Concerned Families of Westchester Newsletter
July 31, 2017
Hello All – So Congress puffed itself up and voted for sanctions against Russia and Iran for their non-compliance to American deportment guidelines, and now we are shocked, shocked that Russia has retaliated. Where will this lead? – Of great interest to peace-and-justice people is the fact that the Democrats in Congress are leading this charge, and that Westchester's Democratic Party representatives in Congress are at the head of the pack. And while local Democrats, the Indivisibles, NYPAN, and other elements of the "Resistance" bemoan the cuts being made to much-needed environmental, healthcare, and other programs, there has not been a peep out of them about the military budget, which now (see below) tops $1 trillion a year.
Moreover, aside from complaining about Russia's alleged interference in the US presidential election, or reiterating Israel's talking points about Iran as an existential threat, Democrats have had little to say about why we need to spend so much money on wars and military equipment. In this year's budget, Congress provided even more money that the huge increase initially requested by President Trump. And where the bulk of the congressional Democrats don't go along with the Republicans, Westchester's congressional delegation does so. For example, during the congressional debate on the Pentagon budget, Eliot Engel (so "good" on single-payer) was one of a minority of Democrats to support a big increase in funding ($888 million) for a new nuclear-armed cruise missile, which a New York Times editorial described as a "threat to nuclear arms control." With both the Democrats and Republicans supporting an apparently boundless expansion of the Empire, and the necessity to fight wars on the Empire's periphery to sustain the enterprise, our mainstream media sees no "debate" to report on, and so passes on to other things. We – the citizens - are left in the dark, the same Darkness wherein the Empire does its dirty work.
News Notes
How much does the United States really spend on "the military?" Two weeks ago we reported that the House of Representatives had passed their version of the 2018 National Defense Authorization Act, giving the military $696 billion for the fiscal year beginning in October [Link]. But there's much more to military spending than just the Pentagon budget! Lots of military spending lurks in other parts of the federal budget, and this excellent, user-friendly article by Bill Hartung shows that the real total for military spending is more than one trillion dollars a year. [Link].
Sixteen years after 9/11, it appears that the American public may be becoming more skeptical about government claims about what "the enemy" is up to. A recent poll found that 52 percent of people surveyed said that yes, the US government would like about foreign chemical weapons. Given the unfinished debate about claims that Assad used chemical weapons in Syria, this is in itself interesting. But, as this interesting article observes, "In 2003, one hundred days after the Bush administration's invasion – propelled by claims that Iraq had facilities to create weapons of mass destruction – were discredited, 86% of Americans still believed the claims. One hundred days after the Trump administration's Assad regime sarin claims, a majority of Americans believe the administration is perfectly capable of misleading them about such critical matters." Let's hope this skepticism is a trend, and not a flash in the pan!
The 26th of July is a significant date for Cubans, the anniversary of the 1953 attack on Moncada army barracks, led by the very young Fidel Castro. So this is a good week to catch up on the history of this significant event. Check out this feature-length documentary film.
According to a presentation last week by the head of Westchester's Food Bank, 200,000 people in Westchester were living in "food insecurity" (about 20 percent), with 90,000 people living below the poverty line (about 10 percent). [Link].
And finally, here's a heart-warming story about pipeline sabotage. Check out this Democracy Now! segment: "'We Acted from Our Hearts': Activists in Iowa Admit to Repeatedly Sabotaging Dakota Access Pipeline" [Link].
Things to Do
Stop the Minisink (NY) Power Plant!
For several years now, our friends in Minisink, NY have been fighting a $900 million, 650 megawatt power plant that is sure to ruin their community. The plant will be run on fracked gas, and the construction of the pipeline is imminent, pending a final permit from the Department of Environmental Conservation (DEC). Pramilla Malick and actor James Cromwell went to jail (and have since been released) for symbolically blocking the pipeline construction. Today they, along with fracking expert Dr. Anthony Ingraffea, were on the Leonard Lopate program and explained what they did and why they did it. – To help out/get involved, go to this link where you can sign a petition, learn about a public meeting in Middletown, NY on August 2nd, and sign up for a bus (White Plains) to attend a rally in Albany on August 10th. Among the rally speakers will be Tim DeChristopher and Bill McKibben.
