Michael Prysner

Last updated
Mike Prysner
Mike Prysner, Leader of March Forward (9639302421) (cropped).jpg
Prysner in 2013
Personal details
Born (1983-06-15) June 15, 1983 (age 41)
Nationality American
Political party Party for Socialism and Liberation (PSL)
Residence(s) Los Angeles, California, U.S.
Alma mater Florida Atlantic University
Occupation Political activist
Television The Empire Files
Publication TeleSur
MovementMarch Forward!
Spouse Abby Martin
Military service
AllegianceFlag of the United States.svg  United States
Branch/serviceFlag of the United States Army.svg  United States Army
Years of service2001–2005
Rank Army-USA-OR-04b.svg Specialist
Battles/wars Iraq War

Michael D. Prysner (born June 15, 1983) is an American socialist political activist. He is a U.S. Army veteran who served in Iraq as a specialist. [1] [2] His duties in Iraq included ground surveillance, home raids, and interrogation of prisoners. According to Prysner, these experiences led him to take an anti-war stance. [3]

Contents

Education

Prysner is a graduate of Sickles High School in Tampa, Florida, and Florida Atlantic University. [4] [5]

Military career

Prysner joined the army in 2001 when he was 17 and left the military in 2005. [6] He had basic training at Fort Sill in Lawton, Oklahoma. [4] After basic training he was assigned to the 10th Mountain Division at Fort Drum New York. Prysner's company participated in the 2003 invasion of Iraq and he served there for 12 months. While in the army he attained the rank of corporal. [7] [6]

Activism

Prysner is the co-founder of March Forward!, an organization of active-duty members of the U.S. military and veterans of the Iraq and Afghanistan wars that encourages active-duty service personnel to resist deployment and seek an honorable discharge by being a conscientious objector. [6] [8] [9]

In March 2008, Prysner was a member of a panel discussing the topic Winter Soldier: Iraq & Afghanistan in Maryland. [10] [11] He spoke about his time in Iraq as a soldier and his personal views about the two wars. [10] This address became known as the "Our Real Enemies" speech.[ citation needed ]

Prysner is a member of Party for Socialism and Liberation and A.N.S.W.E.R. [12] [13] In 2008, he ran a write-in campaign for the U.S. House of Representatives for Florida's 22nd congressional district. [14] [15]

In November 2011, Prysner was arrested in Occupy Los Angeles. [16] He was released after posting bail. [17]

On September 19, 2021, Prysner interrupted former U.S. President George W. Bush's speech in Beverly Hills, California. [18] [19] He demanded an apology for lying about weapons of mass destruction, connections to 9/11, and causing the deaths of a million Iraqis. He also stated "You sent me to Iraq." and "My friends are dead because you lied." [19]

Prysner is on the National Board of Directors for Veterans for Peace. [7]

Media production

Prysner is a producer and co-writer for the program The Empire Files, with his wife Abby Martin. [20] [8] English-language Telesur canceled the show in 2018, [21] and it later moved to a web publishing model. Prysner, Martin, and other Telesur contract journalists had their funding blocked by the application of United States sanctions against Venezuela. [21] Academic Stuart Davis cites the cancellation as an example of how United States sanctions hamper public funding of media production in Venezuela. [21]

He performed the rap "Skit 6" on the album Soundtrack to the Struggle . [22] [23]

As of 2021, he hosted the Eyes Left podcast with former US Army Cadet and Afghanistan War veteran Spenser Rapone. [24] [25]

Personal life

Prysner is married to journalist Abby Martin. [26] [27] They have two children. [28] [29]

See also

Related Research Articles

The following is a tabulation of United States military casualties of war.

