Chelsea Manning column
Weekly commentary from
Chelsea E Manning. Follow her on Twitter:
@xychelsea
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Compromise does not work with our political opponents. When will we learn?In Chelsea Manning’s first column since her commutation, she writes that Barack Obama’s legacy is a warning against not being bold enough
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Solitary confinement is 'no touch' torture, and it must be abolishedI spent about nine months in an isolated cell behind a one-way mirror. It was cruel, degrading and inhumane
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When will the US government stop persecuting whistleblowers?The National Insider Threat Task Force subjects officials to surveillance and fear, and uses me as an example. Those with legitimate concerns should be empowered to speak out
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Privacy is a right, not a luxury – and it's increasingly at risk for LGBT peopleQueer and transgender people globally rely on encryption to lead our private lives without legal consequences. Efforts to eliminate it are utterly chilling
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Prison keeps us isolated. But sometimes, sisterhood can bring us togetherI had never spent any real time with another transgender woman before I was incarcerated. At the loneliest time in my life, her friendship meant everything
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In prison, the holiday season is grim – but I won't lose hopeThe chasm between me and the outside world feels like it’s getting wider and wider, and all I can do is let it happen
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We must not let Isis's crimes dictate how we address the refugee crisis – or privacySome want to exploit the Paris attacks in order to justify seizures of power to meet their own political ends. We should not let that happen
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Fisa courts stifle the due process they were supposed to protect. End themIntelligence agencies will always seek to collect more data. But the courts that oversee them must be as concerned about due process as they are with secrets
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Transgender people's inclusion in the military is a key first step - but not the lastLifting the ban on trans service members would be a hollow victory if more anti-discrimination measures are not put in place
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Same-sex marriage isn't equality for all LGBT people. Our movement can't endWho in our community will be left to push for full equality for all transgender and queer people, now that this one fight has been won?
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The years since I was jailed for releasing the 'war diaries' have been a rollercoasterIt can be difficult, sometimes, to make sense of all the things that have happened to me in the last five years
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We're citizens, not subjects. We have the right to criticize government without fearThe American public needs more access to what the government is doing in its name. That requires increasing freedom of information and transparency
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The CIA's torturers and the leaders who approved their actions must face the lawEven the most junior level intelligence officers know that torture is both unethical and illegal. So why didn’t our political leaders?
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I am a transgender woman and the government is denying my civil rightsChelsea E Manning: We are told, by the legal system and the military, that we don’t belong. It’s time for trans people like me to tell the world something different: we exist
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How to make Isis fall on its own swordChelsea E Manning: Degrade and destroy? The west should try to disrupt the canny militants into self-destruction, because bombs will only backfire
Chelsea Manning: to those who kept me alive all these years, thank you