Stop Congressional Anti-BDS Legislation!
As reported in the last newsletter, Congress is considering legislation that would apply fines and jail time to some acts of "boycott, divestment, and sanctions" activity against Israel. The smooth passage of the legislation was interrupted last week when the ACLU sent a letter to legislators pointing out the severe penalties linked to the prosecution of those in violation of the legislation, along with a strong statement in support of the 1st Amendment, which includes the right to boycott. We received the following info from Jewish Voice for Peace, encouraging letters on this topic to members of Congress. It says:
"The ACLU, J Street and Jewish Voice for Peace are all opposed to the Israel Anti-Boycott Act. Will you let your Senators and Representative know that you oppose this bill, too? Call today: 202-224-3121, and then use this tool to send a letter to your Senators and House Representative. Here's what you can say: My name is ____ and I am a constituent. I want you to protect free speech and oppose S. 720 and H.R. 1697, the Israel Anti-Boycott Act. Under this law, Americans exercising their Constitutional right to boycott could face criminal charges of up to 20 years in prison and a $1 million fine, or a civil penalty of $250,000.
Coming Attractions
Saturday, August 5th – Please join us for our weekly antiwar/pro-peace vigil protest. We meet from 12 to 1 pm. each Saturday in Hastings, at the VFW Plaza (Warburton and Spring St.). These days our vigils are focusing on war and civilian casualties, but we adapt to latest developments/crises. Please join us!
Sunday, August 6th – Please join us for our next CFOW monthly meeting, where we will review what's happening in the world and make some action plans for the next month. We meet at the Dobbs Ferry Historical Society, 12 Elm St. in Dobbs, from 7 to 9 p.m. Everyone is welcome at these meetings.
This Newsletter
In addition to our "Featured Essays" and usual Good Stuff, this issue of the newsletter has several features that deserve special attention. Last weekend's vote in Venezuela for a Constituent Assembly was covered miserably, as is usual in all things related to Venezuela, by The New York Times. I've linked two good articles below, one by a former associate of Hugo Chavez, that cast some much-needy light and reporting balance on what's happening in Venezuela. And speaking of media bias, I've also linked a pair of articles from the great site Fairness and Accuracy in Reporting, (FAIR), which our best watchdog over the mainstream media. And a third set of articles addresses the issue of sanctions on Russia and Iran, with additional articles reporting on Trump's roll-out of his plan to start a war with Iran sometime this fall.
Contributions to CFOW
If you are able to contribute to CFOW work, we would appreciate it very much. Please send your check to Concerned Families of Westchester, PO Box 364, Hastings-on-Hudson, NY 10706. Thanks!
Rewards!
In 1992, exactly 25 years ago, Leonard Cohen came out with an album called "The Future." Remarkably, at a time when we were celebrating the recent victory in the Cold War and were fantasizing about a "peace dividend" and a chicken in every pot, Cohen's title song was very dark. And of course his intimations of the future were right on the money. Other favorites are "Democracy" and "Closing Time." Enjoy!