<i>The Spitting Image</i> Book by Jerry Lembcke

The Spitting Image: Myth, Memory and the Legacy of Vietnam is a 1998 book by Vietnam veteran and sociology professor Jerry Lembcke. The book is an analysis of the widely believed narrative that American soldiers were spat upon and insulted by anti-war protesters upon returning home from the Vietnam War. The book examines the origin of the earliest stories; the popularization of the "spat-upon image" through Hollywood films and other media, and the role of print news media in perpetuating the now iconic image through which the history of the war and anti-war movement has come to be represented.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Telesur</span> Public television network in Venezuela

Telesur is a Latin American terrestrial and satellite news television network headquartered in Caracas, Venezuela and sponsored by the governments of Venezuela, Cuba and Nicaragua.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Cindy Sheehan</span> American antiwar activist

Cindy Lee Sheehan is an American anti-war activist, whose son, U.S. Army Specialist Casey Sheehan, was killed by enemy action during the Iraq War. She attracted national and international media attention in August 2005 for her extended antiwar protest at a makeshift camp outside President George W. Bush's Texas ranch—a stand that drew both passionate support and criticism. Sheehan ran unsuccessfully for Congress in 2008. She was a vocal critic of President Barack Obama's foreign policy. Her memoir, Peace Mom: A Mother's Journey Through Heartache to Activism, was published in 2006. In an interview with The Daily Beast in 2017, Sheehan continued to hold her critical views towards George W. Bush, while also criticizing the militarism of Donald Trump.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Veterans for Peace</span> American anti-war organization

Veterans for Peace is an organization founded in 1985. Initially made up of US military veterans of World War II, the Korean War and the Vietnam War - later including veterans of the Gulf War, the War in Afghanistan and the Iraq War - as well as peacetime veterans and non-veterans, it has since spread overseas and has an active offshoot in the United Kingdom. The group works to promote alternatives to war.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Protests against the war in Afghanistan</span>

The proposed invasion of Afghanistan prompted protests with mass demonstrations in the days leading up to the official launch of the war on October 7, 2001. The continuation of the war in Afghanistan from 2001 to 2021 lead to further protest and opposition to hostilities.

Campus Antiwar Network (CAN) is an American independent grassroots network of students opposing the occupation of Iraq and military recruiters in US schools. It was founded prior to the 2003 invasion of Iraq, and claims to be the largest campus-based antiwar organization in the United States.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">About Face: Veterans Against the War</span> Advocacy group

Iraq Veterans Against the War (IVAW) is an advocacy group founded in 2004 of formerly active-duty United States military personnel, Iraq War veterans, Afghanistan War veterans, and other veterans who have served since the September 11, 2001 attacks; who were opposed to the U.S. military invasion and occupation in Iraq from 2003 to 2011. The organization advocated the immediate withdrawal of all coalition forces in Iraq, and reparations paid to the Iraqi people. It also provides support services for returning veterans including health care and mental health.

<i>The Ground Truth</i> 2006 American film

The Ground Truth is a 2006 documentary film about veterans of the Iraq War. It was directed and produced by Patricia Foulkrod.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Jon Soltz</span> American military officer and political advocate

Jon Soltz served as a United States Army officer in the Iraq War and is chairman and co-founder of the veterans advocacy group VoteVets.org. Soltz served in both the Kosovo campaign in 2000 and later in Operation Iraqi Freedom in 2003. Based on his service, Soltz became an outspoken critic of the execution of Operation Iraqi Freedom. Soltz deployed in 2011 as part of Operation New Dawn in Iraq.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">VoteVets.org</span> American progressive non-profit organization

VoteVets.org is a progressive political action committee (PAC) and 501(c)(4) nonprofit organization in the United States.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">David Cortright</span> American peace studies scholar (1946-)

David Cortright is an American scholar and peace activist. He is a Vietnam veteran who is currently Professor Emeritus and special adviser for policy studies at the Keough School of Global Affairs and Kroc Institute for International Peace Studies at the University of Notre Dame, and the author, co-author, editor or co-editor of 22 books. Cortright has a long history of public advocacy for disarmament and the prevention of war.

