough people do this and 2) when it happens iot recieves minimal mainstream media coverage.

I have actually not heard of any Brit doing this. Does anyone know of any examples ?

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Viva Fidel

"If there ever was in the history of humanity an enemy who was truly universal, an enemy whose acts and moves trouble the entire world, threaten the entire world, attack the entire world in any way or another, that real and really universal enemy is precisely Yankee imperialism"

"North Americans don't understand... that our country is not just Cuba; our country is also humanity"

It would happen a lot more if there were a draft.

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From one who served three tours in country all I can say is that I admire Ali's convictions and courage. There were those of us who served, there were those of convction who chose not to because of profound beliefs and then there were the cowards who ran away.

Camilo Mejia did his time...

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"Have you no decency, sir? At long last, have you left no sense of decency?"
-Joseph Welch

Come on bourne the options were.

1. go to war
2. have wealthy parents and political connections so you can stay in germany
or be in the guard.
3. Get really lucky
4. go to jail
5 run away.

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Walt Whitman
"I say that democracy can never prove itself beyond cavil, until it founds and luxuriantly grows its own forms of art, poems, schools, theology, displacing all that exists, or that has been produced anywhere in the past, under opposite influences."