Best wishes,
Frank Brodhead
For CFOW
FEATURED ESSAYS
Burning Raqqa: The U.S. War Against Civilians in Syria
By Laura Gottesdiener, Tom Dispatch [July 27, 2017]
By Laura Gottesdiener, Tom Dispatch [July 27, 2017]
---- Islamic State fighters have now essentially been defeated in Mosul after a nine-month, U.S.-backed campaign that destroyed significant parts of Iraq's second largest city, killing up to 40,000 civilians and forcing as many as one million more people from their homes. Now, the United States is focusing its energies -- and warplanes -- on ISIS-occupied areas of eastern Syria in an offensive dubbed "Wrath of the Euphrates." The Islamic State's brutal treatment of civilians in Syria has been well reported and publicized. And according to Lieutenant General Stephen Townsend, the commander of the U.S.-led war against ISIS in Iraq and Syria, the battle to "liberate" these regions from ISIS is the "most precise campaign in the history of warfare." But reports and photographs from Syrian journalists and activists, as well as first-person accounts from those with family members living in areas under U.S. bombardment, detail a strikingly different tale of the American offensive -- one that looks a lot less like a battle against the Islamic State and a lot more like a war on civilians. [Read More]
The Combahee River Collective statement
By Various Contributors, ZNet [July 22, 2017]
---- We are a collective of Black feminists who have been meeting together since 1974. During that time we have been involved in the process of defining and clarifying our politics, while at the same time doing political work within our own group and in coalition with other progressive organizations and movements. The most general statement of our politics at the present time would be that we are actively committed to struggling against racial, sexual, heterosexual, and class oppression, and see as our particular task the development of integrated analysis and practice based upon the fact that the major systems of oppression are interlocking. The synthesis of these oppressions creates the conditions of our lives. As Black women we see Black feminism as the logical political movement to combat the manifold and simultaneous oppressions that all women of color face. We will discuss four major topics in the paper that follows: (1) the genesis of contemporary Black feminism; (2) what we believe, i.e., the specific province of our politics; (3) the problems in organizing Black feminists, including a brief herstory of our collective; and (4) Black feminist issues and practice. [Read More]
---- We are a collective of Black feminists who have been meeting together since 1974. During that time we have been involved in the process of defining and clarifying our politics, while at the same time doing political work within our own group and in coalition with other progressive organizations and movements. The most general statement of our politics at the present time would be that we are actively committed to struggling against racial, sexual, heterosexual, and class oppression, and see as our particular task the development of integrated analysis and practice based upon the fact that the major systems of oppression are interlocking. The synthesis of these oppressions creates the conditions of our lives. As Black women we see Black feminism as the logical political movement to combat the manifold and simultaneous oppressions that all women of color face. We will discuss four major topics in the paper that follows: (1) the genesis of contemporary Black feminism; (2) what we believe, i.e., the specific province of our politics; (3) the problems in organizing Black feminists, including a brief herstory of our collective; and (4) Black feminist issues and practice. [Read More]
Bringing Movements Together
By David Swanson, ZNet [July 29, 2017]
---- If war were moral, legal, defensive, beneficial to the spread of freedom, and inexpensive, we would be obliged to make abolishing it our top priority solely because of the destruction that war and preparations for war do as the leading polluters of our natural environment. … If we don't start considering new options, we're going to run out of options entirely. The roughly $1 trillion that the United States puts into militarism each year is the number one way in which war kills and the source of an infinity of not-yet-considered options. Tiny fractions of U.S. military spending could end hunger, the lack of clean water, and various diseases globally. While converting to clean energy could pay for itself in healthcare savings, the funds with which to do it are there, many times over, in the U.S. military budget. One airplane program, the F-35, could be canceled and the funds used to convert every home in the United States to clean energy. [Read More]
