Pinal County Greens Pass Resolution Demanding Chinese Government Release Ai Weiwei

Apache Junction, Ariz., Apr. 11, 2011 -

Today the Pinal County Greens, a group of members of the Arizona Green Party in Pinal County, passed a resolution demanding that the Chinese government release Ai Weiwei, the most famous artist in China, best known for his iconic "Bird's Nest" stadium that was the focal point of the Beijing Olympics.

Ai Weiwei, a vocal critic of the Chinese government, was arrested on April 3 at Beijing Airport, his papers and computers seized, with his current whereabouts unknown in the wake of the repressive Beijing regime's latest severe crackdown against dissidents and freedom of expression.

Richard Grayson, co-chair of the Pinal County Greens, said the group's resolution reminded the Chinese government of its obligations under Article 35 of the Chinese constitution and Article 19 of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, to which it is a signatory, and called for the immediate and unconditional release of all those currently detained in China for the peaceful exercise of their right to free expression, including Ai Weiwei.

- Ai Weiwei, White House (1999)

Pinal County Greens Call for Ouster of Belarus Strongman Lukashenko, Replacement by Puppet Government Headed by Kermit the Frog

Apache Junction, Ariz., Jan. 15 -

The Pinal County Greens have passed a resolution calling on German Chancellor Angela Merkel and Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk to overthrow the repressive Lukashenko regime in Belarus and replace it with a puppet government headed by Kermit the Frog.

At their monthly meeting yesterday, the Pinal County Greens, a group of Arizona Green Party members in Pinal County, voted unanimously for the resolution. Richard Grayson, chair of the Pinal County Greens, said his family roots go back to Minsk, and that the party members didn't take this step lightly.

"We understand that is a difficult way to replace a brutal, controlling regime," Grayson said. "But as Kermit the Frog has said, 'It ain't easy being green.' Гэта не лёгка быць зялёным."

The Pinal County Greens' resolution also demanded the immediate release of over 20 political prisoners held in the remand cells of the KGB in Minsk, an investigation of the brutal beating of the opposition’s rally in Minsk on December 19,

an end to the repression of independent media in Belarus, and following the takeover by the interim puppet government headed by Kermit the Frog and his cabinet (including Lamb Chop, Topo Gigio and Triumph the Insult Comic Dog), the holding of free and fair presidential and parliamentary elections in Belarus.

As Marie-Luise Beck, Green Party member of the Bundestag from Bremen, said last week, we "must support the Belarusians in their legitimate quest for democratic change and the European future of the country, so that Belarusians could avoid being hostages of the dictator and his isolation policy."