Winter Soldier: Iraq and Afghanistan was an event at which more than 200 U.S. military veterans and active duty soldiers, as well as Iraqi and Afghan civilians, provided accounts of their experiences in Iraq and Afghanistan. The event was inspired by the Winter Soldier Investigation of 1971. It was organized by Iraq Veterans Against the War, and held from March 13 to March 16, 2008, timed for the fifth anniversary of the 2003 invasion of Iraq, at the National Labor College in Silver Spring, Maryland.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Tommy Sowers</span> American soldier and politician

Tommy Sowers is an American entrepreneur, academic and politician. He had an 11-year career in the Army, achieving the rank of Major. During his military career he served as an assistant professor at the United States Military Academy at West Point. He went on to teach at Missouri University of Science and Technology, and Duke University. He recently served as President and Chief Operating Officer of a private jet operator. He returned to Duke in 2024 as Faculty Lead in the Duke Initiative for Science & Society's Applied Technology Ethics program.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Burn pit</span> Waste disposal method

A burn pit is an area of a United States military base in which waste is disposed of by burning.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Abby Martin</span> American citizen journalist

Abigail Suzanne Martin is an American journalist, TV presenter, and activist. She helped found the citizen journalism website Media Roots and serves on the board of directors for the Media Freedom Foundation which manages Project Censored. Martin appeared in the documentary film Project Censored The Movie: Ending the Reign of Junk Food News (2013), and co-directed 99%: The Occupy Wall Street Collaborative Film (2013).

Nan Levinson is an American writer, journalist and teacher. Her writing focuses on civil and human rights, military culture, the arts, and communication technology. Her books include War Is Not a Game: The New Antiwar Soldiers and the Movement They Built and Outspoken: Free Speech Stories. Levinson was the first U.S. correspondent for the Index on Censorship.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Islamic State insurgency in Iraq (2017–present)</span> Insurgency in Iraq since the defeat of ISIL

The Islamic State insurgency in Iraq is an ongoing low-intensity insurgency that began in 2017 after the Islamic State (IS) lost its territorial control in the War in Iraq, during which IS and allied White Flags fought the Iraqi military and allied paramilitary forces.

<i>Waging Peace in Vietnam</i> 2019 book edited by Ron Carver, David Cortright and Barbara Doherty

Waging Peace in Vietnam: U.S. Soldiers and Veterans Who Opposed the War is a non-fiction book edited by Ron Carver, David Cortright, and Barbara Doherty. It was published in September 2019 by New Village Press and is distributed by New York University Press. In March 2023 a Vietnamese language edition of the book was launched at the War Remnants Museum in Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam.

Barry Romo was an American antiwar activist. He joined the US military as a second lieutenant in 1967 and was initially a strong support of the Vietnam War, but within four years had become a leader of Vietnam Veterans Against the War.