---- If war were moral, legal, defensive, beneficial to the spread of freedom, and inexpensive, we would be obliged to make abolishing it our top priority solely because of the destruction that war and preparations for war do as the leading polluters of our natural environment. … If we don't start considering new options, we're going to run out of options entirely. The roughly $1 trillion that the United States puts into militarism each year is the number one way in which war kills and the source of an infinity of not-yet-considered options. Tiny fractions of U.S. military spending could end hunger, the lack of clean water, and various diseases globally. While converting to clean energy could pay for itself in healthcare savings, the funds with which to do it are there, many times over, in the U.S. military budget. One airplane program, the F-35, could be canceled and the funds used to convert every home in the United States to clean energy. [Read More]
Comrade Charlie Chaplin
By Vijay Prashad, ZNet [July 27, 2017]
---- Why did the US government exile Chaplin? The Federal Bureau of Investigations (FBI) – the country's political police – investigated Chaplin from 1922 onwards for his alleged ties to the Communist Party of the United States (CPUSA). Chaplin's file – 1900 pages long – is filled with innuendo and slander, as agents exhausted themselves talking to his co-workers and adversaries to find any hint of Communist association. They found none. … It was Chaplin's popularity and his message that disturbed the FBI. 'There are men and women in far corners of the world who never have heard of Jesus Christ; yet they know and love Charlie Chaplin', noted an article that an FBI agent clipped and highlighted in Chaplin's file. Chaplin's plainly depicted criticism of capitalism did not fail to impress the world's peoples nor disturb the FBI. [Read More]
---- Why did the US government exile Chaplin? The Federal Bureau of Investigations (FBI) – the country's political police – investigated Chaplin from 1922 onwards for his alleged ties to the Communist Party of the United States (CPUSA). Chaplin's file – 1900 pages long – is filled with innuendo and slander, as agents exhausted themselves talking to his co-workers and adversaries to find any hint of Communist association. They found none. … It was Chaplin's popularity and his message that disturbed the FBI. 'There are men and women in far corners of the world who never have heard of Jesus Christ; yet they know and love Charlie Chaplin', noted an article that an FBI agent clipped and highlighted in Chaplin's file. Chaplin's plainly depicted criticism of capitalism did not fail to impress the world's peoples nor disturb the FBI. [Read More]
Sanctions Against Russia and Iran
Russia Sanctions Fuel New Cold War
---- The drive to put more sanctions on Russia might feel good. But fueling a new Cold War can only propel the United States in the wrong direction. It's time to turn away from a collision course, not step on the gas. Whatever you think of Vladimir Putin — or Donald Trump, for that matter — they are the presidents of the world's nuclear superpowers. Piling sanctions on Russia means escalating tensions. And that's extremely dangerous. …In a warning last winter, former Defense secretary William Perry said, "We're going back to the kind of dangers we had during the Cold War." Those concerns are even more relevant and urgent now: "We are starting a new Cold War. We seem to be sleepwalking into this new nuclear arms race." While parading for sanctions against Russia, the sleepwalkers on Capitol Hill are endangering the future of humanity. [Read More] Also very interesting is this article by favorite European correspondent Diana Johnstone, "Collateral Damage: U.S. Sanctions Aimed at Russia Strike Western European Allies," [Link].
(Video) "Incoherent Policy": U.S. Imposes Sanctions on Iran Even as Trump Admits Iran Following Nuclear Deal
From Democracy Now! [July 24, 2017]
---- The State Department has announced new sanctions against Iran over alleged support for terrorism and Iran's ballistic missile program. The move will blacklist 18 people accused of having ties to Iran's military, freezing any of their U.S. assets. The new U.S. sanctions came just after the Trump administration begrudgingly certified that Iran has complied with its obligations under the Obama-brokered nuclear agreement. According to the magazine Foreign Policy, Trump has instructed a group of trusted White House staffers to make the potential case for withholding certification of Iran at the next 90-day review of the nuclear deal. We speak to Ervand Abrahamian, the author of several books, including "The Coup: 1953, the CIA, and the Roots of Modern U.S.-Iranian Relations." [See the Program]
WAR & PEACE
Donald Trump Has His Finger on the Nuclear Button. Maybe We Should Do Something About That.
