| S. Brian Willson |
Article Index for S |
Website Links For Brian |
Information AboutS. Brian Willson |
|
S. Brian Willson, (b. July 4 1941 ), served in the United States Air Force , from 1966 to 1970 as a USAF combat security officer in Vietnam . He left the Air Force as a Captain. He subsequently became a member of '' Vietnam Veterans Against The War '' and '' Veterans For Peace '' (Humboldt Bay Chapter 56, California). Upon completion of Law School at American University in Washington, D.C. he became a member of the District of Columbia Bar and has performed a variety of work experiences including penal consultant, prisoner right's advocate, dairy farmer, legislative aide, town tax assessor and building inspector, veteran's advocate, and small businessman. He was prisoner rights aide to Massachusetts Senator Jack Backman, served on Massachusetts Governor Michael Dukakis' homeless veterans and Agent Orange task forces, and worked with Massachusetts Lt. Governor John Kerry on Agent Orange and other veterans' isues, later becoming a volunteer for Kerry's first U.S. Senatorial campaign in 1984. After Kerry's victory, Willson was appointed to his veterans advisory committee. While working for Massachusetts Senator Jack Backman he investigated brutality at Walpole State prison for more than a year, concluding in an official report that Walpole revealed "An Exercise In Torture." As a trained lawyer and writer he has documented U.S. lawlessness policy in nearly two dozen countries. Since 1986, Willson has studied on-site policies in a number of countries, among them Nicaragua, El Salvador, Honduras, Panama, Brazil, Argentina, Mexico, Columbia, Ecuador, Cuba, Haiti, Iraq, Israel-Palestine, Japan, and Korea, both North and South. Documenting the pattern of policies that he says "violate U.S. Constitutional and international laws prohibiting aggression and war crimes," Willson has been an educator and activist, teaching about the dangers of these policies. He has participated in lengthy fasts, actions of nonviolent civil disobedience, and tax refusal along with voluntary simplicity. In 1987, while engaged in a protest of U.S. weapons to Central America, an action well-publicized in advance, Willson and other members of a Veterans Peace Action Team were blocking the train tracks at the Concord, California Naval Weapons Station. In an unprecedented policy decision, the train refused to stop, and the veterans were assaulted as the U.S. Navy munitions train accelerated to more than 3 times the legal 5 MPH speed limit. When the train did not slow down as they expected, Willson was hit and run over. Nearly killed, he survived absent both legs below the knee while suffering a severe skull fracture with loss of his right frontal lobe, among other injuries. Subsequently he discovered that he had been identified for more than a year as an FBI domestic "terrorist" suspect under President Reagan's anti-terrorist task force provisions and that the train crew that day had been ordered to not stop the train to prevent any "hijack" attempts. Willson filed a law suit contending that the Navy and individual supervisors were given ample warning of their plan to nonviolently remain on the tracks, and that the crew had plenty of time to stop which the subsequent official Navy report confirmed. He later agreed to settle his lawsuit against the Government and train crew for $920,000. He walks comfortably with prostheses. Brian Willson helped create ''Veterans Education Project'' (VEP) in Massachusetts; ''Vietnam Veterans Peace Education Network'' (VVPEN) in New England; ''National Federation of Veterans For Peace'' (NFVFP) in 1986 in Washington, DC; ''Veterans Fast For Life'' (VFFL) in 1986 on steps of US Capitol, a water only fast that concluded after 47 days that led to the 4 fasters being placed on a domestic "terrorist" watch list; ''Veterans Peace Action Teams'' (VPAT) in 1987, training and sending observation and work teams into Nicaragua and El Salvador , a project that lasted 3 years; '' Nuremberg Actions'' at Concord, CA in 1987; ''Institute For the Practice of Nonviolence'' in 1988 in San Francisco ; and ''The People's Fast For Justice and Peace in the Americas'', a 42-day water fast on the steps of the US Capitol in 1992. Brian Willson was one of the very first members of Veterans For Peace . His first book, an easy to read autobiography, ''On Third World Legs'' (Chicago: Kerr) was published in 1992. Willson has written nuerous articles and essays, many of which are posted on his website . He is Executive Producer of Santa Cruz Film Foundation, currently working on a documentary about the history of U.S. intervention in Korea that directly led to the Korean War, one of the remaining unresolved international crimes of the Twentieth Century. Today Brian Willson and his partner Becky Luening have a Permaculture garden and generate most of their household and transportation energy needs from the Sun . He has been a member of a local community Post Oil Action Group, Humboldt Electric Vehicle Association, and his city's Nuclear Free Zone and Peace Commission. He considers himseld a pacifist. In addition to possessing a Juris Doctor, he holds an LL.D. (Hon.) and Ph.D. (Hon.). SEE ALSO EXTERNAL LINKS
|
|
|