References

  1. ↑ Vigil, Ariana E. (July 10, 2014). War Echoes: Gender and Militarization in U.S. Latina/o Cultural Production. Rutgers University Press. p. 172. ISBN   978-0-8135-6933-8 . Retrieved August 13, 2021.
  2. ↑ Levinson, Nan (November 10, 2014). War Is Not a Game: The New Antiwar Soldiers and the Movement They Built. Rutgers University Press. p. 227. ISBN   978-0-8135-7113-3 . Retrieved August 13, 2021.
  3. ↑ "Veterans Group Calls on Military to Refuse Deployments to Afghanistan and Iraq - Salem-News.Com". www.salem-news.com. Retrieved 13 November 2018.
  4. 1 2 Military News, Tampa Bay Times, July 22, 2001
  5. ↑ Dan Christensen, “Ron DeSantis accused of illegal acts of torture against Guantanamo detainees when he was a Navy JAG officer”, Florida Bulldog, January 2023
  6. 1 2 3 Aaron Blevins, “Activists’ anti-war fight continues”, Beverly Press Park Labrea News, January 17, 2013
  7. 1 2 “'Beyond 140': Iraq war vet Michael Prysner on the Fort Hood shooting”, Al Jazeera US, April 4, 2014
  8. 1 2 "Mike Prysner". jacobinmag.com. 19 August 2021. Retrieved 2021-10-19.
  9. ↑ "Suicide Is Anything but Painless | Military Suicide Research Consortium". msrc.fsu.edu. Retrieved 2021-10-19.
  10. 1 2 Decker, Stephanie; Paul, John (2013-01-01). "The Real Terrorist was Me: An Analysis of Narratives Told by Iraq Veterans Against the War in an Effort to Rehumanize Iraqi Civilians and Soldiers". Societies Without Borders. 8 (3): 317–343. ISSN   1872-1915.
  11. ↑ Iraq Veterans Against the War (2008). Winter soldier, Iraq and Afghanistan : eyewitness accounts of the occupations. Aaron Glantz. Chicago Ill.: Haymarket Books. ISBN   978-1-60846-060-1. OCLC   567850640.
  12. ↑ ""Antiwar Sentiment in the Military Is Stronger Than Ever."". jacobinmag.com. Retrieved 2021-10-19.
  13. ↑ Hassina Leelarathna "Los Angeles Lankans protest UN interference", Daily News – Sri Lanka, 3 May 2011 Archived 4 February 2012 at the Wayback Machine
  14. ↑ Staff, Liberation. "Congressional candidate, anti-war vet Michael Prysner takes on workers' issues – Liberation News" . Retrieved 2021-10-19.
  15. ↑ Johnson, Khari (August 26, 2008). "Low turnout at Denver protests, Delray Beach Congressional candidate still shows". South Florida Sun-Sentinel.
  16. ↑ Local, Univision. "Univision 34 Los Angeles". Univision. Archived from the original on April 24, 2012. Retrieved 13 November 2018.
  17. ↑ Radio, Southern California Public (7 December 2011). "16 complaints filed about Occupy LA raid" . Retrieved 13 November 2018.
  18. ↑ Empire Files (2021-09-19). "Iraq Vet Disrupts George W. Bush Speech". Youtube. Retrieved September 24, 2021.
  19. 1 2 Sabah, Daily (2021-09-21). "'You lied about WMDs': Iraq war veteran blasts Bush in public". Daily Sabah. Retrieved 2021-10-19.
  20. ↑ The Empire Files (TV Series 2015– ) - IMDb , retrieved 2021-10-19
  21. 1 2 3 Davis, Stuart (2023). Sanctions as War: Anti-Imperialist Perspectives on American Geo-Economic Strategy. Haymarket Books. p. 69. ISBN   978-1-64259-812-4. OCLC   1345216431.
  22. ↑ "Skit 6 by Lowkey". BestEverAlbums.com. Retrieved 13 November 2018.
  23. ↑ Lowkey (Ft. Mike Prysner) – Skit 6 (Soundtrack to the Struggle) , retrieved 2021-10-19
  24. ↑ "Eyes Left Podcast". SoundCloud. Retrieved 2021-10-19.
  25. ↑ "Interview: Mike Prysner And Spenser Rapone, Hosts Of 'Eyes Left'". Shadowproof. 2018-09-25. Retrieved 2021-10-19.
  26. ↑ US Sanctions Shut Down 'The Empire Files' with Abby Martin, scoop.co.nz, September 3, 2018
  27. ↑ "Antiwar Sentiment in the Military Is Stronger Than Ever." An interview with Mike Prysner, jacobinmag.com, August 19, 2021.
  28. ↑ Mike Prysner: Early Sunday @AbbyMartin: gave birth to our child. She went into labor marching 9mos pregnant all day with #BlackLivesMatter in Beverly Hills., twitter.com, June 2, 2020
  29. ↑ Mike Prysner [@MikePrysner] (2023-02-03). "On Sunday @AbbyMartin gave birth to our second child :) Abby & baby are doing great and I'm in awe of how amazing they both are 💕" (Tweet). Retrieved 2023-04-13– via Twitter.
This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.