By Mark Hertsgaard, The Nation [July 2017]
---- At present, US law and long-standing policy give president Trump unilateral, unstoppable authority to launch a nuclear attack. He need not present a compelling reason for such an attack; perhaps he simply decides that it's time to teach North Korea a lesson. He need not notify, much less obtain agreement from, leaders in Congress or the Secretary of Defense or other military officials. Trump's status as Commander-in-Chief empowers him and him alone to unleash nuclear weapons at a moment's notice. … All US presidents of the Nuclear Age have possessed the same awesome, unfettered authority Trump currently holds. But none of those presidents, with the possible exception of Richard Nixon during the darkest days of Watergate, displayed the psychological profile of the current Commander-in-Chief. … For the sake of the nation and indeed humanity, it is imperative to reform US nuclear weapons policy. Start with three concrete, common sense measures: The United States should take its nuclear weapons off of "hair-trigger" status; it should declare a policy of "no first use" of nuclear weapons; and it should prohibit this or any president from unilaterally launching a nuclear attack. [Read More]
The War in Syria
End of US Support for Syrian Rebels Sounds Death Knell for Attempt to Roll Back Iran & Russia in Syria
By Joshua Landis, Syria Comment [July 20, 2017]
---- Trump's termination of CIA funds to Syrian rebels signals the death knell for Western efforts to roll back Iranian and Russian power in the Levant. The reassertion of Assad's control over much of Syria underlines the success of Iran's policy in the Northern Middle East. Western efforts to overturn Assad and bring to power a Sunni ascendency in Syria have failed as have efforts to flip Syria out of Russia's and Iran's orbit and into that of the United States and Saudi Arabia. The cut off of CIA funding for Syria's rebels is the raggedy ending of America's failed regime-change policy in Syria and the region at large…. This is the last gasp for America's policy of regime-change which has so compromised its efforts to promote democracy and human rights in a part of the world that needs both. [Read More] Also very interesting (and highly detailed) is this article by Scott Ritter, "Say Goodbye to Regime Change in Syria," July 24, 2017] [Link].
The War in Yemen
(Video) "A Forgotten Crisis": Yemen's Aid Workers Speak Out About the World's Worst Humanitarian Disaster
From Democracy Now! [July 24, 2017]
---- "An absolute shame on humanity." That's how the international aid organization CARE is describing the deepening humanitarian crisis in Yemen. The number of cholera cases in Yemen has now topped 368,000, with 1,828 deaths. The World Health Organization estimates some 5,000 Yemenis are falling sick daily—and Oxfam projects the number of suspected cases of cholera could rise to more than 600,000, making the epidemic "the largest ever recorded in any country in a single year since records began." [See the Program]
War with Iran?
The Mask Is Off: Trump Is Seeking War with Iran
By Trita Parsi, Common Dreams [July 29, 2017]
---- Something extraordinary has happened in Washington. President Donald Trump has made it clear, in no uncertain terms and with no effort to disguise his duplicity, that he will claim that Tehran is cheating on the nuclear deal by October—the facts be damned. In short, the fix is in. Trump will refuse to accept that Iran is in compliance and thereby set the stage for a military confrontation. His advisors have even been kind enough to explain how they will go about this. Rarely has a sinister plan to destroy an arms control agreement and pave the way for war been so openly telegraphed. The unmasking of Trump's plans to sabotage the nuclear deal began two weeks ago when he reluctantly had to certify that Iran indeed was in compliance. … Recognizing that refusing to certify Iran would isolate the United States, Trump's advisors gave him another plan. Use the spot-inspections mechanism of the nuclear deal, they suggested, to demand access to a whole set of military sites in Iran. Once Iran balks—which it will since the mechanism is only supposed to be used if tangible evidence exists that those sites are being used for illicit nuclear activities—Trump can claim that Iran is in violation, blowing up the nuclear deal while shifting the blame to Tehran. [Read More] For more details on this dangerous plan, read "Trump Assigns White House Team to Target Iran Nuclear Deal, Sidelining State Department," by Jana Winter, et al., Foreign Policy [July 21, 2017] [Link] and David E. Sanger, "Trump Seeks Way to Declare Iran in Violation of Nuclear Deal," [New York Times [July 27, 2017] [Link].
War with North Korea?
Urgent Warning: Time to Hit the Reset Button on US-Korean Policy
By Medea Benjamin, Common Dreams [July 29, 2017]
---- Touching down in Washington DC Friday night after a peace delegation to South Korea organized by the Task Force to Stop THAAD in Korea (STIK), I saw the devastating news. No, it was not that Reince Priebus had been booted from the dysfunctional White House. It was that North Korea had conducted another intercontinental ballistic missile test, and that the United States and South Korea had responded by further ratcheting up this volatile conflict. … Given the specter of nuclear war, the rational alternative policy is one of de-escalation and engagement. President Moon has called for dialogue with the North and a peace treaty to permanently end the Korean War. North Korean diplomats have raised the possibility of a "freeze for a freeze." Time has proven that coercion doesn't work. There's an urgent need to hit the reset button on US-Korean policy, before one of the players hits a much more catastrophic button that could lead us into a nuclear nightmare. [Read More] For more about the peace delegation, including a good picture of the stalwarts, check out the website Zoom in Korea. Also useful is this overview of the North Korea situation by Angela Kim, "North Korean Policy Must Focus on Engagement Not Coercion," [Link].
War & Peace: Mainstream Media Tutorial
Media Mourn End of CIA Killing Syrians and Strengthening Al Qaeda
By Ben Norton, Fairness and Accuracy in Reporting [FAIR} [July 27, 2017]
---- The US government has finally announced an end to its years-long program to arm and train Syrian rebels. The initiative, one of the CIA's largest covert operations, with billions of dollars of funding, fueled mass killing in Syria and significantly prolonged the country's horrific war. Widely respected experts have also acknowledged that it greatly strengthened murderous extremist groups like ISIS and Al Qaeda. If one only read corporate media reporting, however, you would likely think that the termination of the CIA program was an abject tragedy. Spin doctors at major news outlets depicted the Trump administration's decision as variously a spineless concession to the evil Russian puppet master and/or a wretched abandonment of a supposedly noble US commitment to "freedom and democracy." [Read More
Corporate Media Largely Silent on Trump's Civilian Death Toll in Iraq
By Adam Johnson, Fairness and Accuracy in Reporting (FAIR) [July 20, 2017]
---- Earlier this week, human rights group Amnesty International issued a lengthy report accusing US-backed forces of "repeated violations of international humanitarian law, some of which may amount to war crimes," in Mosul, Iraq, causing the deaths of at least 3,700 civilians. Neither this report, nor the broader issue of the civilian toll in the US war against ISIS, has come close to penetrating US corporate media. The only major radio or television outlet to report on Amnesty's claims was NPR (7/12/17). While traditional print outlets, such as the New York Times and Washington Post, did run Reuters (7/11/17) and AP (7/12/17) articles, respectively, on the report, neither covered it themselves. Neither Amnesty's charges, nor the broader issue of civilian deaths in Mosul, garnered any coverage in television news, with no mention on ABC, NBC, CBS, CNN or MSNBC. The expulsion of ISIS from Mosul by the US-led coalition did receive coverage, but the US role in killing civilians was uniformly ignored. [Read More]
THE STATE OF THE UNION
Can the World Defend Itself from Omnicide?
By Ralph Nader, Common Dreams [July 27, 2017]
---- Notice how more frequently we hear scientists tell us that we're "wholly unprepared" for this peril or for that rising fatality toll? Turning away from such warnings may reduce immediate tension or anxiety, but only weakens the public awareness and distracts us from addressing the great challenges of our time, such as calamitous climate change, pandemics, and the rise of a host of other self-inflicted disasters. Here are some warnings about rising and looming risks. [The opioid epidemic; Cyberattacks and cyberwarfare; the next pandemic; artificial intelligence] … Our present educational systems – from Harvard Law School, MIT to K-12 – are not rising to these occasions for survival. Our mass media, wallowing in trivia, entertainment, advertisements and political insults, is not holding the politicians accountable to serious levels of public trust and societal safety. [Read More]
It's Time for the Adults in This Nation To Talk Seriously About Medicare for All
By Dr. Carol Paris (President, PNHP) Common Dreams [July 28, 2017]
---- Now that Republican senators have finally worn themselves out, Sen. Bernie Sanders plans to file his own single-payer Medicare for all bill. Senators from both parties will be asked to choose a side: Do you support the current system of health care rationing, medical bankruptcies and unnecessary deaths; or a program proven to work both here and in every other developed country? A majority of Americans now believe that health care is a human right, and that it is our government's responsibility to achieve universal coverage. We've tried everything else except Medicare for all. What are we waiting for? [Read More] Also informative is this Democracy Now! interview with Healthcare for America Now's Margarida Jorge [See the Program].
Tenants Under Siege: Inside New York City's Housing Crisis
By Michael Greenberg, New York Review of Books [August 17, 2017 issue]
---- The tide of homelessness is only the most visible symptom. There are at least 61,000 people whose shelter is provided, on any given day, by New York's Department of Homeless Services. The 661 buildings in the municipal shelter system are filled to capacity nightly, and Mayor Bill de Blasio recently announced plans to open ninety new sites, many of which are already being ferociously resisted by neighborhood residents. [Read More]
A Veteran ICE Agent, Disillusioned with the Trump Era, Speaks Out
By Jonathan Blitzer, The New Yorker [July 24, 2017]
---- The agent's decision to allow me to write about our conversations came after learning that ICE was making a push, beginning this week, to arrest young undocumented immigrants who were part of a large wave of unaccompanied minors who crossed the border in recent years and who, until now, had been allowed to live in the U.S. Rather than detaining these young people, the government had placed them in the care of families around the country. Most of them are trying to lead new lives as American transplants, going to school and working. ICE now plans to pursue those who have turned eighteen since crossing the border, and who, as a result, qualify for detention as legal adults. "I don't see the point in it," the agent said. "The plan is to take them back into custody, and then figure it out. I don't understand it. We're doing it because we can, and it bothers the hell out of me." [Read More]
ISRAEL/PALESTINE
The Anti-Israel Boycott Bill: Turning a Threat into an Opportunity
By Nada Elia, Middle East Eye [July 27, 2017]
---- Activists for Palestinian rights have long known of Israel's efforts to criminalise the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) movement, the global solidarity campaign that seeks to put pressure on Israel until it ends its violations of international law and the human rights of the Palestinians. Various bills have been introduced over the past couple of years in multiple cities around the US, seeking to stem grassroots support for this non-violent strategy, most notably by equating it with anti-Semitism. As a result, regional and national organisations and coalitions have formed to counter the arguments presented by Israel-supporters. … We must turn this threat into an opportunity. It is up to us, then, to make sure the Anti-Israel Boycott Bill backfires, as we make it clear to our representatives that they must prioritise US citizens' rights and concerns over Israel's interests. If we secure this victory, and stop S720, the Anti-Israel Boycott Bill, from moving forward with criminalising grassroots resistance, we will be giving a huge boost to BDS, the strategy that can best put pressure on Israel to end its illegal practices. [Read More]
Temple Mount Crisis: Jerusalem Unifies the Muslims Through Struggle
By Amira Hass, Haaretz [Israel] [July 23, 2017]
---- Since most Palestinians in the Gaza Strip and the West Bank can't go to Jerusalem, the city – and particularly the Al-Aqsa Mosque – are for them abstract sites, a "concept" or a picture on the wall; not a reality to be experienced. But this abstract place, Al-Aqsa, is doing what the siege of Gaza and its 2 million prisoners, the expansion of the settlements and the confiscation of water tanks and solar panels from communities in Area C, are not doing: It is unifying them. [Read More]
(Video) Israel's Extremism Stoking Jerusalem Violence
---- Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is refusing to remove metal detectors at the gates of Jerusalem's al-Aqsa mosque compound, despite advice from the Israeli army and Shin Bet secret police that he should do so. I told Al Jazeera English on Saturday evening that Netanyahu's rejection of this advice is a further indication that his move is political – part of Israel's plan to consolidate its control over al-Aqsa, one of the holiest sites for Muslims. [Read More] Also useful is an article by Barak Ravid, "Temple Mount Crisis: Fears of Political Rivals Led Netanyahu to Make a Grave Error," Haaretz [Israel] [July 23, 2017] [Link].
OUR HISTORY
Detroit's Great Rebellion of 1967
By Dan Georgakas and Elizabeth Schulte, Socialist Worker [July 2017]
---- During the summer of 1967, rebellions broke out in several U.S. cities, including Buffalo and Newark. But the largest of them–known as the Great Rebellion–happened in the heart of American capitalism at the time: Detroit, the capital of the auto industry … What sets the Great Rebellion apart is what happened before and after–the years of radical organizing that shaped Detroit's Black working class. In their 1975 book Detroit: I Do Mind Dying, Dan Georgakas and Marvin Surkin tell the story of Black autoworkers, radicals and revolutionaries organizing in the 1960s. They describe the Dodge Revolutionary Union Movement (DRUM), an organization of Black workers based at Chrysler's Dodge Main assembly plant born out of a wildcat strike less than a year after the rebellion, and the League of Revolutionary Black Workers, which sought to unite together Revolutionary Union Movements (RUMs) of Black auto workers in Detroit. [Read More] Also last week, Democracy Now! aired a segment on "The Rebellions That Changed U.S. History: Looking Back at the 1967 Newark & Detroit Uprisings" [Link]. Bringing the story up to date is "Detroit at Crossroads 50 Years after Riots Devastated City" [Link].
---- During the summer of 1967, rebellions broke out in several U.S. cities, including Buffalo and Newark. But the largest of them–known as the Great Rebellion–happened in the heart of American capitalism at the time: Detroit, the capital of the auto industry … What sets the Great Rebellion apart is what happened before and after–the years of radical organizing that shaped Detroit's Black working class. In their 1975 book Detroit: I Do Mind Dying, Dan Georgakas and Marvin Surkin tell the story of Black autoworkers, radicals and revolutionaries organizing in the 1960s. They describe the Dodge Revolutionary Union Movement (DRUM), an organization of Black workers based at Chrysler's Dodge Main assembly plant born out of a wildcat strike less than a year after the rebellion, and the League of Revolutionary Black Workers, which sought to unite together Revolutionary Union Movements (RUMs) of Black auto workers in Detroit. [Read More] Also last week, Democracy Now! aired a segment on "The Rebellions That Changed U.S. History: Looking Back at the 1967 Newark & Detroit Uprisings" [Link]. Bringing the story up to date is "Detroit at Crossroads 50 Years after Riots Devastated City" [Link].
The Other Side of War: Fury and Repression in St. Louis
---- History often follows something of a dialectical pattern – power begets resistance, war generates blowback, and so forth. In 1960s America, it was a brutal imperialist war in Indochina – the bloodiest in U.S. history – that gave rise to some of the largest and most incendiary protests this country has ever seen. There was, at the same time, a crucial third part to this dialectic: massive governmental repression designed to quell those protests. Much is known about the war and the deep opposition to it, far less about the nefarious work of the FBI and kindred intelligence agencies to crush not only the antiwar movement but other forms of social revolt. Thanks to the remarkably diligent and patient efforts of one activist, filmmaker, and investigator, that state of affairs could dramatically change. Nina Gilden Seavey recently won a landmark federal lawsuit to gain access to a vast collection of files held by U.S. intelligence agencies that for years infiltrated, probed, and sought to disrupt anti-Vietnam War mobilizations of the 1960s and 1970s. [Read More]
